Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on the potential merits of revising the action levels for the disposal of dredged material; and when a decision will be made on the outcome.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is reviewing information provided from the Port of Tyne and other stakeholders in response to proposals for changes to Action Levels for sea disposal of dredged sediment, as well as evidence from work carried out by Cefas, and no decision has yet been made. Officials will continue to engage with stakeholders including those from the River Tyne to ensure we fully understand the impacts of the proposals for the region. Before implementing any proposed changes, an impact assessment will be completed. We will communicate the next steps in the review of Action Levels shortly.
The sediment transport pathways in the Tyne means that there is both a legacy contamination issue and transport of pollutants down the catchment where they are contributing to the issues. Action is therefore being taken via the Water and Abandoned Metal Mines Programme to control inputs of metals which pollute more than 150kms of rivers in the Tyne catchment and to alleviate problems in the estuary. This is supported by our proposed target tackling metal pollution under the Environment Act to reduce the length of rivers and estuaries polluted by target substances from abandoned metal mines, which we are currently consulting on.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in the context of the Proposed Changes in Cefas Action Levels for Sea Disposal of Dredged Sediment, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of evidence (a) within the Port of Tyne’s Response to Proposed Changes in CEFAS Action Levels for Sea Disposal of Dredged Sediment (January 2022) including research work undertaken by Newcastle University suggesting that the naturally occurring contaminants, especially zinc and lead, are not in a form which is adversely affecting marine rivers organisms and (b) from the Environment Agency, who are working in partnership with the Coal Authority and Defra to implement measures to control inputs of naturally occurring contaminants in the headwaters as part of the Water and Abandoned Metal Mines Programme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is reviewing information provided from the Port of Tyne and other stakeholders in response to proposals for changes to Action Levels for sea disposal of dredged sediment, as well as evidence from work carried out by Cefas, and no decision has yet been made. Officials will continue to engage with stakeholders including those from the River Tyne to ensure we fully understand the impacts of the proposals for the region. Before implementing any proposed changes, an impact assessment will be completed. We will communicate the next steps in the review of Action Levels shortly.
The sediment transport pathways in the Tyne means that there is both a legacy contamination issue and transport of pollutants down the catchment where they are contributing to the issues. Action is therefore being taken via the Water and Abandoned Metal Mines Programme to control inputs of metals which pollute more than 150kms of rivers in the Tyne catchment and to alleviate problems in the estuary. This is supported by our proposed target tackling metal pollution under the Environment Act to reduce the length of rivers and estuaries polluted by target substances from abandoned metal mines, which we are currently consulting on.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of evidence from the Port of Tyne’s Response to Proposed Changes in CEFAS Action Levels for Sea Disposal of Dredged Sediment (January 2022), and the British Ports Association’s Proposed Cefas Guideline Action Levels - Review of Cost Implications (May 2021) both of which suggest that the proposed Action Levels would have an adverse impact on the region.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is reviewing information provided from the Port of Tyne and other stakeholders in response to proposals for changes to Action Levels for sea disposal of dredged sediment, as well as evidence from work carried out by Cefas, and no decision has yet been made. Officials will continue to engage with stakeholders including those from the River Tyne to ensure we fully understand the impacts of the proposals for the region. Before implementing any proposed changes, an impact assessment will be completed. We will communicate the next steps in the review of Action Levels shortly.
The sediment transport pathways in the Tyne means that there is both a legacy contamination issue and transport of pollutants down the catchment where they are contributing to the issues. Action is therefore being taken via the Water and Abandoned Metal Mines Programme to control inputs of metals which pollute more than 150kms of rivers in the Tyne catchment and to alleviate problems in the estuary. This is supported by our proposed target tackling metal pollution under the Environment Act to reduce the length of rivers and estuaries polluted by target substances from abandoned metal mines, which we are currently consulting on.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to provide support to businesses affected by potential changes in CEFAS Action Levels for Sea Disposal of Dredged Sediment.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is reviewing information provided by stakeholders in response to proposals for changes to Action Levels for sea disposal of dredged sediment and no decision has yet been made. Officials will continue to engage with stakeholders to ensure we fully understand the impacts of the proposals on businesses. Before implementing any proposed changes, an impact assessment will be completed.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing Local Action Levels for specific areas such as the River Tyne in the context of naturally occurring contaminants and unique environmental characteristics.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is reviewing information provided by stakeholders in response to proposals for changes to Action Levels for sea disposal of dredged sediment. Defra recognise there are regional variabilities and will continue to engage with stakeholders including those from the River Tyne to ensure we fully understand the impacts of the proposals for the region. Before implementing any proposed changes, an impact assessment will be completed.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has undertaken an assessment of the affordability of subsidised milk under the School Milk Subsidy Scheme in the context of the increasing cost of living; and what steps the Government is taking to ensure that families are able to afford to purchase subsidised milk for their children in schools.
Answered by Will Quince
Milk is an excellent food for children’s growth and development. This is why under the school food standards, schools must ensure it is available to all pupils who want it during school hours. Further guidance on the school food standards can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools.
Lower fat milk or lactose reduced milk must be available for drinking at least once a day during school hours and milk must be provided free of charge to pupils eligible for free school meals. Schools may offer milk as many times as they wish, however it must be free to infant and benefits-based free school meal pupils when it is offered as part of their school meal and free to benefits-based free school meal pupils at all other times.
Where schools provide milk, they can also choose whether to participate in the School Milk Subsidy Scheme which can be used to reduce the cost of the milk. The rate for the subsidy is topped up nationally for pupils in primary education.
Further information about the scheme is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/the-school-milk-subsidy-scheme-guidance.
As announced in the Spring Statement, the government is continuing to provide targeted cost of living support for households most in need. From April 2022, the government is providing an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of household essentials, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing the total funding for this support to £1 billion.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have waited (a) over three months, (b) over six months, (c) over one year and (d) over two years for an interview after submitting an application.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office are unable to state how many seekers have waited over three months, over six months, over one year and over two years for an interview after submitting an application or the overage time taken to process an application as this information is not published or held in a reportable format.
The Home Office does publish data on the number asylum applications awaiting an initial decision by duration, for main applicants only. This data can be found at Asy_04 of the published Immigration Statistics up to: List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UK asylum applications are currently outstanding; and what is the average time taken to process an application.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office publishes data on asylum and resettlement in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of asylum applications awaiting an initial decision or further review (outstanding applications) are published in table Asy_D03 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets.
Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to December 2021. Data for the period relating to January – March 2022 is set to be published on the 26 May 2022.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the interim report of the Cass Review, if the Government will adopt the interim advice of reforming the approach to providing gender identity services for children and young people, replacing it with a system where local centres become direct service providers.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England is currently considering the interim report of the Cass Review. The Department continues to work with NHS England on how the review’s recommendations can be implemented.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help tackle inequalities in women's health.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Our Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy, published in December, set out our ambitions for improving the health and wellbeing of women across England and reducing disparities. It is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-vision-for-the-womens-health-strategy-for-england. We will publish the full Women’s Health Strategy later this year.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) was established to reduce health disparities, including those which affect women. OHID will publish a Health Disparities White Paper with impactful measures to address health disparities at each stage they arise.