Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a visa scheme for seasonal workers to support the agricultural industry.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office already operates such an immigration route.
The Seasonal worker visa was introduced in March 2019. There are 30,000 visas available this year, but this will begin to taper down from 2023. The total allocation of places for 2022 can increase if needed but by no more than 10,000 places.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
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 plans to permit the use of more organic treatments for Botrytis and downy mildew by wine producers in the UK; and if the Government will undertake a review of organic farming treatments to enable the UK wine industry to compete effectively with its European counterparts.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Any plant protection product used to control fungal diseases such as Botrytis and downy mildew in crops needs to be authorised before it can be sold or used. Authorisation is granted if strict standards for the protection of people and the environment are met.
The organic regulations have a list of approved plant protection products available for organic farmers to manage pests, disease and weed management at crop production stage. Their use comes under restrictive conditions such as compositional requirements and they can only be used in certain situations. Use of the crop products support organic farmers to produce healthy crops including organic grapes for the UK wine industry.
The Government intends to take advantage of our new post EU Exit freedoms and review the organic regulations. The broad aim of the review will be to improve the clarity and functioning of the regulations and through this, support growth in the organic sector. The review will cover the full organics regulatory regime, soil fertilising products, plant protection products, inputs and processing aids to support organic production. Changes to these regulations will require full consultation and consider the impacts on organic equivalence agreements in place with key trading partners.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a reduced duty rate for sales at the production point for the English wine industry, in order to provide support for that industry and the tourism sector through vineyard visits, winery tours, and distillery and brewery visits.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A reduced duty rate for sales by domestic producers, such as English winemakers, would privilege domestic producers and would breach the Government’s international obligations to treat imported products equally.
While the Government keeps all taxes under review, there are no plans to introduce a reduced duty rate for sales by domestic producers.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the existing legislative powers available to the Child Maintenance Service to assist in recovery of maintenance arrears from self-employed paying parents.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Child Maintenance Service has robust enforcement measures in place to try and recover arrears, including powers to deduct from a wide range of bank accounts, seizing goods, forcing the sale of a property and disqualification from driving or commitment to prison.
Enforcement actions are considered on a case by case basis, using powers that have the greatest chance of securing money for children.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of hospitalised covid-19 patients are unvaccinated.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Between week 46 (week commencing 15 November 2021) and week 49 (week commencing 6 December 2021) there were 8235 COVID-19 cases presenting to emergency care within 28 days of a positive specimen, resulting in overnight inpatient admission. Of these, 3532 (42.9%) were not vaccinated.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has undertaken any research on the potential impact on sales of British made goods of mandating country of origin information on goods sold in the UK.
Answered by Paul Scully
Aside from certain specified products such as food there is no requirement for goods to be labelled with their country of origin.
Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, traders are banned from using misleading statements about the geographical or commercial origin of products including in response to requests for information by consumers.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of mandating country of origin information on goods sold in the UK.
Answered by Paul Scully
Aside from certain specified products such as food there is no requirement for goods to be labelled with their country of origin.
Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, traders are banned from using misleading statements about the geographical or commercial origin of products including in response to requests for information by consumers.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made additional funding available for mental health provisions during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Mental Health Recovery Action Plan was published in 2021, supported by an additional £500 million in 2021/22. The Plan aims to respond to the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of the public, specifically targeting groups that have been most affected including those with severe mental illness, young people, and frontline staff. This is in addition to a further investment of £2.3 billion a year in mental health services by 2023/24 through the NHS Long Term Plan. We have also provided more than £10 million to national and local mental health charities.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) steps his Department has taken and (b) additional resources his Department has made available to support mental health in Gravesham constituency and surrounding areas during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
In March 2021, we published the Mental Health Recovery Action Plan, supported by an additional £500 million in 2021/22, to address waiting times and ensure more people can access mental health services. The majority of the funding has been allocated to local National Health Service systems, including those in Kent and Medway.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to Questions 41751 and 41752 tabled by the hon. Member for Gravesham on 3 September 2021; and for what reason his answers to those questions have been delayed.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers to Questions 41751 and 41752.