Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of proposals for the supply of energy from renewable or low carbon energy supply systems in new developments in (a) the UK and (b) Leicestershire.
Answered by Greg Hands
In the future, the Government expects to see a mix of low carbon technologies used for heating and it is unlikely that there will be a one-size-fits all solution. Low carbon heat networks, equipped with large heat pumps or recovering surplus heat from natural or industrial sources, can provide heating and hot water for new buildings at very low carbon emissions. There will also be a role, where appropriate, for other low-carbon technologies and renewable electricity generation such as solar photovoltaics. The Building Regulations will continue to set a performance-based standard rather than mandating or banning the use of any technologies.
From 2025, the Future Homes Standard will ensure that new homes produce at least 75% fewer CO2 emissions than those built to current standards. No further energy efficiency retrofit work will be necessary to enable them to become zero-carbon over time as the electricity grid continues to decarbonise.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of local planning authorities in promoting energy from renewable and low carbon sources in (a) Leicestershire and (b) the UK.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government recognises that local authorities play an essential role in driving local climate action. Our National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that local planning authorities should have a positive strategy in place to promote energy from renewable and low carbon sources, and that local plans should take a proactive approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change in line with the objectives and provisions of the Climate Change Act 2008.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the £1 billion of Government support for the electrification of vehicles and their supply chains includes (a) rural SMEs and (b) farms.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
In November 2020, the Prime Minister announced a 10 Point Plan for a green industrial revolution, making clear our ambition to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030. To achieve these ambitions to accelerate the UK’s transition to zero emission vehicles, it is vital that we develop our capacity to manufacture key components for these vehicles, including batteries. The Automotive Transformation Fund has been set up to support the creation of a localised, internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain right here in the UK.
As part of the Net Zero Strategy, a further £350m of funding was announced for the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF). This is additional to the £500m of funding previously announced. The ATF supports R&D and capital investments across strategically important parts of the electric vehicle supply chain. The fund is open to applications from large, medium and small companies, provided they can demonstrate how their proposed project meets the ATF’s key objective of supporting the key elements of the electrification of the automotive sector. These technologies developed with HMG support, will be of benefit in the production of a range of types of vehicles including off-road vehicles as well as passenger cars and vans.
Government regularly engages with manufacturers, including supply chain businesses and automotive trade associations on opportunities to support the growth and competitiveness of the sector in the UK
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that rural and remote areas, including farms and on-street locations, will be included in plans to extend electric car charge point installation to homes and workplaces.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government is investing over £1.3 billion in accelerating the roll out of charging infrastructure, targeting support on rapid chargepoints on motorways and major A roads to dash any anxiety around long journeys, and supporting the installation of chargepoints near homes and workplaces to make charging as easy as refuelling a petrol or diesel car.
The Government’s forthcoming Electric Vehicle (EV) Infrastructure Strategy will define our vision for the continued roll-out of a world-leading charging infrastructure network across the UK. The strategy will focus on how we will unlock the chargepoint rollout needed to enable the transition from early adoption to mass market uptake of EVs. We will set out our next steps to address barriers to private investment, and level up charge point provision across all areas of the country, including rural and remote areas.
The Government already provides support for chargepoint installations at homes and workplaces across the UK. In 2022, the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme will be reformed to provide additional help for people living in rented and leasehold accommodation and the Workplace Charging Scheme will be opened to small accommodation business and the charity sector. This will help to accelerate electric vehicle uptake in rural areas and support the UK tourist industry.
To future proof homes, the Government has announced that it will require new homes and buildings undergoing major renovation with associated parking to have a charge point installed.
For those without access to off-street parking, the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, which is available to all UK local authorities will help to provide public chargepoints for their residents. This year, £20 million is available under the scheme to ensure more local authorities and residents can benefit.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress she has been made in requiring gigabit capable broadband for new build homes in time for Spring 2022.
Answered by Julia Lopez
Following the consultation response which set out our policy proposals last year, we have worked with industry stakeholders and other government departments to develop legislative proposals that will ensure that new homes are future-proofed with gigabit-ready infrastructure and built with gigabit-capable connections.
We will shortly be publishing a statutory technical consultation on our legislative proposals and seek to lay the implementing regulations in Parliament as soon as possible.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the progress of the pilot for recording overseas vaccinations in the NHS national database.
