Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people admitted to hospital with covid-19 (a) had not received a covid-19 vaccination, (b) had received a single covid-19 vaccination and (c) had received both vaccinations in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
What steps his Department is taking to strengthen Northern Ireland’s place in the UK.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Government has always stressed the importance of the Union. This year is the centenary of Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom as we know it today, and the Government is committed to levelling up across all four nations of the UK.
The £400m New Deal and the £562m in City and Growth Deals will boost economic growth, with Deals covering the whole of Northern Ireland. This includes the Derry-Londonderry and Strabane City Deal that the Government signed Heads of Terms for in February.
Northern Ireland will also benefit from the Community Renewal Fund, the Levelling Up Fund and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. We will continue working tirelessly for our family of nations going forward.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) laptops and (b) other remote learning devices his Department has provided to West Sussex schools during covid-19 closures since March 2020; and what estimate his Department has made of the value of those devices.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. As of Monday 8 February 2021, this includes over 980,000 laptops and tablets that were delivered to schools, academy trusts and local authorities.
All schools, academy trusts and local authorities have now been given the opportunity to order devices. Laptops and tablets are owned by schools, academy trusts or local authorities to lend to children and young people who need them most during the current COVID-19 restrictions.
Figures on the number of devices delivered, broken down by local authority and academy trust are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data.
Where schools need additional devices above their allocations they should contact the Department’s service team at covid.technology@education.gov.uk. They should include the number of disadvantaged pupils in Years 3 to 11 who require support and an explanation of how they have gathered this evidence.
The Department is also able to supply routers and mobile data through this scheme. We have partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help disadvantaged children get online as well as delivering 4G wireless routers for pupils without connection at home. We are grateful to EE, O2, Sky Mobile, Smarty, Tesco Mobile, Three, Virgin Mobile, Vodafone, BT Mobile and Lycamobile for their collaboration. We are currently engaged with additional mobile network operators and continue to invite a range of mobile network providers to support the offer.
The Department has delivered 54,000 4G wireless routers for pupils and care leavers without connection at home, have secured an additional 19,000 routers which we are distributing now and will be procuring more in the next few weeks.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support victims of domestic abuse in Sussex.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
On 1st February, the Government announced an additional £40m for victims’ services. This funding will include £9.7m for Domestic Abuse, £16m to further expand the availability of Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers and this funding will be available for two years, and £800k for Finding Legal Options for Women Survivors (FLOWS), a digital tool that helps victims of domestic abuse to apply for emergency protection from the courts.
In 2020/21, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) provided £1.85m in core grant funding to the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Sussex, for local commissioning of support services for victims of crime, including Domestic Abuse. In addition, MoJ provided £842,538 in emergency COVID-19 funding last year to Sussex PCC to provide additional support for Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence service providers. It is not possible to disaggregate spending on victims of Domestic Abuse from the total funding, as victims of Domestic Abuse are supported by specific providers as well as providers offering a range of services. PCCs also spend money from other sources outside of the MoJ grant on victims’ services including Domestic Abuse.
For 2021/22, the MoJ has committed to match the same levels of funding for the Core Victims Grant for PCCs to ensure that victims of Domestic Abuse continue to receive the support they need.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help the maritime industry to decarbonise.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As part of the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, Government has committed £20 million to support the development of clean maritime technologies. This programme builds on the vision set out in the Clean Maritime Plan, published in 2019, and underlines our commitment to addressing emissions from this sector while supporting green growth.
In addition, the Government has made good progress on delivering its commitments in the Clean Maritime Plan, including by: launching a round of grants and a clean maritime call of £1.5m to support innovation in clean maritime; undertaking research considering the role of maritime clusters in delivering clean growth; and, exploring the inclusion of maritime elements in the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) for public consultation later this year.
