Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the CPRE, the countryside charity's campaign entitled A rooftop revolution: turning possibility into reality, whether he plans to take steps to help ensure that (a) new car parks are built with solar photovoltaics as standard and (b) existing car parks are retrofitted with solar photovoltaics.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Following full technical consultation, the Government introduced changes to permitted development rights for solar equipment in December 2023. These changes included the introduction of a new permitted development right that allows for the installation of solar canopies in non-domestic, off-street car parks.
These changes simplify planning processes and enable more solar installations to benefit from the flexibilities and planning freedoms permitted development rights offer.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cattle were refused a cattle passport in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Rural Payments Agency registers in the region of 2.5 million cattle every year. In the time available we are not able to provide information on how many cattle passports were refused in each of the last five years. However, as of 11 January 2024 the number of animals in GB currently alive and issued with a CPP35 – Notice of Registration (Refused Passport) is 13,075.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cattle were (a) DNA tested and (b) refused a cattle passport in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Rural Payments Agency registers in the region of 2.5 million cattle every year. The total number of DNA appeals received by the Rural Payments Agency is given in the table below. In the time available we are not able to establish the number of cattle and the number of Passports refused following a DNA appeal being unsuccessful.
2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
DNA Appeals Received | 736 | 590 | 506 | 466 | 479 |
Between 2019 and 2021 the data provided is for GB. From 2021 the data does not include appeals made in Scotland.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people appealed against decisions made by the Rural Payments Agency on the passporting of cattle in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Rural Payments Agency registers in the region of 2.5 million cattle every year. The total number of appeals made is given in the table below.
2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
Appeals Received | 878 | 1173 | 1044 | 809 | 839 |
Between 2019 and 2021 the data provided is for GB. From 2021 the data does not include appeals made in Scotland.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides on whether British citizens residing in the Cayman Islands would be eligible for home fee status if they enter the UK (a) before 1 September, (b) on 1 September and (c) on the commencement date of their academic course later in September.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Students coming to the UK from specified British Overseas Territories will be eligible for home fee status in England if they have settled status on the first day of the first academic year of the course. Higher education providers in England are autonomous bodies, and they assess a student’s fee status in accordance with the Education (Fees and Awards) (England) Regulations. Where a student does not meet the criteria for home fee status, a provider has the discretion to waive or reduce the fees where they consider it appropriate.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides on whether the date of entry into England or Wales can determine whether a British citizen ordinarily residing in the Cayman Islands qualifies for home fee status.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Students coming to the UK from specified British Overseas Territories will be eligible for home fee status in England if they have settled status on the first day of the first academic year of the course. Higher education providers in England are autonomous bodies, and they assess a student’s fee status in accordance with the Education (Fees and Awards) (England) Regulations. Where a student does not meet the criteria for home fee status, a provider has the discretion to waive or reduce the fees where they consider it appropriate.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport on the timetable for approving the sale of tractors with Immobilisers.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government supported the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, which gained Royal Assent on the 20 July. The Act will require immobilisers and forensic marking to be fitted as standard to new agricultural equipment such as All-Terrain Vehicles and quad bikes, to help prevent theft of this equipment and identify the owners of stolen equipment when it is recovered.
The Act provides a power for the Secretary of State to extend the scope of the Act, via secondary legislation, to other large agricultural machinery such as tractors. The necessary secondary legislation will be brought before Parliament in due course.
This legislation will make it harder for criminals to sell on stolen machinery, which will have a deterrent effect, and will have a significant impact on thefts of ATVs by breaking the current cycle of theft between farmers, insurers and manufacturers.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many stolen quadbikes have been recovered due to forensic marking.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold figures on the number of quadbikes recovered due to forensic marking.
This Government is committed to driving down rural crime. We are working closely with the police, industry and others to ensure we are collectively doing everything we can to drive down acquisitive crime, including the theft of quadbikes, agricultural machinery and vehicles.
The Government supported the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, which gained Royal Assent on 20 July. The Act will require immobilisers and forensic marking to be fitted as standard to new agricultural equipment such as All-Terrain Vehicles and quad bikes, to help prevent theft of this equipment and identify the owners of stolen equipment when it is recovered.
As part of the Government’s Unleashing Rural Opportunity commitments, the Home Office is providing £200,000 funding to help set up the National Rural Crime Unit (NRCU). This will enable the Unit to support forces nationally in their response to rural crimes, such as the theft of farming or construction machinery. Since January 2023, the NRCU has recovered over £5.5m worth of stolen agricultural and construction equipment and vehicles.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the press release by Pause entitled Pause responds to Government’s plans for children’s social care, published on 11 May 2023, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of their recommendation on annual data collection on parents who have experienced the removal of more than one child from their care.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department appreciates the need to improve the data available about children’s social care, including by making it more relevant to the experience of children, young people and families. That is why the department has published a data and digital strategy for children’s social care. This strategic approach will provide the opportunity to map and understand the data needs of the children’s social care sector as a whole and seek to address this over time. This will enable a better understanding of the system and support the planning and delivery of services. A link to the strategy can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-social-care-data-and-digital-strategy.
Existing statutory data is captured about the child and does not capture the complex nature of families such as, for example, where siblings to not live in the same family home. Addressing data gaps in children’s social care will be a long-term endeavour due to the need to agree data definitions and standards, as well as redesign local authority and departmental systems before rolling out nationally.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's consultation on L-category vehicles: ending sales of new non-zero emission models, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposals to phase out new non-zero emission L-category vehicles by 2035 on the commercial viability of (a) L-category manufacturers building zero emission L-category vehicles and (b) consumers purchasing those vehicles.
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 supported by a thorough programme of stakeholder engagement with manufacturers and the wider industry. We are now analysing the responses and will bring forward the Government’s response in due course.
We are working closely with industry to ensure a prosperous future for L-category manufacturers in the UK. In February 2022, the Motorcycle Industry Association and Zemo Partnership published a government-commissioned action plan, namely “Realising the Full Potential of Zero Emission Powered Light Vehicles”, to support the transition to zero emission L-category vehicles. The Government also recently made £350,000 of funding available to grow the zero emission motorcycle supply chain in the UK.
Government policies are already in place to support the transition to zero emission vehicles. However, the Government appreciates that there are technology and infrastructure considerations for these vehicles as they transition and will continue to work with the sector to support and examine how to best overcome demand side challenges, including the infrastructure needs of zero emission L-category vehicles.