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, whether she has plans to consult on a biomass strategy in respect of off-grid heating.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On 5 September 2023, during Parliamentary debates on the Energy Act, the Government committed to exploring the potential of renewable liquid fuels for heat by issuing a consultation within 12 months.
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, whether it remains her Department's policy to require owners of commercial premises to replace fossil fuel boilers with electric heating systems from 2024.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are carefully considering the feedback received from our 2021 consultation on phasing out fossil fuel heating systems for off gas grid businesses and public buildings and will publish our response in due course. The Government acknowledges that businesses and organisations require sufficient lead in time to plan installation of a replacement heating system and we will consider this ahead of publishing the consultation response.
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 criteria he applies when deciding whether to file an amicus brief to international court proceedings; what amicus briefs the Government has submitted to international courts in the last 12 months; and what recent discussions he has had with international counterparts on the policies of the Israeli Government in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The process and rules around filing a submission or making some other form of intervention will depend upon the particular statute or rules of procedure of the international court in question. There will be many factors which determine whether HMG decides to become a party to a case, make submissions or intervene in some other manner. These will include both legal and policy considerations, including UK views on any relevant international law issues and wider diplomatic considerations, amongst others. Looking specifically at UK involvement at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the last twelve months, the UK: intervened in the Ukraine v Russia (Genocide Convention) and the Gambia v Myanmar (Genocide Convention) cases; submitted a statement to the Court in the Legal Consequences (Occupied Palestinian Territories) Advisory Opinion; and is a joint party, alongside several other states, in the Montreal Convention (PS 752) case against Iran. The UK also intervened in the request to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) for an advisory opinion on climate change-related obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
FCDO Ministers frequently discuss a wide range of issues with their international counterparts. We cannot provide specific detail on those discussions.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of participation in higher education by 18 year-old students from England compared to those from (a) Northern Ireland, (b) Scotland and (c) Wales.
Answered by Robert Halfon
There is no data source which enables a direct comparison of higher education (HE) participation for each UK nation due to differences in data coverage and methodology.
The most consistent measure available is the 18-year-old entry rate published by UCAS, which measures the proportion of 18-year-olds in the population that have been accepted to full-time undergraduate HE through UCAS. The data shows changes in the entry rates over time. However, around a third of young full-time undergraduate provision in Scotland (mainly full-time undergraduate provision at further education colleges) are not included in UCAS’s figures and so do not allow for a consistent comparison of HE participation with Scotland.
The latest UCAS data can be found at: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/statistical-releases-daily-clearing-analysis-2023.
Alternative measures of participation which cover all HE are calculated by each of the UK nations. However, there are differences in methodology, such as differing coverage of pupils included in the measure and different age ranges for participation in HE. Data on these measures for each of the UK nations are signposted here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/participation-measures-in-higher-education-2021-to-2022.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of requiring local authorities to provide bins for the disposal of incontinence pads in men's public lavatories.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government encourages local authorities to consider such provision in public toilets to support those with this need but does not have powers to compel the provision of sanitary bins in public toilets. I would encourage the hon. Member to raise the issue locally.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with international partners to help re-establish democratic institutions in Libya.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The devastating floods underscore the unsustainability of the political status quo. 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 closely with 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 Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support Libya with damage caused by Storm Daniel.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are closely monitoring and assessing the impact of Storm Daniel on Eastern Libya. The UN have announced $10 million in support through the UN's Central Emergency Relief Fund, of which the UK is the third largest donor. We have also announced an initial package of up to £1 million for life saving support. The Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, is in touch with the Libyan authorities, reiterating the UK's readiness to support Libya and expressing our deepest condolences to the Libyan people at this tragic time.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that first-language Welsh speakers are not unfairly disadvantaged in the (a) process and (b) written tests for police entry.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and selection processes are run, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners and are therefore managed locally by forces. This is done within a national application, assessment and selection framework, in line with national guidance maintained by the College of Policing.
There is currently no formal obligation for the College of Policing to prepare a statutory language scheme in respect of the Welsh language. Nevertheless, the College published its first Welsh Language Scheme in 2021, which sets out the College’s commitment to supporting Welsh forces.
In the scheme, the College has committed to work together with Welsh forces’ recruitment departments to offer the candidate a bilingual recruitment journey. To date, the College has produced the national application form, and all candidate information and guidance for the recruitment process in Welsh.
The College remains committed to exploring further options to delivering elements of the assessment phase of the end-to-end process in Welsh to support candidates who have Welsh as their first language.
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, whether the UK delegation to the Tenth Conference of the Parties of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will share with the World Health Organisation (a) the annual review of nicotine vaping commissioned by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and (b) other evidence on vaping produced by the UK academic community.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Government has regularly set out our position on vaping at the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and will do so at the next conference in Panama in November 2023.
The latest ‘Vaping in England’ report published last year, which includes an array of evidence produced by the United Kingdom academic community, is publicly available online and has been shared with the World Health Organization Global Tobacco Regulators Forum.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June to Question 188411 on Oral Tobacco, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of prohibiting the (a) sale and (b) supply of oral nicotine pouches to people under 18.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No formal assessment has been made. Prevalence of nicotine pouches remains low, and whilst there is currently no age of sale restrictions on nicotine pouches, manufacturers do print age restrictions on their packs. We will keep this under review.