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Written Question
Environmental Protection
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Environment Agency's feedback to members of the public who report environmental incidents.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

An Environment Agency local team can choose to give feedback or request further information regarding an incident if needed, but the Environment Agency Information Communications Service (ICS) who receive reports of environmental incidents from the public, will not provide feedback.


Written Question
Pensions Ombudsman
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the length of time it takes for cases to be assessed by the Pensions Ombudsman.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP has provided additional financial support to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) to reduce the length of time it takes to deal with cases. Following increased funding of £750,000 in 2022/23 and £1,698,347 in 2023/24, an additional £1,050,000 has now been allocated for 2024/25 specifically for casework activities to reduce waiting times.

Additional funding has increased case clearances and is beginning to reduce average waiting times.


Written Question
Hospices: Finance
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of standardising funding for hospices.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

While the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we also recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in providing support to people at the end of life, and their loved ones. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding hospices receive is dependent on many factors, including what other statutory services are available within the integrated care board footprint.


Written Question
Armed Forces
Monday 4th March 2024

Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to (a) upgrade military equipment and (b) increase recruitment.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Defence Command Paper 21 made several significant announcements around new and upgrading military equipment and we are recapitalising across a range of equipment. Recently announced investments include Jackal 3, Protector Remotely Piloted Air System, Space Control capabilities and Type 31 Frigates. These choices ensure investment in modern warfighting capabilities that will endure and provide relevance well into the next decade.

For the second part of the hon. Member's question, with regards to recruitment, please refer to the answer provided by the right hon. Dr Andrew Murrison on 19 January 2024 to Question 9841.


Written Question
Voluntary Organisations: VAT Exemptions
Friday 1st March 2024

Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing VAT exemption for not-for-profit organisations who provide welfare services to dementia sufferers.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

VAT has been designed as a broad-based tax on consumption, and the twenty per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Whilst there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been strictly limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.

Welfare services provided by local authorities and similar bodies and charities are exempt from VAT, meaning no VAT is charged to the final consumer.

Welfare services provided by state regulated private welfare institutions are also exempt from VAT. State regulated suppliers are those that are registered with the Care Quality Commission, and are eligible for the VAT exemption where they are providing services that are state regulated.

The regulation requirement ensures that VAT relief is limited to providers certified as offering safe and high-quality welfare services. This is a long-standing requirement, and there are no plans to make changes to these rules.


Written Question
Aquaculture: Shellfish
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)

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 30 January 2024 to Question 11649 on Aquaculture: Shellfish, what steps his Department is taking to challenge the EU's restrictions on undepurated Class B live bivalve molluscs; and (b) through what mechanism those challenges are made.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We have challenged the EU's restrictions on undepurated Class B live bivalve molluscs through the mechanisms provided by the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). These include the TCA SPS Committee, TCA Partnership Council and Trade Partnership Committee. Minutes of these Committees can be found at Trade and Cooperation Agreement Governance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).


Written Question
Pupils: Nutrition
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve nutrition education in schools.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The government wants to support the health and wellbeing of everyone. The department understands the importance of education in delivering this aim and the department is supporting schools in a number of ways to provide high quality nutrition education for their students.

Nutrition is a discrete strand of the national curriculum for Design and Technology (D&T). This was introduced as part of the 2014 D&T curriculum and is compulsory for key stages 1 to 3. The curriculum aims to teach children how to cook and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and nutrition. It recognises that cooking is an important life skill that will help children to feed themselves and others healthy and affordable food.

A food preparation and nutrition GCSE was introduced in September 2016. It requires pupils to understand and apply the principles of food science, nutrition and healthy eating when preparing and cooking food.

The importance of nutrition is also included in the science curriculum for both primary and secondary schools. Nutrition through healthy eating is covered through topics relating to nutrition and digestion, which cover the content of a healthy diet and the impact of diet on how the body functions.

The statutory guidance for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health Education includes content on the importance of daily exercise, good nutrition and the risks associated with an inactive lifestyle, including obesity.

Throughout the guidance, there is an emphasis on empowering young people to make choices and adopt lifestyles that will increase their chance of living happy and healthy lives to support the agenda on tackling obesity. To support teachers to deliver the healthy eating topic, the department has developed a teacher training module which can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health#train-teachers-on-relationships-sex-and-health-education.

The government also supports the provision of nutritious food in schools, which ensures pupils are well nourished, develop healthy eating habits and can concentrate and learn.

The standards for school food are set out in the Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014. The School Food Standards are part of the government’s drive to help children adopt healthy eating habits from a young age. The department provides a number of resources for schools, which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools.

The School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme also provides over 2.2 million children in reception and key stage 1 with a portion of fresh fruit or vegetables each day at school. Schools are encouraged to use it as an opportunity to educate children and to assist a healthy, balanced diet.

The Oak National Academy will be providing a fully resourced curriculum for key stages 1 to 3 for food and nutrition. This will align with the national curriculum and Oak’s guiding principles, which focus on the knowledge and skills specific to food and nutrition.

Oak have assured the department that pupils will be able to cook more than six savoury dishes by the end of key stage three by following their food curriculum.


Written Question
Aquaculture: Shellfish
Tuesday 30th January 2024

Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the shellfish aquaculture industry.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since 2021, the Government has awarded £22.3 million to support the shellfish aquaculture industry in areas such as improving sustainability, preventing shellfish disease, and better skills and training.

The Government's Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan prioritises action to improve the water quality of 63 of the largest shellfish waters in England by 2030.

The Government continues to challenge the EU's restrictions on undepurated Class B live bivalve molluscs which we believe are unjustified and disproportionate to the risk under the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.


Written Question
Special Educational Needs
Tuesday 30th January 2024

Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities to reduce the time taken to complete education, health and care plans.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department wants to ensure that Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans, where required, are issued as quickly as possible, so that children and young people can access the support they need.

In March 2023, the government set out its plans to reform and improve the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system through its SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan. It commits to establishing a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with SEND so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes, and are well prepared for adulthood and employment.

As part of these reforms, the department is currently testing measures to deliver a nationally consistent EHC plan system to improve the quality and speed with which support is put in place.

Where local authorities are failing to deliver consistent outcomes for children and young people with SEND, the department works with them using a range of improvement programmes and SEND specialist advisors to address weaknesses.

Following the joint SEND local area revisit by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in 2022, an Improvement Notice was issued to Devon County Council with a requirement to develop an Accelerated Progress Plan (APP) that addressed the four areas of weakness including one relating to EHC plans. In line with the Improvement Notice, the APP is subject to rigorous monitoring by the department and NHS England and the department continues to work closely with the local area to ensure they are supported in addressing issues and driving improvements to services.


Written Question
UK Integrated Security Fund
Friday 19th January 2024

Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 22 December 2023 to Question 6924 on UK Integrated Security Fund, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the White Paper on International Development entitled, International development in a contested world: ending extreme poverty and tackling climate change, published November 2023, on the operation of the UK Integrated Security Fund.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Integrated Security Fund (ISF) is designed to complement HMG Departmental activity, including on themes that are covered by the International Development White Paper, such as the impact of transnational threats, cyber-related issues and serious and organised crime. The White Paper sets out how development activity will continue to be an important tool for the UK to address security issues and to improve stability around the world. The ISF will expand upon the existing Conflict, Stability and Security Fund and will continue to deliver on fragile and conflict-affected locations as part of this overall effort to tackle some of the greatest threats to global development and to bolster UK security and resilience.