Lord Campbell-Savours

In the last 3 years, 1 export licence has been applied for and approved to Sudan that we have assessed as potentially useable in war conflict. The military goods in this licence were personal protective equipment for international humanitarian use and the value of the licence was £188,000. Please note that data from 1 January 2023 has not yet been published as Official Statistics by HM Government, therefore we have not included any information regarding applications processed from this date.

The Government assesses each export licence application against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria and will not issue a licence where to do so would be inconsistent with the UK’s international obligations and commitments to respect arms embargoes and sanctions. The Sudan (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 include provisions for licensing military items when they are for use by the UN for peacekeeping and, or humanitarian purposes.

The information provided in my previous response is not available broken down by month.

The Government has taken decisive action to support households and businesses with energy bills. The Warm Home Discount Scheme has provided £140-150 off winter electricity bills for eligible households, costing around £350 million per year over 2018/19 to 2021/22 rising to £520 million in 2022/23, funded from domestic electricity bills. Energy Intensive Industries have benefited from exemptions and compensation worth £2.2 billion in total between 2018 and 2022, reducing their electricity costs. Additional support has been provided in response to the rise in energy prices with £1.6 billion of support provided to businesses and £12.7 billion to households over October-December 2022.

The UK has a robust regulatory system which provides a comprehensive regime for exploration and production activities in the offshore oil and gas sector, which includes provisions to ensure safe operations and protect the environment. The legislation allows the Government to serve legal notices on any party involved in the exploration and production of an offshore oil or gas field, ensuring they remain responsible for decommissioning costs, rather than the UK taxpayer.

Offshore operators will require environmental permits from the relevant environment agencies, scrutiny by the relevant health and safety bodies, and Oil and Gas Authority consents for drilling under the provisions of their licence.

All Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are subject to mid-year and annual performance reviews that consider areas of governance, delivery performance, and strategic impact. The York and North Yorkshire (YNY) LEP was considered to have met the requirements in all three areas following its 2020-21 annual performance review. The delivery assessment took account of YNY LEP’s overall performance in delivering its Local Growth and Getting Building Fund programmes, including progress on the delivery of Askham Bryan projects being funded from these programmes.

In order to provide assurance on the robust stewardship of public funds and to meet governance performance requirements, LEPs are required to develop a local assurance framework that meets the mandatory governance, accountability, and transparency requirements set out in the National Local Growth Assurance Framework.

In so doing, LEPs must put in place appropriate data protection arrangements in line with the Data Protection Act 1998, the General Data Protection Requirements (GDPR), and the Data Protection Act 2018. YNY LEP is the data controller for data they collect including any relating to Askham Bryan College. The LEP should ensure it follows the appropriate procedures and that internal processes are compliant with the legislation.

LEPs are also required to have a legal personality and must abide by the laws and regulations that apply to the legal entity they adopt. YNY LEP is a private company limited by guarantee without share capital.

The then York, North Yorkshire, and East Riding (YNYER) Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) received local growth funding of £145.9m awarded in three rounds, announced in July 2014, January 2015, and January 2017. The funds were to be spent between financial years 2015-16 and 2020-21.

Funding awards were based on consideration of local Strategic Economic Plans (SEPs), developed by each LEP. Creating skilled and inspired people was a priority in the YNYER SEP and local growth funding supported investment in agri-tech and land-based engineering facilities at Askham Bryan College, as well as a digital farm hub at the College.

A condition of local growth funding allocations to LEPs was that all projects were subject to business cases that met an agreed local Assurance Framework including representing value for money to the taxpayer, being deliverable, and having a strong strategic fit. All LEP investments and investment decisions are publicly available on LEP websites, as the Assurance Framework requires.

In 2020, the Government announced the £900 million Getting Building Fund (GBF) to deliver jobs, skills, and infrastructure across the country. LEPs and Mayors were invited to propose shovel-ready infrastructure projects that would boost economic growth, and fuel local recovery and jobs. Funding awards were based on a consideration of the strategic fit and deliverability of each project. The £15.4m GBF award for the geographically reformed York and North Yorkshire LEP included support for a Digital Skills Academy at Askham Bryan College, again subject to a business case meeting the requirements of the LEP’s local assurance framework as outlined above.

The rules for provision of information by Local Enterprise Partnerships on their allocations to grant and loan applicants are set out in the National Local Growth Assurance Framework, which was published in January 2019.

This Framework provides the Department, Government, stakeholders and the public with the necessary assurances that LEPs have the policies and processes in place to ensure the robust stewardship of public funds. Specifically, it requires LEPs to publish bids and undertake a clear process of recording decisions reached and communicating these in a timely fashion to the applicant.

The UK Government has secured early access to 457 million vaccines doses through agreements with eight separate vaccine developers. This includes agreements with BioNTech/Pfizer, University of Oxford/AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline/Sanofi Pasteur, Novavax, Janssen, Valneva, Moderna and CureVac.

In addition to the above, we have also funded fill and finish capability through a contract with Wockhardt in Wrexham, North Wales, as well as the expansion of the Valneva factory in Livingston, Scotland.

Askham Bryan College’s application for capital funds to support the development of a calf and grower teaching building for cattle was included in the Yorkshire and Humber Institute of Technology proposal which was submitted on 21 November 2018.

The Yorkshire and Humber Institute of Technology proposal was approved on 7 November 2019.

Within the Yorkshire and Humber Institute of Technology proposal, Askham Bryan College were approved to receive £1,746,448 capital funds.

Askham Bryan College have been paid £489,880 to date. The balance of funding, £1,256,568, is due to be paid in this financial year (2021/22).

