Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to encourage developers establishing new buildings to have (a) solar panels, (b) batteries and (c) heat pumps fitted; and what support is available to those developers.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to ensuring that the 1.5 million homes we will build over the course of this parliament will be high quality, well designed and sustainable. Renewable and low carbon technologies, such as solar panels, batteries and heat pumps, are a key part of our strategy to get to net zero via a decarbonised electricity grid. We must therefore take the opportunity, where appropriate, to encourage their adoption in new buildings.
In 2021 the Government introduce an uplift in energy efficiency standards. New buildings are now required to produce significantly less CO2 emissions compared to those built to previous standards. Already we have seen many homes being built with solar panels and heat pumps.
Future standards, to be introduced later this year, will set new buildings on a path that moves away from relying on volatile fossil fuels, ensuring they are fit for a net zero future. These buildings will be future proofed with low carbon heating and high levels of energy efficiency. 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.
A consultation setting out proposals for what the new standards should entail was published in December 2023 and closed in March 2024. We are carefully considering the feedback received and will publish the Government response, setting our more detail on the content of the standards, in due course.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding her Department is providing for public transport projects in the North East.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We announced a £200m uplift for City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements in 2025/26, in addition to the £310m and £563m already allocated to Tees Valley and North East Combined Authority respectively. We announced a further £31m for buses in the region; reopened the Northumberland Line and funded new Metro trains.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on business rates.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We are creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century. The Secretary of State works closely with all his cabinet colleagues, including the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
To deliver our manifesto pledge, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including those on the high street, from 2026-27. The Government has also published a Discussion Paper setting out priority areas for business rates reform and inviting industry to co-design a fairer business rates system: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-business-rates
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of youth unemployment since 2010.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Youth unemployment in 2010 was high following the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession. The unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds for Jul-Sep 2024 is 14.8% (4.5 percentage points lower than in Jul-Sep 2010). In recent quarters the youth unemployment rate has been increasing. It has increased by 2.8 percentage points on the year.
To address this our plan to get Britain working includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work to reduce the number of young people not earning or learning. We are working with eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers areas to test new ways of supporting young people into employment or training, by bringing together and enhancing existing programmes in partnership with local areas. We expect the trailblazers to launch from Spring 2025.
The White Paper also sets out a range of measures to prevent youth inactivity before 18 – including an expansion of work experience and careers advice, action to tackle school attendance and steps to improve access to mental health services for young people
Recent unemployment estimates are subject to heightened volatility due to ongoing data quality problems with the ONS Labour Force Survey. This is particularly the case for the 16 to 24-year-old group, which as a smaller population group has wider margins of error than whole population estimates. Additionally, data prior to Jun-Aug 2011 has not been re-weighted by the ONS causing a discontinuity.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to encourage the use of drone technology.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This government’s strategic vision is to maximise benefits of drone technology – for the economy and for communities – whilst ensuring their emergence is both safe and secure, and respecting the needs of local communities across the country.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to implement her Department’s policy paper entitled Future of Flight Action Plan, published on 18 March 2024.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The future aviation sector is central to delivering on the Government’s missions, including kickstarting economic growth and delivering opportunities for all across the country.
My Department and I remain committed to delivering on the five future of flight strategic outcomes, which include demonstration and then routine use of drones operating Beyond the operator’s Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) at scale, and initial demonstrations of piloted electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) flights, followed by routine use and autonomous operations.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to help safeguard jobs in the UK automotive supply chain.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The automotive industry is an important part of the Government’s plans for growth. Through our modern Industrial Strategy, we will support growth sectors to create high-quality, well-paid jobs across the country.
The Budget committed over £2 billion of capital and R&D funding to 2030 for zero emission vehicle manufacturing and their supply chains. Building on the achievements of the Automotive Transformation Fund and Advanced Propulsion Centre R&D programmes, we will launch a new initiative, kickstarting economic growth by supporting good jobs and productivity growth across the UK automotive sector. The Industrial Strategy will provide more details in the Spring.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to promote the wider adoption of drones by fire services.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Fire and Rescue Services have been early adopters of drones which can improve decision making, operational efficiency and reduce risk to firefighters. We work closely with the National Fire Chiefs Council which co-ordinates the use of Fire & Rescue Service Drones, ensuring services are aware of new technology and the benefits available.
Fire and rescue authorities are operationally independent from government and decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions and keep their communities safe are a matter for each fire and rescue authority, based on its analysis of risk and local circumstances. Any consideration of equipment, including drones, will be part of this process.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to encourage business confidence.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Growth is the number one mission of the Government and we will continue to work with and listen carefully to the business community. In the Budget, the Government was forced to make difficult choices to plug the black hole in the Government’s finances, but the fundamentals for doing business in the UK remains strong. The Government has already taken steps to strengthen business and investor confidence through, reforming the planning system, getting people back to work and creating the growth and skills levy. DBT is driving long term, inclusive growth through our Industrial Strategy, Trade Strategy, Small Business Strategy and Plan to Make Work Pay.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support the hospitality sector.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Hospitality businesses are at the heart of our communities and are vital for economic growth.
This is why the Government is creating a fairer business rate system, reducing alcohol duty on qualifying draught products and transforming the apprenticeship levy to support business and boost opportunities. This work will be supported by the publication of The Small Business Strategy Command Paper next year.
Through the Hospitality Sector Council, we are addressing strategic issues for the sector related to high street regeneration, skills, sustainability, and productivity.