Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to minimise the impact of domestic firework displays on (a) vulnerable residents and (b) domestic animals; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government endorses the considerate use of fireworks. We recognise that people want to enjoy fireworks while reducing the risks and disturbances to individuals, animals, and property.
Existing legislation controls the sale, availability, and use of fireworks. The Government has no current plans to change the law, however, we continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including animal welfare organisations such as the RSPCA, to listen to and understand their views.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress his Department and the NHS have made on plans to produce a digital version of the red book as outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan published in January 2019.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
We are working with NHS England to ensure that plans for digitising the red book align with plans for patient records. Further information will be available in due course.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's process is for granting a change to a Development Consent Order for a strategic rail freight interchange.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
There are different processes for making changes to Development Consent Orders, including Development Consent Orders for Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges, depending on whether the changes are considered to be material or non-material. The Secretary of State for Transport will be the decision-maker on applications for changes to Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges for both material and non-material changes. Details of the processes are set in the Planning Act 2008: Changes to Development Consent Orders guidance published by the former Department for Communities and Local Government and which can be found on
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-development-consent-orders
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the availability of GP appointments; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
On 22 September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which contains measures to assist people to make an informed choice on their general practitioner (GP) practice, book an appointment more easily, benefit from more care options and increase the diversity of general practice teams. This aims to increase the availability of appointment types in England.
We are investing at least £1.5 billion to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024 through increasing and diversifying the workforce. General practice teams include a range of other health professionals in addition to GPs, to respond to the needs of patients and we are on schedule to recruit an additional 26,000 primary care staff.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there is a long-term plan to tackle dementia; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are reviewing plans for dementia in England and further information will be available in due course.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a unique patient identifier for children to improve health outcomes.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Every child is assigned a National Health Service (NHS) number at birth or the first time they have contact with NHS services. The NHS number acts as is a unique patient identifier and is used to share information within electronic healthcare records. This contributes to improved health outcomes for children by ensuring that health professionals identify patients correctly and have access to information to inform the delivery of appropriate care.
Through the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government has committed to report on Government’s policy on information sharing in relation to the safeguarding of children, by summer 2023. The report will include an explanation of whether it is the Government’s policy that a consistent child identifier should be used across agencies.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure provision of skills-based employment training for employees aged over 60; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is delivering several skills offers, such as Skills Bootcamps and Free Courses for Jobs, that can help upskill employed learners to access further opportunities. These are supported by an investment of £1.6 billion through the National Skills Fund across 2022 to 2025, which includes investment of up to £550 million to significantly expand Skills Bootcamps, and investment to expand the eligibility for delivery of the Free Courses for Jobs offer, which is now open to more adults.
Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, available to adults in England, including employed learners aged 60 and over, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills, with an offer of a job interview on completion. There are now more than 900 Skills Bootcamps available across the country, offering training in digital, technical (including engineering and manufacturing), construction, logistics (HGV driving), and skills that support the green economy (including heat pump engineering, electric vehicle maintenance and repair, and zero carbon construction).
The department also funds Free Courses for Jobs offer of over 400 Level 3 qualifications in sector subject areas such as engineering, social care and accounting, for adults in England including employed learners aged 60 and over. Adults are eligible if they do not hold an existing full level 3 qualification, if they are unemployed, or if they earn under the National Living Wage.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will outline his Department's process for granting a Development Consent Order for a strategic rail freight interchange.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
An application for development consent for a strategic rail freight interchange in England will first be made to The Planning Inspectorate. When the Examining Authority appointed to examine the application has completed its examination, it will send a report containing its conclusions and recommendation to the Secretary of State. Once the report is received, a decision has to be made within three months unless the Secretary of State agrees to extend the deadline. The report will be considered by officials in the Department’s Transport Infrastructure Planning Unit. They will submit advice to the Minister who has been delegated to make decisions on applications for consent for rail freight infrastructure. The Minister will then consider whether or not consent should be granted taking into account the relevant planning matters. If consent is granted, a decision letter, containing the reasons for the decision, a Habitats Regulations Assessment (if required) and a Development Consent Order will be issued.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department are taking to reduce the use of single-use plastics in packaging; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in our manifesto, we will introduce Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (EPR) in 2024, which will move the full cost of dealing with packaging waste produced by households to the packaging producers (applying the 'polluter-pays principle'). This places responsibility on producers for the cost of managing their packaging once it reaches its end of life and will encourage businesses to reduce how much packaging they use, to design and use packaging that is easily recyclable, and encourage use of reusable and refillable packaging, as a large proportion of plastic packaging is single use.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department’s policy is on (a) how and (b) when the £400 support under the Energy Bills Support Scheme will be paid to people who use electricity from a shared meter but receive individual bills.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Energy suppliers are delivering the Energy Bill Support Scheme (EBSS) to households with a domestic electricity contract in monthly instalments over six months from October. The Energy Prices Act 2022 includes provisions to require landlords and other intermediaries to pass this to end users. In addition, Alternative Funding will provide equivalent support for the small percentage of households who are not reached through the main EBSS fund. This includes those who do not have a direct relationship with an electricity supplier. Further details on this will be announced in the coming weeks.