Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help enhance chalk streams located in Hitchin and Harpenden constituency, including in the river (a) Hiz, (b) Oughton, (c) Purwell, (d) Mimram, (e) Lea and (f) Ver.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government and the Environment Agency (EA) is implementing actions identified in the Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) Chalk Streams Restoration Strategy, including improving its assessment of the flow pressure in chalk streams and working with partners to identify actions to improve flows.
Within the Hitchin and Harpenden constituency, the EA is working with the Catchment Partnership to develop river restoration projects on chalk streams near Whitwell. Further downstream on the River Mimram, it is engaging with landowners and working with Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust on sites at Digswell and Panshanger Park to narrow over wide and straightened channels.
On the River Lea, the EA is working with Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust to improve sites at Batford Springs Nature Reserve and at the Meads in Wheathampstead, stabilising banks and improving in channel and bankside vegetation.
On the River Ver, the EA is working with St Albans District Council to revitalise the water environment in Verulamium Park, restoring the River Ver to a more natural chalk stream, more resilient to climate change, and better able to support iconic chalk stream biodiversity. It has also been engaging with the Gorhambury estate to develop restoration projects.
The EA is currently in discussions with Affinity Water concerning an environmental improvement project for the River Hiz and securing funds though Ofwat’s Price Review process. In addition, since 1996, an augmentation scheme has been operational for the Rivers Hiz and Oughton to supplement flows from groundwater in times of dry weather to mitigate against the impact of abstraction.
The Government and the EA will continue to work with Water Resources East and Water Resources South East to define the long term environmental ambition for the area, including that for chalk streams.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to promote the apprenticeship route to young people in secondary education.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The department’s new ‘Career Starter Apprenticeships’ campaign showcases apprenticeship standards which offer great opportunities for those looking for their first role after leaving full-time education.
The first featured apprenticeships, all at level 2 and 3, launched in August. More information on the campaign can be found here: https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/apprentices/career-starter-apprenticeships, and more featured apprenticeships will be published over the coming months.
The department also continues to promote apprenticeships in schools and colleges through our Apprenticeship Support & Knowledge programme. This free service provides resources and interventions to help better educate young people about apprenticeships. Since September 2021 it has reached over 685,000 students and over 2,500 schools.
Alongside this, our ‘Get the Jump’ campaign is raising awareness and understanding of the full range of education and training choices available to young people. More information is available at: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-your-education-and-training-choices.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help encourage employers to provide high quality apprenticeships.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The department wants more employers to offer high-quality apprenticeships. We are increasing funding for apprenticeships in England to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year. Employers who pay the apprenticeship levy can make use of their levy funds, topped up by 10% by the government, to fund apprenticeship training and assessment in their businesses, and smaller employers can reserve funding for up to 10 new apprenticeships.
We are encouraging the use of more flexible training models, such as accelerated and flexi-job apprenticeships, so that employers in all sectors can benefit from apprenticeships and apprentices can attain occupational competence as quickly as possible. We also continue to make improvements to the apprenticeship levy transfer system to make it easier for large employers to make full use of their levy funds and support starts in their supply chain, sector, or local area, and to support more employers, including SMEs, to meet local or sectorial skills needs
We want to make sure that every apprentice has a high-quality experience. To achieve this, we are further improving quality by investing in a comprehensive package of professional development for apprenticeship training providers and their workforces, and by giving employers the tools, advice, and direction they need to provide high-quality experiences for their apprentices.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government plans to compensate students who attended university during the covid-19 pandemic for missed in-person teaching.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The unprecedented and unique nature of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated changes to the way higher education (HE) providers delivered their teaching.
The former Minister for Higher and Further Education wrote to all English HE providers to make clear that they are expected to offer a high-quality, face-to-face student experience. Online learning should only be offered to enhance the student experience, not to detract from it, and it should not be used as a cost-cutting measure. The former Secretary of State for Education wrote an open letter to students about face-to-face teaching, setting out what they can do if they feel they are not getting the teaching they signed up for.
