Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress the Government has made on its staying close scheme for children leaving residential care; and how many such children have been involved in that scheme.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We are providing around £6 million in the period 2018 to 2019 and in the period 2019 to 2020 for a national pilot of Staying Close in eight sites.
These pilots provide an enhanced support offer for those leaving residential care. The support offer includes an accommodation offer close to their former children’s home alongside practical and emotional support from a member of staff from their former children's home whom they know and trust.
Reports from the pilots show that 120 care leavers participated in the Staying Close pilots from January 2018 to July 2018.
A full evaluation will be available when the pilots end in March 2020.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the guidance, Staying put: arrangements for care leavers aged 18 years and above, published on 22 May 2013, what progress the Government has made on implementing the staying put policy.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Staying Put has helped thousands of care leavers to continue to benefit from a stable and secure family setting and to prepare for independence at a more gradual pace rather than facing a ‘cliff-edge’ at the age of 18. The policy has been welcomed by care leavers and the sector.
The latest data for the year ending March 2017 shows that 51% of those ceasing to be looked after in a foster placement on their 18th birthday remained with their former foster carer. In addition, 25% of 19 and 20 year olds were still living with their former foster carers.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on establishing an Accelerated Access Collaborative to manage the new accelerated access pathway.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) has been successfully established, meeting for the first time in January 2018 and agreeing terms of reference and ways of working. Lord Darzi is the new chair of the AAC, replacing Sir Andrew Witty, who stood down to avoid any conflict of interest with his new role as CEO of Optum. We expect that the Accelerated Access Pathway will launch at the next meeting of the AAC, which will be in the autumn.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the accelerated access pathway is planned to begin designating breakthrough products.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Accelerated Access Collaborative will meet this autumn to launch the Accelerated Access Pathway and the first group of products will be part of their discussions.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what involvement his Department has had in the establishment of the new accelerated access pathway.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The establishment of the pathway has been led by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), working with industry and patients. The establishment of the AAC has been supported by the Office for Life Sciences, which is a joint unit between both the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). A member of the BEIS departmental board sits on the AAC.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will grant farmers flexibility in allowing livestock to graze land which is not normally permitted for grazing because of the short supply of bedding and grazing.
Answered by George Eustice
Three variations or derogations from EU law have been granted or are under active discussion in Brussels in relation to grazing. First, some member states have secured permission to allow the grazing of Ecological Focus Area (EFA) Fallow Land. This derogation is not relevant in England as we already allow the grazing of such land after 1 July each year.
The UK was the first Member State to raise a concern with the European Commission over the difficulties farmers faced in establishing EFA catch crops by the required date of 20 August. Other Member States agreed with us and the Commission agreed that “force majeure” should apply in these circumstances, so we could waive any penalties for farmers for non-compliance with EU law.
The third possibility relates to the small areas of land that have been declared as EFA Winter Cover Crops for the purposes of the EU Greening requirements. This green cover must be present from 1 October to at least 15 January and ordinarily must not be grazed. Because of the extreme weather conditions, the EU is considering waiving that rule for 2018 in suitably justified areas, and we have asked that England be listed amongst those countries eligible for this derogation. The change that we expect to secure this week will allow for grass and other herbaceous forage to be grown in those areas, rather than the usual restrictive list of plant species, and for those areas to be grazed.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Irish Government on its plans to reintroduce a subsidy on the import of forage and bedding; and what assessment he has made of the effect of such a subsidy on the supply of forage and bedding within the UK.
Answered by George Eustice
Farmers in the UK, Ireland and across northern Europe have experienced a difficult time this year with the hot, dry weather. The impacts are likely to be most severely felt by the grazing livestock due to the shortage of grass.
It is clear that the main impact of the recent drought conditions is likely to be felt by livestock farmers facing a shortage of fodder and that the full extent of the impacts may not be realised until later in the year. We have prioritised practical solutions to help farmers increase access to fodder and bedding both now and in the coming months. These actions will help farmers to limit the impact of extra feed costs by allocating land to forage growth and grazing, but we will keep the situation under review.
Particular measures the Government has taken to help farmers are:
We have clarified that English farmers, unlike farmers in other EU countries where derogations have been sought, have been able to use fallow land for grazing since 1 July. That is because our legislation reflects what we consider to be the minimum EU requirement.
We were the first Member State to raise a concern with the Commission to establish Ecological Focus Area (EFA) catch crops by 20 August: Other Member States agreed with us and the Commission agreed that “force majeure” would apply in these circumstances, so we could waive penalties for farmers in this situation.
We are seeking a derogation from the requirement to sow only certain seed types which are unpalatable to livestock in EFA areas as catch crop. The derogation we expect to secure this week will allow for grass and herbaceous forage to be grown in those areas, and those areas to be grazed.
On Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and forestry legacy agreements farmers are able to ask Natural England to agree a temporary variation to the agreement conditions, either as an Environmental Stewardship Derogation (to date, over 100 have been granted) or a Countryside Stewardship Minor and Temporary Adjustment (over 30 have so far been granted).
I will monitor whether the fodder import scheme that has been introduced in Ireland has an appreciable effect on supplies of fodder and bedding within the UK. We have also made the point to the European Commission that whilst the UK is committed to working to identify appropriate responses to this year’s weather impacts, these should not interfere with the normal functioning of the market or obscure the focus of farmers in mitigating weather impacts.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
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 plans as a result of extreme weather conditions to instruct the Rural Payments Agency to make advance payments or bridging loans to farmers who will not have received their 2018 BPS by 31 December 2018.
Answered by George Eustice
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is fully focussed on getting Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) 2018 payments issued promptly. Given the prescriptive EU requirements in making advance payments, RPA will concentrate on making payments from the opening of the payment window in December. In addition we are reviewing options, such as bringing forward bridging payments, for those BPS claimants who will not have received their BPS 2018 payments in December.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential for UK businesses to export nuclear decommissioning expertise as a result of the French Government's decision to decommission 17 nuclear reactors by 2025.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Services are a vitally important part of the UK economy and UK expertise across all sectors are in high demand around the world. In January, the UK and French Governments signed a Declaration of Intent to enhance collaboration in civil nuclear decommissioning and waste management in France, the UK and potentially third countries.
The Department for International Trade, together with partners across HMG, is working closely with the French Government and the UK and French private sector to identify decommissioning opportunities in our respective civil nuclear markets.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the ability of the Office for Nuclear Regulation to take over the (a) inspection and (b) oversight of responsibilities from Euratom on (i) 30 March 2019 and (b) 1 January 2021.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
We continue to work closely with the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) as they take on the role and responsibilities required to enable the UK’s domestic nuclear safeguards regime to meet international nuclear safeguards and nuclear non-proliferation obligations when Euratom safeguards arrangements no longer apply in the UK.
Based on current progress, the ONR will be in a position to deliver a regime that will discharge the commitments set out in the UK’s new safeguards agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency by 29 March 2019.
The ONR will move to deliver Euratom equivalence as soon as possible. The speed with which the ONR is able to apply a system offering equivalent effectiveness and coverage as that provided by the Euratom regime is dependent on a wide variety of factors. These factors include negotiations on future cooperation with Euratom and technical discussions between Euratom and the ONR.