Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many of his Department's staff are seconded to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and for what purpose.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury pursues secondments with a wide range of partners to represent the Treasury, deepen our exchange with other institutions whilst also honing the skills and experience of our staff beyond the Civil Service environment.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to what overseas-based financial organisations staff from his Department are seconded; and how many staff are seconded to each such organisation for how long and for what purpose.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury pursues secondments with a wide range of partners to represent the Treasury, deepen our exchange with other institutions whilst also honing the skills and experience of our staff beyond the Civil Service environment.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the (a) financial and (b) political (i) benefits and (ii) disadvantages of membership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is an established multilateral development bank (MDB) with a membership of 109 countries worldwide.
The benefits of the UK's membership of the AIIB were set out when the government announced its intention for the UK to join the AIIB and in presenting the Draft AIIB (Initial Capital Contribution) Order 2015 for agreement by the House of Commons.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to tackle the threat of use by the Chinese authorities of UK membership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Ban to access UK data.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are actively monitoring threats to UK data and will not hesitate to take further action if necessary to protect our national security.
Data can be exploited by those seeking to counter UK interests and we are taking action to secure our data. As set out in the Integrated Review Refresh 2023, this includes considering new levers to prevent hostile actors accessing our data.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure National Highways keeps (a) roads and (b) verges clear of litter.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
National Highways survey and grade the Strategic Road Network in accordance with The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Code of Practice for Litter and Refuse. National Highways teams patrol the Strategic Road Network and collect litter daily where it is safe to do so. National Highways carries out weekly inspections on its network, ensuring that it prioritises the clearance of the worst affected areas. National Highways also takes advantage of planned closures for other works to undertake additional litter picks.
National Highways’ grading activities are reported and monitored via its corporate Performance Indicator of the percentage of the Strategic Road Network where litter is graded at A or B as defined in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse.
National Highways strategy is to simultaneously reduce the need for litter picking and collection by encouraging behavioural change whilst also providing an effective litter clearing service. National Highways takes a data-led approach to litter clearing activities to ensure that litter hotspots are quickly identified and that resources are targeted effectively. In 2023-24, National Highways collected over 50,000 bags of litter from roads under its supervision.
The Office for Road and Rail, as Highways Monitor, also plays an important role in monitoring National Highways in areas such as litter on behalf of the Secretary of State, ensuring National Highways deliver its commitments as set out in the Roads Investment Strategy and holding National Highways to account for its licence commitments.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he can take if National Highways fail to clear litter from (a) roads and (b) verges; and what discussions he has had with that agency on such clearance.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport regularly engages with National Highways on the issue of litter clearance, and its performance is monitored against a litter performance indicator which helps to ensure National Highways are carrying out its legislative duty. National Highways strategy is to simultaneously reduce the need for litter picking and collection by encouraging behavioural change whilst also providing an effective litter clearing service. In 2023-24, National Highways collected over 50,000 bags of litter from roads under its supervision.
The Office for Road and Rail, as Highways Monitor, also plays an important role in monitoring National Highways’ litter clearance on behalf of the Secretary of State and holding National Highways to account for its licence commitments. The ORR report annually to Parliament and the public on National Highways performance, including litter. If the Office for Road and Rail deem that National Highways is not complying with its statutory directions or complying with the requirements of the Road Investment Strategy, they may determine enforcement action to be appropriate.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to make investment in energy infrastructure more attractive for pension funds.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is attracting tens of billions of private investment into energy infrastructure from a wide variety of sources. Autumn Statement 2023 announced planning and grid reforms which could bring forward £90 billion of investment in energy infrastructure over 10 years, and since September 2023 alone companies have announced plans for £30 billion of new energy investment.
Autumn Statement added to the significant progress government has already made in creating the right enabling environment for infrastructure in decarbonization, as set out in Powering Up Britain. This includes:
- Innovative financing mechanisms and business models to provide revenue support and long-term certainty for investors in green industries, including Contracts for Difference (CfDs) for renewable energy generation, Regulated Asset Base (RAB) for nuclear, and models for CCUS and hydrogen.
- A strong public finance offer, including the £22bn in financial capacity in the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) which enables it to partner with the private sector and government to increase net zero infrastructure investment.
Spring Budget 2024 delivers and builds on announcements from Autumn Statement, creating the enabling environment for net zero investment through energy system reforms. This includes:
- Confirmation of the parameters of the 6th Contracts for Difference (CfD) round for offshore wind, with the largest ever budget set at £1 billion.
- Seizing the growth opportunities of the net zero transition, with an additional £120 million for the Green Industries Growth Accelerator targeted at manufacturing capacity in the clean energy sectors where the UK has the strongest current or potential advantage: CCUS, hydrogen, offshore wind, networks, and nuclear. This brings overall funding for the Green Industries Growth Accelerator to over £1 billion.
- The pensions reforms currently being developed by the Government, Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator, which will also help ensure that pension funds are investing in the full range of asset classes including infrastructure.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to report entitled Financing the Future: Energy, published by the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association on 26 February 2024, what steps her Department plans to take to encourage private capital investment in green energy.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK saw £60bn of investment in 2023, meaning that since 2010 the UK has seen £300bn of public and private investment into low carbon sectors. The Powering Up Britain Plan, backed by substantial government funding, seeks to attract private capital for green energy.
We've bolstered investor confidence with announcements on the UK Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) sector and the Hydrogen Strategy. In December 2023, we unveiled Europe's largest simultaneous commercial-scale green hydrogen projects, supporting 125MW in the inaugural Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR1).
We’ve allocated over £1 billion for the flagship Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme's Allocation Round 6 (AR6) and £1.1 billion to the Green Industries Growth Accelerator, to support the expansion of domestic green manufacturing capacity and strengthen clean energy supply chains.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the number of children born as a result of IVF treatment in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes annual reports on the number of children born as a result of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), and has a live database containing this information, that can be found on their website. The following table shows the number of live births as a result of IVF treatments, in each of the last 10 years:
Year of treatment | Live births due to IVF treatments |
2021 | 18,523 |
2020 | 15,280 |
2019 | 21,057 |
2018 | 21,236 |
2017 | 22,086 |
2016 | 21,305 |
2015 | 20,801 |
2014 | 20,066 |
2013 | 19,000 |
2012 | 17,967 |
Source: data is from the HFEA annual report on fertility treatment and the HFEA dashboard.
Note: live births for 2019, 2020, and 2021 are preliminary, and have not yet undergone quality assurance processes, to verify that the data is correctly recorded on the register.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children have been subject to a special guardianship order in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government does not collect figures in relation to how many children are subject to a special guardianship order at any one time.
However, the following table extracted from the publicly available Family Court Statistics Quarterly figures provides details on the number of children involved in orders from 2013 until 2022. Data for public law cases in 2022 has not been published due to data issues resulting from the reform of public law services.
The number of these orders has remained relatively stable over that period.
Year | Public Law | Private Law | Total |
2013 | 4,923 | 1,863 | 6,786 |
2014 | 4,852 | 1,944 | 6,796 |
2015 | 5,514 | 1,949 | 7,463 |
2016 | 5,668 | 1,812 | 7,480 |
2017 | 5,758 | 1,581 | 7,339 |
2018 | 5,920 | 1,501 | 7,421 |
2019 | 5,835 | 1,544 | 7,379 |
2020 | 5,268 | 1,196 | 6,464 |
2021 | 6,124 | 1,293 | 7,417 |
2022 | * | 1,184 | * |