Steff Aquarone

We are working closely with local authorities and other key stakeholders across the waste sector to support implementation of food waste collections under Simpler Recycling in England. We are aware of concerns about delivery timelines, pressure on supply chains for vehicles and containers, and the need to upgrade waste and recycling infrastructure. Defra is working with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) on interventions to address bottlenecks in supply chains, including recently published guidance by WRAP to support local authorities procuring food waste services: Weekly food waste implementation supplementary procurement guidance | WRAP.

Public authorities (such as waste collection authorities) are expected to comply with their statutory duties. If they do not comply, they are at risk of judicial review. Local authorities are independent bodies and are accountable to their electorate rather than to Ministers or Government departments.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is committed to supporting coastal communities and providing a strategic plan to manage flood and coastal erosion risks including the use of Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs).

The new £360 million Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund will provide investment in our coastal communities to help revitalise communities and support tourism. We will be engaging with local authorities, coastal community groups and local industry associations to understand how we can best target this funding to where it matters most.

Mandatory Housing combined with stringent biosecurity measures provides greater risk reduction and together these measures have been key in mitigating the risk of spread of avian influenza and keeping the case rate down in the face of extensive wild bird infection during the recent higher risk winter periods.

The need for Avian Influenza Prevention Zones (AIPZ) is kept under regular review as part of the government’s work to monitor and manage the risks of avian influenza. Any decisions on introduction or amendment of AIPZs, including on addition or removal of mandatory housing measures, are based on risk assessments that take full account of the latest scientific and ornithological evidence and veterinary advice.

The £36 million coastal transition accelerator programme is supporting communities and businesses at risk of coastal erosion to transition and adapt to a changing coast.

This includes working with the finance and property sectors to explore innovative finance or funding mechanisms to help move communities away from rapidly eroding areas, for instance schemes to incentivise the relocation of at-risk infrastructure for businesses and homeowners.

The Environment Agency administers the Coastal Erosion Assistance Grant on behalf of Defra. The grant provides £6,000 per property to assist local authorities with the demolition and removal costs associated with homes at imminent risk from coastal erosion.

There are currently no plans to extend the scope of the Flood Re scheme, however Defra regularly reviews all policies, including eligibility for Flood Re.

We will launch a consultation in the coming months which will include a review of the existing flood funding formula to ensure that the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account when delivering flood protection. Feedback will be sought on the advantages and disadvantages of potential reforms to the flood funding formula.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) does not require driving licence holders or applicants to be tested for glaucoma. However, drivers are legally required to inform the DVLA if they have been diagnosed with glaucoma in both eyes, or if they have been advised by their optician or optometrist that they do not meet the eyesight standards for driving.

When the DVLA is notified of a glaucoma diagnosis, the driver will be referred for a visual field test. The results of this test will be used to determine whether the individual concerned meets the required eyesight standards for driving.

Rail interoperability is not a focus area for the UK-EU Summit on 19 May and the Secretary of State has not had discussions on this topic with colleagues attending.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) offers a range of payment options, including direct debits, cheques and debit and credit cards.

The DVLA keeps its range of payment options under review, taking into account the associated costs and benefits of potential new options.

To qualify for maintenance payments a child must meet the Child Maintenance Service's criteria. They must be:

• under 20 years of age and
• in full time non-advanced education or approved training, and
• eligible for Child Benefit.

They must also be habitually resident in the UK and usually living in the same household as the receiving parent. Child maintenance defines a child the same way as Child Benefit does to offer consistency across rules. Child benefit is not used as a blunt tool in determining who may be considered a receiving parent and the CMS can consider multiple different forms of evidence when determining who is the primary carer.

If a paying parent believes that the Child Maintenance (CM) liability should cease because a qualifying child (QC) no longer meets the statutory definition of a qualifying young person but checks with His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) disagree, the CM caseworker can ask the receiving parent to provide;

1. verbal confirmation of the QCs status if they agree that the paying parent’s statement is correct, or

2. where they disagree with the paying parent, a letter from the school or college confirming the QCs status, or

3. written confirmation from an employer that the QC has started work.

Where the paying parent believes that Child Benefit is claimed fraudulently, the paying parent will be signposted to report the fraud to HMRC at Gov.UK.

