Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what criteria his Department uses to determine whether water companies have failed to carry out their (a) statutory functions and (b) licensed activities to such an extent that his Department would apply to the High Court for them to be placed into special administration under the provisions of the Water Industry Act 1991.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Defra Secretary of State and the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat), with consent of the Secretary of State, have the power to request the court to place a company in a special administration regime (SAR) so that its business can either be rescued or transferred as a going concern to new owners. Section 24 (2) of the Water Industry Act 1991 sets out the legal parameters for which a SAR can be applied for.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding the (a) National Institute for Health and Care Research and (b) UK Research Institute has provided for Parkinson's research in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s responsibility for delivering Parkinson’s disease research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Between the financial years 2019/20 and 2023/24, the Department of Health and Social Care, via the NIHR, funded Parkinson’s research projects to a total value of £12.9 million of programme spend.
As well as funding research itself, the NIHR invests significantly in research expertise and capacity, specialist facilities, support services, and collaborations, to support and deliver research in England. Collectively this forms the NIHR’s infrastructure. The NIHR’s infrastructure enables the country’s leading experts to develop and deliver high-quality translational, clinical, and applied research into Parkinson’s disease. For example, in the financial year 2022/23, the NIHR Clinical Research Network supported 114 studies related to Parkinson’s disease. UKRI spent over £66 million on research into Parkinson’s disease between the financial years 2019/20 and 2023/24. The following table shows the breakdown of spend on Parkinson's research for the NIHR and UKRI, each year from 2019/20 to 2023/24:
| NIHR programmes | UKRI | Total |
2019/20 | £2,470,000 | £18,200,000 | £20,680,000 |
2020/21 | £2,180,000 | £11,970,000 | £14,160,000 |
2021/22 | £2,620,000 | £13,010,000 | £15,640,000 |
2022/23 | £2,570,000 | £11,890,000 | £14,470,000 |
2023/24 | £3,030,000 | £11,060,000 | £14,090,000 |
Total | £12,900,000 | £66,150,000 | £79,060,000 |
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will summon the Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and call for (a) the revocation of Toomaj Salehi’s death sentence, (b) his unconditional release, and (c) a nationwide moratorium on executions.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK condemns the death sentence of prominent and fearless artist Toomaj Salehi. Iran's deliberate attempts to silence dissenting voices are clear for all to see. We call for Mr Salehi's immediate release, and the release of all those who are unjustly detained by the Iranian regime. Mr Salehi's sentence is yet more evidence of unacceptable restrictions on freedom of expression in Iran. Nine people associated with the "Woman Life Freedom" protests have been executed.
The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We condemn Iran's continued imposition of the death penalty on protesters and have sanctioned 94 Iranian individuals or entities for human rights violations since September 2022. We call on Iran to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, with reference to the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s UK review of UK aid’s international climate finance commitments, published 29 February 2024, what assessment his Department has made of whether the £1.724 billion funding which has been reclassified as international climate finance is (a) dedicated ring-fenced funding and (b) distinguishable from non-climate ODA.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is delivering on our commitment to spend £11.6 billion International Climate Finance (ICF) between 2021/22 and 2025/26. Much of our ICF is integrated into programmes that seek to tackle climate change alongside other development objectives such as supporting economic growth and boosting sustainable agriculture. UK ICF programmes are all identifiable through a dedicated tag on the Development Tracker website: [https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/].
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, with reference to paragraph 4.11 of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s report entitled UK aid’s international climate finance commitments, published on 29 February 2024, for what reason his Department has categorised 30 per cent of the funding for the Afghanistan Multi-Year Programme Phase 2 project as international climate finance.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
To recognise the work that is being undertaken to support resilience building in the most climate-vulnerable countries a fixed proportion of 30 per cent International Climate Finance will be applied to humanitarian work being carried out in countries that fall into the bottom 10 per cent in terms of recognised climate vulnerability rankings, including Afghanistan.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to increase the transparency of the process for licensing game bird shoots.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has introduced several improvements to the transparency of processes since 2023 including proactively publishing all regulatory documents relating to GL43 and GL45 on Gov.uk, and by sharing the number of individual licenses approved and rejected in a previous PQ (PQ 202935). Defra has regularly engaged with a broad range of stakeholders to develop an improved risk assessment process, as well as a general licence for Special Protection Areas for birds. Defra has kept stakeholders informed of progress throughout the development of the general licence and individual licensing process.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will take steps to ensure measurable commitments to improve indoor air quality are included in the forthcoming Pandemic Accord.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK recognises that improving indoor air quality is an important public health issue. However, as the Pandemic Accord aims to establish a high-level framework for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, we have instead pursued action on this issue in other multilateral settings. For example, at last year's UN General Assembly, the UK worked with international partners to advocate for action on indoor air quality during the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Care. The UK supported reference being made to the health impacts of indoor air pollution in the HLM's political declaration, which was subsequently adopted on 5 October 2023.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the names of the members of his Department’s expert committee that is responsible for reviewing Natural England’s advice regarding licencing applications to release non-native gamebirds.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2023, Defra established an expert panel to advise on individual licence applications to release common pheasant or red legged partridge on or within 500m of Special Protection Areas for birds. The panel consisted of experts in exotic disease control and epidemiological risk from Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her policy paper entitled Faster, simpler and fairer: our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry, published on 7 February 2024, when she plans to open her planned consultation with the dental profession on reforming the contract to make NHS work more attractive.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in Faster, simpler, fairer: our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry, we are working on further reforms to the 2006 contract, in discussion with the dental profession, to properly reflect the care needed by different patients, and more fairly remunerate practices. We are developing options through consultation with the dental profession, in advance of a further announcement later this year. Any changes would be phased in from 2025 onwards.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of trends in levels of morale in the dental profession; and what steps her Department is taking to retain dentists.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes data on dentists’ working patterns, motivation, and morale, most recently on 25 April 2024, which is available at the following link:
The Dentistry Recovery Plan will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients, and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment.
We want to encourage all professionals to commit more of their time to National Health Service work, and to work in areas of the country with low provision of NHS dental care. That is why we are introducing Golden Hellos, as set out in our plan to reform and recover NHS dentistry. A Golden Hello of £20,000 will be offered per dentist, for a total of up to 240 dentists. The Golden Hellos will support practices in areas where recruitment is particularly challenging, and make a real difference to those patients needing dental care.
Furthermore, our New Patient Premium will offer dental practices cash incentives for taking on new patients, giving better access to anyone who has not received NHS dental care in the past two years. Dentists will receive an extra £15 or £50 per treatment, depending on the work required, which is on top of the funding they would already receive for this care.