Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to ensure that access to the electricity grid through Distribution Network Operators is consistent.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As set out in the Connections Action Plan published in November 2023, Government and Ofgem are working with Distribution Network Operators to ensure consistency and standardisation across distribution networks. This includes a review by Ofgem of the incentives, obligations and requirements that apply to the electricity network connection process, and work to standardise the approach to connections.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the National Planning Policy Framework for providing sufficient land for (a) warehouses and (b) other logistical infrastructure.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
No.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether Ofgem has taken recent steps to encourage companies to sell (a) solar and (b) other forms of renewable energy back to the grid.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government encourages companies and members of the public to sell solar energy back to the grid in many ways. Smaller scale energy generators can export renewable electricity to the grid under the Smart Export Guarantee, while larger scale generators can apply for a Contract for Difference.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing (a) social media and (b) telecoms firms into the scope of the mandatory advanced push payment reimbursement regime.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government takes the issue of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime. That is why the government legislated in the Financial Services & Markets Act 2023 to enable the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to require banks and other payment service providers to reimburse APP fraud victims.
The Online Safety Act introduces duties on platforms and services for having processes to remove illegal content, such as fraud. Companies found in breach will face a penalty of up to £18 million or ten per cent of their annual global turnover. The government has also recently agreed an online fraud charter with the world’s biggest tech companies, who have pledged to take additional action to block and remove fraudulent content from their sites.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the impact of automation on entry-level (a) fork-lift truck drivers, (b) elementary storage occupations and (c) other logistics workers.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The ‘Future of Freight: A long-term plan’ sets out a cross-modal approach to a freight and logistics sector that is cost efficient, reliable, resilient, environmentally sustainable and valued by society. Priorities in the plan include investing in innovation while also supporting a diverse range of people to pursue careers in the sector.
We have established a People and Skills Delivery Group, bringing together government and industry, to address key barriers to recruitment and retention in the sector. Through this group, we will be assessing what technological advancements we can expect to see in the sector and what training provision will be required to retain and upskill the workforce, as well as how technology can be utilised to improve accessibility to the workforce.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will review the safeguarding measures in place for the provision of telemedicine abortion services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Safeguarding is an essential aspect of abortion care, including in telemedicine abortion services. The Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures for approved independent sector abortion providers in England (RSOPs) include the requirement that all abortion providers have effective arrangements in place to safeguard vulnerable women accessing home-use early medical abortion. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspects against all of the Department’s RSOPs when it inspects an independent sector provider, and safeguarding procedures are included in the CQC’s Termination of Pregnancy inspection framework as areas to be considered during an inspection.
In addition, the Department commissioned the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to develop new national safeguarding guidance for children and young people under 18 years old accessing early medical abortion services, which was published on 30 August 2022, to ensure that robust safeguarding processes are embedded across all abortion services.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2023 to Question 3835 on Tobacco: Sales, what discussions she has had with Trading Standards on the resources required to enforce a generational smoking ban.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is responsible for around 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom and causes approximately one in four cancer deaths in the UK. It also costs our country £17 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service.
That is why we will introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in this parliamentary session to create the first smokefree generation, enable us to further crack down on youth vaping and strengthen our enforcement activity, through new powers to fine rogue retailers. To ensure the law is enforced, the Government is providing an additional £30 million a year for enforcement agencies to support work on underage and illicit sales of tobacco products and vapes.
Officials are speaking regularly with trading standards about the use of the additional enforcement funding and around enforcement action more generally.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of the proposed generational smoking ban on police expenditure related to the implementation of that ban.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As is the case with existing age of sale legislation for tobacco products, breaches of the new law will be dealt with by local authority trading standards rather than by police forces.
To ensure the law is enforced, the Government is providing an additional £30 million a year for enforcement agencies to support work on underage and illicit sales of tobacco products and vapes.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to reopen the canal in Measham; and if he will take steps to provide compensation to Measham Parish Council for the loss of that amenity in recent years.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Whilst provision for the extension of the canal at Measham was made under previous plans for HS2, decisions regarding the restoration and reopening of the canal are a matter for the Ashby Canal Trust and not the Department for Transport or HS2 Ltd.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of books that discuss critical race theory in school libraries.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All pupils deserve to be taught a knowledge-rich curriculum that promotes the extensive reading of books and other texts, both in and out of school. School libraries complement public libraries in allowing pupils to do this. It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including which books the library stocks, or whether to employ a qualified librarian.
Given this autonomy, which is granted to schools, the department does not collect information about book stocks.
In February 2022, the department published guidance to help schools understand their legal duties regarding political impartiality. The law is clear that schools must remain politically impartial, not promote partisan political views and should ensure the balanced treatment of political issues.