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, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Green Heat Network fund in supporting shared ground loop deployment in rural off-gas grid areas.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
I refer my hon Friend to the answer I gave on 21 March 2024 to my hon Friend the Member for St Ives (Derek Thomas) to Question UIN 18922.
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, what steps her Department is taking to support clean heat installations in rural areas.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government ‘help to heat’ schemes supports deployment of low carbon heating in rural areas through ECO, Wave 2 of SHDF and HUG2.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme also provides grants of £7,500 towards upfront cost and installation of air and ground source heat pumps. Up to the end of February 2024, 57% of grants paid out were for clean heat installations in rural areas
Through the Heat Network Transformation Programme, the Government is working with industry and local authorities to develop new heat networks and improve existing ones, including investing £500 million half a billion pounds in funds.
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, what steps her Department is taking to help support the deployment of shared ground loops in rural areas.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme provides grants of £7,500 to support the installation of air source, ground source and water source heat pumps including plants installed as part of a shared ground loop. We are increasing the shared ground loops system capacity limit in May from 45kW to 300kW to address the concerns that groundworks for ground source heat pumps are a significant barrier to deployment.
Shared ground loop installations which satisfy the eligibility criteria for the Green Heat Network Fund can apply to the scheme for support. To be eligible, applicants must demonstrate that their networks can deliver a minimum of 2GWh per year of heat.
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, what his planned timetable is for publication of the report on improving sampling and analysis of microplastics in surface waters and sediments.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The report has been published. It can be accessed via Defra’s Science Search web site - Measurement and Characterisation of Microplastics in English River Catchment Waters and Sediments - WT15135 (defra.gov.uk).
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, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of wastewater treatment plants in removing microplastics from waste water.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A recent UK water industry project investigated the quantities and types of microplastics entering a range of wastewater treatment works. The Department reviewed the findings from the work and agrees with the conclusion that conventional wastewater treatment is effective in removing microplastics from wastewater. The evidenced showed treatment processes can take out an average of 99% of microplastics (by-number of microplastics) and 99.5% by-mass from wastewater arriving at the works.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to help improve the standard of service provided by Herefordshire Children's Services.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In its inspection report, published 21 September 2022, Ofsted judged the overall effectiveness of Herefordshire Council’s children’s services to be inadequate.
There have been regular subsequent visits by Ofsted over the past 18 months, as well as two reports on the service by the Children’s Services Commissioner appointed following the inspection. All acknowledge progress, but challenge the pace at which change is being achieved.
The department is mounting a significant intervention to improve services, deploying the Commissioner and an improvement adviser to provide challenge and support, and brokering a comprehensive two-year improvement partnership with a stronger local authority, Leeds City Council.
Most recently the department has committed £300,000 this year and next to strengthen the delivery of early help arrangements so that a greater number of children and families can access help at an earlier stage and receive a more tailored response to that need.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the performance of Herefordshire Children's Services relative to average national standards.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In its inspection report, published 21 September 2022, Ofsted judged the overall effectiveness of Herefordshire Council’s children’s services to be inadequate.
There have been regular subsequent visits by Ofsted over the past 18 months, as well as two reports on the service by the Children’s Services Commissioner appointed following the inspection. All acknowledge progress, but challenge the pace at which change is being achieved.
The department is mounting a significant intervention to improve services, deploying the Commissioner and an improvement adviser to provide challenge and support, and brokering a comprehensive two-year improvement partnership with a stronger local authority, Leeds City Council.
Most recently the department has committed £300,000 this year and next to strengthen the delivery of early help arrangements so that a greater number of children and families can access help at an earlier stage and receive a more tailored response to that need.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to provide further assistance to Herefordshire Children’s Services.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In its inspection report, published 21 September 2022, Ofsted judged the overall effectiveness of Herefordshire Council’s children’s services to be inadequate.
There have been regular subsequent visits by Ofsted over the past 18 months, as well as two reports on the service by the Children’s Services Commissioner appointed following the inspection. All acknowledge progress, but challenge the pace at which change is being achieved.
The department is mounting a significant intervention to improve services, deploying the Commissioner and an improvement adviser to provide challenge and support, and brokering a comprehensive two-year improvement partnership with a stronger local authority, Leeds City Council.
Most recently the department has committed £300,000 this year and next to strengthen the delivery of early help arrangements so that a greater number of children and families can access help at an earlier stage and receive a more tailored response to that need.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to enable full expensing for capital expenditure by farmers.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Statement 2023, the Chancellor announced that full expensing will be made permanent, allowing companies to claim 100% capital allowances on qualifying main rate plant and machinery investments. Full expensing is available to all incorporated companies, including farmers.
There are other generous capital allowances that are available to unincorporated businesses, including the Annual Investment Allowance. In Autumn 2022 it was permanently set at its highest ever level of £1 million a year.
The Annual Investment Allowance allows businesses to claim 100% capital allowances on qualifying main or special rate assets up to a total of £1 million per year.
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, whether he has received recent representations from his counterpart in South Africa on the potential impact of his Department's legislative proposals on trophy hunting on that country.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has not received any representations from his international counterparts on the potential impact of the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Private Members’ Bill introduced by the Rt. Hon. Member for Warley.