Tim Farron

The Employment Rights Bill will provide a new baseline of security for all workers, including those working on a visa. These protections include day one protection from unfair dismissal, increasing protection from harassment, strengthening Statutory Sick Pay and ending exploitative zero hours contacts.

The new Fair Work Agency will help ensure new minimum standards are being upheld across the country, by increasing awareness and accessibility of workers’ rights by providing a single point of contact, as well as supporting businesses to access clearer rules, information and advice to comply with the law.

The Employment Rights Bill will provide a new baseline of security for all workers, including those working on a visa. These protections include day one protection from unfair dismissal, increasing protection from harassment, strengthening Statutory Sick Pay and ending exploitative zero hours contacts.

The new Fair Work Agency will help ensure new minimum standards are being upheld across the country, by increasing awareness and accessibility of workers’ rights by providing a single point of contact, as well as supporting businesses to access clearer rules, information and advice to comply with the law.

JET has been at the forefront of fusion research and innovation, and its final experiments produced a world record in energy output. However, JET is now 40 years old. An evaluation undertaken by EUROfusion in 2016 concluded that upgrades to JET did not provide value for money and it was decided to plan for the end of scientific operations. JET decommissioning will generate valuable knowledge for future fusion endeavours, alongside UK investment in new facilities. We are not aware of any instances where the decommissioning of JET has been raised by the EU Commission in discussion with UK ministers.

The Department does not hold data on smart meters operating in traditional mode at constituency level. Data held by the Department is reported at Great Britain-wide level and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/smart-meters-statistics. Smart meters operating in traditional mode continue to record energy usage accurately but do not send automatic readings to energy suppliers.

A Project Gigabit contract for Cumbria has been awarded to the broadband supplier Fibrus. Discussion on the inclusion of the parishes of Warcop, Hilton, Murton and Ormside within the contract is currently underway with Fibrus, with the aim of reaching an agreement by the end of December 2024.

The department is examining what provision will best meet the needs of employers and students in this important sector, which plays an important role in Cumbria.

There are 143 level 2 and level 3 qualifications in the hospitality and catering sector for 16-19 year olds that are approved for funding in 2024/2025. Catering qualifications are not due to be defunded as part of the post 16 qualifications reform.

There is a wide range of support and guidance available for employers and providers to ensure that T Level students have a high quality experience on their industry placement. This includes workshops, webinars, continuing professional development support and online guidance. Providers also receive £550 per industry placement student as part of their wider 16-19 funding allocation to support the costs of sourcing and setting up industry placements and can use their 16-19 bursary funding to support disadvantaged students to access placements.

The latest data shows that 78% of 2021 T Level starters who completed an industry placement were ‘very’ or ‘quite satisfied’ with it.

The government has launched an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering key stages 1 to 5, which will be chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review will consider the current qualification pathways available at key stage 4 and key stage 5. A call for evidence will be published in the autumn, which will set out the areas where the review group would particularly welcome input. Further information about the Review is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-curriculum-and-assessment-review.

Environmental Land Management schemes remain at the centre of our offer for farmers, with the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and Landscape Recovery all continuing. There are now over 60,000 live agreements across these schemes, supported by £5 billion in the agricultural budget over the next two years in the recent budget. This budget is funding farmers in these schemes deliver improvements to food security, biodiversity, carbon emissions, water quality, air quality and flood resilience through winter 2024/25 and beyond.

There is no change to the timeline for phasing out delinked payments. We plan to pay delinked payments each year from 2024 to 2027.

In the Budget announced last month, the Government committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years, including more money than ever for sustainable food production: £1.8 billion for environmental land management schemes in 2025/26. This enables us to keep momentum on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector.

We’re also optimising our farming schemes, so they work efficiently for all farmers, food security and the environment, especially for those that are too often ignored such as small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms.

The Government has committed to support farmers through a farming budget of £5 billion over two years, including £2.4 billion in 2025/26. This will include the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history.

