Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the planned deadline of January 2024 for Environment Agency Regulatory Position Statement 197.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Regulatory Position Statement (RPS) 197 has been in force since 2005 but it does not currently contain an expiry date. The Environment Agency (EA) will be consulting the waste industry on a replacement for RPS 197. That will allow a temporary extension to the disposal of metal shredding residues and residues from the processing of metal shredding residues which are classed as hazardous waste, at landfill for non-hazardous waste. As part of the consultation the EA will ask for feedback on appropriate deadlines.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 help support negotiations between sugar beet growers and British Sugar PLC.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain, with risk and reward being properly shared, therefore we recognise the importance of sugar beet farmers receiving a price agreed for their 2024 sugar beet crop that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market.
Defra had discussion with all parties and were pleased to see NFU Sugar and British Sugar resume negotiations and continuing with the well-established process in place which is designed to be independent between both parties.
It is very important that all parties involved now continue to follow that process and reach a mutually acceptable outcome.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the distribution of flood relief grant-aid to (a) homes and (b) businesses affected by the flooding caused by Storm Babet in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich constituency.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I extend my sympathy to all those affected by the impacts of Storm Babet, flooding is a devastating experience for anyone. I also recognise the efforts of councils and emergency responders and thank them for their ongoing work in affected areas.
The Secretary of State activated the Flood Recovery Framework on Wednesday 25 October. The activation of the Storm Babet Flood Recovery Framework will be reviewed following implementation by local authorities.
For the Storm Babet Flood Recovery Framework activation, eligible areas are those upper and lower tier authority areas:
East Suffolk Council, Mid Suffolk Council and Ipswich Council are eligible for the Storm Babet Flood Recovery Framework and have until 25 January 2024 to provide information on impacts to my department to support payment processes.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to re-introduce neighbourhood planning grants.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Policy announcements will be made in the usual way.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to amend approved mileage allowance payment rates for volunteer-led organisations.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As with all taxes and allowances, the Government keeps the AMAP rate under review. In considering changes to the Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) rate, the Government has to balance the responsible management of public finances, which fund our essential public services with support for individuals.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 improve access to NHS dentist for people in rural areas.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The National Health Service contracts with independent dental providers to deliver NHS dental treatment in primary care settings and practices have the flexibility to recruit locally to meet their specific needs.
From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards across England.
‘Our plan for patients’, announced in September 2022, outlined how we will meet oral health needs and make NHS work more attractive to dentists and their teams, including those in rural areas. This included improving the 2006 NHS dental contract to ensure fairer remuneration for practices providing complex treatment, enabling practices to deliver more activity than they are contracted to deliver (up to 110% of contract value), and introducing a minimum Unit of Dental Activity value of £23.
Other measures include working with Health Education England and NHS England to understand how Centres for Dental Development could be delivered to improve access in areas with a shortage in provision, which may include more rural areas.
We are planning additional reforms of the NHS Dental System to be announced later this year, with a separate long-term plan for the NHS workforce, which will include measures to strengthen and build capacity in the NHS dental workforce.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 prevent closures of rural dentist practices.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The National Health Service contracts with independent dental providers to deliver NHS dental treatment in primary care settings and practices have the flexibility to recruit locally to meet their specific needs.
From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards across England.
‘Our plan for patients’, announced in September 2022, outlined how we will meet oral health needs and make NHS work more attractive to dentists and their teams, including those in rural areas. This included improving the 2006 NHS dental contract to ensure fairer remuneration for practices providing complex treatment, enabling practices to deliver more activity than they are contracted to deliver (up to 110% of contract value), and introducing a minimum Unit of Dental Activity value of £23.
Other measures include working with Health Education England and NHS England to understand how Centres for Dental Development could be delivered to improve access in areas with a shortage in provision, which may include more rural areas.
We are planning additional reforms of the NHS Dental System to be announced later this year, with a separate long-term plan for the NHS workforce, which will include measures to strengthen and build capacity in the NHS dental workforce.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to take steps to provide guidance for (a) web hosting companies, (b) telephone infrastructure companies, (c) the banking industry and (d) other industries potentially prone to fraud on protections against fraud for vulnerable and elderly people.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Tackling fraud requires a unified and co-ordinated response from government, law enforcement and the private sector and we will publish a new strategy to address the threat of fraud.
In October 2021, we launched three Fraud Sector Charters, which are voluntary agreements with the telecommunications, retail banking and accountancy sectors. The charters have delivered innovative actions to counter fraud in these industries including measures to reduce scam texts, measures to help vulnerable victims of fraud and to share data.
The Home Office is also intending to launch tech, insurance and legal sector charters with industry. This will include private and public actions that will drive down fraud in these sectors.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what plans the Government has to tackle the harmful emotional and financial effects of fraud on vulnerable and elderly people.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Government recognises the devastating impact of fraud on people’s lives, particularly the elderly and most vulnerable people in society. Raising awareness and safeguarding victims will form a key pillar of the Government’s forthcoming Fraud Strategy which will be published shortly. We will work with industry to remove the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit, with intelligence agencies to shut down fraudulent infrastructure, with law enforcement to identify and bring the most harmful offenders to justice, and with all partners to ensure that the public, including older and vulnerable people, have the advice and support they need. |
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the financial cost of agency, bank, and other temporary staffing costs at NHS and NHS foundation trusts (a) in total and (b) broken down by trust in 2021-2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The validated data is not yet published for 2021/22.
While the NHS Consolidated Accounts have been published, this does not include an explicit figure for agency or bank spend as it is bundled together with other spend items.
We expect the 2021/22 agency and bank spend data, for the National Health Service as a whole and for individual trusts, to be published this spring.