Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the Tenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which concluded on 10 February 2024.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 yearly deaths in the United Kingdom and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year.
This is why the Government is committed to creating the first smokefree generation, ensuring no child born after 1 January 2009 will ever legally be sold tobacco. The tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was an opportunity for the UK to showcase this international leadership on tobacco control. The decisions agreed at COP10 will not impact our smokefree generation policies or our plans to tackle youth vaping.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the United Nations and (b) UN agencies on the resumption of elections in Libya.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is fully committed to supporting the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) Bathily's efforts to drive forward a UN-facilitated, Libyan-led political process. The UK is using its position as United Nations Security Council (UNSC) penholder to work with the council and engages regularly with international partners in support of the SRSG's efforts. British Embassy Tripoli engages regularly with UNSMIL and Libyan interlocutors to encourage them to work constructively with the SRSG as he seeks to facilitate a political agreement that addresses the underlying issues preventing elections.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions he has had with the European Union on potential amendments to the Windsor Framework to streamline the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Windsor Framework replaces the old Northern Ireland Protocol, addressing issues in its operation and protecting Northern Ireland’s place in the UK. We continue to have discussions with the EU on the operation of the Windsor Framework, including through the structures agreed as part of the Windsor Framework.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many meetings (a) ministers and (b) officials of her Department have had with (i) ministers and (ii) officials in the (A) Home Office and (B) Ministry of Justice to discuss retained EU law in the context of the Government's proposals for the removal of illegal migrants to Rwanda.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers and officials at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) have not had any meetings with ministers or officials at the Home Office or Ministry of Justice to discuss retained EU law (REUL) (now known as assimilated law), in the context of the removal of illegal migrants to Rwanda, although DBT officials regularly engage with both departments as a matter of course on their intentions for REUL/assimilated law falling within their areas of responsibility.
DBT is committed to working with any other government department to make the most of our freedoms outside the EU.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many items of retained EU law were (a) revoked and (b) assimilated before 1 January 2024.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
At the end of 2023, approximately 700 pieces of Retained EU Law (REUL) were revoked via schedule 1 of the Act (“the revocation schedule”) and subsequent secondary legislation. Unless actively revoked, no REUL was sunset and instead became “assimilated law” after the end of 2023.
The Retained EU Law Dashboard is the government’s public catalogue of each piece of REUL confirmed by government departments, and their status. The dashboard currently features 5020 pieces of REUL and will be updated in January 2024, in line with our statutory commitments in the REUL Act and alongside the forthcoming first REUL parliamentary report.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the change in the time limit for referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman about legal services, which came into effect from 1 April 2023, on consumers.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Under the Legal Services Act 2007, the legal profession in England and Wales, together with its regulators, operate independently of government. The oversight regulator for the legal services sector is the Legal Services Board (LSB). The Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) is the board responsible for administering the Legal Ombudsman Scheme. The OLC sets the strategy and business plan for the Scheme, as well as scrutinising its performance.
Since the changes to the Legal Ombudsman’s rules regarding the time limit for referring complaints, the Ministry of Justice has not made an assessment of the potential impact this may have on consumers. However, the OLC carried out an assessment of the potential impacts of the rule changes in its consultation in 2022. It predicted that although around 30% of complaints may fall outside the new time limit, this would be mitigated by a separate rule change which allows an Ombudsman to exercise discretion and extend the time limit for specific customers, if fair and reasonable to do so. Overall, it predicted a positive impact on consumer journey times, allowing for a quicker handling and prioritisation of cases which require Ombudsman decision, as well as having the potential to remove the duplication of work or proportion of Legal Ombudsman complaints.
The MoJ monitors the ongoing performance of the Scheme and the impact of the rule changes through the regular assurance letters provided by the OLC to the LSB. In an assurance letter provided to the LSB on 7 August 2023, the OLC stated that the impacts of the new Scheme rules on customer experience will continue to be monitored.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the proposed electrification of the North Wales coast rail line will extend to (a) Manchester and (b) Crewe.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We are working closely with the rail industry to develop and deliver on the Government priorities outlined in the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement, which includes an unprecedented £1 billion investment to fund the electrification of the North Wales Main Line, bringing parts of North Wales within an hour of Manchester. We are in the early stages of planning the next steps for the North Wales electrification scheme and will share further information when that work is complete. Our investment is intended to enable the operation of electric trains over the full North Wales Coast line between Holyhead and Crewe.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of when the North Wales Coast Railway will be electrified.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We are working closely with the rail industry to develop and deliver on the Government priorities outlined in the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement, which includes an unprecedented £1 billion investment to fund the electrification of the North Wales Main Line, bringing parts of North Wales within an hour of Manchester. We are in the early stages of planning the next steps for the North Wales electrification scheme and will share further information when that work is complete. Our investment is intended to enable the operation of electric trains over the full North Wales Coast line between Holyhead and Crewe.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the projected electrification of the main North Wales coast rail line will extend to Holyhead.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We are working closely with the rail industry to develop and deliver on the Government priorities outlined in the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement, which includes an unprecedented £1 billion investment to fund the electrification of the North Wales Main Line, bringing parts of North Wales within an hour of Manchester. We are in the early stages of planning the next steps for the North Wales electrification scheme and will share further information when that work is complete. Our investment is intended to enable the operation of electric trains over the full North Wales Coast line between Holyhead and Crewe.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to encourage the take-up of hybrid heat pumps.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The recent consultation on Improving Boiler Standards and Efficiency explored the role hybrid heat pumps could play in supporting the transition to low carbon heat. A response will be published in due course.
In the meantime, the Government is supporting targeted deployment of hybrid heating systems in defined circumstances through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and the Sustainable Warmth competition. Qualifying hybrid heat pump systems will also be included in the new Clean Heat Market Mechanism scheme from 2024.