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, how his Department plans to provide the £400 energy payment to people in households that are off grid.
Answered by Graham Stuart
On 29 July the Government set out further details of the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) and confirmed that further funding would be available to provide equivalent support of £400 for energy bills for the small percentage of domestic energy consumers not reached by EBSS. This will include those who do not have a domestic electricity meter or a direct relationship with an energy supplier including off grid homes.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much apprenticeship levy did educational providers (a) spend, and (b) return to treasury in each financial year since 2017/18.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the department’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training.
As employers, education providers with a pay bill of £3 million or more will pay the apprenticeship levy. The department does not collect data on the nature or sector in which employers operate, and so it does not hold the data requested.
The funds in levy-paying employers’ apprenticeship service accounts are available for them to use for apprenticeship training and assessment for 24 months, at which point unused funds begin to expire on a rolling, month-by-month basis.
Separately, the department is set an annual apprenticeships budget by His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT). The value of this annual budget is not the same as the funds which are available in levy-paying employers’ accounts for 24 months. The annual apprenticeships budget funds apprenticeships for all employers, including those who do not pay the apprenticeship levy, and is also used to cover the cost of end-point assessment, English and maths tuition, and additional payments made to employers, providers, and apprentices.
As is usual practice, any underspends in overall departmental budgets by the end of the financial year are first returned to HMT as per the consolidated budgeting guidance. This is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consolidated-budgeting-guidance-2021-to-2022.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of potential UK involvement in the European Political Community proposed by the President of France in May 2022.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Prime Minister attended the inaugural Summit of European Leaders in Prague on 6 October. The Prime Minister secured commitments on UK priorities, including demonstrating European support for Ukraine, and energy and illegal migration. The Prime Minister was clear in her engagement ahead of the Summit, including with President Macron on 20 September, that it should not create or duplicate institutional structures (e.g. NATO or the G7), it should be entirely separate from the EU with a non-EU country hosting next, and maintain a wide membership.
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, what steps her Department are taking to help increase the recycling of hospital equipment, including crutches; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a returns scheme for this equipment.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
National Health Service organisations are locally responsible for policies on the reuse and recycling of hospital equipment. Patients are encouraged to contact the local NHS trust which can advise on how equipment can be returned or re-used where it is safe to do so.
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 assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of restricting the use of (a) astro turf and (b) other plastic-based artificial grass products.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government has not assessed the potential merits of restricting the use of astro turf or other plastic-based artificial grass products. However, we do recognise that these products, in themselves, have no value for wildlife. Their installation can have negative impacts on soil health, biodiversity and drainage for flood prevention or alleviation if installed in place of natural earth or more positive measures such as planting flowers or trees or providing natural water features.
Improving biodiversity is a key objective for the Government. We prefer to help people and companies make the right choice, rather than banning or taxing items outright. We are seeing more organisations, including the Royal Horticultural Society, helping to communicate the risks and issues surrounding the use of artificial grass in place of natural landscaping. While we have no current plans to ban the sale of artificial grass, in our recent call for evidence on commonly littered and problematic plastic items, we asked the public if there were any further plastic items we should consider for future policy action. We will review the feedback from the call for evidence and publish a response in due course.
In the 25 Year Environment Plan, we committed to introduce stronger new standards for green infrastructure and to support local authorities to assess provision. This new Green Infrastructure Framework will be launched by Natural England in December 2022. This will show what good green infrastructure looks like and help local authorities, developers and communities to improve provision in their area.
The Environment Act 2021 contains an ambitious package of reforms to restore and enhance nature and green spaces. This includes a new mandatory requirement for biodiversity net gain in the planning system, to ensure that new developments enhance biodiversity. In future, developments which involve the laying of artificial grass at the expense of natural landscaping, and are above a de minimis threshold, will be required to enhance biodiversity in other ways, through the biodiversity net gain requirement. This will incentivise more nature positive development.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how investigations into the collapse of football index are progressing; when she expect those investigations to conclude; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Damian Collins
In March 2021, the Gambling Commission launched an investigation into BetIndex, the operator of Football Index. This has now concluded and resulted in the revocation of BetIndex’s licence to operate.
Following information received from the administrators and the Gambling Commission, the Insolvency Service has confirmed that the conduct of Betindex Limited’s directors is currently being investigated by them. The progress and outcome of the investigation will depend on the evidence obtained. It will not be possible for the Insolvency Service to comment on the investigation while it is ongoing.
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 assessment he has made of the potential merits of expanding the Smart Export Guarantee scheme to enhance the facilitation of owners of small numbers of solar panels to sell their energy into the marketplace.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) is a cost-reflective and market led mechanism and it is for suppliers to determine the value of the exported electricity and to take account of the administrative costs associated when setting their tariffs.
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, whether he plans to include (a) charities that provide housing and (b) community groups, including village halls, in future Government energy efficiency schemes.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Charities that provide housing could be eligible under the Local Authority Delivery Scheme, provided they meet certain criteria. Moreover, further funding via the Energy Bills Support Scheme will be available to support households not currently in scope. Details will be announced this Autumn.
Charities and non-profit organisations may be also entitled to a reduction in VAT, and exclusion from the main rates of the Climate Change Levy on the energy they use for non-business purposes.
Officials remain in close contact with representatives from the charity sector to monitor the situation and assess how and where additional support can be provided.
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, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of allowing an applicant to transfer an individual from the family visa scheme to the Homes for Ukraine scheme following a change in circumstances.
Answered by Paul Scully
We continually review our immigration policy and schemes to ensure they deliver the intended aims.
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 recent steps his Department has taken to (a) mitigate the impact of droughts and (b) improve water security.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Despite the dry summer, water companies have assured us that essential water supplies remain resilient across the country. It is their duty to maintain those supplies. Defra ministers have called for water company action in accordance with their pre-agreed drought plans.
The Environment Agency (EA) has activated its drought incident management plans as part of its role to balance the needs of water companies, other abstractors and the environment. EA has implemented restrictions on 270 spray irrigation abstraction licence holders to restrict abstraction to 50% of their licensed quantity. Over 1000 “hands-off” flow constraints are in place to protect the environment and the most critical abstractions.
The National Drought Group, made up of senior decision-makers from the government, the EA, water companies and key representative groups is meeting regularly to agree the actions required to manage the current impacts of the drought and reduce the risks into next year.
The National Framework for Water Resources, published in March 2020, sets out the strategic water needs for England to 2050 and beyond. The Framework sets out how we will reduce demand, halve leakage rates, develop new water supply infrastructure, move water to where it’s needed, increase drought resilience of water supplies and reduce the need for drought measures that can harm the environment.
Water companies are also using the £469 million made available by Ofwat in the current Price Review period (2019-2024) to improve the resilience of England’s water supplies. In the Autumn 2022, water companies will publish their statutory draft Water Resources Management Plans for consultation, which set out how they will secure water supplies in the long term.