Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing sanctions for cases of puppy smuggling.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In August 2021, the Government launched a consultation on proposed restrictions, including enforcement measures, to the commercial import and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. We are carefully reviewing the feedback gathered from our consultation and wider engagement with stakeholders, and a summary will be published soon.
The Government supports the Private Members’ Bill, Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, introduced by Selaine Saxby MP on restricting the importation and non-commercial movement of pets. The Bill will contain powers that will enable future regulations, including penalties and offences, for non-compliant commercial and non-commercial movements of pets into the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department provides guidance to water companies on best practice for debt collection.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Guidance on best practice for debt collection by water companies was published in May 2022 by Ofwat, the independent economic regulator, in its Paying Fair Guidelines. These guidelines include best practice principles and minimum expectations for the provision of support to customers who are in debt and to those who are facing debt recovery action.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to include information about the benefits of eating (a) wholemeal and (b) traditionally made bread in the school curriculum to promote healthier eating habits.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The government wants to support the health and well-being of everyone. The department recognises the importance of education in delivering this aim and is supporting schools in a number of ways to provide high-quality healthy eating education for their students.
The department does not specify how schools should teach the curriculum. It is a framework setting out the content of what the department expects schools to cover in each subject and trusts that teachers will develop the right approach for pupils in their particular school.
Cooking and nutrition are a discrete strand of the national curriculum for design and technology and is compulsory for key stages 1 to 3. The curriculum aims to teach children how to cook and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and nutrition. Students should become competent in a range of cooking techniques, as well as understanding the characteristics of a broad range of ingredients. The curriculum does not specify bread, but teachers may choose to include it among the foods they study.
A food preparation and nutrition GCSE, introduced in September 2016, requires pupils to understand and apply the principles of food science, nutrition and healthy eating when preparing and cooking food. Pupils learn about bread when studying food groups, where they could learn about the nutritional benefits of wholemeal. Similarly, they develop dough making skills in the preparation section of the course, allowing them to learn about traditional bread making.
The importance of healthy eating is also included in the science curriculum for both primary and secondary schools. Healthy eating is covered through topics relating to nutrition and digestion, which cover the content of a healthy diet and the impact of diet on how the body functions.
The statutory guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education includes content on the importance of daily exercise, good nutrition and the risks associated with an inactive lifestyle, including obesity.
Oak National Academy will be providing a fully resourced curriculum for key stage 1 to key stage 3 for food and nutrition. This will align with the national curriculum and also Oak’s guiding principles, which focus on the knowledge and skills specific to food and nutrition.
In addition, the standards for school food are set out in the requirements for school food regulations 2014, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standards-for-school-food-in-england. These regulations are to ensure that schools provide children with healthy food and drink options, and to make sure that children get the energy and nutrition they need across the school day. The standards require bread, with no added fat or oil, to be available every day. The ‘School food standards practical guide’ encourages use of wholegrain varieties of starchy foods, as well as using at least half wholemeal or granary flour when making bread, puddings, cakes, biscuits, batters and sauces. The ‘School food standards practical guide’ can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools/school-food-standards-practical-guide#the-standards-for-school-lunch.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, which sectors have seen a reduction in exports since 31 January 2020; and what estimate she has made of the impact on GDP of those reductions by sector.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK trade statistics experienced higher levels of volatility between 2019 and 2022, due to the pandemic, global recession, supply chain disruption, EU Exit, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, price inflation, and data collection changes. Hence the department uses 2018 as the most recent stable baseline when comparing trends over time. Over this period (2018 to 2023) and after adjusting for inflation, UK exports of services rose £44bn (13%) and exports of goods (excluding precious metals) fell £45bn (-12%). With goods exports to the EU down £22bn (-13%) and down £22bn (-12%) to non-EU countries.
Changes in UK exports by commodity groups and service types are published by the ONS in their monthly UK trade publication. In 2023 compared to 2018, UK GDP increased by £80bn (4%) in real terms. This was driven by an £84bn (5%) increase for the services sector. We have not estimated how much of this was due to any change in exports.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, which industries have seen a reduction in exports since 31 January 2020; and what proportion those exports have reduced by.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK trade statistics experienced higher levels of volatility between 2019 and 2022, due to the pandemic, global recession, supply chain disruption, EU Exit, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, price inflation, and data collection changes. Hence the department uses 2018 as the most recent stable baseline when comparing trends over time. Over this period (2018 to 2023) and after adjusting for inflation, UK exports of services rose £44bn (13%) and exports of goods (excluding precious metals) fell £45bn (-12%). With goods exports to the EU down £22bn (-13%) and down £22bn (-12%) to non-EU countries.
