Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
These initiatives were driven by Jesse Norman, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Jesse Norman has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Jesse Norman has not been granted any Adjournment Debates
A Bill to authorise the use of resources for the year ending with 31 March 2022; to authorise both the issue of sums out of the Consolidated Fund and the application of income for that year; and to appropriate the supply authorised for that year by this Act and by the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2021.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 19th July 2021 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision (including the imposition and regulation of new duties of customs) in connection with goods in Northern Ireland and their movement into or out of Northern Ireland; to make provision amending certain enactments relating to value added tax, excise duty or insurance premium tax; to make provision in connection with the recovery of unlawful state aid in relation to controlled foreign companies; and for connected purposes.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 17th December 2020 and was enacted into law.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 22nd July 2020 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to authorise the use of resources for the years ending with 31 March 2020 and 31 March 2021; to authorise the issue of sums out of the Consolidated Fund for those years; and to appropriate the supply authorised by this Act for the year ending with 31 March 2020.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 16th March 2020 and was enacted into law.
A Bil to Authorise the use of resources for the year ending with 31 March 2020; to authorise both the issue of sums out of the Consolidated Fund and the application of income for that year; and to appropriate the supply authorised for that year by this Act and by the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2019.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 17th July 2019 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to provide for a programme of research into the costs and benefits of extending eligibility for Child Benefit and Tax Credit entitlement to young people completing apprenticeships; and for connected purposes.
Jesse Norman has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The Government consulted extensively on the future of Channel 4, and the views and evidence gathered from a wide range of stakeholders has informed the Government’s assessment of any potential impact of a change of ownership. The Government published its sale impact analysis on 28 April.
The Government will look to use some of the proceeds from the sale of Channel 4 to deliver a new creative dividend for the independent production sector.
Channel 4 has a strong reputation for innovative and diverse content, a proactive strategy to be a digital first provider, and huge popularity with a range of audiences, including valuable younger audiences. The Government expects this will appeal to a broad range of different purchasers.
As with the sale of any government asset, any sale of Channel 4 will involve a careful assessment process to ensure value for money for the taxpayer.
Channel 4 has a strong reputation for innovative and diverse content, a proactive strategy to be a digital first provider, and huge popularity with a range of audiences, including valuable younger audiences. The Government expects this will appeal to a broad range of different purchasers.
As with the sale of any government asset, any sale of Channel 4 will involve a careful assessment process to ensure value for money for the taxpayer.
The Government consulted extensively on the future of Channel 4, and the views and evidence gathered from a wide range of stakeholders has informed the government’s assessment of any potential impact of a change of ownership. The Government published its sale impact analysis on 28 April.
Channel 4 has done an excellent job in supporting the UK production sector and thereby delivering on one of its founding purposes. Forty years on, independent production in the UK is now booming, with revenues having grown from £500 million in 1995 to £3 billion in 2019. Companies are increasingly less reliant on Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs), including Channel 4 for commissions.
Channel 4 still has an important part to play in supporting the sector and our wider creative economy. Channel 4 will still be required to commission a minimum volume of programming from independent producers, in line with the quotas placed on other PSBs.
Channel 4 has strong relationships with independent producers right across the UK and there is no reason this should change. The Government expects a new owner to want to build on and develop those relationships.
The Government believes that in the long run the UK production ecosystem will benefit from a more sustainable Channel 4. A change of ownership that improves Channel 4’s access to capital could increase spending on production.
The government is committed to delivering lightning-fast, reliable broadband to everyone in the UK, including in Herefordshire. Extensive delivery of gigabit-capable broadband is under way in Herefordshire currently through contracts under the government’s Superfast Broadband Programme which are managed by the Fastershire broadband partnership which covers Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
The government will ensure near-universal access to gigabit broadband through the £5 billion Project Gigabit programme. Given the current active delivery within Herefordshire, the regional supplier procurement for the area has a targeted start date of February - April 2023, before a contract commencement date of January - March 2024. Earlier local supplier procurements are also available as an option. In addition, communities in Herefordshire which are not in scope for commercial coverage are able to use the government’s gigabit voucher scheme to gain early gigabit coverage.
For very hard to reach premises which are unlikely to be cost-effective to reach with fixed gigabit broadband, the government is reviewing the responses to its call for evidence which closed in the summer in order to determine the best possible options for improving broadband connectivity.
Evidence on the impacts of superfast broadband is contained in the Evaluation of the Superfast Broadband Programme.
