Steff Aquarone

The Government is planning to publish updated community benefits guidance for onshore wind in England in due course.

The Government response to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee's report on grassroots music venues sets out our commitment to working across the music sector to support the sustainability of grassroots music. In particular, the Government is urging the live music industry to introduce a voluntary levy on tickets for stadium and arena shows, to help safeguard the future of the grassroots music sector. As part of our support for the sector, we are continuing to fund Arts Council England’s successful Supporting Grassroots Music Fund which provides grants to grassroots music venues, recording studios, promoters and festivals of live and electronic music in England.

As set out in the Government response, we have no plans to introduce a cut to VAT based on venue capacity or to undertake a bespoke economic analysis of the impact of a VAT cut to 10% on tickets.

In July 2024 the Government published an audit of public spending. This set out £22 billion of in-year pressures. These pressures were not limited to 2024–25, with the vast majority recurring in future years.

The Government is now fixing the foundations by delivering economic and fiscal stability, supporting public services, boosting investment, and setting the public finances on a sustainable path. These are essential foundations for long-run economic growth, and require tough decisions on tax, spending and welfare.

Flood Re have a statutory purpose to manage the transition to risk-reflective pricing of flood insurance for household premises between 2016 and 2039. Flood Re published their most recent Transition Plan in July 2023, outlining its progress and action on moving to affordable risk-reflective pricing by 2039. Flood Re’s next Transition plan (Transition Plan 4) will be published in summer 2028.

The swallowtail is a nationally rare butterfly and is restricted as a breeding species to the Norfolk Broads. The species was categorised as Vulnerable in the 2022 International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Regional Red List for Great Britian, moving from the near threatened category in 2010. This was due to a substantial population reduction in England of more than 30% in the previous 10 years. We have no separate trend data for the North Norfolk constituency.

Over £200 million has been invested in Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) projects in Norfolk since 2010, protecting 15,500 properties. Two major coast protection schemes are currently underway in North Norfolk, at Mundesley and Cromer, funded through Government FCERM Grant in Aid. These two schemes, with a forecast total cost of £30 million, will better protect 600 homes from coastal erosion and climate change over this century.

Funding for these schemes have come about through a close working partnership between North Norfolk District Council and the local Environment Agency team who work together to find affordable and environmentally sound solutions to the challenges facing the coast. They also work together on the Anglian Coastal Monitoring Programme which began in 1990 and is one of the longest running regional scale Government funded coastal monitoring programmes in the world. The output of this programme is essential for both the technical design of engineering solutions and providing robust, evidence-based policies for sustainable coastal management into the long term.

North Norfolk is also benefitting from approximately £15 million funding through the Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme, delivered locally through the Coastwise project, trialling innovative approaches to adapt to the impacts of climate change and coastal erosion. The Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme aims to speed up strategic and action planning on how coastal local authorities, partners and communities will address the long-term plan of moving communities, businesses and resources away from the coast at risk. The programme is supporting the trial of early on-the-ground actions for medium and long-term plans. This will allow coastal areas at serious risk to address the challenges a changing climate creates.

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.

We are committed to transforming the National Health Service so that we diagnose cancer earlier, treat it faster, and improve survival rates.

On 12 September 2024 the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre published their State of the Nation Report on Pancreatic Cancer, and the NHS cancer programme is currently considering how to take forward the initial recommendations of that audit. NHS England is also funding a new audit into pancreatic cancer to increase the consistency of access to treatments, and to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients.

For people with higher risk due to family history, NHS England is providing options for enhanced pancreatic cancer surveillance. They are also creating pathways to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms and increasing direct access for general practitioners to diagnostic tests.

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 closure of a general practice (GP) surgery is an issue that is considered and decided upon by local commissioners, following an application from a GP provider. Practices close for a variety of reasons, including mergers or retirement, and so do not necessarily indicate a reduction in the quality of care. When a practice does close, patients are informed of the closure and advised to register at another local practice of their choice, within their area.

Commissioners are accountable for ensuring that patients have access to a GP. In the event of a closure, commissioners will assess the need for a replacement provider before transferring patients to alternative practices when a GP surgery closes.

General practitioners receive global sum funding for providing core services, comprising approximately 50 to 60% of practice income. The global sum is a capitated payment, calculated based on the size of a practice’s registered list of patients, and weighted using the Carr-Hill formula. Through the Carr-Hill formula, payments to practices are adjusted in consideration of several factors, including the geographical location of a practice. This includes accounting for the additional costs of delivering services in rural areas, and in areas where staff costs are higher.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 11851 on 8 November 2024.

This Government has recently announced that it will not be proceeding with the existing devolution deal with Norfolk County Council which was agreed with the previous Government in December 2022. Instead, Government are continuing with Norfolk to deliver a more ambitious new agreement as we lay the foundations for the English Devolution Bill.

This Government strongly believes that the benefits of devolution are best achieved through the establishment of combined institutions with a directly elected leader. Mayors should have a unique role in an institution which allows them to focus fully on their devolved strategic responsibilities, working hand in glove with council leaders who will vitally also focus on the delivery of the essential services for which they are responsible.

Conflating these two responsibilities into the same individual and institution, as is the case under the mayoral Single Local Authority model of devolution, would risk the optimal delivery of both and is not in line with the direction of travel we are setting out ahead of the English Devolution Bill.

This Government has recently announced that it will not be proceeding with the existing devolution deal with Norfolk County Council which was agreed with the previous Government in December 2022. Instead, Government are continuing with Norfolk to deliver a more ambitious new agreement as we lay the foundations for the English Devolution Bill.

This Government strongly believes that the benefits of devolution are best achieved through the establishment of combined institutions with a directly elected leader. Mayors should have a unique role in an institution which allows them to focus fully on their devolved strategic responsibilities, working hand in glove with council leaders who will vitally also focus on the delivery of the essential services for which they are responsible.

Conflating these two responsibilities into the same individual and institution, as is the case under the mayoral Single Local Authority model of devolution, would risk the optimal delivery of both and is not in line with the direction of travel we are setting out ahead of the English Devolution Bill.

This Government has recently announced that it will not be proceeding with the existing devolution deal with Norfolk County Council which was agreed with the previous Government in December 2022. Instead, Government are continuing with Norfolk to deliver a more ambitious new agreement as we lay the foundations for the English Devolution Bill.

This Government strongly believes that the benefits of devolution are best achieved through the establishment of combined institutions with a directly elected leader. Mayors should have a unique role in an institution which allows them to focus fully on their devolved strategic responsibilities, working hand in glove with council leaders who will vitally also focus on the delivery of the essential services for which they are responsible.

Conflating these two responsibilities into the same individual and institution, as is the case under the mayoral Single Local Authority model of devolution, would risk the optimal delivery of both and is not in line with the direction of travel we are setting out ahead of the English Devolution Bill.

This Government has recently announced that it will not be proceeding with the existing devolution deal with Norfolk County Council which was agreed with the previous Government in December 2022. Instead, Government are continuing with Norfolk to deliver a more ambitious new agreement as we lay the foundations for the English Devolution Bill.

This Government strongly believes that the benefits of devolution are best achieved through the establishment of combined institutions with a directly elected leader. Mayors should have a unique role in an institution which allows them to focus fully on their devolved strategic responsibilities, working hand in glove with council leaders who will vitally also focus on the delivery of the essential services for which they are responsible.

Conflating these two responsibilities into the same individual and institution, as is the case under the mayoral Single Local Authority model of devolution, would risk the optimal delivery of both and is not in line with the direction of travel we are setting out ahead of the English Devolution Bill.