Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2025 to Question 36119 on Homes for Ukraine Scheme: Children, whether those safeguards will be in place for the duration of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
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.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2025 to Question 35591 on Pharmacy: Finance, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of pharmacies using Pharmacy First.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
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.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times his Department has met with the Joint Air Quality Unit and the Department for Transport to discuss the implementation of the NO2 programme in the last eight months.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) is a joint Defra/DfT division. Members of JAQU attend meetings with officials across both Departments regularly.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
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 is taking to provide funding to help support low carbon farming.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of decoupling the electricity wholesale price from gas.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
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.