We are continuing to phase out delinked payments. Instead, we are targeting additional investments away from direct payments towards the farms least able to adapt, with Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes remaining at the centre of our offer for farmers. Phasing out delinked payments will allow us to focus investment on ELM schemes, which will be funded with £1.8 billion in 2025/26. This funding will deliver improvements to food security, biodiversity, carbon emissions, water quality, air quality and flood resilience. It will enable farmers to make their businesses more sustainable and resilient, including those who have been often ignored such as small, grassland, upland and tenant farmers.

We are providing advice via the Resilience Scheme, which can help adaptation by those farms most affected by reducing delinked payments. We will work with the sector to continue to roll out, improve and evolve our ELM schemes, to make them work for farming and nature.

In October, the Government announced that it intends to accelerate the end of the era of payouts to large and wealthy landowners simply for owning land. The fastest reductions in subsidies will be to those who historically received the largest payments. For 2025 delinked payments, we plan to apply a 76% reduction to the first £30,000 of a payment, while making no payments for any portion of a payment above £30,000.

On farm support more broadly, the Government has committed to support farmers through a farming budget of £5 billion over two years, including £2.4 billion in 2025/26.

Phasing out delinked payments will allow us to focus more of this funding on Environmental Land Management schemes.

The farming budget for future years will be agreed as part of phase 2 of the Spending Review.

The Government takes the condition of local highway assets, including roads and cycleways, very seriously and is committed to maintaining and renewing the local highway network. As a local highway authority, Westmorland and Furness Council is responsible for the condition of all parts of its local highway network, including cycleways and footways.

In the current financial year, the Department has provided over £20.7 million of highway maintenance funding to Westmorland and Furness Council to enable it to maintain all parts of its local highway network. Highways maintenance funding allocations for 2025/26 will be announced shortly. Active travel capital funding allocations for local authorities in 2024/25, will also be announced in due course.

The Department does not hold information regarding how many patients from a particular constituency are treated in a specific hospital. Data regarding radiotherapy treatment is published monthly by NHS England.

The following table shows the mean and median average waiting times between referral and first contact for children and young people aged under 18 years old, in the nearest equivalent local authority areas, for April to September 2024:

Source: Mental Health Services Dataset, NHS England.

This is based on referrals that have a contact and does not include those that are still waiting.

In England in 2023/24, the number and proportion of adult patients seen in the 24 months up to the end of June 2024 was 18.4 million, or 40.3% of the adult population. The number and proportion of child patients seen in the 12 months up to the end of June 2024 was 6.7 million, or 56% of the population of children.

Figures are published by the NHS Business Services Authority and are available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324

The reconfiguration of services is a matter for integrated care boards and local healthcare systems, in cases of specialised and national services. All service changes should be based on clear evidence, clinically led, and involve engagement with patients and stakeholders, to ensure they will deliver better outcomes for patients. The trust will be publishing a timeline for the reopening of this service shortly.

Due to staffing issues in May 2024, there was a temporary suspension of birth services at the Helme Chase Maternity Unit, for a period of six months. Following a full review of the service and relevant staffing models, the trust has developed options which will allow reinstatement of birth services at the unit. The best option is currently being consulted with the relevant teams, and will be shared at the earliest opportunity.

Whilst birthing services are temporarily suspended, women can access antenatal and postnatal care, and outpatient appointments at Helme Chase continue as normal. The trust’s home birth service and consultant-led birth services at Furness General Hospital and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary also remain unchanged.

Responsibility for decisions about the delivery, funding, and implementation of services ultimately rests with the National Health Service commissioner, and it is important that integrated care systems operate with a high degree of autonomy in making decisions in the interests of their populations.

The University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust has reviewed how beds are configured across their three main hospitals, the Furness General Hospital, the Westmorland General Hospital, and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. This review has shown that there are opportunities to improve how beds are used within these hospitals, which would lead to:

• improved patient care and outcomes;
• improved staff and patient experience;
• streamlined clinical pathways which will allow them to ensure their patients receive the right care, at the right time, in the right unit, and reduce inpatient length of stay;
• clinical colleagues being able to spend more time with patients by reducing the need to visit various wards to see patients who should all be in the same place; and
• increased resilience over the winter period.

All the services will continue to be offered, but from different areas in the same hospital, or more appropriate settings within the community. Adult social care services within Westmorland and Furness Council have confirmed that they are currently able to offer support to appropriate patients.

Since 2017, the UK has provided over £48 million in aid including cash assistance and water, sanitation and hygiene services to the Rohingya and other Muslim minorities in Rakhine state. We continue to work with members of the United Nations Security Council and international partners in calling for the protection of civilians and the need for unhindered humanitarian access to ensure support can reach the most vulnerable. In May 2024, the UK, along with international partners, released a statement calling on all armed actors to ensure the protection of civilians in Rakhine state. We will continue to work with international partners to ensure there is accountability for acts committed against the Rohingya, including through the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

We are aware of Ms Farah's case. We condemn Iran's restrictions against Freedom of Religion or Belief. Christians, particularly converts from Islam and other minority religions, continue to face severe repression in Iran. We are committed to holding Iran to account for its attacks against religious minorities, including at the UN Third Committee this month.

The government will introduce the UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on 1 January 2027, as first announced in December 2023.

The UK CBAM will ensure highly traded, carbon intensive products from overseas face a comparable carbon price to those produced here, making sure that UK decarbonisation efforts lead to a true reduction in global emissions rather than simply displacing carbon emissions overseas.

UK manufacturers already face a carbon price via the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The UK CBAM rate that is charged on imports will reflect the final carbon price paid by domestic industries after support mechanisms (such as free allowances within the UK ETS) have been taken into account. As a result, we expect initial liabilities arising from the UK CBAM to be modest whilst encouraging the supply and use of fertiliser with lower levels of embodied carbon than would otherwise have been the case.

The Government expects that there will be no material impact on UK food prices, as a result of the UK CBAM.

Over the course of the last year, His Majesty’s Treasury and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have undertaken significant and comprehensive engagement on the design and implementation of the UK CBAM. This includes discussions with stakeholders in the farming and fertiliser sectors.

The Government Response to the recent consultation on the introduction of a UK CBAM, including a summary of responses, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-introduction-of-a-uk-carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism

The government will introduce the UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on 1 January 2027, as first announced in December 2023.

The UK CBAM will ensure highly traded, carbon intensive products from overseas face a comparable carbon price to those produced here, making sure that UK decarbonisation efforts lead to a true reduction in global emissions rather than simply displacing carbon emissions overseas.

UK manufacturers already face a carbon price via the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The UK CBAM rate that is charged on imports will reflect the final carbon price paid by domestic industries after support mechanisms (such as free allowances within the UK ETS) have been taken into account. As a result, we expect initial liabilities arising from the UK CBAM to be modest whilst encouraging the supply and use of fertiliser with lower levels of embodied carbon than would otherwise have been the case.

The Government expects that there will be no material impact on UK food prices, as a result of the UK CBAM.

Over the course of the last year, His Majesty’s Treasury and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have undertaken significant and comprehensive engagement on the design and implementation of the UK CBAM. This includes discussions with stakeholders in the farming and fertiliser sectors.

The Government Response to the recent consultation on the introduction of a UK CBAM, including a summary of responses, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-introduction-of-a-uk-carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism

The government will introduce the UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on 1 January 2027, as first announced in December 2023.

The UK CBAM will ensure highly traded, carbon intensive products from overseas face a comparable carbon price to those produced here, making sure that UK decarbonisation efforts lead to a true reduction in global emissions rather than simply displacing carbon emissions overseas.

UK manufacturers already face a carbon price via the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The UK CBAM rate that is charged on imports will reflect the final carbon price paid by domestic industries after support mechanisms (such as free allowances within the UK ETS) have been taken into account. As a result, we expect initial liabilities arising from the UK CBAM to be modest whilst encouraging the supply and use of fertiliser with lower levels of embodied carbon than would otherwise have been the case.

The Government expects that there will be no material impact on UK food prices, as a result of the UK CBAM.

Over the course of the last year, His Majesty’s Treasury and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have undertaken significant and comprehensive engagement on the design and implementation of the UK CBAM. This includes discussions with stakeholders in the farming and fertiliser sectors.

The Government Response to the recent consultation on the introduction of a UK CBAM, including a summary of responses, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-introduction-of-a-uk-carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism