Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of creating an extended producer responsibility scheme for (a) tyres, (b) mattresses, (c) white goods and (d) other items.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government committed in its Resources and Waste Strategy for England to review and consult on potential measures such as extended producer responsibility and product standards for five new waste streams (including tyres and bulky waste such as mattresses) by the end of 2025. We are considering what policy and legislative framework would be most appropriate for these and other waste streams.
We will shortly be publishing our consultation on reforming the existing producer responsibility regime for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) which includes white goods, and invite the Member to respond to those proposals at his convenience.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to incentivise (a) recycling and (b) reuse of textiles.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s 2018 Resources & Waste Strategy for England identified textiles as a priority sector for action. Our ambitions to minimise textile waste will be outlined in the upcoming document Maximising Resources, Minimising Waste, which constitutes a new Waste Prevention Programme for England. We expect to publish this in summer 2023.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to tackle littering from cigarette butts.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Cigarette butts continue to be the most littered item according to a survey commissioned by Defra. On our behalf, WRAP have explored options for tackling littering of cigarette butts, including making the industry financially responsible for the costs of dealing with littered butts.
The research, which will be published in due course, highlighted the need for further data. We will therefore continue to monitor the available evidence on the prevalence of littered cigarette filters before taking further action.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
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 is taking to increase rates of recycling of mattresses.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are exploring options in relation to bulky furniture waste, which includes mattresses, having identified this category in the Resources and Waste Strategy.
We are looking at the best ways to reduce waste arising, increase recycling and reuse and minimise the materials ending up in landfill or incineration.
This work includes consideration of extended producer responsibility along with other non-EPR policy options.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people lost their Carer’s Allowance because they had reached pensionable age in each of the last 20 years .
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested on how many people lost their Carer’s Allowance because they had reached pensionable age in each of the last 20 years is not held. The department does not hold data on the reason Carer’s Allowance claimants lose their Carer’s Allowance award.
There is no upper age limit to claiming Carer’s Allowance, however, it cannot normally be paid with the State Pension.
It has been a long-held feature of the UK’s benefit system that where someone is entitled to two benefits for the same contingency, then whilst there may be entitlement to both benefits, only one will be paid. Although entitlement to State Pension and Carer’s Allowance arise in different circumstances, they are nevertheless paid for the same contingency – as an income replacement: Carer’s Allowance replaces income where the carer has given up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to care for a severely disabled person, while the State Pension replaces income in retirement. For this reason, social security rules operate to prevent them being paid together, to avoid duplicate provision for the same need.
If a carer’s State Pension is less than Carer's Allowance, State Pension is paid and topped up with Carer's Allowance to the basic weekly rate of Carer's Allowance, which is currently £76.75. Where Carer’s Allowance cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to the benefit. This gives access to the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit of £42.75 a week and even if a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, he or she may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the evidence base is for her Department's policy on electronic collars.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The draft Animal Welfare (Electronic Collars) Regulations 2023 were developed after considering a broad range of factors. This includes academic research – including Defra-commissioned research (AW1402 and AW1402a) – responses to the public consultation and direct engagement with trainers, behaviourists, e-collar manufacturers, the animal welfare sector, veterinary and dog keeping organisations.
In April, the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission also published a report giving its assessment of the available evidence and research, which concluded that use of e-collars should be banned.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse was of NHS treatment for people admitted to hospital with urinary tract infections in each financial year between 2018-19 and 2021-22.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are admitted to hospital each year with urinary tract infections; what the cost was to the public purse of the NHS of treating people with urinary tract infections in the last financial year; and whether the NHS plans to take steps to improve options for community-based services to treat urinary tract infections.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of people admitted to hospital each year in the last five years with urinary tract infections (UTIs).
Year | Admissions |
2018/19 | 184,794 |
2019/20 | 179,785 |
2020/21 | 135,594 |
2021/22 | 152,695 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS England
Data for 2021/22 is latest data available. We cannot provide data on the total cost to the NHS of treating patients with UTI in the last financial year (2022/23).
NHS England published on 9 May 2023 its Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. This sets out proposals to improve options for community-based services to treat urinary tract infections. Appropriately trained community pharmacists will be commissioned to provide a clinical service to care for patients with urinary symptoms, providing timely access to assessment, information and advice.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
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 help prevent people from developing dementia.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are focusing on the major conditions which contribute to early mortality and reduce years of good health and taking action to reduce the risk factors for cardiovascular disease that are also risk factors for vascular dementia. For example, encouraging people in mid-life to stop smoking, reduce their alcohol consumption and improve their diet to help reduce the risk of developing dementia, disability and frailty in later life.
The Government recently announced that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy which will set out a strong and coherent policy agenda that sets out a shift to integrated, whole-person care. An interim report will be published in the summer.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to support electric vehicle manufacturing in the UK.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) aims to support the creation of an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain in the UK. The government continues to work with industry via the ATF to unlock strategic investments in gigafactories, motors and drives, power electronics, and fuel cell systems.
In the coming months, after engagement with industry, the government will build on the ATF and the long-term Advanced Propulsion Centre R&D programme to take decisive action to ensure future investment in the manufacturing of zero emission vehicles.