Rachel Gilmour

As sustainable biomass is a limited resource, the Government expects to prioritise its use in sectors like aviation which have fewest options to decarbonise. Renewable liquid heating fuels (RLHF) are also much more expensive to use than other heating solutions.

Before taking decisions on whether to support the use of RLHFs, like hydrotreated vegetable oil, in heating, the Government would require stronger evidence on their affordability for consumers, and the availability of sustainable feedstocks.

Evidence shows that heat pumps are suitable for a diverse range of housing archetypes in the UK and the clear majority of properties.

Modern heat pumps, capable of running efficiently at similar temperatures to an existing boiler, can increasingly be used in homes previously considered unsuitable for electrification. Other low-carbon heating solutions are available for properties that are not suited to a heat pump, and the government will continue to assess and support the options for all properties to decarbonise and reduce their energy use.

Currently, Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) produce an energy efficiency rating (EER) based on the estimated running costs of the property. Basing the rating and recommendations of the EPC on cost is done with the aim of generating improvement which will lead to a reduction in energy costs.

Last week, the Government published the consultation on EPC Reform, developed through close collaboration between DESNZ and MHCLG. The Government proposes using four key metrics for domestic EPCs: "fabric performance," "heating system," "smart readiness," and "energy cost." The Government is reviewing the methodology underpinning EPCs to make it fit for purpose to support net zero. The department is also reviewing consultation responses for the new building physics model, the Home Energy Model.

The Government has made no such specific assessment, as tariffs and energy contracts are a commercial matter for suppliers. However, the Government does want consumers to have access to a range of tariffs, so they can choose the contract that best suits their needs and can help to reduce energy bills. In circumstances where a supplier may not currently be able to offer a smart meter, Ofgem has been clear that suppliers are obligated under their licence conditions to ensure that a suitable metering system is installed.

We are considering how Project Gigabit can support the rollout of fast, reliable broadband to premises that have been descoped from Airband’s contracts with Connecting Devon and Somerset. This may include bringing more premises into the scope of Project Gigabit contracts in the region or supporting suppliers to deliver more projects through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. In some cases, premises that were set to be connected by Airband have since been included in suppliers’ commercial plans, so will no longer require public subsidy to receive access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection.

The industry-led migration from analogue to digital landlines (“the PSTN migration”) poses some specific risks for rural constituencies, for instance where areas may be more prone to power outages or lack mobile coverage. The Department is working with communications providers to ensure that they are mitigating these risks wherever possible, for example by encouraging the industry to provide improved power resilience to vulnerable customers.

Since the general election, the government has brought together communications providers, government departments, local government, telecare providers and water companies to ensure that the transition proceeds smoothly and stably. This has led to a new Charters of Commitments signed by industry to ensure additional protections for vulnerable customers and for Critical National Infrastructure.

The government recognises the importance of the UKs copyright regime to the economic success of the creative industries, one of eight growth-driving sectors as identified in our Industrial Strategy. We are committed to supporting rights holders by ensuring they retain control over and receive fair payment for their work, especially as technology advances to include AI. We are actively working with stakeholders to ensure copyright protections remain robust and fit for purpose.

Although existing legislation gives creative rights holders control over the use of their protected works, we are aware that this can be very difficult to implement in practice in the context of AI, especially for individual firms and creators. The application of existing copyright legislation in the context of AI training is disputed, both in the UK and internationally, with many high-profile court cases underway. Right holders are finding it difficult to control use of their works to train AI models, and want greater ability to manage that activity and be paid for it.

Responses to our Copyright and AI consultation, published 17 December and closing 25 February, will inform our approach to the design and delivery of a solution to the current dispute over copyright legislation. Our aim is to clarify the copyright framework for AI – delivering legal certainty through a copyright regime that provides creators with real control, transparency, and helps them licence their content, while supporting AI developers' access to high-quality material, so that they can train leading AI models in the UK.

This government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving young people’s life chances and wellbeing. As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people in their area. This is funded through the Local Government Settlement which amounts to over £60 billion this year.

This is in addition to the DCMS investment of over £500 million in youth services to ensure every young person has access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. Within the Tiverton and Minehead constituency, DCMS has directly provided funding for Duke of Edinburgh to be run within schools, encouraging young people to develop skills, build confidence, and make a difference in their communities through volunteering, access to the outdoors, and skills development.

The department has no plans to undertake this specific assessment, but we have evaluated the impact of poverty on educational outcomes. Evidence shows that disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs are more likely to fall behind and need extra support to achieve and thrive.

That is why the department is working to make sure that all children and young people have access to a variety of enrichment opportunities at school as an important part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity. We recognise that these activities are a vital way for children and young people to gain skills and strengthen their sense of school belonging, supporting them to thrive.

The Department for Work and Pensions strives to set affordable and sustainable repayment plans and encourages customers to make contact if they are unable to afford the proposed repayment rate.

