Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's press release entitled, Compensation scheme announced to support pollack fishers, published on 10 April 2024, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential (a) costs and (b) impact of setting the Pollack compensation scheme thresholds at different percentage levels.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department made the required assessment ahead of the Ministerial Direction to evidence a range of options for consideration, which included costs. As part of the assessment, the department sought to balance supporting as many fishers who have been affected most by the zero Total Allowable Catch restrictions while bearing in mind the overall cost of the scheme.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2024 to Question 22013 on White Fish: Fishing Catches, how he plans to fund the compensation scheme through his Department's existing budget; and whether his Department (a) has a budget surplus and (b) will make reduce expenditure to fund the scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Funding for the compensation scheme will be found by examining current spending priorities to ensure efficient use of budgets. The Department does not have a budget surplus, so adjustments and optimisations will be made to accommodate the compensation scheme without requiring substantial reductions in expenditure elsewhere in the Department.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vessels that mainly land catches in Plymouth are eligible for payments from the Pollack compensation scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has confirmed that there are 12 vessels that have Plymouth registered as their home port and are eligible for the compensation scheme. 8 of these have submitted their applications and received payment, totalling £62,480. Every application received has been paid within 24 hours.
MMO has contacted all eligible fishers via email and is calling those who have yet to apply. Fishers who believe they meet the requirements of this scheme but have not heard from MMO by Monday 29 April 2024 should contact MMO by sending an email to UKFisheriesSupport@marinemanagement.org.uk.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vessels that mainly land catches in Brixham are eligible for payments from the Pollack compensation scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
MMO have confirmed that there are four vessels that have Brixham registered as their home port and are eligible for the compensation scheme. Three of these vessels have submitted their applications and received payment, totalling £14,030. Every application received has been paid within 24 hours.
MMO have contacted all eligible fishers via email and are calling those who have yet to apply. Fishers who believe they meet the requirements of this scheme but have not heard from MMO by Monday 29th April 2024 should contact MMO by sending an email to UKFisheriesSupport@marinemanagement.org.uk.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vessels that mainly land catches in Newlyn are eligible for payments from the Pollack compensation scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
MMO have confirmed that there are 29 vessels that have Newlyn registered as their home port and are eligible for the compensation scheme. 21 of these have submitted their applications and received payment, totalling £256,405. Every application received has been paid within 24 hours.
MMO have contacted all eligible fishers via email and are calling those who have yet to apply. Fishers who believe they meet the requirements of this scheme but have not heard from MMO by Monday 29th April 2024 should contact MMO by sending an email to UKFisheriesSupport@marinemanagement.org.uk.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vessels that mainly land catches in Mevagissey are eligible for payments from the Pollack compensation scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has confirmed that there are zero eligible vessels that have Mevagissey as their registered home port.
MMO has contacted all eligible fishers via email and is calling those who have yet to apply. Fishers who believe they meet the requirements of this scheme but have not heard from MMO by Monday 29 April 2024 should contact MMO by sending an email to UKFisheriesSupport@marinemanagement.org.uk.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vessels that mainly land catches in Looe are eligible for payments from the Pollack compensation scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has confirmed there are zero eligible vessels that have Looe as their registered home port.
MMO has contacted all eligible fishers via email and is calling those who have yet to apply. Fishers who believe they meet the requirements of this scheme but have not heard from MMO by Monday 29 April 2024 should contact MMO by sending an email to UKFisheriesSupport@marinemanagement.org.uk.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional Strategic Priorities Grant recurrent funding was allocated to the Office for Students between financial years (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2024-25.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) is funding supplied by the government on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education (HE), which includes funding for subjects that are expensive to deliver, such as science and engineering, students at risk of discontinuing their studies, and world-leading specialist providers. The department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to support high quality teaching and facilities, including in science and engineering, subjects that support the NHS, and degree apprenticeships. This includes the largest increase in government funding for the HE sector to support students and teaching in over a decade.
In the 2022/23 financial year, the total recurrent SPG funding was £1,397 million. This was increased to £1,454 million for the 2023/24 financial year. The department has recently provided a budget of £1,456 million in recurrent SPG for the 2024/25 financial year.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve access to mental health services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have been expanding and transforming mental healthcare
In 2022/23 3.6 million people received secondary mental healthcare, and 1.2 million people accessed NHS talking therapies
This is an increase in the number of people receiving NHS mental health support of around 30% in just three years.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vessels over 15 metres in length are eligible for the pollack compensation scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
According to the most up to date Marine Management Organisation (MMO) landings data for 2023, there are no vessels over 15 metres in length eligible for the compensation scheme. As there is finite funding available, the pollack compensation scheme is focused on providing funding to vessel owners whose income is mainly derived from pollack and who made at least 30% of their reported landings income in 2023 from pollack. The MMO are currently verifying data and will reach out to eligible vessel owners in the coming days. Fishers who believe they meet the requirements of this scheme but have not heard from MMO by Monday 29th April 2024 should contact MMO by sending an email to UKFisheriesSupport@marinemanagement.org.uk.