The government is committed to delivering lightning-fast, reliable broadband to everyone in the UK, including in Herefordshire. Extensive delivery of gigabit-capable broadband is under way in Herefordshire currently through contracts under the government’s Superfast Broadband Programme which are managed by the Fastershire broadband partnership which covers Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
The government will ensure near-universal access to gigabit broadband through the £5 billion Project Gigabit programme. Given the current active delivery within Herefordshire, the regional supplier procurement for the area has a targeted start date of February - April 2023, before a contract commencement date of January - March 2024. Earlier local supplier procurements are also available as an option. In addition, communities in Herefordshire which are not in scope for commercial coverage are able to use the government’s gigabit voucher scheme to gain early gigabit coverage.
For very hard to reach premises which are unlikely to be cost-effective to reach with fixed gigabit broadband, the government is reviewing the responses to its call for evidence which closed in the summer in order to determine the best possible options for improving broadband connectivity.
Evidence on the impacts of superfast broadband is contained in the Evaluation of the Superfast Broadband Programme.
The government is clear that all higher education (HE) providers have the potential to deliver on the government’s levelling up agenda, addressing the gaps that still exist in who participates in HE, whether by social background, region, or ethnicity and to deliver provision that much better delivers the skills the economy needs. Higher skills lead to higher regional productivity.
There are many different models through which HE providers deliver the skills their regional economies need. The New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering has much potential but is still a new provider. The government will remain closely interested in the outcomes it delivers for its students.
The department published the ‘Skills for Jobs’ white paper in January 2021, setting out our blueprint to reform post-16 education and training, focusing on giving people the skills they need in a way that suits them.
The white paper sets out that we are putting employers at the heart of the skills system so that education and training meets their needs. By 2030, almost all technical courses will be on employer-led standards, ensuring that the education and training people receive are directly linked to the skills needed for jobs. This builds on the success of our flagship apprenticeships programme where industry designed standards equip apprentices with the skills employers need. It also builds on our work developing new T Levels, which has involved over 250 employers in their design.
The Wye catchment area is internationally important for biodiversity, principally due to the wide range of rare river wildlife. It is vitally important that we achieve the right balance to allow sustainable development to continue and protect our most important natural habitats.
A cross border taskforce focussing on the Wye Catchment was convened by Herefordshire Council in September. The taskforce further supports the ongoing work of the Nutrient Management Board and its associated Technical Advisory Group to find effective solutions.
The board meets quarterly to identify and review actions that achieve the phosphorus conservation target of the River Wye Special Area of Conservation. The primary mechanism for achieving this will be through the delivery of the Nutrient Management Plan, the first draft of which has been published.
In the short term, and alongside the work of the Nutrient Pollution Taskforce, Natural England has been working with Herefordshire Council to enable housing projects that can demonstrate nutrient neutrality to be able to proceed. This has included funding put in place by the Council for both a wetlands scheme, which will have a series of eight interconnected wetlands to support approx. 1500 houses, and the commissioning of the 'Interim Delivery Plan' which includes a Phosphate Calculator, thus enabling small scale developments to be unlocked.
I also attended a productive roundtable meeting on 13 July with Minister Pincher of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and local staff from the Environment Agency, Natural England and Herefordshire County Council to discuss this issue.
The Wye catchment area is internationally important for biodiversity, principally due to the wide range of rare river wildlife. It is vitally important that we achieve the right balance to allow sustainable development to continue and to protect our most important natural habitats.
In the recently-announced Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, Defra has been allocated an additional £250 million to deliver against the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan for nature's recovery and the new legally-binding target to halt biodiversity loss by 2030. This specifically includes tackling nutrient pollution in rivers and streams.
We are almost doubling funding for the Catchment Sensitive Farming programme. This additional £17 million will allow all farms in England, including those in the Wye catchment, access to free 1-2-1 advice and support farmers to help them reduce water and air pollution through management of farmyard manure and soils, among other things.
We have also recently increased funding to the Environment Agency for 50 new farm inspectors. These will be targeted at high-risk catchments such as the Wye.
As well as Government funding, we are also looking to other investment routes to improve the state of our rivers and the surrounding environment. The water sector is investing £5.4 billion to protect the environment between 2020 and 2025 and we have set a stretching new target to raise at least £500 million in private finance for nature’s recovery every year by 2027 and more than £1 billion a year by 2030.
