Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 adequacy of the General Ophthalmic Services sight test fee for opticians; and how many opticians stopped providing NHS services in the most recent 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The level of the National Health Service sight test fee is considered annually, taking into account evidence provided by the optical fee negotiating committee, affordability for the NHS, alongside information regarding patient access to sight testing services, which continue to be widely available.
Although 254 contracts for providing NHS sight testing services were terminated between February 2023 and January 2024, 179 new contracts were awarded. There are various reasons why contractors choose to stop providing NHS sight testing services, including retirement, selling the practice to a new owner, and ceasing trading as a business.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 address the loyalty penalty paid by households reliant on (a) heating oil and (b) LPG; and whether she has asked the Competition and Markets Authority to make an assessment of the adequacy of competition in markets for these products.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We believe consumer choice provides the best long-term guarantee of competitive prices.
The structure of the heating oil market allows for switching of suppliers on a delivery-by-delivery basis. There are commercial price comparison sites and the trade association UKIFDA provides a ‘Find a distributor’ facility at https://ukifda.org/find-a-distributor/.
There is similar consumer choice for bottled LPG users, supported by the trade association LGUK ‘Supplier search’ facility (https://www.liquidgasuk.org/domestic/supplier-search). The bulk domestic LPG market is subject to regulation under the Competition and Markets Authority’s LPG Orders (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/liquefied-petroleum-gas-lpg-market-orders-and-calculator) to enable easier switching of domestic bulk LPG supplier by domestic customers and the CMA continues to monitor that market.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason NHS employees in band 4 are only eligible for pay progression after three years, rather than two years as in other bands.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the 2018 deal, all pay bands underwent a significant amount of structural reform. The reform included reducing the length of time it takes to reach the top of most pay bands, improving pay progression, and removing all overlap between pay bands. As such, the time taken to progress to the top of Band 4 has been reduced from six years to three years. The time taken to progress varies by band. This is to reflect the time needed to develop the knowledge and skills to perform at the top of the relevant band.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will publish a response to the report commissioned by his Department entitled The impact of a change in the maximum park home sale commission, published in June 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
In September 2023 the department published a discussion document which sought the views of the park homes sector on the 2022 report’s recommendations. The Government is considering the response to that discussion document and we will announce next steps shortly.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) safety of the use of bright LEDs on cycles and (b) adequacy of standards regulation on those lights.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Requirements for the fitment and use of bicycle lamps are set out in the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 as amended.
Enforcement of road traffic law is generally an operational matter for individual Police Forces.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is his Department’s policy that Palestinian citizens of Israel have a well-founded fear of persecution if returned to Israel.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All asylum and human rights claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations. Each individual assessment is made by considering any relevant extant caselaw and the latest available country of origin information.
Our position for different groups is set out in the respective country policy and information note(s), which are published on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of provisions in the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill on the work of animal rescue charities.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports the Private Members’ Bill, Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill introduced by Selaine Saxby MP on restricting the importation and non-commercial movement of pets. The Bill completed second reading in the House of Commons on 15 March 2024.
In August 2021 we launched a consultation on the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. It was a wide-ranging consultation with excellent engagement with key stakeholders including animal rescue charities. We are carefully reviewing the feedback from our consultation and wider engagement with stakeholders, and the consultation response will be published soon.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will extend the right to enfranchisement under the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill to leases which are in form agricultural but in essence residential.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We are not currently proposing to do so but I would be happy to meet my Hon Friend to discuss his concern in more detail, should that be helpful.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the role of shared ground loops in decarbonising heat for properties without the space for individual heat pumps.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Heat pumps connected to shared ground loops have a role to play in decarbonising heat, particularly in properties, like blocks of flats, that might otherwise be less well suited to individual heat pumps. To support their installation, the Government has announced that it will increase the capacity limit for shared ground loops under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme from 45kW to 300kW. Additionally, we have supported the installation of shared ground loops under schemes like the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to support clean heat installations in Wave 3 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) is a 10-year, £3.8bn 2019 manifesto commitment. To date, total committed grant funding for SHDF and the associated demonstrator is over £1bn. The £6bn energy efficiency support package announced in December 2023 allocated £1.25bn towards the SHDF between 2025 and 2028. This funding will provide long-term certainty, support supply chain growth, and ensure we can scale up our delivery over time. SHDF Wave 3 is still being designed but it will continue to provide incentives and funding for the installation of low carbon heating technologies in social housing.