Further plans on the decarbonisation of the maritime sector will be included in the forthcoming Transport Decarbonisation Plan. This will set out a credible and ambitious pathway to delivering transport’s contribution to carbon budgets and meet Net Zero by 2050.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 September 2020 to Question 89904, when the Government plans to respond to the Independent Review of Landscapes; and what steps he is taking to achieve the recommendation of a night under the stars in a national landscape for every child as part of that response.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The independent Review of Protected Landscapes, led by Julian Glover, set out a compelling vision for more beautiful, more biodiverse and more accessible National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Government welcomes this ambition and is committed to increasing opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy the benefits of spending meaningful time in our national landscapes in England. We are carefully considering the recommendations and working with partner organisations to inform and develop our response to the review, which we will publish in due course.
The £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund, which launched in September 2020, will kickstart a programme of nature-based projects to restore nature, tackle climate change and connect people with the natural environment. Some of these projects will help deliver on Glover recommendations, such as the proposal to give every child a night under the stars in a national landscape.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
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 level of protection of chalk streams in the South Downs.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Restoring England’s internationally important chalk streams is a Government priority. In October last year I co-hosted a conference bringing together key partners whose actions are needed to achieve that priority. A chalk streams working group has been formed and is developing an action plan, a first draft of which will be presented to Government later this year.
A number of river systems drain the South Downs but in many cases only the headwaters would be considered to be chalk streams. The main exceptions are the Itchen and Meon which are sizeable rivers with strong chalk stream character. The Itchen is notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation from source to sea for its national and international importance as chalk stream habitat.
More broadly, River Basin Management Plans set out the actions that are required by a range of organisations and sectors to improve the water environment at a local scale. In addition, the Nitrates (Pollution Prevention) Regulations 2015 and the Farming Rules for Water (2018) aim to reduce agricultural loadings to the natural environment. The Environment Agency is addressing the issue of unsustainable water abstraction, which may also impact on the health of a chalk stream.
Chalk streams are habitats of principal importance under Section 41 of The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, alongside other important river types. The Act requires that the Secretary of State takes steps, as appear to be reasonably practicable, to further the conservation of these habitat types, and promote the taking of similar steps by others. Natural England and the Environment Agency work closely with public bodies and other landowners and stakeholders to advise on and support better protection and restoration of chalk streams, in the South Downs and more widely.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2020 to Question 123502, when the new joint taskforce on storm overflows will publish its proposals on protecting chalk streams.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The new Storm Overflows Taskforce established between the Government, the water industry, regulators and environmental NGOs will set out clear proposals to address the harm and frequency of sewage discharged into our rivers and other waterways from storm overflows. The Taskforce has commissioned a research project to gather a comprehensive evidence base about the costs, benefits and feasibility of different options. This research project is due to be completed in the spring.
Additionally, we are working with stakeholders through a new national working group to develop a chalk steam action plan to restore and protect England’s chalk streams.
The working group will be considering all available options on providing further protection of chalk streams and will be reporting its recommendations later in the year.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will publish information on his Department's progress in signing new Growth Deals in Wales.
Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)
We signed a Final Deal Agreement for the North Wales Growth Deal on 17 December 2020. We also successfully agreed Heads of Terms for a Mid Wales Growth Deal on 22 December with a view to negotiating a Final Deal Agreement. When this is signed, it will mean that the whole of Wales will be covered by £790m of UK Government City and Growth Deal funding. The Government is committed to ensuring that these deals deliver economic growth and jobs across the whole of Wales and I will continue to work closely with my colleagues to enable that to happen.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Environment Agency has made on maintenance at high flood risk areas along the River Arun and River Adur in West Sussex.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency carries out an annual programme of routine maintenance works on the River Adur and Arun which have been completed for this financial year. The programme will resume from April 2021.
In 2020 the Environment Agency received additional Government funding to repair assets that were damaged during the 2019/20 winter storms and floods. This funding has been used to repair flood embankments on the River Arun in the following locations: Hardham (south of Pulborough), Greatham and many locations along the River Stor.
The Environment Agency is also working with partners and local communities in both river catchments to implement the National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Strategy.