Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of funding provided by UK Research and Investment for research papers.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UKRI is the national funding agency that invests in and facilitates research and innovation activities across the United Kingdom. Research papers are a key means of communicating the results of research and innovation activities contributing to the body of knowledge across different research areas.
Every £1 of public R&D funding leverages around £2 of additional private sector investment. The UK is a leader in science and research. With less than one per cent of the world’s population, the UK accounts for 6.3% of the world’s academic publications, and 13.4% of the most highly cited research publications.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will take steps to ensure that research papers funded through UK Research and Innovation are politically neutral.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Decisions on research papers funded by UKRI are made through independent evaluation by experts who are required to be politically neutral in their decision making.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department have made an assessment of the impact of the local government finance settlement on Havering Council.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £64.7 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023-24. This above-inflation increase demonstrates how the Government stands behind councils up and down the country.
For Havering Council, this Settlement represents an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £15.82 million (7.2%) – making available a total of up to £236.4 million in 2024-25. We have also published details of support agreed with a small number of councils, including Havering Council, that have requested financial support on an exceptional basis due to specific local issues that they are unable to manage themselves.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the state of Havering Council’s finances.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £64.7 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023-24. This above-inflation increase demonstrates how the Government stands behind councils up and down the country.
For Havering Council, this Settlement represents an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £15.82 million (7.2%) – making available a total of up to £236.4 million in 2024-25. We have also published details of support agreed with a small number of councils, including Havering Council, that have requested financial support on an exceptional basis due to specific local issues that they are unable to manage themselves.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what plans he has to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the signing of the Entente Cordiale.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
On 8 April, the UK and France celebrated the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale with joint changing of the guard ceremonies at Buckingham Palace and the Élysée Palace. Throughout this anniversary year, our respective embassies are organising events reflecting the breadth of the UK-France relationship, showcasing our longstanding cooperation on issues including climate change, science, sport, culture, defence, education, and trade. In meetings last week, I reflected on this anniversary and positive state of the relationship with my French counterpart and with the French Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the economic impact of the free trade agreements with (a) Australia and (b) New Zealand since they came into force.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department’s impact assessments of the UK-Australia and UK-New Zealand Free Trade Agreements were published on 17 December 2021 and 28 February 2022 respectively. These impact assessments set out the potential long-run incremental economic impact of these FTAs and are available on gov.uk.
The agreements entered in force on the 31 May 2023, and we continue to monitor the economic impact of the two Governments.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his Department’s policy to reintroduce Lord Lieutenancies of the historic counties abolished upon the creation of Greater London in 1965.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The allocation of Lieutenancies to counties was set out in the 1997 Lieutenancies Act and there are currently no plans to amend it.
The Government attaches great importance to the history and traditions of this country and recognises that the tapestry of our historic counties is one of the bonds that draws the nation together. Whilst the Government shares your enthusiasm for promoting historic counties, it has no plans for any legislation on historic counties.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with his (a) French and (b) Belgian counterparts on the use of European Union passport e-gates by British nationals in (i) the European Union and (ii) Gare du Nord station.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office continue to engage with European counterparts on expanding access to e-Gates for British nationals travelling to the EU.
The use of e-Gates for third country nationals is decided by EU Member States on a country-by-country basis. British nationals are already able to use e-Gates at Gare du Nord station.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken to support research and development of the ACI-24 Alzheimer’s disease treatment.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The Government is strongly committed to supporting research into dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease treatment, and has committed to doubling funding for dementia research to £160 million per year, by the end of 2024/25.
In addition, the NIHR’s infrastructure provides funding for clinical expertise, specialist facilities, the workforce, and support services, which underpin research across a range of clinical areas, including Alzheimer’s disease treatments. Specifically, the NIHR’s Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility (CRF) has enabled the delivery of the ABATE part 1 trial, which seeks to study the effects of the ACI-24 vaccine in those diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. The NIHR’s CRFs are purpose-built facilities for early-phase, experimental medicine, and supporting life science companies throughout the research process from study, design, data collection, and trial management.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate she has made of the level of carbon emissions produced by electricity (a) generated and (b) imported to Great Britain from the EU in (i) 2015, (ii) 2020 and (iii) 2023.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
(a) Greenhouse gas emissions estimates from electricity generation in Great Britain in 2015 were 100.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e). In 2020, emissions from electricity generation in Great Britain were 46.6 MtCO2e. This includes emissions from major power producers, but not emissions from companies generating their own electricity.
Estimates for 2023 for Great Britain will be published in 2025.
(b) The UK Government has not produced estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from the generation of electricity imported from the EU to Great Britain as these are not within the geographical scope that it is required to report on.