When a customer makes contact because they are experiencing financial hardship, the rate of repayment can be reduced or, depending on the customer’s financial circumstances, a temporary suspension of repayment can be agreed. There is no minimum amount a customer has to repay.

As seen in the measures announced by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the Autumn Budget 2024 to drive up opportunity and drive down poverty, a new Fair Repayment Rate will be introduced from April 2025, reducing Universal Credit deductions overall cap from 25% to 15%. This measure will help approximately 1.2 million of the poorest households benefit by an average of £420 a year.

Ensuring schools have the resources and buildings they need is a key part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is unable to meet at present due to constraints on her diary. However, departmental officials will be in touch with you shortly to arrange a meeting with the honourable member who are best placed to provide detail on the condition of the school.

Whilst we have never had an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the UK, it remains a key priority in terms of exotic notifiable disease preparedness. The overall risk of an incursion is currently assessed to be medium, and we continue to prepare for a possible outbreak. To safeguard the UK’s pork and pig industries, Defra, Devolved Governments, together with the pig industry and veterinary bodies have been working together to raise awareness of the risks of the introduction of ASF to the UK. Defra announced further controls in September 2024, restricting the movement of pork and pork products into Great Britain.

The risk of incursion of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) to Great Britain was increased to medium following the confirmation of disease in Germany on the 10 January 2025. The Government has taken decisive and rapid action to protect the UK by suspending the commercial import of susceptible animals from Germany and restricting personal imports of animal products from across the EU. The UK has robust contingency plans in place to manage the risk of this disease as set out in the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England.

Protecting all communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities.

Lead local flood authorities (unitary and county authorities) are required to manage local flood risks from surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses. Local flood risks should be identified and managed as part of a local flood risk management strategy. Local authorities receive revenue funding for local flood risk management through the Local Government Finance Settlement.

The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) looks at complaints about councils and some other authorities and organisations. The service is free, independent and impartial.

The Environment Agency (EA) charges consultation (including proposals to charge for waste exemptions) is now closed. The EA expects businesses that register and comply with waste exemptions without the requirement for an environmental permit, will continue to do so and pay the associated waste exemption charges. The EA does not expect waste exemption charges to result in an increase in landfill, where specific wastes are banned and landfill tax applies. Further information on the charges consultation, the points raised by industry and our responses to them will be included in a forthcoming consultation response document to be published by the EA. The EA has carried out an affordability impact analysis of the charge proposals. Key findings are detailed in the public consultation and any changes will be noted when the consultation response is published.

The Department works closely with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government to deliver planning reforms with regular discussions on how the impacts of development can be fully considered and planning can improve outcomes for nature whilst enabling farmers and rural businesses to build the infrastructure they need.

New or expanding farms permitted under the Town and Country Planning Act are subject to the National Planning Policy Framework which clearly sets out that if significant harm to biodiversity resulting from a development cannot be avoided, adequately mitigated, or, as a last resort, compensated for, then planning permission should be refused and that planning policies and decisions should prevent new and existing development from contributing to, being put at unacceptable risk from, or being adversely affected by, unacceptable levels of soil, air, water or noise pollution or land instability.

The animal welfare considerations for buildings and accommodation used for farmed animals are set out in The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 with further guidance set out in the relevant species-specific welfare code of practice.

The Environment Agency charges consultation included information on the affordability of waste exemption charges for the agriculture sector. It can be found online here.

Included in the document is the following estimates for a 3-year registration period:

• 43% of farmers will pay the lowest charge of £144 for the 3-year registration period (£56 registration charge plus common on-farm charge of £88). This equates to an average cost of £48 per year. This cost will be lower if the cost of individual waste exemptions being registered is less than the £88 common on-farm charge.
• 50% of farmers will pay less than £500 for the 3-year registration period
• 90% of farmers will pay less than £1,000 for a 3-year registration period

This is considered a worst-case scenario, as Environment Agency data suggests farmers often register more waste exemptions than they need. Approval to charge will be considered after the Environment Agency has analysed responses from the consultation.

I’m pleased to advise that the Rail Minister Lord Hendy has accepted an invitation to meet with the Chair of the Peninsula Rail Task Force, Cllr Andrea Davis, and officials are currently making the necessary arrangements.

At the Budget on 30 October, the Chancellor announced £1.6 billion of capital funding for English local highway authorities for highway maintenance for the 2025/26 financial year, an increase of £500 million or nearly 50% compared to the current financial year.

Funding allocations for individual local highway authorities for 2025/26, including Somerset Council, will be confirmed in due course. It is entirely a matter for Somerset Council how it spends this highway maintenance funding based on local needs, priorities, and circumstances.

Officials continually monitor the performance of Great Western Railway services, including instances of overcrowding, and actively hold operators to account through their contracts when they run less capacity than agreed. The Rail Minister additionally meets with Train Operating Companies to review their performance. We work closely with Great Western Railway to match supply to demand within operational and financial constraints including the provision of additional summer services. Great Western Railway is also exploring opportunities to increase the capacity of its rolling stock fleet.

