Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on support for the farming industry.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
We have been working hard to positively reset relations. Earlier this month, I joined the Scottish Government’s Employment and Investment Minister, at the opening of a dairy innovation centre. This was the first project to be delivered through the joint Borderlands Growth Deal, providing new collaboration opportunities to progress the dairy sector towards a more sustainable and profitable future.
The Secretary of State meets with the Deputy First Minister on a regular basis, and the Inter-Ministerial Group on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs convenes regularly to discuss important issues, including agriculture.
I look forward to meeting with Scottish farming stakeholders alongside Scottish Government and Defra Ministers at the Scotland Office’s upcoming Food and Farming roundtable.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding South West Water was required to contribute to infrastructure to meet (a) environmental and (b) water quality standards between 2013 and 2025.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since 2015 Ofwat has set total expenditure allowances which allow for companies to meet their obligations under the environment and water quality programmes. Based on data provided by Ofwat, the figures for South West Water are set out below.
South West Water expenditure on the environment and water quality programmes since 2015 | ||
2023-24 prices: | 2015-20 | 2020-24 |
Environment programme | £75.0 million | £174.2 million |
Water quality | £45.8 million | £107.4 million |
Total | £402.4 million | |
Between 2015 and 2024 the environment programme allowance for South West Water was £249.2 million and the water quality allowance was £153.2 million.
Due to figures being unable to be split between two price control periods, figures for 2013-15 cannot be provided.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has considered changes to the benefits system to reflect increases in costs for (a) building and contents insurance, (b) home maintenance, (c) boiler servicing and (d) other homeowner-related costs, in the context of those costs not usually applying to renters.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not recently considered changes to the benefit system to reflect increases in costs for (a) building and contents insurance, (b) home maintenance, (c) boiler servicing and (d) other homeowner-related costs.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department taking to ensure that maternity hospitals are adequately staffed to ensure high quality care for pregnant women in Devon.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to tackling the retention and recruitment challenges that face the National Health Service. Bringing in the staff we need will take time, but this is an absolute priority for the Government.
NHS England is leading a range of initiatives to boost retention of existing staff and ensure that the NHS remains an attractive career choice for new recruits. This includes building a compassionate and inclusive culture, supporting staff wellbeing, and promoting flexible working opportunities.
Targeted retention work for midwives is being undertaken by NHS England, led by the Chief Nursing Officer. This work contains a range of measures, including creation of a midwifery and nursing retention self-assessment tool, mentoring schemes, strengthened advice and support on pensions, and embedding flexible retirement options. NHS England has also invested in unit-based retention leads which, alongside investment in workforce capacity, has seen a reduction in vacancy, leaver, and turnover rates.
Decisions around local recruitment remain the responsibility of individual NHS trusts, who are responsible for ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the level of financial penalty for employers who do not pay their ex-employee promptly after losing a tribunal.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to considering further improvements to the way that people can enforce their employment rights, including the role that Acas, Employment Tribunals and the Fair Work Agency play in ensuring workers’ have access to an effective justice system.
The Civil Justice Council (CJC) is currently considering how to improve enforcement methods and recently held a call for evidence on court users’ experiences of enforcement.The government will consider any recommendations that the CJC makes.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to make the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund a permanent initiative.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
An announcement on funding for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund will be made shortly. All future decisions will be considered as part of the next spending review.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that common land can enter (a) Sustainable Farming Incentive and (b) Countryside Stewardship schemes.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We fully recognise the importance of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) for common land – and we strongly want the schemes to be available to commons as we move forward.
We will be reforming the SFI offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment.
We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. Our intention is that it will be possible to apply for SFI on common land when the reformed SFI offer reopens.
We have published preview guidance for CSHT setting out what funding will be available for farmers and land managers. This includes guidance on entering common land into a CSHT agreement. We will open the rolling application window for CSHT in summer 2025, and we have started inviting farmers and land managers to begin the pre-application process.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to prevent streaming platforms from monopolising digital sports content.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is keen to ensure that key sporting events remain available to watch for free in years to come.
The Media Act 2024 includes several important reforms to the listed events regime. In particular, it closes the potential ‘streamer loophole’ that would have allowed non-PSB services to bypass the regime and which could have seen live coverage intended for UK audiences disappearing behind a paywall.
The Government is working closely with Ofcom to progress implementation of the Media Act. Further information can be found on Ofcom’s website: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/Media-Act-Implementation/.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of people requiring osseointegration transfemoral surgery in England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Using the available data, we are unable to identify the number of people currently waiting for osseointegration transfemoral surgery in England.
Regardless of why patients are waiting for treatment, the Government has committed to reducing waiting times and ensuring that we return to the National Health Service constitutional standard, that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029. We have already made progress, delivering on our commitment to provide an additional two million appointments and publishing our Elective Reform Plan, which details how we will go further to reduce waiting times, increase productivity, and improve patient experience.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he plans to re-open judicial processes for British military veterans in new legacy legislation.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Government is committed to repeal and replace the Northern Ireland (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 and to implement mechanisms that are human rights compliant and can command confidence across communities in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. We have taken important action in fulfilling that commitment by laying a draft remedial order in Parliament that will, amongst other things, remove all provisions from the Act that would have provided immunity from prosecution - including for terrorist crimes.
The approach taken by the last Government was found in many respects to be unlawful and was opposed by many - including families who lost relatives whilst serving the State in Northern Ireland. The veterans I have met, however, have also expressed legitimate concerns that the way we collectively deal with the past must be fair, balanced and proportionate while recognising the circumstances of the time.
This Government’s approach will ensure that legacy cases are dealt with sensitively, efficiently and lawfully, and that veterans who engage with legacy mechanisms are provided with the appropriate support. We remain committed to engaging widely with all interested parties, including veterans, to help determine an appropriate way forward, including what provisions should be included in primary legislation that I have committed to introduce when parliamentary time allows.