Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the statement by World Food Programme's Palestine Country Director of 4 March 2024 on the need for an aid corridor to northern Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. We have trebled our aid commitment this financial year and we will continue to support the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver humanitarian aid. We have been clear that Israel must take concrete steps, working with other partners including the UN and Egypt, to significantly increase the flow of aid across Gaza including allowing prolonged humanitarian pauses and opening more routes into Gaza.
We need Israel to ensure the UN has the people, vehicles, equipment and fuel to distribute aid safely across Gaza, and to open the Erez Crossing to allow direct access to the north of Gaza.
We continue to call for an immediate pause to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the World Food Programme Deputy Executive Director's statement to the UN Security Council on 27 February 2024.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. We have trebled our aid commitment this financial year and we will continue to support the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver humanitarian aid. We have been clear that Israel must take concrete steps, working with other partners including the UN and Egypt, to significantly increase the flow of aid across Gaza including allowing prolonged humanitarian pauses and opening more routes into Gaza.
We need Israel to ensure the UN has the people, vehicles, equipment and fuel to distribute aid safely across Gaza, and to open the Erez Crossing to allow direct access to the north of Gaza.
We continue to call for an immediate pause to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the (a) physical and (b) mental ability of NHS staff to work beyond the state pension age.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No recent assessment has been made. National Health Service staff are not expected to work beyond state pension age, though some choose to do so. The NHS Pension Scheme is generous, and provides good pensions for retirement. The scheme offers a partial retirement option, which allows staff to draw down part of their pension and continue working in a more flexible way.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan commits to going beyond statutory requirements in supporting and promoting flexible working opportunities. NHS England have produced guidance for employers on supporting their older workforce, together with a wide-ranging package of support for NHS staff. This includes tools and resources to support line managers to hold meaningful conversations with staff to discuss their well-being, and emotional and psychological health and wellbeing support.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the (a) physical and (b) mental ability of people to work (i) until and (ii) beyond the state pension age.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department provides information to support people to make informed decisions such as Midlife MOT sessions in Jobcentres, and the digital Midlife MOT offer available to everyone online which offers financial, health and career guidance. There is no requirement for people to work beyond the State Pension age, however some people may choose to.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of tonnes of (a) aid and (b) UK-funded aid entering Gaza each (i) day and (ii) month in the 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK has delivered 161 tonnes of life saving aid and equipment to Egypt for the Gaza response. This comprised 74 tonnes on board four RAF flights in October and November and 87 tonnes - inclusive of five tonnes of Cypriot aid - on board RFA Lyme Bay in January. In late January the UK and Qatar delivered a joint consignment of 17 tonnes of family sized tents, and in February the UK and Jordan delivered 4 tonnes of aid by air to Tal Al-Hawa Hospital in northern Gaza.
Additionally, the UK is funding a number of trusted partners through their large-scale appeals to procure and deliver aid to Gaza. This includes supporting the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 tonnes of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery in December and a second delivery of 315 tonnes was made in January. It must be recognised that the support to large scale appeals prevents us from directly attributing UK funding to specific items, and it remains challenging to track aid deliveries by weight by international partners and aid organisations. Updates on the number of aid trucks entering Gaza are published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) as part of their daily updates on "Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel - reported impact", available on their website https://www.ochaopt.org/crisis
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of August 2023 from the constituent of the hon. Member for Cynon Valley, Michael O’Brien, sent via his solicitor.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice takes the handling of correspondence seriously and apologises for the delay in replying to the hon. Member for Cynon Valley, Beth Winter, and their constituent Michael O’Brien. We can confirm that the Secretary of State for Justice is still considering the position on retrospective saved living expenses, and a response will be sent out as soon as possible.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of August 2023 from the hon. Member for Cynon Valley relating to a constituent, Michael O’Brien.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice takes the handling of correspondence seriously and apologises for the delay in replying to the hon. Member for Cynon Valley, Beth Winter, and their constituent Michael O’Brien. We can confirm that the Secretary of State for Justice is still considering the position on retrospective saved living expenses, and a response will be sent out as soon as possible.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ensuring that private residential tenants have the right to request that an energy meter compliant with the European Measuring Instruments Directive is installed in the property where they live.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Legislation is in place, under the Electricity Act 1989 and the Gas Act 1986, which requires all meters used for billing purposes to be approved. This includes sub meters used for secondary billing, such as in a landlord-tenant situation. This means that the government has already ensured that where landlords intend to bill their tenants, approved meters must be used.
Meters in use will have been required to demonstrate compliance with the UK Measuring Instruments Regulations 2016 which implement the relevant requirements of the European Measuring Instruments Directive, or earlier GB national legislation if their installation pre-dates that legislation.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ensuring that private rental residential landlords provide energy meters that are compliant with the European Measuring Instruments Directive for each property they let.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Legislation is in place, under the Electricity Act 1989 and the Gas Act 1986, which requires all meters used for billing purposes to be approved. This includes sub meters used for secondary billing, such as in a landlord-tenant situation. This means that the government has already ensured that where landlords intend to bill their tenants, approved meters must be used.
Meters in use will have been required to demonstrate compliance with the UK Measuring Instruments Regulations 2016 which implement the relevant requirements of the European Measuring Instruments Directive, or earlier GB national legislation if their installation pre-dates that legislation.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of monitoring the (a) accessibility and (b) effectiveness of the appeals process for fines issued by private parking providers.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is taking action to improve the regulation of the private parking industry and is committed to working with both consumer and industry groups to ensure the code comes into effect as quickly as possible. The Government has no plans to back date the code to 7 February 2022.
The Code will ensure the best possible protection for motorists and parking companies alike, for this reason it will require a need for a grace period to be in place at the end of a permitted parking period.
The Government is aware of the concerns being raised regarding the existing appeals services. Alongside the introduction of the new Private Parking Code of Practice, the Government will be establishing a new, second stage appeals service which is straightforward to use and accessible to all. We will monitor the effectiveness of the new service and take action to make improvements where necessary.
Additionally, operator staff will be required to undergo relevant training.