Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been relating to the offence of hare coursing in each year from 2016 to date.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
Offences of hare coursing may be prosecuted using offences created by the Game Act 1831, the Night Poaching Act 1828 and the Hunting Act 2004.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of prosecutions for offences of hare coursing. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve survival rates for people with pulmonary fibrosis.
Answered by Will Quince
Patients with pulmonary fibrosis are cared for by National Health Service regional specialist interstitial lung disease (ILD) services. These are commissioned by NHS England.
To be referred to a specialist service, patients need to be identified in primary and secondary care. Early and accurate diagnosis is a priority for NHS England, and the work to improve this area of clinical care is underway, which should have an impact on reducing delayed diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis.
NHS England is responsible for the commissioning of services for ILD and funds the cost of anti-fibrotic treatments to treat this disease. Access to these treatments has recently been expanded to patients with non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis following the publication of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s technology appraisal ‘Nintedanib for treating progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases’ in November 2021.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
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 regional variation in the dementia diagnosis rate.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network has been commissioned by NHS England to develop a resource to support investigation of the underlying variation in dementia diagnosis rates. The aim of this work is to provide context for variation and enable targeted investigation and provision of support at a local level to enhance diagnosis rates. The tool has been released and is available via the NHS Futures Collaboration platform.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential contribution of rooftop solar energy to the Government's net zero targets; and whether her Department plans to require a certain proportion of solar energy to be delivered through rooftop solar.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As set out in the Powering Up Britain Energy Security Plan, the Government is aiming for 70 gigawatts of ground and rooftop solar capacity together by 2035. Maximising deployment of both types of solar is important to achieve this target. Rooftop solar is a key priority for the Government and is one of the most popular and easily deployed renewable energy sources.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the (a) performance of and (b) time taken to commence appeals by the Planning Inspectorate.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Inspectorate has been performing well across a number of key areas such as local plan examinations, nationally significant infrastructure project applications, s62a applications and planning appeals proceeding by hearings and inquiries. The Inspectorate is implementing actions to maintain performance in these areas and to improve end-to-end times for other casework. In the short term those actions are focused around increasing capacity by:
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which seeds that are permitted under Article 49(1) of Regulation (EC) 1107/2009 have not been provided authorisation for use from 1 January 2024.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Prior to EU Exit, the legislation quoted allowed seeds treated with a plant protection product (PPP) authorised in at least one Member State to be imported, marketed and used in GB. After Exit, arrangements were put in place to allow the import and use of treated seeds to continue until the end of 2023, following which all seed treatments would need GB authorisation.
I have listened to farmers and recognise the importance of access to treated seeds from the EU, particularly in the feed and horticulture sectors. I am preparing to lay secondary legislation in the autumn, through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (REUL), to ensure measures are in place, before the current scheme for importing treated seeds ends in December.
The aim of this legislation will be to extend transitional arrangements for the import of treated seeds from the EU and EEA and will also include provisions to address the important issue of parallel imports.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to improve the availability of smart meters for properties which are unable to connect to the Wide Area Network.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
Today, the Data Communications Company (DCC) provides Wide Area Network (WAN) coverage for smart meters to at least 99.25% of premises across Great Britain.
The DCC also has license obligations to explore solutions for increasing WAN coverage even further. DCC is currently developing a business case exploring such solutions, including an option for using already available internet-connected Consumer Access Devices to provide smart services. The consumer would need to have their own broadband connection and be prepared to enable the Consumer Access Device to utilise it. The Department expects to receive initial proposals from DCC shortly for review.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy for all Departments to publish a list of all their associated public bodies that have been delegated power to (a)make amend or revoke, (b) enforce and (c) monitor compliance with regulations.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Cabinet Office publishes a list of public bodies classified as arm’s length bodies, the public bodies directory, which includes whether an organisation performs a regulatory function.
The arm’s length bodies which departments have flagged as performing a regulatory function through the most recent public bodies directory data collection are:
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Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will provide a list of all public bodies that have been delegated powers to (a) make amend or revoke, (b) enforce and (c) monitor compliance with regulations.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Cabinet Office publishes a list of public bodies classified as arm’s length bodies, the public bodies directory, which includes whether an organisation performs a regulatory function.
The arm’s length bodies which departments have flagged as performing a regulatory function through the most recent public bodies directory data collection are:
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Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential (a) merits, (b) impact on pension saving and (c) impact on encouraging the economically inactive to return to work of excluding occupational pensions from the assessment of means tested employment benefits.
Answered by Guy Opperman
It is entirely appropriate that means-tested benefits take account of occupational pension income. A guiding principle for means-tested benefits is that they are not paid to people who have sufficient other income available to meet the same need. However, this is normally only done where a person has reached the retirement age for the scheme in question. This enables the applicant to maximise their occupational pension in retirement and should not de-incentivise people with health conditions from taking steps to return to work.