Changes in UK exports by commodity groups and service types are published by the ONS in their monthly UK trade publication. In 2023 compared to 2018, UK GDP increased by £80bn (4%) in real terms. This was driven by an £84bn (5%) increase for the services sector. We have not estimated how much of this was due to any change in exports.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Southern Water on updating its sewage infrastructure, in the context of recent sewage discharges into the River Test.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular engagement with water companies to discuss a range of issues including measures to reduce sewage discharges, and improvements to water company infrastructure.
For example, in December 2023, he wrote to all water company Chief Executives, requesting that they improve sewer maintenance programmes over the next twelve months to help prevent storm overflow discharges.
Southern Water’s forward investment plan for sewage infrastructure, including planned improvements near the Test, is detailed in their draft business plan for the next Price Review period, which will run from 2025 - 2030. This is currently being reviewed by Ofwat. Ofwat’s determination will be issued later this year.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Environment Agency is taking to monitor levels of (a) ammonia and (b) e-coli in the River Test.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) has deployed a real time Water Quality monitor both upstream and downstream of Fullerton storm overflow in February 2024. The real time monitor is providing data on the ammonium levels in the river Test.
Data from upstream and downstream is being collected and analysed regarding the impact on the overall water quality of the river along with other parameters such as turbidity.
The EA has confirmed that there is no requirement to monitor e-coli in this instance as the ammonium data is the key indicator of water quality that may be compromised by organic material from an anthropogenic process, entering the watercourse.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with regulators to (a) safeguard the interests of consumers and (b) help ensure the financial stability of the water sector.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The five yearly Price Review process is currently underway for the period 2025-30, in which Ofwat sets an overall cap on the total amount that each water company may recover from their customers. As part of this process, Ofwat balances the interests of consumers with the ability of companies to finance the delivery of their services.
Regarding safeguarding consumer interests, Government is mindful consumers are concerned about their bills. For this reason, Defra expects all water companies to make customers aware of available support, including WaterSure, social tariffs, payment breaks, and debt management assistance. We are continuing to work with industry to explore options to improve existing social tariff arrangements and welcome the planned household charging trials in 2024-25.
Regarding financial stability, Ofwat assesses and monitors the financial resilience of each company on an individual and ongoing basis and challenges companies where they identify this is needed. As part of this work, Ofwat produces an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company. Through this publication, Ofwat aims to promote a focus on efficient investment that secures long-term resilience and delivers long-term value for money for customers and the environment.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure the (a) continuity and (b) quality of water services for people served by Thames Water.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Whilst the Government recognises Thames Water needs to take significant steps to improve its performance, Thames Water nonetheless provides some of the highest quality drinking water in the world along with other water companies in England.
Regulators ensure that companies have yearly performance commitment targets for continuity and quality of supply and hold companies to account when these targets are not reached. Government Ministers will shortly be meeting with Thames Water to reassert the importance of meeting all targets set by the regulators and ensure no customer is affected by failure to do so.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle chronic loneliness in people over the age of 65; and what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of those steps.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Many people experience loneliness and social isolation, and the Government is committed to reducing the stigma associated with loneliness, and building a more connected society. Government, local councils, health systems and voluntary and community sector organisations all have an important role to play in achieving this.
Since publishing the first ever government Strategy for Tackling Loneliness and appointing the world’s first Minister for Loneliness in 2018, we have invested almost £80 million in tackling loneliness. These interventions include a national communications campaign that aims to reduce the stigma of loneliness, which has reached at least 25 million people across the country. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is also delivering the ‘Know Your Neighbourhood Fund’ to boost volunteering and reduce loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England. We have also brought together over 750 people from across the public, private and charity sectors through our Tackling Loneliness Hub, where members can learn from events and workshops, share the latest research and collaborate on new initiatives.
Last March, we published the fourth annual report of our Tackling Loneliness Strategy. It contains over 60 new and ongoing commitments from 11 government departments. So far, we have made progress against at least 46 of these commitments and at least 7 have been completed. Due to the nature of the commitments many have now been incorporated into business as usual. The fifth annual report will provide a full update on commitments, and is due to be published in May.