Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether (a) local authorities and (b) charities can claim financial compensation for environmental clean-up costs.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
With regards to marine pollution, liability sits with the polluter. Local Authorities and other responders should work with the responsible party and its insurer to recover costs once clean-up operations are concluded.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the total cost of the environmental clean-up operation, following the North Sea vessel collision on 10 March 2025.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Both ships were insured by reputable insurance companies and UK authorities have spoken with both. Liability for the pollution sits with the shipowner and their insurers. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and Local Authorities will work with them once clean-up operations are concluded to recover costs.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost of the environmental clean-up operation to (a) charities and (b) local authorities, following the North Sea vessel collision on 10 March 2025.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Liability for the pollution sits with the shipowner, and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and Local Authorities will work with them once clean-up operations are concluded to recover costs. The ‘polluter pays’ principle is a dominating principle in international environmental law and under this principle it is not the responsibility of a government to meet the costs involved in prevention or remedial action for environmental damage.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department will be pursuing financial redress from the operators of the (a) MV Solong and (b) MV Stena Immaculate for the clean up operation, following the North Sea vessel collision on 10 March 2025.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
HM Coastguard’s Counter Pollution and Salvage team are in the process of compiling a comprehensive cost recovery claim following the allision incident off the Humber Estuary between the MV SOLONG and MT STENA IMMACULATE. The claim will seek to recover the full costs of the government personnel, response equipment (including air surveillance) and the services of specialist technical advisors used in response to the incident and its aftermath.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he expects fixed sum payments to be awarded to people harmed by Sodium Valproate and surgical mesh implants during 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex area of work, involving several Government departments, and it is important that we get this right. We will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
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 create a two-stage financial redress scheme for people harmed by Sodium Valproate and surgical mesh implants.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex area of work, involving several Government departments, and it is important that we get this right. We will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to reduce the (a) number and (b) administrative costs of arms length bodies.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Prime Minister has commissioned departments to assess all current and proposed arms length bodies against new principles to determine which should continue, close, merge, or have functions returned to departments. This is part of the government's mission to create a more productive and agile state, as demonstrated by NHS England's integration into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Additionally, the Chancellor has initiated Phase 2 of the Spending Review, which will zero-base all public spending, including ALBs. This involves a detailed evaluation to assess priorities and value for money for taxpayers. Departments and ALBs are tasked with identifying a minimum of 5% savings against their day-to-day spending, building on the previous 2% target.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 1 April 2025 to Question 40654 on Income Tax: Pensioners, what estimate she has made of the number of pensioners that will be affected in each year.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC publish the number of income tax payers by age. This information can be found in Table 2.1 of the collated income tax liabilities statistics tables for the years up to 2024-25, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66798d4797ea0c79abfe4b83/Collated_Income_Tax_liabilities_statistics_tables_-_2.1_to_2.6.ods. Data on future years will be published in the usual way.
As I set out in my previous answer, the Personal Allowance - the amount an individual can earn before paying tax - will continue to exceed the basic and full new State Pension in the coming tax year. This means pensioners whose sole income is the full new State Pension or basic State Pension without any increments will not pay any income tax.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has received any representations on fire safety guidance and the time within which care homes should aim to evacuate residents from protected areas.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Fire Risk Assessment: Residential Care guide is being updated as part of a major work programme to update all fire safety guidance under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and will address evacuation times in premises such as care homes. This work is currently expected to run over the next couple of years given the number of guides in development, the detailed policy work required and the differing expert views regarding care home evacuation times.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the DWP appointee scheme to cover Child Trust Funds with a value up to £5,000.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP will not be extending its appointeeship scheme to include Child Trust Funds. The scheme only applies to Government benefits which help with day-to-day living expenses, as opposed to a capital asset like a Child Trust Fund which matures overtime. Further, applying benefit rules to Child Trust Funds would not provide the protections currently delivered by the Mental Capacity Act and could expose vulnerable people to risk.