Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2023 to Question 191860 on WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, who will lead the UK delegation; what instructions his officials will be given on the authorisation of measures that will involve a cost to the public purse; and if he will make a statement to the House on (a) his Department's approach before and (b) the outcomes of the convention after November 2023.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The United Kingdom delegation will consist of officials from the Department of Health and Social Care, as is usual practice for this Conference of the Parties. A decision on who will attend is yet to be made.
The delegation will not agree to any decisions which would impact on our ability to deliver our bold ambition to be Smokefree by 2030. Any measures involving a cost to the public purse will follow the normal Departmental approval processes.
Following the conference, decisions will be published on the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control website. There are no plans for a statement on the conference to be made to the House.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's policy is on a person being entitled to a share of their partner’s disability benefits as part of a divorce settlement.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Disability benefits, that is, Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance, are personal benefits – the law does not provide for joint claims - and would remain with the existing claimant at the point of divorce. There are no plans to change this policy.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the prevalence of house builders refusing to allow broadband Internet Service Providers other than one they have chosen onto their estates.
Answered by John Whittingdale - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The Government has legislated to make sure that new homes will have gigabit connectivity as standard, amending the Building Regulations 2010 to place obligations on housing developers to work with network operators to install gigabit broadband, where this can be done within a commercial cost cap. This ensures that connectivity of new homes is prioritised by housing developers at the outset.
Under this legislation, housing developers are free to work with whichever Internet Service Provider (ISP) they choose, with the terms and conditions under which they enter into agreements being a commercial matter. Many Communications Providers (CPs)s offer wholesale access to their networks, but it is ultimately a choice for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to decide which networks they use to serve customers.
Ofcom, as the independent regulator for telecoms, is responsible for regulating monopolies in the telecoms market. Where it determines a provider has significant market power (SMP), it can impose a number of remedies aimed at opening up levels of competition, including requiring them to allow competitors to offer services over their infrastructure at regulated prices. Currently, Ofcom has determined that BT Group and KCOM have SMP in the UK, but to date it has not done so with other providers.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made any assessment of the potential impact of duty free arrivals stores on the revenue generation of (a) UK travel hubs, (b) Newcastle International Airport and (c) other regional airports.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Exchequer Secretary (Treasury)
The Treasury does not hold data relating to individual airports’ sales and revenue.
Duty-free on arrival would place additional pressure on the public finances to which excise duty makes a significant contribution. Tax generated by the Government helps fund key spending priorities such as important public services, including the NHS, education, and defence.
Although there are no plans to introduce a duty-free on arrival scheme, the Government keeps all taxes under review and welcomes representations to help inform future decisions on tax policy, as part of the tax policy making cycle and Budget process.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of how much and what proportion of annual revenue generated by (a) Newcastle International Airport and (b) other regional airports is non-aeronautical; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of introducing duty free stores on arrivals on that level of revenue.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Exchequer Secretary (Treasury)
The Treasury does not hold data relating to individual airports’ sales and revenue.
Duty-free on arrival would place additional pressure on the public finances to which excise duty makes a significant contribution. Tax generated by the Government helps fund key spending priorities such as important public services, including the NHS, education, and defence.
Although there are no plans to introduce a duty-free on arrival scheme, the Government keeps all taxes under review and welcomes representations to help inform future decisions on tax policy, as part of the tax policy making cycle and Budget process.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the European Commission's policy document entitled Review of the VAT rules applicable to travel and tourism sector: meeting with stakeholders, published on 19 October 2022, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed introduction of arrivals duty free in the EU on trends in the level of departure sales at UK airports.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Exchequer Secretary (Treasury)
The UK has extended airside duty-free shopping to all passengers leaving the UK, including those travelling to the EU, meaning passengers can benefit from duty-free shopping in UK airports before travelling to their destination.
Whilst the Government has no plans to introduce duty-free for arrivals in the UK, we keep all tax policy under review and consider all available evidence.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of electric vehicles on the safety of blind and visually impaired pedestrians.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department for Transport commissioned research to assess the perceived safety risk from quiet electric vehicles to vision-impaired pedestrians in 2011. This research indicated that electric vehicles had sound levels similar to vehicles propelled by combustion engines above speeds of approximately 12 miles per hour but could be more difficult to detect at lower speeds.
Vehicle approval requirements were therefore introduced to mandate sound generators, known as Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems (AVAS), on new types of quiet electric and hybrid vehicles. AVAS has been required for new vehicles registered from 1 July 2021. The requirements ensure that vehicles that can be operated on electric power only will always produce a specified level of noise below 12 miles per hour and during reversing.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 9 March 2023 entitled Transport Update, HCWS625, whether he plans to amend the objectives in the second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, published on 6 July 2022 in the level of (a) ringfenced and (b) non-ringfenced funding announced for active travel for the remaining spending period.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department has no plans to amend these objectives.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of meeting the 2025 and 2030 objectives for his department’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy; and how much (a) ringfenced and (b) non-ringfenced funding his Department has made available for that Strategy (i) at the time it was published and (ii) as of 27 April 2023.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS2) estimates that over £3 billion will be invested in active travel between 2021/22 to 2024/5 from a range of ring-fenced and non-ring-fenced funds. This includes at least £100 million of ringfenced capital funding for active travel which will be provided over the two-year period 2023/24 to 2024/25, on top of £850 million of dedicated funding over the previous three-year period. It also includes estimates for City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) (£700m), Levelling Up Fund (£576m), Future High Streets Fund (£289m), Towns Fund (£293m) and National Highways Designated Funds (£90m). An update on estimates across all funds included within CWIS2 will be published in the next CWIS Report to Parliament.
Funding decisions for the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS3) period will be subject to decisions made at the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Scotland Office:
Whether he has made a comparative assessment with Cabinet colleagues of energy costs in Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Answered by John Lamont - Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
The Government has taken decisive action to support households and businesses across the UK, including in Scotland, through the Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bills Discount Scheme.
In the face of retail energy costs that are expected to remain high through the spring largely due to the illegal war in Ukraine, the Government is maintaining the Energy Price Guarantee for an additional three months, until June 2023.