Answered by Maggie Throup
There is now one vaccination centre in every region in England offering this service and by early December, there will be three sites per region. Further expansion of the service is planned in due course.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on negotiations with (a) his Spanish counterpart and (b) his counterparts in other EU states that do not have reciprocity arrangements to allow blue badge holders to use their UK issued blue badge while travelling.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Government remains committed to confirming the status of UK issued Blue Badges for visiting motorists, and continues to engage in discussions with a number of countries, including Spain. We cannot comment in detail on these discussions at this stage. The list of countries who have confirmed their position is available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/blue-badge-using-it-in-the-eu/using-a-blue-badge-in-the-european-union
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the role of (a) Premier League football clubs and (b) Football League clubs in helping to improve public health in their communities.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has not undertaken an assessment of the role of premier league and football league clubs in helping to improve public health in their communities.
OHID are however aware of the community public health programmes undertaken by the Premier League and English Football League clubs, which are often commissioned or delivered with local authority public health teams and the National Health Service.
The clubs deliver interventions such as smoking cessation, health checks, physical activity, healthy eating promotion and weight management services. OHID’s Better Health campaign is partnering with the English Football League Trust who are delivering the Fit Fans health programme, which is a behaviour change weight management programme delivered through the coaching staff, in a number of clubs across the country.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of (a) current and (b) emerging health and wellbeing challenges experienced by farming communities.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
We have built strong partnerships with Farm Welfare charities & support groups to exchange information and aid understanding of the current issues and challenges around health and wellbeing. We recently collaborated with the RABI on their Big Farming Survey, the results of which were launched at an event on 14 October. The findings from that survey align with our wider understanding drawn from our evolving evidence base where we know that a complex mix of factors influence mental health and wellbeing in the farming community. The RABI report highlights both stress drivers and opportunities and all these points are similarly represented in our existing evidence. Personal wellbeing is linked to business reliance, as well as regulations and changes in policies and within our Future Farming and Countryside Programme we are committed to supporting business opportunities as well as deliver new schemes in a way that can strengthen wellbeing.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress he has made on launching skills boot camps to train new heavy goods vehicle drivers.
Answered by Alex Burghart
To help address the shortage of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers across the country, the government is investing up to £17 million to deliver new Skills Bootcamps to help up to 5,000 adults train in HGV drivers.
The department launched an invitation to tender on 8 October, inviting applications to deliver Skills Bootcamps for individuals who are new to HGV driving, for those that have left the industry and wish to return, and existing HGV drivers who need additional qualifications to work in high priority areas like driving fuel tankers. The tender closed on 22 October. The department is currently reviewing and evaluating the bids received, with providers awarded funding set to start delivery later this year.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reviewing national preparedness for potential stresses on just-in-time supply chains.
Answered by Michael Ellis
There are arrangements in place across Government to understand the risks to supply chains and to ensure proportionate contingency plans are in place to mitigate those risks. There are currently many complex global issues affecting many countries - not just the UK. However, the Government does recognise the impact of supply chain issues on UK businesses and households.
On 8 October 2021, the Prime Minister appointed Sir Dave Lewis as the UK Government's supply chain adviser to provide advice on both immediate improvements and any necessary long term changes.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department is making on developing a fly-tipping toolkit to support local authorities and other parties to tackle fly-tipping.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The development of the fly-tipping toolkit was delayed as a result of the department switching focus to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. It remains an important piece of work and we expect to complete the first element on ‘presenting robust cases to court’ early next year, following the conclusion of additional research we commissioned in this area.
We are taking further steps to clamp down on waste crime such as taking powers to introduce electronic waste tracking; consulting on reforms to the waste carrier, broker, and dealer regime; and strengthening powers to detect and prosecute waste criminals through the Environment Bill.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on developing proposals for the reform of the waste, carrier, broker and dealer regime.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Reforms to the waste brokers and dealers licensing, alongside our electronic waste tracking reforms, offer the opportunity to take a huge step forward in the fight against fly-tipping and waste crime. We expect to consult on them shortly.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress the Government has made on considering responses to the Government's consultation on the potential of marine energy projects, which concluded on 30 September 2020.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is analysing the evidence received and will respond in due course.
Questioner: Luke Evans (CON - Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle digital exclusion among patients undertaking kidney function tests who do not have smart phones.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award currently supports the deployment and evaluation of one digital technology that enables patients to test their kidney function via a smartphone app. However, NHS England and NHS Improvement have stated that patients should continue to be offered a blended approach of face-to-face and remote appointments, with digital triage and testing where possible. Patients' input into the choice of consultation mode with their general practitioners should be sought and practices should respect preferences for face-to-face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary, such as the lack of a smartphone or the presence of COVID-19 symptoms.