Child Maintenance Service make automated monthly requests to HMRC asking for all children aged 16 to 19 who are included in its caseload, to establish whether Child Benefit is still in payment.

The CMS has a Financial Investigations Unit (FIU), that can investigate complex cases. This is a specialist team which can investigate the accuracy of information the CMS is given by either parent.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in.

When a paying parent does not make maintenance payments on time or in full, the CMS will initially negotiate a payment that is feasible for the parent to pay, taking into account the individual circumstances of each case.

The Debt Steer provides a policy-based framework for arrears negotiation. Its purpose is to ensure arrears are collected as promptly and reliably as possible, taking into account all relevant circumstances i.e. full arrears payment by one lump sum, partial lump sum payment and a schedule of on-going payments to recover any remaining arrears within a maximum of two years, and a schedule of on-going payments to recover the full arrears within two years.

After investigating the paying parent’s circumstances and financial situation, discretion can be applied to negotiate an arrangement that extends beyond a two-year period, providing it is a reliable and consistent plan for the recovery of arrears.

If this is unsuccessful and the paying parent is employed, the CMS can request that ongoing child maintenance payments be deducted directly from their salary by issuing what we call a Deductions from Earnings Order (DEO). A DEO instructs an employer to make deductions from the paying parent’s earnings and pay the amounts to the CMS who will pass this onto the receiving parent. The CMS also has powers to deduct maintenance from a wide range of bank accounts including joint and business accounts.

If this is unsuccessful, the CMS will use further measures, including order for sale, where it can apply to the courts for the sale of the paying parent’s assets or property, removal of driving licences, disqualification of passports, and committal to prison.

The Department will be considering the issue of rent charging years with 53 Mondays as part of its wider Universal Credit Review.

The Department is committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to and meeting our objectives of making work pay and tackling poverty. We have already begun this work with the introduction of the new fair repayment rate announced in the Budget. We will continue to work closely with stakeholders as the review progresses to seek views on proposed areas of focus and untapped opportunities in UC. Parliament will be updated on progress and future changes accordingly.

The information requested is not held by the Department.

For both the legacy Personal Independence Payment contracts (that completed on 6 September 2024) and the new Functional Assessment Service contracts, providers do not/did not split their costs by service channel.

Under the new Functional Assessment Service contracts, the costs provided by the Suppliers are not split between the individual service elements (ie Personal Independence payments, Work Capability Assessments and Specialist Benefits).

The current financial year, which runs from 06/04/24 to 05/04/25, does not contain 53 Mondays.

Universal Credit always converts weekly amounts to monthly sums using 52 weeks. The legitimacy of this approach was confirmed by the High Court having been tested via a judicial review.

Every five or six years, weekly tenants may have a rent charging year containing 53 charging days. This will not apply in all cases and some claimants will not have a 53-week charging year during the life of their benefit claim.

The rent charging year beginning 1 April 2024 and ending on 6 April 2025 is one such year and is of a period which exceeds one calendar year and is not aligned to a financial year. The 53rd payment covers the tenancy for part of the following calendar year.

Most people in work are paid monthly, as is Universal Credit, and they budget for their outgoings on a monthly basis. Weekly rental liabilities do not map directly onto a monthly cycle and this creates budgeting complexities for tenants. They will be required to make only four payments of rent in some months but five payments in others even though their monthly income remains constant. This problem exists in all rent charging years, not just those with 53 Mondays.

The Government will consider this issue as part of its wider work on Universal Credit.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The supply of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets has greatly improved. However, some issues persist. We are continuing to work to resolve these remaining issues by engaging with all suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets and capsules to assess the challenges faced and their actions to address them. We are also directing suppliers to secure additional stocks, expedite deliveries where possible, and review plans to build further capacity to support continued growth in demand for the short and long-term. The Department is also working with new suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets and capsules to improve the supply and resiliency for the United Kingdom’s market.

The Department continually updates a list of currently available and unavailable attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) products on the Specialist Pharmacy Service website. This helps ensure those involved in the prescribing and dispensing of ADHD medications can make informed decisions with patients. This list is available at the following link:

www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/prescribing-available-medicines-to-treat-adhd

The Department monitors and manages medicine supply at a national level so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand. Information on stock levels within Norfolk is not held centrally.

