Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with (a) FIFA and (b) UEFA on (i) the compatibility of the Football Governance Bill with their own regulations and (ii) ensuring that the enforcement of the Bill will not lead to (A) financial and (B) sporting sanctions being placed on football clubs.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Opposition Chief Whip (Commons)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport have met with FIFA and UEFA at Ministerial and Official level on an on-going basis as part of the engagement with industry in relation to the Football Governance Bill, which received its First Reading on 19 March 2024. During these engagements, discussions have included the compatibility of the ` Independent Football Regulator’s regulatory regime with FIFA’s and UEFA’s own regulations. We are confident that the Bill is compatible with FIFA and UEFA rules and will not lead to financial and sporting sanctions being placed on football clubs by FIFA or UEFA. We will continue to engage FIFA and UEFA as the Bill moves through parliament.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure local authorities can finance the delivery of essential medical (a) devices and (b) services.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Under their public health responsibilities, local authorities in England commission or provide a range of health services for their local populations. Some of these services are likely to involve the use of medical devices.
Public health funding to local authorities has increased each year over the Spending Review period. In 2024/25 the total Public Health Grant to local authorities will be £3.603 billion. In addition, we have provided additional targeted investment to local authorities in England for drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery, and services that support the best start in life, and from April 2024 we will double current investment in local authority stop smoking services, in support of our commitment to deliver a smoke-free generation.
This overall funding package will deliver a real-terms increase of more than 4% over the two years 2023/24 and 2024/25 in departmental funding allocated for local authority public health functions.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has held discussions with adult social care providers on potential future risks to the local financing of the provision of care.
Answered by Simon Hoare
Through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25, we are providing over £1.5 billion in additional grant for social care compared to 2023-24. This is part of an above-inflation increase in Core Spending Power for local government from 2023-24 of up to £4.5 billion, or 7.5% in cash terms.
Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to help support people to submit objections to planning proposals for (a) the proposed installation of solar farms near Overton, Wooley and Kirkburton and (b) other proposed renewable energy projects on the green belt.
Answered by Lee Rowley
This Government is committed to protecting and enhancing the Green Belt. Our National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that structures that spoil the openness of Green Belt should be refused permission unless in very special circumstances.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support local authorities to deliver adult social care.
Answered by Simon Hoare
Through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25, we are providing over £1.5 billion in additional grant for social care compared to 2023-24. This is part of an above-inflation increase in Core Spending Power for local government from 2023-24 of up to £4.5 billion, or 7.5% in cash terms.
Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department is taking steps to help ensure residents across West Yorkshire receive enhanced connectivity levels from broadband providers.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
According to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com, over 98% of premises in the West Yorkshire County can access a superfast broadband connection. Additionally, 88% of premises are able to access a gigabit-capable connection, up from 12% in December 2019. There is a thriving market of over 100 providers investing nearly £40bn rolling out gigabit broadband all over the UK.
As part of Project Gigabit, we recently announced a Project Gigabit contract in West Yorkshire and parts of North Yorkshire. This contract has a value of £60 million and will further extend gigabit-capable coverage to around 28,000 hard-to-reach premises.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to (a) maintain and (b) enhance rural bus services in (i) Dewsbury constituency and (ii) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Guy Opperman
In England, the majority of bus services outside London operate on a commercial basis. Where commercial service provision is insufficient to meet the needs of local communities, local authorities can subsidise bus services where this represents value for money. This ensures that service provision is aligned with local needs.
The Government recognises the importance of local bus services to ensuring communities can stay connected, including in rural areas, and has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020.
The over £4.5 billion includes:
o £2bn pandemic funding between March 2020 and June 2023, followed by £300m in further service support until April 2025 (of which £160m is BSIP+ (not included in the £2bn BSIP funding below) and £140m is BSOG+ funding);
o £2bn Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding, including £1bn for LTAs in the North and the Midlands recently reallocated from HS2 (of which we have already announced allocations for the first £150m in 2024/25 and allocations for 25/26 onwards will be published in due course);
o Nearly £600m of funding for the £2 fare cap until the end of 2024.
From the Bus Service Improvement Plan funding, West Yorkshire Combined Authority has been allocated over £90 million so far. The Department’s guidance to local authorities on developing their BSIPs explains that these must cover their full area and all local bus services within it. This funding should, therefore, benefit services in Dewsbury.
The Government also makes over £200 million available to bus operators every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to help them maintain their network. A further £42 million in BSOG funding is provided directly to local authorities to help subsidise socially necessary bus services that might otherwise be commercially unviable, helping to support rural bus routes. West Yorkshire Combined Authority receives over £2 million of this funding every year.
The Government is also providing £20 million through the Rural Mobility Fund in England to trial 16 innovative demand responsive minibus services to better understand the challenges associated with introducing bookable bus services in rural and suburban settings.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department is responsible for hearing appeals of decisions to disconnect consumers' gas supplies.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The Department does not have the legal mandate to intervene in matters concerning private contracts between customers and their energy suppliers. Any disputes should be first raised with the energy supplier, and if necessary, escalated to the Energy Ombudsman.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to prevent euthanisation of healthy dogs in (a) Dewsbury constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer
In 2021, we worked closely with the veterinary profession to provide greater assurance that alternatives to euthanasia are explored before a healthy dog is put down. Following these discussions, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons agreed that vets should scan the microchip in these circumstances to check whether anyone else has an interest in the dog who might provide an alternative to euthanasia. This has been included in the guidance underpinning the Code of Professional Conduct. This applies to all veterinary surgeons practising in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the impact of his Department's publication entitled Action Plan for Animal Welfare, published on 12 May 2021, on animal welfare in (a) Dewsbury, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Government has an ambitious agenda for animal welfare and conservation reforms, which we continue to take forward during this Parliamentary session. We will continue to introduce and support legislative and non-legislative reforms where possible.
Since the publication of the Action Plan, we have delivered on key manifesto commitments: we have increased the penalties for those convicted of animal cruelty, passed the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 and launched the Animal Sentience Committee. We have made cat microchipping compulsory and have announced the extension of the Ivory Act (2018) to cover five endangered species. In addition, we have provided for penalty notices to apply to animal welfare offences, introduced new police powers to tackle hare coursing, and banned glue traps.
We are pleased to have introduced the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill to deliver our manifesto commitment to end this trade. The Bill will ban the export of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and horses for slaughter and fattening from Great Britain, stopping unnecessary stress, exhaustion and injury caused by exporting live animals.
In December 2023, the Government laid the Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations 2023 in Parliament and published the summary of responses to its 2023 consultation on Licensing of specialist private primate keepers in England.
Defra maintains a close working relationship with the zoo sector, and we will continue to build upon this to identify non-legislative improvements. We aim to publish updated zoo standards early this year, which we have developed in collaboration with the sector and the Zoos Expert Committee, which raise standards and support enforcement.
Whilst no specific analysis has been undertaken for individual locations, policies regularly undergo evaluation or post implementation reviews to assess their effectiveness in meeting their animal welfare objectives.