Good local bus services are an essential part of prosperous and sustainable communities. As announced in the King’s Speech, the government will pass the Better Buses Bill to put the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders right across England. The government knows that every community will have its own unique needs from its public transport network and wants to empower local leaders to work with operators to design networks that meet these needs, including considering the use of different types of services, such as community transport and demand responsive transport services, alongside regular stopping services to deliver comprehensive coverage.

The Government has had to make hard choices to bring the public finances back under control. The policy change ensures that the Winter Fuel Payment will be better targeted to low-income pensioners who need it most.

Information on pensioners with incomes below £15,000 affected by the change to Winter Fuel Payment policy is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. However, the Department has produced some analysis on the impacts of the change in policy on poverty levels which was published here: Winter Fuel Payments eligibility change - Letter from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

State Pension payments are usually paid four weekly in arrears. People have the option to be paid weekly or in some circumstances bi-weekly. There are no plans to introduce alternative payment arrangements.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) continues to engage regularly with stakeholders as we consider CMS reform. We are currently considering the recommendations and our response to the Gingerbread report ‘Fix the CMS’.

The CMS Service Modernisation Programme has delivered improvements to the customer experience enabling parents to access their on-line My Child Maintenance Case, ensuring parents can report changes of circumstances and access their digital communications at any time of the day. In addition, caseworker training to support vulnerable customers has been updated following invaluable engagement with stakeholders.

The CMS has recently consulted on significant reforms and are analysing the responses. This included removing the Direct Pay service and managing all CMS cases in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster.  The consultation also sought views on how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported to use CMS and whether removing Direct Pay completely would benefit victims and survivors of domestic abuse. The Government will publish a response in due course.

DWP are committed to providing the best possible support for all our customers, including the most vulnerable in society. Within Universal Credit, we recognise that customers have individual needs and different barriers, so we train and support all our work coaches to be able to respond appropriately to a customer’s situation.

We have no plans to assess the impact of the journal system on the mental health of applicants and users., Independent research published in 2018 showed that the majority of customers found the journal easy to use. The DWP Customer Experience Survey for 2023-2024 showed that 88% of people found it easy to use their UC online account.

No such assessment has been made by the Department. The commissioning of out of hours services, and to what extent those services are supported, is the responsibility of local commissioners in partnership with their providers, and in the best interest of their populations.

The Department funds research into epilepsy via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). There are currently no plans to assess the adequacy of funding for research into epilepsy, however, the NIHR continues to welcome high quality applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including prevention, management, and treatment of epilepsy and the related conditions.

These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to the public and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on epilepsy to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility, both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.

The NIHR committed £31.5 million of funding to 28 epilepsy research projects in the five years from April 2019 to March 2024. Additionally, over this period, more than 5,000 people were enabled to participate in epilepsy research by the NIHR Clinical Research Network, now the NIHR Research Delivery Network.

The NIHR also works closely with other Government funders, including UK Research and Innovation, which is funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and includes the Medical Research Council, to fund research into epilepsy to improve treatments and prevent poor health outcomes for patients.

On 6 January 2025, NHS England published the new Elective Reform Plan, which sets out a whole system approach to hitting the 18-week referral to treatment target by the end of this Parliament. Further information on the Elective Reform Plan is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/reforming-elective-care-for-patients/

Part of the plan sets out funding to boost bone density scanning capacity, to support improvements in early diagnosis and bone health conditions such as osteoporosis. This will provide an estimated 29,000 extra scans per year.

As announced in the Get Britain Working white paper, we are delivering the joint Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England Getting It Right First-Time (GIRFT) Musculoskeletal (MSK) Community Delivery Programme. With a £3.5 million funding boost, GIRFT teams will deploy their proven Further Faster model to work with integrated care board leaders to further reduce MSK community waiting times, including for those with osteoporosis, and improve data, metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services.

A budget of £3.8 billion for primary, community, and secondary dentistry has been allocated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England for 2024/25, to deliver new initiatives and address the challenges facing National Health Service dentistry. Allocations for 2025/26 will be confirmed shortly, and long-term funding will be considered during phase 2 of the Spending Review, which will set budgets for 2026/27 to 2028/29.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges patients face when trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most.

Responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the ICBs across England. For the Tiverton and Minehead constituency, this is the NHS Somerset ICB.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Poole on 11 October 2024 to Question 7389.

The safe release of all hostages, including those with strong UK-links, is a top priority for the government. The current ceasefire deal must secure their release, protect both Israelis and Palestinians, and allow the safe distribution of aid.

The UK is working with international partners to ensure the stability of the ceasefire agreement, so that it is implemented in full. In doing so, we aim to secure the release of all hostages, including those with strong UK-links: Eli Sharabi, Oded Lifshitz, Avinatan Or. And we also aim to ensure that the remains of Yossi Sharabi are returned to his family.

The UK will continue to work with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the US and regional partners to build consensus for a post-conflict Gaza governance and security framework that supports conditions for a permanent and sustainable peace.