The Environment Agency (EA) carries out regular sampling of the River Wye to monitor chemical and biological quality. The main sampling season for the impacts on aquatic life is March to September. Recently collected data is available on the Defra Data Services Platform website here:
https://environment.data.gov.uk/appgallery
The last formal classification of ecological status for the River Wye was carried out in 2019. Overall waterbody classifications for the Wye Management Catchment within England were:
Where there is new data available a refresh of these classifications will be completed in 2022. Details of these assessments are published on the Catchment Data Explorer website here:
https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/
The EA has increased monitoring of water quality and aquatic life in the Wye Catchment in response to deteriorations identified in the 2019 assessments and recent algal blooms within the catchment. The EA is analysing data collected through the growing season this year (March – September 2021) to update its understanding of the sources, pathways and impacts of pollution in the catchment.
Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, the EA and other partners are working together to find effective solutions to restore the River Wye Special Area of Conservation (SAC) to a favourable condition with respect to phosphate. These measures are set out in the Nutrient Management Plan which is published here:
https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/directory-record/2097/nutrient_management_plan
Improving water quality is a government priority. The issues with phosphate pollution in the River Wye are well known. We are working closely with the Environment Agency (EA), Natural England (NE), Natural Resources Wales, Welsh Ministers and local councils to address this issue through multiple channels.
A cross-border meeting about the Wye catchment was convened by Herefordshire Council in September. It is a new group set up to bring together the councillors and officers across all authorities, agencies, Welsh Water, and The Wye and Usk Foundation.
Separately, NE, Natural Resources Wales, the EA and other partners continue to work together, through the Nutrient Management Board and its associated Technical Advisory Group. The board meets quarterly to identify and deliver actions that achieve the phosphorous conservation target of the River Wye Special Area of Conservation. The primary mechanism for achieving this will be through the delivery of the Nutrient Management Plan which will identify measures needed to both restore the site to favourable condition and seek to create capacity for development, without harming the natural environment.
I have also visited the River Wye and attended a roundtable meeting with the hon. Member for North Herefordshire, the Minister of State (Minister for Housing) the Rt Hon Member for Tamworth, local EA and NE staff as well as Herefordshire Council staff held on 13 July to discuss the long-term plan for the River Wye and how we mitigate nutrient pollution there.
Improving water quality is a government priority. The issues with phosphate pollution in the River Wye are well known. We are working closely with the Environment Agency (EA), Natural England (NE), Natural Resources Wales, Welsh Ministers and local councils to address this issue through multiple channels.
A cross-border meeting about the Wye catchment was convened by Herefordshire Council in September. It is a new group set up to bring together the councillors and officers across all authorities, agencies, Welsh Water, and The Wye and Usk Foundation.
Separately, NE, Natural Resources Wales, the EA and other partners continue to work together, through the Nutrient Management Board and its associated Technical Advisory Group. The board meets quarterly to identify and deliver actions that achieve the phosphorous conservation target of the River Wye Special Area of Conservation. The primary mechanism for achieving this will be through the delivery of the Nutrient Management Plan which will identify measures needed to both restore the site to favourable condition and seek to create capacity for development, without harming the natural environment.
I have also visited the River Wye and attended a roundtable meeting with the hon. Member for North Herefordshire, the Minister of State (Minister for Housing) the Rt Hon Member for Tamworth, local EA and NE staff as well as Herefordshire Council staff held on 13 July to discuss the long-term plan for the River Wye and how we mitigate nutrient pollution there.
In the last six months, 9.94% of Great Western Railway’s (GWR’s) direct London to Hereford services were cancelled. GWR confirm that 38.7% of these cancellations were caused by matters relating to Network Rail, and 3.8% because of other train operators. I have asked GWR to write to you directly with the full set of data in due course.
In the last six months, 44 direct trains from London Paddington to Hereford have been cancelled, and 18 part-cancelled usually meaning termination at Worcester or Great Malvern. This equates to proportions of 4.55% on Mondays, 5.68% on Tuesdays, 10.12% on Wednesdays, 11.73% on Thursdays, 14.04% on Fridays, 10.19% on Saturdays and 16.33% on Sundays. The greatest proportion of cancellations by time have been seen during the hours of 0900-1000, 1100-1200 and 1900-2000. I have asked Great Western Railway to write to you directly with the full set of data in due course.
The Government has announced £1.2 billion of transformation funding for buses in the Spending Review. We will allocate funding after assessing the Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) which all English Local Transport Authorities outside London, including Herefordshire County Council, are developing in collaboration with their local bus operators.
