Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the use of (a) low carbon and (b) synthetic fuels for L-Category vehicles in the transition to net zero.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The consultation on when to end the sale of new non-zero emission L-category vehicles was open to responses from 14 July to 21 September 2022 and was supported by a thorough programme of stakeholder engagement. We are now analysing the responses and will bring forward the Government’s response in due course.
The Government’s approach to delivering its ambitions for greener transport is not outcome neutral - the end goal must be zero exhaust emissions. Vehicles that burn synthetic fuels still emit air pollutants at the exhaust. However, the Government understands the need to decarbonise vehicles on the road today and the potential contribution synthetic fuels can make. This is why the Government has increased targets for the supply of low carbon fuels under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) and will continue to review that scheme to ensure that it can continue to support delivery of its carbon budgets.
Synthetics and other alternative fuels can be expensive, energy intensive to produce and do not always improve air quality. They show greatest potential in areas that are difficult to electrify, such as aviation. Relying on synthetic fuels to decarbonise road transport would put the UK at risk of failing to meet its economy wide targets on both CO2 and air pollution emissions.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to take account of the life cycle analysis of L-Category vehicles when phasing out new non zero emission variants.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The consultation on when to end the sale of new non-zero emission L-category vehicles was open to responses from 14 July to 21 September 2022 and supported by a thorough programme of stakeholder engagement. We are now analysing the responses and will bring forward the Government’s response in due course.
Analysis of lifecycle emissions is an important consideration as we accelerate the transition to a zero-emission fleet of road vehicles. Whilst there is no internationally recognised method of measuring lifecycle emissions in any transport sector, the Department’s Transport Energy Model, published in 2018, and the externally commissioned Lifecycle Analysis of UK Road Vehicles, published in 2021, provide clear assessments of the relative environmental impacts of different road vehicle technologies and fuels in the UK.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts about their decision not to set a date for the phase out of new non zero emission L-Category vehicles.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK’s exit from the European Union has provided the opportunity for this country to develop its own regulatory approach to decarbonising its entire fleet of new road vehicles, supporting UK industry and riders in the process.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of (a) implementing additional tax measures for the tobacco industry and (b) ringfencing tax receipts from the tobacco industry to help fund steps the Government is taking to reduce smoking prevalence to 5% or less by 2030.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is unable to speculate on tax matters outside of fiscal events. As with all taxes, the Government keeps the tobacco duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
As announced by the Prime Minister on 4 October 2023, the Government is creating the first smokefree generation, by bringing forward legislation so that children turning 14 this year or younger will never be legally sold tobacco products. This will prevent future generations from ever taking up smoking, as there is no safe age to smoke. The command paper sets out the proposed actions the Government will take to tackle smoking and youth vaping including an additional £70 million per year to support local authority-led stop smoking services and can be accessed here:
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of 17 April 2023, HCWS710, on Achieving Smokefree 2030: cutting smoking and stopping kids vaping, whether his Department has conducted modelling on the potential impact of the measures outlined in the statement on progress towards the target of reducing smoking rates to 5% or less by 2030.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Annex 1 of ‘Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation’ sets out the modelling used to forecast changes in smoking prevalence over time based on legislating for a smokefree generation. This modelling is preliminary and will continue to be further refined ahead of publication of a full impact assessment.
Annex 1 is available at the following link:
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it remains the Government's policy to meet its smokefree 2030 target of an adult smoking prevalence of 5% or less.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Smoking rates in England have been consistently falling and are currently at the lowest rate on record at 12.7%, based on 2022 data.
The Government remains firmly committed to the ambition of England being Smokefree by 2030, namely a smoking prevalence of 5% or less, and recognises that progress must be accelerated to meet this bold ambition. On 4 October 2023, the Prime Minister unveiled plans to introduce a new law to stop children who turn 14 this year or younger from ever legally being sold cigarettes, in a bid to create the first ‘smokefree generation’. This announcement was accompanied with additional funding including £70 million extra per year to fund local stop smoking services and £5 million this year and then £15 million per year thereafter to fund national stop smoking marketing campaigns.
This is in addition to a range of other measures which we announced in April 2023. The measures included a new national swap to stop scheme to provide vapes to one million smokers to help them to quit, and an evidence-based financial incentives scheme to help all pregnant smokers to quit.
We are confident that these new measures, in addition to the actions we are already taking, will set us on course to achieve our Smokefree 2030 ambition. We will continue to monitor progress.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the compatibility of comments made by the President of the Palestinian National Authority on the Holocaust on 24 August 2023 with the UK's memorandum of understanding with the Palestinian Authority.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the FCDO stated publicly on 8 September, the UK condemns the recent antisemitic remarks made by President Abbas. The UK stands firmly against all attempts to distort the Holocaust. Such statements do not advance efforts towards reconciliation. Officials at the British Consulate General in Jerusalem have raised this matter with the Palestinian Authority and the Foreign Secretary intends to do the same during his visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. President Abbas' comments are completely unacceptable and can only serve to exacerbate tensions and undermine efforts to achieve the negotiated two-state solution.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Palestinian National Authority on the comments made by the President of the Palestinian National Authority on the Holocaust on 24 August 2023.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the FCDO stated publicly on 8 September, the UK condemns the recent antisemitic remarks made by President Abbas. The UK stands firmly against all attempts to distort the Holocaust. Such statements do not advance efforts towards reconciliation. Officials at the British Consulate General in Jerusalem have raised this matter with the Palestinian Authority and the Foreign Secretary intends to do the same during his visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. President Abbas' comments are completely unacceptable and can only serve to exacerbate tensions and undermine efforts to achieve the negotiated two-state solution.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support the growth of the financial services sector.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In July, the Chancellor set out his ambitious Mansion House Reforms package, which will help to support the growth of the financial services sector by:
o reforming the pensions market to boost returns and improve outcomes for pension fund holders whilst increasing funding liquidity for high-growth companies;
o helping companies grow and list in the UK; and
o enabling us to seize the opportunities of the future by reforming and simplifying our regulatory rulebook.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department (a) forecasted would be spent and (b) spent on compensation for Equitable Life policyholders at 2011 prices in each financial year since 2011.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government allocated £1.5 billion to the Equitable Life Payment Scheme. Before it ceased operations in 2016, the Scheme issued £1.12 billion in tax-free payments to nearly 933,000 policyholders. The remainder of the £1.5 billion has been set aside for future payments to the With-Profits Annuitants. Further information is available in the Final Report on the Scheme (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equitable-life-payment-scheme-final-report).