Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to remove the recommendation that care home staff wear face masks; and what recent assessment he has made of the impact of that recommendation on communication with residents with dementia and deafness.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In adult social care, the guidance continues to recommend that all care home staff and visitors wear masks to provide protection for residents from COVID-19. The guidance allows for masks to not be used if, as part of a risk assessment, its use is considered particularly challenging for the resident, such as for residents with dementia and deafness.
The Department has commissioned a review of this guidance to ensure it reflects the latest available evidence and safe and proportionate infection prevention and control principles.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students were accepted onto higher education courses by each A-level grade combination in England in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publish data on acceptances to full-time undergraduate higher education by A level grade combination. It can be found here: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-sector-level-end-cycle-data-resources-2021.
The table below shows the number of acceptances by A level grade combinations for English 18-year-olds for the three most recent years.
Figures for 2022 are due to published in December.
Table 1 – English 18-year-olds accepted to full-time undergraduate higher education by A level points:
A level points | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
3 points (EEE) | 305 | 105 | 145 |
4 points (DEE) | 1,160 | 400 | 475 |
5 points (DDE) | 2,625 | 945 | 1,015 |
6 points (DDD) | 4,740 | 1,935 | 1,980 |
7 points (CDD) | 7,100 | 3,585 | 3,380 |
8 points (CCD) | 9,665 | 6,155 | 5,100 |
9 points (CCC) | 11,895 | 9,170 | 7,650 |
10 points (BCC) | 13,805 | 11,590 | 10,185 |
11 points (BBC) | 14,390 | 13,710 | 12,400 |
12 points (BBB) | 14,395 | 15,350 | 14,410 |
13 points (ABB) | 13,800 | 15,540 | 15,665 |
14 points (AAB) | 11,860 | 15,090 | 16,160 |
15 points (AAA) | 10,690 | 14,555 | 16,555 |
16 points (A*AA) | 8,365 | 12,755 | 14,905 |
17 points (A*A*A) | 5,285 | 9,880 | 12,860 |
18 points (A*A*A*) | 4,835 | 11,085 | 16,505 |
All | 134,910 | 141,860 | 149,380 |
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the cost of school uniforms by promoting price competitiveness.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department recognises that many people are worried about the impact of the increases in the cost of living with many households struggling to make their income stretch to cover the basics. It is therefore even more important that schools consider the cost of their uniform and follow the guidance to ensure best value for money for parents.
In November 2021, the Department published statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms, which schools must consider when designing and implementing their uniform policies. The guidance, which came into effect in September 2022, requires schools to ensure that their uniform is affordable and secures best value for money for parents.
The guidance requires schools to:
This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the number of households off of the mains gas grid in (a) each parliamentary constituency, (b) each council area and (b) the UK.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
BEIS publishes the numbers of domestic properties not connected to the gas network down to Local Authority level. This includes properties where a gas grid connection is possible but no connection has been made. These estimates state that 4,128,000 (14 per cent) of domestic properties are not connected to the gas network in Great Britain. Equivalent data is available at Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) and Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) levels, but not by constituency or council area. For Northern Ireland, data on gas connections is available via the Annual Retail Energy Market Monitoring report.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the investment zones policy announced in the Growth Plan 2022 will allow for the creation of such zones in (a) National Parks and (b) Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
While this Government sees Investment Zones as being critical to turbocharging growth across the country, this growth will not come at the expense of downgrading the strong and long-established protections for National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The recently launched Expression of Interest process specifically asks whether the proposed development would be on land that is in or adjacent to National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty to make sure that we treat these sites with the appropriate care and consideration. The EOI also makes clear that any successful Investment Zone must agree to mitigate the environmental impacts of development.
Local consent is critical to this, and Investment Zones will not be imposed on any area or specific site. The Local Planning Authority, that includes National Park Authorities, must support any proposal for an Investment Zone site through the EOI process. Proposals without this local consent will not be taken forward.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether people in receipt of Pension Credit are entitled to the full £150 council tax rebate to help with energy costs in every part of the UK.
Answered by Paul Scully
Most households in Council Tax bands A to D qualify for the core council tax energy rebate of £150, if they are occupied as a sole or main residence on 1 April 2022. Eligibility for the scheme is not dependent on a household’s qualification for benefits. Alongside the core council tax rebate, local councils have been provided with £144 million of discretionary funding to support any household suffering financial hardship as a result of rising energy bills. Local councils are responsible for determining who is eligible and for making payments under their discretionary fund.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
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 protect the UK's marine environment.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Our statutory UK Marine Strategy sets out a vision for UK waters to achieve clean, safe, healthy biologically diverse and productive seas, which are used sustainably. The Strategy provides a legal framework, agreed with the devolved administrations, for assessing and monitoring the status of our seas and to put in place the measures needed to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES). The Strategy covers marine biodiversity, non-indigenous species, commercial fishing, nutrient pollution, contaminants, underwater noise and marine litter. To protect UK seas effectively, we need to work with other countries. The UK plays a leading role in OSPAR (the regional sea convention for the North-East Atlantic). We coordinate our efforts with our neighbours to ensure the best protection for our seas whilst maintaining their sustainable use.
Domestically, we have designated a comprehensive network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and are focused on making sure they are properly protected. In English waters there are 178 sites protecting 40% of our seas. 98 sites in English inshore waters now have management measures in place to protect sensitive features from bottom towed fishing gears. All existing MPAs in English offshore waters will be protected from fishing activities which could prevent them achieving their conservation objectives through a three-year byelaw programme being undertaken by the Marine Management Organisation.
HM Government has also recently finished consulting on five candidate Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs).
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy that people receiving contributory-based (a) Employment and Support Allowance and (b) other benefits should be eligible for (i) the Cost-of-living Payment and (ii) other financial support for increases in the cost of living.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Cost of Living Payment is rightly being targeted at low income households who are in receipt of a means-tested income replacement benefit. Non-means tested benefits are not qualifying benefits for the Cost of Living Payment in their own right because people receiving these benefits may have other financial resources available to them. We have no plans to change the current eligibility criteria.
Cost of Living Payment, 6 million disabled people who receive an eligible non-means tested disability benefit, including Personal Independence Payments, have received a one-off Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150.
These payments are part of the Government’s £15bn package of support and sit alongside
The guidance with the full list of support can be found at:
Overall government support for the cost of living: factsheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
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 facilitate the import of (a) semen and (b) other products for (i) rare breed sheep and (ii) Icelandic sheep.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Special licences can be sought for the import of semen and other products for rare breed sheep, which are then considered on a case-by-case basis. We remain committed to the diversification of the domestic genetic portfolio in line with the relevant risk assessments in place to maintain our domestic sanitary and phytosanitary standards.
Breeding projects in Great Britain over recent years have successfully strengthened domestic flock resistance to the fatal ruminant disease known as scrapie. Introducing genetically susceptible rare breeds into the domestic flock will compromise the excellent work achieved to promote our flock resistance.
There is currently only one breed of sheep in Iceland which, unfortunately, does not possess the gene for resistance to scrapie. We recognise that importers are unable to meet the scrapie requirements for our import certificate.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to introduce a deposit return scheme for drinks containers in England.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
In its 2019 manifesto, HM Government committed to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers to incentivise people to recycle more and to reduce littering of in-scope containers. HM Government has consulted twice on the introduction of a DRS. The most recent consultation in 2021 sought views on a range of topics to ensure effective delivery of a scheme. We are analysing responses to this consultation with a view to publishing a Government response in late 2022.