HS2 Ltd does not have a specific bat protection budget. Most environmental and ecological mitigations - such as hedgerow, wetland, woodland or grassland creation - will be deployed to mitigate the impact of construction upon multiple species. As such, it is not possible to isolate a proportion of the cost of these mitigations to specific bat protection.
In some circumstances, obligations to protect specific bat populations can arise from legislative and regulatory arrangements, or from undertakings and assurances given to Parliament through the hybrid Bill process. Where this is the case, HS2 Ltd will seek physical or ecological solutions that fulfil the requirements of those obligations to the satisfaction of licensing authorities such as Natural England, but which also take account of the need to provide value for money to the taxpayer.
HS2 Ltd does not have a specific bat protection budget. Most environmental and ecological mitigations - such as hedgerow, wetland, woodland or grassland creation - will be deployed to mitigate the impact of construction upon multiple species. As such, it is not possible to isolate a proportion of the cost of these mitigations to specific bat protection.
In some circumstances, obligations to protect specific bat populations can arise from legislative and regulatory arrangements, or from undertakings and assurances given to Parliament through the hybrid Bill process. Where this is the case, HS2 Ltd will seek physical or ecological solutions that fulfil the requirements of those obligations to the satisfaction of licensing authorities such as Natural England, but which also take account of the need to provide value for money to the taxpayer.
The Department has made no assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether licenced medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources.
NICE is currently appraising odevixibat for the treatment of progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis through its highly specialised technologies programme and expects to publish final guidance in January 2022.
Herefordshire has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, with 94.5% of all over 50 year olds and those in at-risk groups having received at least one dose, 92.6% a second dose and 60.2% a booster, as of 26 November 2021.
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is ensuring it has the staff and volunteer capacity available to deliver additional vaccine appointments to meet demand. This includes a recruitment campaign for trained clinical staff to assist the programme.
We have made no such assessment. Where a student has difficulty in paying for their prescriptions, they may be eligible for the National Health Service Low Income Scheme, which may provide exemption from the prescription charge and help with other health costs, on the basis of a means-tested assessment. They may also be entitled through other exemptions, such as a medical condition, maternity or through receipt of a qualifying benefit.
A prescription pre-payment certificate is also available where a holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just over £2 per week.
The decision to close branches is a commercial issue for banks and building societies and the Government does not intervene in these decisions.
Nevertheless, the Government firmly believes that the impact of branch closures should be understood, considered and mitigated where possible so that all customers and businesses continue to have access to banking services.
In September 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority published guidance setting out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. Firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of a planned closure on their personal and small business customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and consider possible alternative access arrangements. This will ensure the implementation of closure decisions is undertaken in a way that treats customers fairly. Alternative options for access include the Post Office, which allows 95% of business and 99% of personal banking customers to carry out their everyday banking at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.
The Government also remains committed to legislating to protect access to cash and ensuring that the UK's cash infrastructure is sustainable for the long term. On 23 September 2021, the Government closed the Access to Cash Consultation, which included proposals for new laws to make sure people only need to travel a reasonable distance to pay in or take out cash. The Government’s proposals support the continued use of cash in people’s daily lives and help to enable local businesses to continue accepting cash by ensuring they can access deposit facilities. This follows legislative changes to support the widespread offering of cashback without a purchase by shops and other businesses as part of the Financial Services Act 2021.
Levelling up the whole of the United Kingdom, including rural areas, is at the heart of the Government’s agenda. Levelling up means empowering local leaders and communities to drive real change; boosting living standards, particularly where they are lower; spreading opportunity and improving public services, particularly where they are weaker; and restoring local pride across the UK, whether in a large city, town or rural area. That is why the Government has put in place a range of support for rural areas, which includes the £1 billion agreement with the industry to deliver the Shared Rural Network which will see 4G mobile connectivity increase to 95% geographic coverage across the UK.
Rural areas are also able to access support from a range of dedicated growth funds put in place by this Government. For example, the £4.8 billion Levelling up Fund and the upcoming UK Shared Prosperity Fund, worth over £2.6 billion, will help people access opportunity in places in need, such as rural and coastal communities, and for people in disadvantaged groups across the UK.
I refer my Rt Hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 59777 on 28 October 2021.
The Government is committed to delivering the homes this country needs and is striving to level up all parts of the country. The Government's Get Building Fund, via the Marches LEP, has invested £1 million in the River Wye catchment, to aid the construction of Integrated Wetlands to mitigate the sources of nutrient pollution. This will enable the delivery of 1,385 nutrient neutral dwellings in the catchment.