Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure the adequacy of funding for cultural activities for (a) adults and (b) children in low-income areas.
Answered by John Whittingdale
His Majesty's Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to high-quality arts and cultural opportunities and activities, regardless of their background or where they live.
With the encouragement of the government, Arts Council England has developed a focus on Priority Places and Levelling Up for Culture Places to address historic imbalances in investment. As part of this, priority places receive dedicated Arts Council staff resources to build local capacity. The Arts Council’s Investment Programme for 2023–26, which is funding a record number of organisations in more places than ever before, has resulted in funding of £42.9 million per year in Levelling up for Culture Places. Stockton-on-Tees is a Levelling Up for Culture Place, and Tees Valley Combined Authority is a Priority Place.
The government’s Cultural Development Fund supports culture-led regeneration projects in areas across the country with the lowest levels of investment and engagement in arts and culture. This fund has provided £76 million of capital investment to 20 transformative, place-based creative and cultural projects over three rounds (2019 to 2023). In addition to this, in January 2023, the Government awarded £546 million to 31 culture and heritage projects as part of the second round of the Levelling Up Fund.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) incentivise and (b) support domestic food production.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is backing British farmers with £2.4 billion of investment every year. In May 2023 the Prime Minister and the Defra Secretary of State met with representatives from across the whole UK supply chain, from farm to fork, for a Summit on how Government and industry can work together to support a thriving UK food industry. Support for farmers includes our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. These schemes will ensure our long-term food security by investing in the foundations of food production: healthy soil, water and biodiverse ecosystems. ELM schemes have been developed so that there is an offer for all farm types, including for tenant farmers.
ELM includes the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). This pays farmers for actions that support food production and can help improve farm productivity and resilience, while protecting and improving the environment. It has been expanded and made more flexible in response to farmers’ feedback, with 23 actions on offer under the new and improved 2023 scheme, including on soil health, moorland, hedgerows, integrated pest management, farmland wildlife, buffer strips, and low input grassland. In recognition of the challenges faced with inflation and rising input costs, the Government has confirmed farmers will receive a payment in the first month of their Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023 (SFI) agreement to help with cashflow. The scheme will open for applications from 18 September. Before then farmers can contact the RPA to join the thousands of farm businesses that have already expressed their interest in applying.
ELM also includes Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Landscape Recovery (LR). CS will pay farmers and land managers to look after and improve the environment in specific habitats, features and local areas. LR is for landowners and managers who want to take a more large-scale, long-term approach to producing environmental and climate goods on their land. LR projects will demonstrate how food production and environmental delivery can go hand in hand.
The Government has also confirmed that farmers producing sustainable British food under ELM schemes will be able to use them to help meet public procurement standards, benefiting our British farmers and allowing the public sector to benefit from more excellent British food. We are providing tailored business advice to all farmers. We have cut red tape, brought in fair enforcement regimes, and helped the sector access the seasonal labour it needs. We are looking closely at the Shropshire review into labour shortages in the food chain that we commissioned to see how we can go further.
We are also reviewing supply chain fairness in the sector: the Government announced in July that it plans to introduce regulations this autumn to make sure supply contracts in the dairy sector are fair and transparent, meaning farmers can challenge prices or raise concerns with contracts more easily. This represents a key milestone in our commitment to promote fairness and transparency across food supply chains to support farmers and build a stronger future for the industry, and will be followed by reviews into the egg and horticulture sector supply chains this Autumn to ensure farmers are paid a fair price. We will also identify opportunities to remove unnecessary burdens for Small Abattoirs. We are also trying to unlock opportunities for genetic technologies.
Further information on how we are supporting farmers can be found on our webpage: Our record on farming: 30 actions we have taken to support our farmers and growers.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to prevent people subject to deportation orders from being able to submit further asylum claims.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Work is underway to bring the provisions in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 relating to priority removal notices and expedited appeals into force as soon as possible. The aim of these measures is to reduce the volume of further claims or repeat claims from those liable to deportation or removal from the UK.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure support from the French authorities in preventing small boats from crossing the Channel.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Home Office officials regularly meet with French counterparts to exchange information so that operational activity against these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary crossings is optimised. As a result of those joint efforts nearly 33,000 crossing attempts were prevented in 2022, an increase of over 40% on 2021 and over 16,000 more have been prevented so far this year.
Measures introduced to tackle illegal migration since the Prime Minister took office include a package of measures agreed with France which will see the deployment of more than double the number of French personnel and enhanced technology to patrol beaches.
A strengthened partnership with Turkey which includes UK and Turkish law enforcement officers stepping up joint operations to tackle Organised Immigration Crime and disrupt the supply chain of boat parts and other materials used as part of illegal migration journeys.
A new partnership between social media companies and government to tackle people smuggling content online. Backed by a new Online Capability Centre, it will undermine and disrupt organised crime groups using the internet to facilitate these journeys
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to tackle core inflation.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
High inflation is the greatest immediate economic challenge that we must address. That is why the Government has made it a priority to halve inflation this year, on the path back to the target of 2% CPI inflation.
While recent data shows halving inflation will not be easy the government is doing three key things to deliver on this plan. First, remaining steadfast in our support for the independent MPC at the Bank of England, as they take action to return inflation to target of 2%. Second, making difficult but responsible decisions on tax and spending so we are not adding fuel to the fire. Third, tackling some of the causes of high inflation, including by introducing the labour market package at the Spring 2023 Budget, as the relative resilience of the economy and the tightness in the labour market are reflected in current domestic inflationary pressures.
In May, the IMF confirmed that we have taken “decisive and responsible” action to bear down on inflation, and achieved the right balance of fiscal and monetary response, while also focusing on growing the economy.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that dairy farmers whose herds are affected by bovine tuberculosis are provided with adequate support.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is acutely aware of the devastating impacts bTB can have on livestock owners and their families. Defra is working hard to support dairy farmers whose herds experience a bTB breakdown and ensure that information and tailored support is accessible.
Defra is committed to helping farmers and their families tackle the mental health and livelihood impacts of bTB and has provided grant funding to the Farming Community Network since 2010. The TB Advisory Service (TBAS) is a Defra funded project that by means of over-the-phone advice, farm visits and badger sett surveys offers free, bespoke, practical and cost-effective advice to all eligible farmers in England to help reduce the risks associated with TB. In late 2021, Defra launched a new, nationwide TBAS, delivered by Farmcare Solutions: Home - TB Advisory Service (tbas.org.uk)
Defra is also working in partnership with the livestock sector and a wide range of academics, charities, and other experts to deliver the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, supporting continual improvement in farm animal health and welfare. That includes a programme of financial support for farmers in the pig, cattle, sheep, and poultry sectors, to help them continually improve animal health and welfare.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to ensure that the labelling of alcohol products includes calorie information.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In ‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’, published in 2020, we committed to consult on whether to introduce calorie labelling on prepacked alcohol and alcohol sold in on-trade businesses such as pubs and restaurants.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to help reduce consumption of ultra-processed foods.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Diets high in calories and saturated fat, salt, and sugar are associated with an increased risk of obesity and chronic diseases. Based on their nutritional content, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of many foods classified as ultra-processed foods (UPF).
The UK Eatwell Guide shows that many foods classified as UPF are not part of a healthy, balanced diet.
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition has concluded that observed associations between UPF and health are concerning, but it is unclear whether these foods are inherently unhealthy due to processing or due to their nutritional content.
Many UPF are also likely to be the focus of: regulations which restrict the placement of high fat, salt or sugar products in store and online; reformulation of products high in calories, sugar and salt; the Soft Drinks Industry Levy; and calorie labelling regulations for food sold in large out-of-home businesses.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the levels of (a) overweight and (b) obesity among men.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
We have introduced regulations on out-of-home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses, including restaurants, cafes and takeaways, and regulations restricting the placement of less healthy products in key selling locations in store and online. We are also working with industry to make further progress on reformulation and to ensure it is easier for people to make healthier choices.
The weight loss drug Semaglutide (Wegovy) was launched in the United Kingdom on 4 September and will be made available on the National Health Service in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommendations to ensure cost effective use. A two-year pilot backed by up to £40 million is being developed to explore ways to make these drugs accessible to patients living with obesity outside of hospital settings.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her expected timescale is for debating the Animal Welfare (Electronic Collars) (England) Regulations 2023 in the House of Commons.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We remain committed to introducing a ban on electronic collars controlled by hand-held devices that deliver an electric shock to cats or dogs. Parliamentary business will be scheduled and announced in the usual way.