Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions she has had with the Board of the Post Office Ltd on how funds wrongly claimed back from sub postmasters using Horizon software were used.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I hold meetings with the Post Office CEO on a monthly basis where we discuss the topic of Horizon compensation delivery.
Postmasters who paid shortfalls which were recorded in Horizon to the Post Office are paid those amounts back in their compensation claims, as well as any other financial and personal damage which they have suffered as a consequence of the IT system.
Government has made funding available for both the Horizon Shortfall Scheme and for Overturned Convictions compensation. Post Office has published its provisions for both in its annual accounts and Government has published the level of funding available on the Subsidy Transparency Database.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions she has had with the Board of the Post Office Ltd on the urgent return of funds wrongly claimed from sub postmasters.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I hold meetings with the Post Office CEO on a monthly basis where we discuss the topic of Horizon compensation delivery.
Postmasters who paid shortfalls which were recorded in Horizon to the Post Office are paid those amounts back in their compensation claims, as well as any other financial and personal damage which they have suffered as a consequence of the IT system.
Government has made funding available for both the Horizon Shortfall Scheme and for Overturned Convictions compensation. Post Office has published its provisions for both in its annual accounts and Government has published the level of funding available on the Subsidy Transparency Database.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what grants were provided by his Department to Wokingham Borough Council in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 financial year; and how much was awarded in each grant.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Wokingham Borough Council have received the following grants from the Department for Transport:
Grant | FY 2022-23 | FY 2023-24 to date |
Bus Recovery Grant – Local Transport Fund | £225,225.24 | £131,792.39 |
Enhanced Bus Partnership Capacity (Revenue) Grant 2022/23 | £171,000.00 | - |
Bus Service Improvement Plan | £200,661.00 | £200,661.00 |
Bus Service Operators Grant Local Authorities | £111,461.00 | £111,461.00 |
Local Authorities Capability Fund | £127,359.00 | £63,680.00 |
Local Authorities Infrastructure Fund | £578,805.00 | £27,410.00 |
On-street Residential Charge Point Scheme | £130,125.00 | - |
Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Capability Fund | £50,670 | £115,620 |
Budget 2023 Maintenance Funding | - | £589,000 |
Maintenance funding uplift from HS2 Euston savings | - | £418,000 |
Wokingham Borough Council was also allocated for 2022 to 2025 (3 years) the following grant awards: Pothole Fund £1.473m, Highways Maintenance Block £1.841m and Integrated Transport Block £0.740m.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support farmers in areas affected by flooding.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government announced a significant package of support, via the Flood Recovery Framework, to areas in England that have experienced exceptional localised flooding as a result of Storm Henck. Through the Framework farmers in eligible areas can access grants up to £5,000 per property to install Property Flood Resilience measures where they have internal flooding to homes or business premises. Farmers who have suffered uninsurable damage to their land because of the exceptional flooding will be able to apply for grants of up to £25,000 through the Farming Recovery Fund towards reinstatement costs, such as recultivation. Outside of this, insurance policies are available for farmers to protect them from the loss of a crop due to flooding. The Framework also provides funding for eligible households and businesses and includes a £2,500 Business Recovery Grant for SMEs, including farm businesses, which have suffered severe impacts from flooding that cannot be recovered from insurance, and Council Tax discounts.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of reservoirs that were full as of 9 January 2024.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency publishes regular assessments of the current water situation on gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/water-situation-reports-for-england). Individual water companies also publish their own reservoir levels on their respective websites.
The latest information received by the Environment Agency from water companies for week ending 9 January 2024 indicates that stocks across England are overall 92% full. Across the 31 strategic reservoir or reservoir groups reported nationally, just over one third (39 percent) are completely full, and approximately two thirds (68 percent) are greater than 90 % full. Please note some online reservoirs are managed to enable them to capture excess water to reduce downstream flood risk during the winter period so will be managed to allow this to occur.
The remaining reservoirs are either still being refilled, are undergoing planned operational maintenance which requires levels to be reduced to allow the work to be undertaken safely, or currently waiting for high turbidity levels associated with flood water to recede before pumping into them is resumed.
Although, the Environment Agency doesn’t routinely collect individual farm reservoir storage information, working with the sector, notably the Water for Food Group which includes various Water Abstractor Groups and the NFU, within its membership, it has collated a representative snapshot of refill across England. Most of these reservoirs are full or are on track to be full (currently typically between 75-90% full) before the end of the licensed refill season, i.e. the end of March.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Environment Agency has taken steps to ensure reservoirs can be filled during periods of heavy rain.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Reservoir licence holders can usually start abstracting when river flows reach a ‘hands off flow’ threshold designed to protect the river during dry periods. This year has been particularly wet, so flow thresholds were reached early and most abstractors have been able to fill their reservoirs. Some water companies, however, manage their reservoirs so they can capture excess water during flood periods. They may also reduce or cease pumping during floods when water quality is poor.
Historically, agricultural reservoir licences allow abstraction during the winter months only (November to March). This is usually sufficient, but if farmers feel that they would benefit from a longer abstraction season or higher pumping rates then the EA would welcome applications to vary their licences.
During the recent floods caused by Storm Babet, the EA allowed several farmers who had made requests to fill their reservoirs early, to take water before their licenced abstraction season had started. The EA is currently working on a Regulatory Position Statement to formalise this position.
We are also taking the following measures to support the development of new reservoirs to capture high-flow water after heavy rainfall.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) market surveys and (b) other research his Department conducted before setting mandatory percentages for future electric vehicle sales.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport consulted three times on the design of a zero emission vehicle mandate, including the zero emission vehicle targets for cars and vans. Manufacturers representing 96% of new cars sold in the UK and 95% of new vans were engaged as part of this process and gave detailed feedback. A full cost benefit analysis was published alongside the final consultation in March 2023, with a revised final cost benefit analysis published in October 2023 alongside the Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes Order 2023.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the implications for her policies on fining UK car manufacturers who sell too many petrol and diesel cars of levels of demand for battery vehicles.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport consulted extensively with vehicle manufacturers and as a result, the zero emission vehicle targets are ambitious but achievable.
The mandate will help cut the cost of zero emission vehicle cars by giving manufacturers the certainty they need to transition production. In doing so, this will help more and more people save money on their motoring with the cheaper driving they provide, whilst reducing our reliance on imported oil and helping to deliver our ambitious emission reduction targets.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative estimate he has made of the cost of delivering public services due to changes in productivity levels in the 2019-20 and 2023-24 financial years.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Efficiency and productivity are at the heart of the government’s approach to public spending. In June, the Chancellor announced1 a major public sector productivity programme across all government departments, and set out that if productivity growth in the public sector increased by 0.5% a year, we would stabilise the proportion of GDP consumed by the state by closing the gap between anticipated growth and anticipated spending up to 2050.
No comparative estimate has been made of the cost of delivering public services based on historic changes in productivity.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much money his Department has sent the Bank of England to cover its losses on bonds in the 2023-24 financial year to date.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
So far in financial year 2023-24, HM Treasury has transferred £33,196 million to the Bank of England to cover losses arising from the Asset Purchase Facility in line with the indemnity provided by HM Treasury. This covers losses incurred from net interest costs and the sale and redemption of bonds.
Data on these quarterly cash transfers between HM Treasury and the Bank of England are made publicly available by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in their monthly Public Sector Finances publication. The data is available at the following link under the ONS series ID MF7A in worksheet PSA9B: