Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the forthcoming Extended Producer Responsibility scheme on the (a) glass, (b) aluminium and (c) plastic packaging sectors.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Under the previous Government, the 2022 Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) impact assessment made an assessment of the impact of introducing the scheme on packaging producers as a whole. This impact assessment covered glass, aluminium, plastic and other materials, but did not split the assessment by sector.

The new Government has now published two sets of pEPR illustrative base fees and is undertaking engagement with all relevant industries to ensure that they are based on the best evidence to date.

As part of this engagement, the potential impact on specific packaging sectors is being discussed. The pEPR scheme administrator will continue to monitor the impact of implementing the pEPR scheme on the packaging market.

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 reduce waiting times for audiology appointments in Doncaster Central constituency.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board has advised that Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals is temporarily adjusting its Adult and Children Audiology services to enable the trust to make key improvements to its information technology systems and clinical spaces. During this time, the trust has advised that urgent cases will be prioritised, with collaboration from neighbouring providers in South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire and essential services like hearing aid repairs, tinnitus clinics, and certain diagnostic tests such as Auditory Brainstem Response will still be provided. The trust has advised that full services are expected to resume early in the new year.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking with (a) disabled people and (b) disabled people's organisations to help improve the experience of disabled people within the benefits system.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This Government is committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all that we do.

The Health Transformation Programme (HTP) is modernising health and disability benefit services to improve user experience and increase trust in these services.

HTP service design has been informed by user research conducted with customers, operational staff and health care professionals, including one-to-one sessions with customers at each stage of their claim. The Department has also engaged with a significant number of stakeholder organisations, establishing positive relationships with representative groups by seeking their expertise before beginning to develop and test new processes.

This collaborative approach will help the department to tailor services to customer needs.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the impact of Air Passenger Duty on the growth of regional airports.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Air Passenger Duty (APD) exists to ensure that aviation makes a fair contribution to the public finances. The Government understands that regional airports tend to have a greater proportion of domestic and short-haul international passengers compared to larger airports.

Reforms to APD took effect in April 2023. These included the introduction of the new domestic band for domestic flights, initially set at half the rate for short-haul international flights (except for larger private jets). The domestic band applies to all flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and for 2024/25 is set at £7 for economy passengers. In 2023/24, 13m passengers on domestic flights benefited from the creation of the domestic band.

The Government keeps all tax policy under review. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events in the context of public finances and any changes will be announced at the Budget.