John Whitby

I recognise that the EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) may require changes for some businesses, including sole traders and those selling engineering products to the EU.

We have published guidance for Northern Ireland, which we regularly review, and continue to support businesses trading with the EU. Since October 2024, the UK Export Academy delivered eight free GPSR training sessions supporting over 5,000 users.

DBT's Export Support Service are now signposting businesses to verified external service providers specialising in GPSR via the Export Support Directory. These are paid for providers, so businesses should perform due diligence before entering commercial relationships.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is committed to supporting small businesses to export and access the EU market.

UK businesses can access DBT’s wealth of export support via Great.gov.uk, including the Export Academy, UK Export Finance, the International Markets network with teams based across the EU, and one-to-one support from International Trade Advisers. Unlock Europe is an Export Academy webinar series designed to help UK businesses strengthen relationships with European customers and increase their exporting potential to the EU.

At the coming UK-EU summit, we aim to make progress on tackling barriers to trade and securing outcomes that will help more UK businesses export to our European neighbours.

The Government is supporting small businesses across the UK to understand and comply with the new EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) and its application in Northern Ireland.

We have published information on GOV.UK regarding GPSR's application in Northern Ireland, which we regularly review, and continue engaging directly with businesses. Firms exporting to the EU should note that EU guidance is now available and may also wish to contact the Government's Export Support Service. Since October, the UK Export Academy has delivered five free online GPSR training sessions to over 2,600 attendees.

Customers will not unexpectedly lose access to their heating and hot water after 30th June, and we will not allow widespread disconnection.

Suppliers must fulfil all of their legal obligations to their customers, and that any future, localised phase-out of RTS meters after 30th Junemust be controlled, planned, and communicated properly to all customers in order to proceed.

The government will do everything it can to ensure that all customers are protected, and will work with Ofgem to hold suppliers to account if required. We expect energy suppliers to be taking measures, such as deploying roaming teams of installers including in rural areas, to ensure consumers receive replacement meters in a timely manner.

Ofgem next convenes a working group on 11 June where Elexon will present cost and benefit analysis of the proposed solution. Subsequent timelines depend on whether any Alternative Modifications (solutions) are raised by industry, before a Final Modification Report (FMR) is submitted for Ofgem’s consideration and decision. Ofgem expects to receive the FMR by end of Q3 2025.

The Department is continuing to examine how to remove barriers for community and local energy project’s route to market. This includes working with Ofgem, GBE and relevant stakeholders to find solutions that work in the best interests of local generators and consumers.

As part of the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, the Government assessed the merits of decoupling the electricity wholesale price from gas, considering proposals such as a Split Market, Green Power Pool and future-proofed Contracts for Difference scheme. The Contracts for Difference scheme was identified as the best tool to decouple gas and electricity prices. Increasing participation of renewables in the wholesale market means that over time, cheaper renewable electricity will set the price more often, lowering costs for consumers.

Government recognises the role community groups play in our efforts to tackle climate change. Great British Energy, through the Local Power Plan, will enhance support for local and community energy by partnering with Mayoral Strategic Authorities, community energy groups and Devolved Governments. This includes the Great British Energy Community Fund, which will provide funding and support to community energy stakeholders, helping to increase the roll out of renewable energy project.

The rollout of broadband infrastructure in national parks is led by commercial suppliers, in discussion with the relevant National Park Authority.

Reforms to the Electronic Communications Code in 2017, alongside the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022, have created a framework which encourages network deployment.

We will continue to work with the industry to improve 4G coverage in areas of natural beauty and national parks via the Shared Rural Network (SRN). On 28 May we announced that over 50 existing mobile masts had been upgraded for the SRN, with over half of them providing new coverage to areas of outstanding natural beauty or national parks.

Alongside the SRN, our ambition is for all populated areas to have higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. We are committed to having the right policy and regulatory framework to support this and we continue to work with industry to deliver this.

Project Gigabit is the government’s programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to homes and businesses that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans. This includes farms and other types of premises in rural communities.

