Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support British shipbuilding.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave on 14 December 2022 to Question 104345 and 13 March 2023 to Question 159089 to the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Dr Kieran Mullan).
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to improve defence collaboration with industry.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The Ministry of Defence recognises the importance of collaboration, including closer and earlier dialogue with industry. The Defence and Security Industrial Strategy set the framework for a deeper, more sophisticated, and strategic relationship with industry. We are delivering this by strengthening the Defence Suppliers Forum, engaging our largest suppliers through the Strategic Partnering Programme, and focusing on export opportunities through the Defence Growth Partnership. Complementing this work we continue to engage with the defence sector through trade associations, and our outreach activity aimed at Small and Medium Sized Enterprises.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to develop innovative defence technology.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 14 March 2023 to Question 159090 to the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Dr Kieran Mullan).
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department has taken to support rough sleepers in Somerton and Frome constituency during the winter 2022-23.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This Government remains committed to ending rough sleeping and tackling homelessness. In September 2022, we published a bold, new strategy, Ending Rough Sleeping for Good , which is available here. The strategy sets out cross government action and how we are investing £2 billion over three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
This includes allocating up to £500 million over three years to 303 local authorities across England through the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25. In the financial year 2022/23 Mendip was allocated £398,230 from the Rough Sleeping Initiative. This funding is giving local authorities the resources to offer accommodation, support, and a route off the streets for people sleeping rough in Somerton and Frome.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of dental practices that offered NHS dental services in (a) Somerton and Frome constituency and (b) Somerset in (i) 2019 and (ii) 2022.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The information is not held centrally.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to protect the habitat of woodcock birds.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We are expanding and improving woodcock habitat through grant schemes funded by both the Countryside Stewardship scheme and the Nature for Climate Fund. These grants include the Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds, which aim to restore vulnerable woodland habitats and improve biodiversity, as well as the England Woodland Creation Offer. In addition, we are introducing new environmental land management schemes, which will pay for activities to create, manage and restore habitats such as woodland, connect isolated habitats to form networks, and other species management actions, all of which will benefit birds such as woodcock.
Woodcock also benefit from England’s extensive network of protected sites for wildlife such as sites of special scientific interest.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps she has taken with Cabinet colleagues to support apple and pear growers in Somerset.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have supported, and will continue to support, apple and pear growers through multiple avenues. This includes establishing the seasonal worker visa route, the Independent Review of Labour Shortages in the Food Supply Chain, a review of automation in horticulture, and working across Government on energy support. Support for the development of new methods and technologies is available through the Farming Innovation Programme and help to improve environment sustainability and productivity can be sought through the Farming Investment Fund. Apple and pear growers can also benefit from our Environmental Land Management schemes.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to (a) minimise disruption caused by industrial action and (b) reach a compromise on outstanding industrial issues.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government’s door always remains open. We continue to talk to unions but any settlements must be affordable and not stoke higher inflation.
The Government continues to put contingency plans in place to mitigate the impact of industrial action in the public sector. To help reduce disruption caused by strikes, we lifted in July last year the ban on agency workers being used during industrial disputes. We have also recently introduced in Parliament the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill to ensure that a minimum service is provided in a range of important public services when industrial action takes place in future.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
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 help support parents of children with severe mental health conditions.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We would expect that children and young people’s mental health services would routinely involve parents, carers and families in the care of children and young people with severe mental health conditions as appropriate. The Mental Health Act code of practice states that mental health providers should make efforts to support parents of children who are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.
Our planned reforms to the Mental Health Act will help better ensure that parents are more closely involved in care planning and treatment decisions if their child is detained under the Mental Health Act, with the aim that this facilitates more trusting relationships with the clinical teams and better outcomes for the child.
Additionally, NHS England provides a MindEd portal which has specific content directed at parents, which is available at the following link:
https://www.mindedforfamilies.org.uk/
NHS England has published information for parents and carers of children in contact with children and young people’s mental health services, available at the following link:
The webpage contains information about where to seek advice and support for coping with anything affecting the child’s mental health or wellbeing. It also includes a link to the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ (RCPsych) advice leaflets for parents and carers about a wide range of mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and eating disorders. RCPsych’s advice can be found at the following link:
www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/parents-and-young-people.
YoungMinds and other mental health charities have produced extensive resources and support for parents.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take to support public sector leisure and sports centres with energy costs in the Spring Budget.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, the Government provided an unprecedented package of support for non-domestic users, including public sector leisure and sports centres, this winter.
Wholesale gas prices have reduced significantly since the current scheme was announced and have returned to level before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The new Energy Bills Discount Scheme will provide all eligible non-domestic energy users across the UK with a discount on high energy bills until 31 March 2024, following the end of the current Energy Bill Relief Scheme. Eligible public sector leisure and sports centres will therefore continue to receive energy bill support from April 2023.
The new scheme will help those locked into contracts signed before recent substantial falls in the wholesale price manage their costs and provide others with reassurance against the risk of prices rising again. The scheme will provide non-domestic users with long term certainty and reflects how the scale of the challenge has changed since September last year.
The majority of income available to Local Authorities in England through council tax, retained business rates and grant funding can be used flexibly across service areas, including support for leisure services. The 2023-24 Local Government Finance Settlement confirmed that councils in England will have access to almost £60 billion in the next financial year to deliver vital services, an average funding increase for councils of 9.4% compared to 2022-23.