Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on ensuring the provision of community pharmacies in new housing developments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served by local pharmacies. Legislation requires PNAs to include consideration of the future need for pharmaceutical services in the area. The Department has published an information pack to support local authorities in preparation of PNAs, which is available at the following link:
Chapter 6 of the information pack provides advice on how future needs, improvement, or better access should be articulated in the PNA, including following any new housing developments. These assessments inform commissioning decisions by integrated care boards.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of waiting times for cases to be allocated to a Resolution Specialist at The Pensions Ombudsman.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Pension Ombudsman (TPO) has experienced a significant increase in complaints over the past several years, and this trend is continuing. This has impacted on waiting times for cases to be allocated to a resolution specialist. In response to this pressure, TPO has implemented an Operating Model Review (OMR) programme.
DWP are working closely with TPO to rigorously monitor the impact the OMR is having on waiting times and case allocation to resolution specialists.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the potential impact of Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging on local authorities in the (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27 and (c) 2027-28 financial years.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In October 2024, this Government published an updated impact assessment for the introduction of Extended Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR), which includes an assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme on Local Authorities at an aggregate level. The impact assessment can be found here: The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to support community pharmacies.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
For 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service, at over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26.
There is also additional funding available, for example for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations. The Pharmacy Access Scheme provides additional funding to support pharmacies in areas where there are fewer.
This year, legislation will also be laid to enable all pharmacies to benefit from the efficiencies of hub and spoke dispensing, and/or using pharmacy technicians to undertake more of the work in pharmacies, enabling pharmacists to spend more time with patients.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment his Department has made of pharmacy provision in (a) England and (b) Scotland.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As is custom and practice when considering policy development for England, we regularly examine and consider the services that are commissioned from pharmacies in a range of other jurisdictions. This includes regular liaison with Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland about their experiences and planned developments.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to amend the Construction Industry Training Board’s legislative scope order to include (a) plumbing and (b) electrical work.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Plumbing and electrical works are excluded from the Industrial Training Board’s (ITBs) current legislative scope order.
The 2023 independent review of the two remaining ITBs, Construction and Engineering Construction, recommended that there should be consultation with industry on a modified legislative scope order, aimed at resolving the most obvious anomalies.
The department is establishing a steering group to oversee the implementation of the accepted review recommendations and will explore out of scope sectors.
Whilst this is likely to primarily focus on new and emerging sectors, part of the exercise will be to listen to views from industry. Where there is strong evidence to support inclusion of different sectors this will be considered before legislative changes are progressed.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to seize Russian oligarchs’ UK homes to house Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Since the launch of the UK's Ukraine schemes, 219,400 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK as of December 2024, in part thanks to the immense generosity of the British public.
Designated individuals and entities do not forfeit ownership of assets frozen in the UK. However, the UK has legislation in place allowing us to keep sanctions in place.
Russia's obligations are clear: it must end its illegal war of aggression and pay for the damage it has caused Ukraine. We continue to work with our allies to pursue all lawful ways to ensure that Russia does so.
The UK has now disbursed over half of the UK's £2.26 billion contribution to the G7's Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration scheme. That contribution will be repaid by the profits generated on sanctioned Russian sovereign assets.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of EPC rating requirements for industrial buildings; and what steps he is taking to support small manufacturers in meeting future energy efficiency standards.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) regulations consider the energy efficiency of buildings to ensure they are futureproofed for any usage, irrespective of the occupant. MHCLG also recently published a consultation on EPC reform to ensure they are a more effective tool for understanding a buildings energy performance in future.
Non-domestic MEES regulations currently only require buildings, including industrial buildings, below EPC E to improve their energy efficiency. We consulted on strengthening this to EPC B by 2030, and plan to publish our government response in the first half of 2025.
In regard to support for small manufacturers, government publishes various schemes on gov.uk, both local and national, that help with the costs of energy efficiency measures. This includes the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund which has offered up to £500 million. Our Business Energy Advice Service Pilot operates in the West Midlands also provides energy demand reduction and decarbonisation recommendations for SMEs with the provision of free match-funded grants available to support implementation. We also encourage SMEs to visit the UK Business Climate Hub, which provides information and advice on how to reduce energy use and carbon emissions.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme on brewers’ ability to invest in the UK; and what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on this issue.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme on packaging producers as a whole. This impact assessment did not split the assessment by sector.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 potential impact of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme on meeting the Government’s circular economy goals.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) is the first step in realising the Government’s circular economy manifesto commitment. This forms part of a set of interconnected reforms, including Simpler Recycling in England, the Plastic Packaging Tax, the expansion of the Emissions Trading Scheme and the Deposit Return Scheme for drink containers, which will provide the basis for system wide change.