We will also continue to work with mobile network operators to deliver the Shared Rural Network to boost 4G mobile coverage to rural communities, including farms, enabling them to thrive.

Our ambition is for all populated areas, including rural communities, to have higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. We are committed to having the right policy and regulatory framework to support this. We continue to work with industry to deliver this.

National Parks are vital assets for tourism, attracting millions of domestic and international visitors each year and supporting local economies through recreation, hospitality, and cultural heritage. To encourage more visitors, the Government has led a once-in-a-generation reform of regional and local destination management: 41 Local Visitor Economy Partnerships have now been accredited across England, creating a high-performing network across the Visitor Economy working with local authorities and businesses at a local level - encouraging new levels of collaboration between regions and empowering domestic tourism for places of tourist interest such as National Parks.

DCMS continues to work with VisitBritain to champion visits to the British countryside to a worldwide audience. VisitBritain’s new GREAT-funded international marketing campaign, ‘Starring GREAT Britain’, uses the hook of Britain’s rich film and television history to encourage more international visitors to explore across Britain, including many rural destinations, landmarks and National Parks.

Apprenticeships are jobs with training, and it is for employers in the hair and beauty sector to decide how they use apprenticeships to meet their skills needs.

The sector has developed several apprenticeship standards, including the level 2 hairdressing professional standard. To support smaller employers to access apprenticeships, the government pays the full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been in local authority care.

Employers can benefit from £1,000 payments when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, or apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an EHC plan or have been in local authority care. Employers can choose how they spend these payments. Employers are also not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25, where they earn less than £50,270 a year.

The Government is committed to ensuring agricultural tenancies are fair and collaborative. Agricultural tenancy agreements grant tenant farmers statutory protections. In cases of a tenancy ending all parties are encouraged to employ the Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Code of Practice, which sets out expected standards for constructive tenancy negotiations.

This Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas, so that we can realise the full potential of rural business and communities. The United Kingdom Food Security Report 2024 shows that people living in rural areas are more likely to have to travel further to access facilities such as food stores.

The food strategy will articulate the outcomes we want from the food system, enabling government, civil society, and the food supply chain to work towards a healthier, fairer, more sustainable and more resilient 21st century food system. We will be considering the role of place-based initiatives, including Local Food Partnerships, as we develop the food strategy.

The Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) is a joint Defra/DfT division. Members of JAQU attend meetings with officials across both Departments regularly.

The Government is committed to our net zero ambitions and boosting nature’s recovery, which are the foundations of a productive and profitable farming sector.

Our Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) pay farmers to take up land management practices that contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The farming budget will be £2.4 billion in 2025/26, which includes the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history: £1.8 billion for ELMs to boost Britain’s food security and accelerate the transition to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector.

The Government has spent £51.8 million through the Farming Innovation Programme (FIP), with a further £98 million committed to ongoing projects in support of Agri-technology research and innovation. Many FIP projects support low carbon farming practices. FIP competitions for 2025/26 will include up to £12.5 million for the Net Zero Farming thematic competition.

Since 2021, Defra’s Farming Investment Fund awarded more than 11,000 grants worth over £130 million to farmers, growers and foresters to invest in technology, equipment and infrastructure, much of which supports low carbon farming practices. Of this, £107 million was through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF). The next window of FETF will launch in Spring 2025.

When an Air quality management area (AGMA) is declared, local authorities are required to produce an Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) to bring air pollution down to within statutory limits. Defra has been engaging with Derbyshire Dales District Council to ensure they have an AQAP that will achieve this.

Air pollution has been reducing in Derbyshire Dales, but they have a localised area of exceedance in Buxton Road partly caused by HGV’s using this stretch of road. Improving air quality will require localised action by councils and national measures. The Government is supporting the transition to electric vehicles and is turbocharging the rollout of EV infrastructure which will help reduce NO2 emissions UK wide.

