Asked by: Samantha Dixon (Labour - Chester North and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications of the proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement for the regulation of glyphosate use in home gardens, schools and playgrounds.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Health and Safety Executive is currently reassessing glyphosate to determine whether it continues to meet strict approval criteria.
Defra is working through the implications of the transition from the current pesticides regulatory system in Great Britain to a new one defined by the UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement under negotiation. The department cannot comment further on the SPS agreement as negotiations are ongoing.
Asked by: Samantha Dixon (Labour - Chester North and Neston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what consideration his Department has made to utilise digital technology to allow the DVLA to tax vehicles by the day, rather than the month.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The requirement to pay Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for complete calendar months is set out in law. VED is issued from the first of each month and refunds are issued for only the full months remaining on a vehicle licence. Licensing and refunding vehicles from a date other than the first of the month would add a large amount of administrative complexity to the vehicle tax system, increasing costs to the taxpayer.
The government has no plans to change how VED payments are administered in this way, but we welcome representations from stakeholders about how the tax system can be improved. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events in the context of the public finances.
Asked by: Samantha Dixon (Labour - Chester North and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department has allocated to the Thirlwall Inquiry.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Decisions about the budget for the inquiry will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Samantha Dixon (Labour - Chester North and Neston)
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 impact of flooding on food production in the last four months.
Answered by Mark Spencer
We recognise that the recent period of wet weather has impacted UK agriculture. While the current market assessment is that this will impact the domestic production of certain foods, it is too early to predict the impact on overall consumer supply at this stage. However, the UK has a highly resilient food supply chain which allows us to use international trade to supplement any fluctuations in domestic food supply and maintain overall food security.
Asked by: Samantha Dixon (Labour - Chester North and Neston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of accommodating young female offenders in all-male young offender institutions on the wellbeing of those female offenders.
Answered by Edward Argar
The safety of all those in our custodial estate, including young female offenders is a key priority.
Girls currently make up less than 1% of children and young people within the youth estate which has a range of mixed gender settings. In HMYOI Wetherby, girls live separately from boys but attend education and activities together, as occurs in the community.
Girls in the youth estate can communicate trauma-related stress through internalising behaviours such as self-harming. Professionals work hard to deliver effective care.
The YCS is further developing gender-responsive guidance and training both at HMYOI Wetherby and for the wider youth estate.
Asked by: Samantha Dixon (Labour - Chester North and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Fifty-first Report of the Committee of Public Accounts of Session 2022-23 on Tackling Defra’s ageing digital services, HC 737, published on 10 May 2023, how much of the £871 million allocated in the 2021 Spending Review to be spent by his Department on digital investment over three years has been spent.
Answered by Mark Spencer
At least £381.5 million of the £871 million allocated in the 2021 Spending Review to be spent by Defra on digital investment has been spent as of 31 December 2023.
Approximately £134 million of the £871 million was allocated to Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) for their own IT expenditure and so is monitored through individual ALB finance processes rather than central Defra finance.
Asked by: Samantha Dixon (Labour - Chester North and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of flood defences.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is working closely with the Environment Agency and relevant authorities to ensure flood defences impacted by recent flooding are repaired as quickly as possible; around 14,000 asset inspections have been conducted following the recent storms with action taken wherever asset performance was compromised.
This year and last, £200 million is being invested in maintaining flood risk assets, with the aim of achieving our current target of between 94-95% in target condition.
In the City of Chester, in the current Flood and Coastal Risk Management capital programme, £20,000 of Flood Defence Grant-in-Aid funding has been allocated for projects in the constituency, which will better protect properties from flooding. There is also a proposed project in the Stretford and Urmston constituency (Longford Brook Flood Alleviation Scheme).
Asked by: Samantha Dixon (Labour - Chester North and Neston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will place a copy of his Department’s internal projection of the CPI inflation figure for October 2023 in the House of Commons Library.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the Government’s official forecaster.
The OBR published its most recent economic and fiscal forecasts in March 2023 and will publish an updated projection alongside the Autumn Statement on 22nd November.
Asked by: Samantha Dixon (Labour - Chester North and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that water companies meet their target for reduced pollution incidents by 2025.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
While the water sector has delivered a 15% reduction in category 1-3 pollution incidents since 2019, companies are not on track to meet the 2024-25 target. Both the Government and regulators expect water companies to step up this improvement. Ministers regularly meet with the regulators to discuss progress and have engaged directly with water companies who are not performing to the standard we expect.
The Environment Agency regularly meets with water companies to assure progress against their pollution reductions plans, which water companies are required to publish. Pollution offences may be subject to action in line with the Environment Agency’s Enforcement and Sanctions Policy.
Ofwat requires underperforming companies to produce detailed service delivery plans, and Ministers will be following this up with regular meetings with Chairs and CEOs to track progress. I have also written to Ofwat’s Chair and CEO asking them to outline the detailed steps they will take to hold all water companies to account on these findings.
Where companies have underperformed against their commitments, they will be required to return money directly to customers through their bills. Based on the results of Ofwat’s 2022-23 Water Company Performance Report, water companies will have to return £114 million over 2024-25.
Asked by: Samantha Dixon (Labour - Chester North and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that water companies (a) sample water entering their water treatment plants and (b) publish data on this.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
There is no requirement currently for water companies to sample and publish data on the quality of water entering their waste water treatment plants. However, they are required to sample treated effluents from their plants which are discharged to the environment. These samples are analysed and assessed for compliance against protective environmental permit requirements. This information is reported to the Environment Agency and published on GOV.UK.
However, a new requirement in S. 82 of the Environment Act 2021 requires sewerage undertakers to continuously monitor the quality of the receiving water upstream and downstream of their assets. This will allow sewerage undertakers to assess the impact of discharges from their assets on the receiving watercourse. The requirement covers both storm overflows and the treatment works discharges and is being introduced in 2025.