NHS England’s new Operating Model, published on 30 January, sets out in Section 4 how it will support National Health Service bodies to deliver efficiencies by improving commercial arrangements. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/our-new-operating-model-supporting-you-to-deliver-high-quality-care-for-patients/

These include supporting them to make full use of the products, goods, and services available through the NHS Supply Chain, when best value exists, to procure from frameworks operated by an accredited framework host, to use the NHS Spend Comparison Service to identify savings, the Health Commercial System, also known as Atamis, to undertake commercial activity, and the NHS procurement value and savings methodology to track and report on procurement savings and benefits.

Patients have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need. Currently, the waiting list stands at 7.48 million patient pathways, with over 6 million people waiting, including 235,000 on neurology waiting lists.

We will ensure that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029, increasing performance to 65% by March 2026, as set out in the Elective Reform Plan. We will deliver an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments across all specialties, including neurology appointments, during our first year in Government, as a First Step in our commitment to ensuring that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.

Alongside the breadth of reforms and productivity efforts in the plan, we will increase activity, deliver improvements in patient experience, and reduce waiting times for neurology patients across the country.

We are taking action across Government to address the environmental and socio-economic determinants of health, and are aiming to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions. We know that targeted action to tackle health inequalities will facilitate economic opportunities, and support a National Health Service fit for the future.

Addressing healthcare inequity is a core focus of the 10-Year Health Plan, to ensure the NHS is there for anyone who needs it, whenever they need it. We have established 11 working groups to take forward policy development that will feed into the plan. This includes working groups focused on how care should be designed and delivered to improve healthcare equity, alongside ensuring that access to healthcare services is effective and responsive.

At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November 2024, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) committed to implement a register of beneficial ownership accessible to those with a legitimate interest offering the maximum possible degree of access and transparency, whilst containing the necessary safeguards to protect the right to privacy in line with its constitution, by June 2025.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials have been in regular contact with the BVI to press for improvements to its register and to ensure that it meets its JMC commitment. The BVI published an updated policy on its register on 23 June. In my discussions with Premier Wheatley, I will continue to make clear the importance of further improvements in the BVI's proposal, as well as timely delivery of the register. My Written Ministerial Statement of 3 July provides further details of the next steps.

I have raised this issue on a number of occasions recently with the Premier both bilaterally and in the context of wider meetings with OT leaders. I look forward to meeting him again in person soon to raise this and other matters. Our expectations remain the same.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Home Office and Treasury officials coordinate regularly on work around advancing beneficial ownership transparency. We are clear on the benefits of accessible registers of beneficial ownership, which not only include tackling illicit finance and corruption, but also fighting tax and sanctions evasion.

At the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November 2024, the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena committed to join Montserrat and Gibraltar in implementing fully public registers by April 2025. The British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos Islands agreed to implement registers of beneficial ownership, accessible to those with a legitimate interest, by June 2025. It remains our expectation that the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will ultimately implement fully public registers.

The Crown Dependencies have committed to increasing the transparency of their beneficial ownership registers and are working towards implementing access to those with legitimate interest, in line with the EU's 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

I have and will continue to raise this directly with elected leaders across the Overseas Territories, and Home Office Ministers and officials will continue to engage with the Crown Dependencies. I regularly engage with Ministerial colleagues on matters related to the Overseas Territories, including in HM Treasury.

At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November 2024, all Overseas Territories committed to implementing registers with the maximum possible degree of access and transparency. The Falkland Islands and Saint Helena committed to join Montserrat and Gibraltar in implementing fully public registers by April 2025. The British Virgin Islands (BVI), Cayman, Bermuda, Anguilla and Turks & Caicos Islands agreed to implement registers of beneficial ownership, accessible to those with a legitimate interest, by June 2025.

UK Officials are working proactively with Overseas Territories officials to ensure their proposals meet the agreements made at the JMC. I have and will continue to raise this directly with elected leaders, including in my meeting with Premier Wheatley of BVI, in his own capacity, and as President of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association (UKOTA) last week.