As the UK’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, decarbonising transport will play an important role in meeting economy-wide carbon budgets. Transport emissions reduced by 10% between 2019 to 2023, but emissions must fall faster to achieve our legal targets. The Government will deliver an updated delivery plan for meeting legislated carbon budgets later this year, with policy detail for all sectors provided up to the end of Carbon Budget 6 in 2037.

The government is committed to delivering better, more frequent and more reliable bus services for passengers. We have already made significant progress, introducing the Bus Services Bill to help give local leaders the powers they need to take control of their local services if they choose to do so, and announcing investment of over £1 billion to support and improve bus services.

We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist, particularly in more rural and coastal areas, and we are already taking action through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment initiative will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in the rural and coastal areas that need them most for three years.

Looking to the longer-term, a central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the National Health Service needs to care for patients across our communities.

Tackling the geographical disparities in access to NHS dentistry is vital. We will publish a refreshed workforce plan to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need, when they need it.

The Department continues to advise patients to follow National Health Service guidance on reducing the risk of skin cancer. This advice is available publicly on the NHS website, at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/melanoma-skin-cancer/

NHS England run Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address the barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point.

The Government is monitoring the impact of the death certification reforms, which came into legal effect on 9 September 2024, through the Death Certification Strategic Board and a cross-Government data strategy group. Since the introduction of the reforms, the median time taken to register a death appears to have risen by two days, from seven days to nine days. This figure is for all deaths, as it includes those certified by a doctor and those investigated by a coroner. Working with the Office for National Statistics, weekly data is now published on the time taken to register a death by region and also by setting. This is supporting NHS England and the Welsh administration to offer support and challenges.

The median time taken to register a death varies depending on the type of certification. Deaths certified by a doctor, that comprise approximately 80% of deaths registered each week, have typically had a median time to registration of seven days, though there can be variation at a local level. It’s important to note that the medical examiner system was active on a non-statutory basis before the introduction of the statutory system on 9 September 2024, and this makes direct ‘before’ and ‘after’ comparisons challenging to draw conclusions from.

The introduction of medical examiners is in part about making sure deaths are properly described and improving practice, but the impact on the bereaved is also central. The reforms aim to put the bereaved at the centre of the process, and the medical examiner’s office must offer a conversation with representatives of the deceased, so they can ask any questions they have about the death or to raise concerns. Ensuring the system is appropriately resourced and works for all those who interact with it is crucial, and something we will continue to monitor with NHS England.

As of November 2024, 9,308 contractors were delivering at least one Pharmacy First clinical pathway consultation with good coverage across the country, equivalent almost 90% of active pharmacies.

We have recently announced the funding arrangements for 2025/26, which will see increased fees for this service as well as a new fixed fee of £500 for pharmacies delivering between 20 and 29 consultations per month as well as the existing fixed fee of £1,000 for 30 consultations and over.

NHS England is keeping the Pharmacy First service under close review. In addition, a National Institute for Health and Care Research evaluation of Pharmacy First will assess how the service has been implemented across England, including impacts on prescribing in the general practice setting, use of hospitals and how the service has impacted access to care and cost for different patient groups.

Verified data to the end of November 2024 shows that £82 million has been spent in the 2024/25 financial year on the seven common clinical pathways and the associated incentive payments on expanding blood pressure and contraception services. A comprehensive view of all spending against the Pharmacy First budget will be available after the end of the financial year.

This Government remains strongly committed to tackling the international climate and nature crises. The UK played a key role at the Biodiversity COP16 Conference in February, which agreed a strategy to mobilise more finance for nature. We are working closely with a wide range of partners to build global ambition on nature ahead of London Climate Action Week in June and COP30 in Brazil.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 22103 on 13 January 2025 and to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).

The safeguarding of arrivals, including children, under the Homes for Ukraine scheme is a priority and we will ensure appropriate safeguarding measures are in place for the duration of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 places a duty on the Government to prepare a code of practice containing guidance about the operation and management of private parking facilities.

This government is determined to drive up standards in the private parking sector and will announce its plans for the new Code in due course.