HE providers are independent and autonomous bodies who are responsible for the management of their own affairs. If current or former students have concerns about the delivery of their university courses, they should first raise them with their provider. If their concerns remain unresolved, students at providers in England or Wales can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) for HE to consider their complaint. OIA recommendations can include practical remedies as well as financial compensation, where that is deemed appropriate.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) apprenticeships placements and (b) apprenticeship vacancies are available in Hertfordshire.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The department is committed to supporting employers and individuals across the country to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer.
The latest published statistics show that in the first three quarters of the 2021/2022 academic year, or August 2021 to April 2022, there were 4,960 apprenticeship starts in Hertfordshire.
As of 6 September 2022, there are currently 311 adverts comprising 407 vacancies within Hertfordshire posted on our Find An Apprenticeship service. Individuals can also find and apply for apprenticeship vacancies through an employer’s website, recruitment agencies, or local job centres, meaning that the actual number of apprenticeship vacancies in Hertfordshire will likely be higher than the stated figure.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to help support businesses with rising energy costs.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government announced a new six-month scheme – the Energy Price Guarantee for Businesses (EPGB) – to protect all businesses and other non-domestic energy users from soaring energy costs. The scheme will offer comparable support to that being provided for consumers and we expect the scheme to be available in the autumn. After this initial six-month scheme the Government will provide focused support for vulnerable sectors, targeted to make sure those most in need get support.
The Government is also providing a 50% business rates relief for businesses across the UK and reducing employer’s national insurance. This is in addition to the billions in grants and loans offered throughout the pandemic.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to increase the number of police officers in Hertfordshire.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
We are recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales by March 2023, the biggest recruitment drive in decades.
As at 30 June 2022, Hertfordshire police has recruited 190 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 304 officers.
As a result of their hard work and commitment police forces in England and Wales have recruited 13,790 additional officers, as at 30 June 2022, 69% of the 20,000 officer target.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to clear (a) backlogs and (b) delays at the Passport Office.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Between January and July 2022, His Majesty’s Passport Office processed 96.4% of standard UK applications within the published processing time of ten weeks.
Elevated passport demand is expected to continue into 2023, and HM Passport Office is working to help ensure that people continue to receive their passport in good time.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Government (a) has invested and (b) plans to invest in grassroots sports facilities in Hitchin and Harpenden constituency between 2019 and 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sport and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health and everyone, regardless of their background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
Since 2019, the department, through Sport England, has invested 24 grants totalling £171,061 into a wide range of grassroots sport projects within the Hitchin and Harpenden constituency. In addition, the Football Foundation, a charity jointly-funded by Sport England, has awarded £944,850 to develop football and multi-use grassroots sports facilities in the same period.
Sport England continues to work with Local Authorities and grassroots sports facilities to ensure that future funding is targeted where it can best improve access to sport and physical activity.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to (a) support and (b) accelerate the roll-out of (i) full-fibre broadband and (ii) 5g in rural communities.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In March 2021 we launched Project Gigabit, our £5 billion mission to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband across the UK. Project Gigabit’s objective is to level up the UK by giving hard-to-reach areas access to gigabit-capable internet speeds and, coupled with commercial gigabit delivery, ensuring almost all of the UK has access to gigabit-capable internet as soon as possible.
Our Project Gigabit procurements are prioritising delivery to rural, hard-to-reach premises and to those with the lowest broadband speeds. We have recently signed our first local Project Gigabit contract in North Dorset and expect to award further contracts over the coming months.
Furthermore, up to £210 million is available for Gigabit Broadband Vouchers, which are already helping communities that are not in line for commercial connections right now.
Building Digital UK’s legacy and current programmes have already upgraded over 740,000 hard-to-reach premises to gigabit speeds, and we are continuing to move at pace.
5G network rollout is a matter for industry, but we have seen good progress. Up to half of the properties in the UK are located in an area with outdoor 5G coverage available from at least one mobile network operator according to the latest statistics from communications regulator Ofcom.
We recently made reforms to the planning system to support the deployment of 5G and extend mobile coverage. The changes, which came into force on 4 April 2022, enable operators to upgrade existing sites for 5G and share infrastructure to improve mobile coverage, particularly in more rural areas. We are reducing further barriers to deployment by legislating to reform the Electronic Communications Code through the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill.
The Government is developing a Wireless Infrastructure Strategy to set out a strategic framework for the deployment and adoption of 5G, and within the Strategy we will be establishing a new ambition for 5G.