Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps he is taking to help grow Northern Ireland's economy.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
The Government is committed to supporting Northern Ireland’s economy. The Northern Ireland Investment Summit in September 2023 welcomed 180 investors, and generous funding packages are creating jobs, developing skills, supporting businesses and attracting FDI, including through the £617m UK Government investment into the four City and Growth Deals in Northern Ireland and the British Business Bank’s £70m Investment Fund. Northern Ireland is now positioned for an era of transformational success with a financial package worth in excess of £3bn to a returning Executive, plus unique arrangements for trade across the UK, the EU and the world, together with a range of government packages of support.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of progress on rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023 in (a) North Northamptonshire and (b) England.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023 in a controlled way, making sure we offer everyone the right level of support.
We invited Basic Payment Scheme eligible farmers to register interest for SFI2023 with the Rural Payments Agency from 30 August 2023. Over 14,000 farmers have done so, representing one in six. This process is already being simplified, with the majority of farmers no longer needing to registrations of interest as of this week.
We started to accept applications from 18 September. I am pleased to confirm the first payments were made yesterday.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to expedite the approval process for a new net zero energy plant at Kettering General Hospital.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Yes I will. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the way he has championed this issue. I have visited the hospital; I have seen it for myself. As he will be aware, the full business case was received by the New Hospital Programme recently. While the cost has increased, it is still within the wider funding envelope for the scheme on that site and I will do everything I can to expedite the process as he asks. I have asked my ministerial colleague, Lord Markham, to meet with him to discuss this case.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his polices of Israel Defence Forces reports of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s storage of weapons within civilian and religious sites in Jenin; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is actively monitoring the security situation in Jenin. We unequivocally condemn the use and possession of indiscriminate weapons by militant groups in Jenin. The UK has proscribed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as a terrorist entity since March 2001. PIJ and other terrorist groups must cease their campaign of violence, for which there is no justification. Such activity compromises the region's security, its ability to prosper and escalates already high tensions, with consequences for the international community. The UK supports the Palestinian Authority's security jurisdiction in area 'A' of the West Bank, as agreed through the Oslo Accords. We call on the Palestinian Authority and Government of Israel to cooperate in securing the safety and protection of civilians across the West Bank.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussion with his counterparts at the Palestinian Authority on Israel Defence Force's reports of 300 Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen in Jenin.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is actively monitoring the security situation in Jenin. We unequivocally condemn the use and possession of indiscriminate weapons by militant groups in Jenin. The UK has proscribed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as a terrorist entity since March 2001. PIJ and other terrorist groups must cease their campaign of violence, for which there is no justification. Such activity compromises the region's security, its ability to prosper and escalates already high tensions, with consequences for the international community. The UK supports the Palestinian Authority's security jurisdiction in area 'A' of the West Bank, as agreed through the Oslo Accords. We call on the Palestinian Authority and Government of Israel to cooperate in securing the safety and protection of civilians across the West Bank.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart about the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv on 4 July 2023.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
During his call on 4 July with the Israeli chargé d'affaires in London, the Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon expressed his condolences over the terror attack that took place in Tel Aviv earlier that day. The Foreign Secretary also expressed his condolences about this terror attack when he spoke to Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on 5 July. We are appalled by terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. There can be no justification for such acts of violence. Every Israeli and Palestinian has the right to live in peace and security. We understand and share the deep frustration on all sides at the lack of progress on the Middle East Peace Process. Ongoing violence underlines that a just and lasting resolution that ends the occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians is long overdue.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2023 to Question 184463 on Glass: Deposit Return Schemes, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of excluding glass from the proposed Deposit Return Scheme in England and Northern Ireland on the (a) plastic and (b) aluminium packaging industry.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Businesses have been clear that adding glass to a deposit return scheme will add fundamental complexity for our pubs and restaurants, increase burdens on small businesses, whilst creating greater inconvenience for consumers. We recognise that some sectors are concerned about potential for material switching. However, there are many market forces acting in this space - predicting impacts is very hard. Importantly glass will be included in Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging where obligated producers will be responsible for the disposal costs of their packaging so there will be some balancing of incentives.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to increase glass recycling rates following the exclusion of glass in the proposed Deposit Return Scheme in England and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In England and Northern Ireland glass drinks bottles will remain in scope of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging scheme as will all other types of glass packaging placed on the market in all nations. EPR will place recycling targets on producers in relation to glass packaging and require relevant obligated producers to cover the costs of collecting and managing glass packaging arising in household waste and discarded in street bins managed by local authorities.
In our 2022 response to the 2021 EPR consultation the Government set out recycling targets for 2025 and 2030, including glass. These included glass drinks containers in England and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 7 June 2023 to Question 187143 on Deposit Return Schemes: Glass, whether her Department plans to give (a) glass and (b) PET bottles the same recycling target under the Extended Producer Responsibility as the 90 per cent target given to other materials under the proposed Deposit Return Scheme in England and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are working on the recycling targets for each packaging material as part of work to finalise our plans for Extended Producer Responsibility. The individual recycling targets for each material will be set to achieve our environmental ambitions taking into account the specific issues and challenges associated with each material.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
If she will take steps to improve rural connectivity in (a) Kettering constituency, (b) North Northamptonshire and (c) England.
Answered by John Whittingdale
I am pleased that 89 percent of premises in the Kettering constituency and 85 percent of premises in North Northamptonshire can access gigabit-capable broadband. To improve this further, we have launched a £52 million procurement as part of Project Gigabit, to deliver gigabit-capable connections to rural premises across Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes. We aim to award a contract to the successful supplier by the end of this year. In April, we published a 10-point action plan to improve rural connectivity. We are already delivering on that plan through the appointment of Simon Fell MP as Rural Connectivity Champion.