The Further Education Commissioner and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) carried out a comprehensive analysis of local provision needs for Newton Rigg and the surrounding area in 2020. The core objective of this analysis was to establish if there was a need for college provision within the general vicinity of the Newton Rigg campus. It considered the location of neighbouring further education (FE) colleges in relation to travel to learn options and identified that most enrolments could be accommodated at other statutory FE institutions.

In total, 286 16 to 18 year-old students were enrolled onto land based further education courses at Newton Rigg, of which 70 were in residential accommodation. Where gaps in provision were identified, specifically agricultural provision, alternative arrangements for the next academic year have been agreed with Myerscough College in partnership with Ullswater Community College to ensure continuity of delivery of this provision in the Penrith area after Newton Rigg closes.

Both the Further Education Commissioner and the ESFA continue to have regular meetings with the senior leadership team at Askham Bryan College, and this includes, but is not exclusively related to, matters concerning the closure of Newton Rigg Campus.

During the analysis of local provision needs and subsequently the strategic review, the Further Education Commissioner, with support from the ESFA, has engaged with a significant number of stakeholders who had an interest in Newton Rigg, the implications of its proposed closure and the delivery of FE, including land-based provision within Cumbria. This included Cumbria County Council, Eden District Council, Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, all statutory FE colleges located within Cumbria, Scotland’s Rural College, the University of Cumbria, University of Central Lancashire, Lancaster University, National Farmers Union, Friends of Newton Rigg, current and former governors of Askham Bryan College and a range of industry stakeholders.

The strategic review commenced in July 2020 and completed in February 2021. This review engaged with local interested parties and all the educational institutions identified above to ascertain interest and options available to maintain specialist provision at the Newton Rigg campus. No suitable alternative solution was identified to maintain education provision at that site.

Following the decision by the University of Cumbria in 2010, to cease delivering the provision of further education funded by the Skills Funding Agency and the Young People’s Learning Agency, the Skills Funding Agency led an open and competitive procurement process, in accordance with Part B of Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006, to secure an alternative provider or providers for the delivery of arts provision in Carlisle and predominately land-based provision at Newton Rigg. As a result of this competition, the funding for students studying further education at the University’s Brampton Road building was transferred to Carlisle College, and the funding for students studying further education at Newton Rigg, together with the further education assets at Newton Rigg, was transferred to Askham Bryan College. The procurement was subject to a review by Cabinet Office in 2011 and its findings have been published on gov.uk and are attached.

The successor organisation to the Skills Funding Agency, the Education and Skills Funding Agency now procure provision in accordance with the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations, 2015. In some circumstances, for example the provision of education and training for young people, separate arrangements apply, but processes and procedures are fair and transparent. Where this applies, we use a mix of local negotiation and tendering appropriate to the circumstances in each case.

The government has no plans to publish documents concerning the funding and transfer of assets and land relating to the University of Cumbria’s acquisition of Newton Rigg College in 2007.

Askham Bryan College’s primary relationship with government is with the department and its executive agency, the Education and Skills Funding Agency. The department has overall responsibility for policies relating to the delivery of further education and higher education which are provided by Askham Bryan College.

It is unacceptable for people not to clean up after their dogs and we are giving local councils the tools they need to tackle this anti-social behaviour.

Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) allow councils to require dog owners to pick up their dog’s faeces. Those who breach the terms of a PSPO may be prosecuted, which can lead to a criminal record and a fine of up to £1,000 on conviction. Alternatively, the council can issue a fixed penalty notice. As part of the Prime Minister’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, we will be increasing the upper limit on these fixed penalty notices to £500, up from the current maximum of £100.

The Government has published practitioners' guidance on dealing with irresponsible dog ownership, which covers the use of PSPOs. Copies of this manual and its annexes are attached to this answer.

HM Government is not currently providing any specific support for the development of compostable potato starch bag packaging and have not evaluated the commercial viability of using compostable potato starch bag packaging by government agencies. Through UK Research and Innovation, we have provided over £190 million to over 280 projects in the last 5 years, for research to help us reduce plastic waste and increase the sustainability of the plastic packaging we use.

In light of evidence received in response to our call for evidence on bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastic, our focus is on working towards all plastic packaging being recyclable or reusable rather than compostable. Currently there is insufficient industrial composting capacity throughout England to manage compostable plastics at end of life and our call for evidence suggests these materials are often stripped out at the start of the process and landfilled or incinerated. This packaging also does not contribute to a circular economy in the same way as packaging that can be reused or recycled into new packaging or products do, as compostable plastic packaging is generally intended to be used once.

HM Government is not currently providing any specific support for the development of compostable potato starch bag packaging and have not evaluated the commercial viability of using compostable potato starch bag packaging by government agencies. Through UK Research and Innovation, we have provided over £190 million to over 280 projects in the last 5 years, for research to help us reduce plastic waste and increase the sustainability of the plastic packaging we use.

In light of evidence received in response to our call for evidence on bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastic, our focus is on working towards all plastic packaging being recyclable or reusable rather than compostable. Currently there is insufficient industrial composting capacity throughout England to manage compostable plastics at end of life and our call for evidence suggests these materials are often stripped out at the start of the process and landfilled or incinerated. This packaging also does not contribute to a circular economy in the same way as packaging that can be reused or recycled into new packaging or products do, as compostable plastic packaging is generally intended to be used once.

On 8 April 2021, we published our response to the call for evidence on the need for standards for bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/standards-for-biodegradable-compostable-and-bio-based-plastics-call-for-evidence.

While neither a specific assessment of oxo-biodegradable plastic sheeting used by farmers, nor an assessment comparing bio-based resin from starch and lactic acid in biodegradable products used in agriculture to oxo-biodegradable plastics has been made, the aforementioned call for evidence covered oxo-biodegradable plastics.

The Government response acknowledges that there is currently insufficient evidence demonstrating that oxo-biodegradable plastics perform as claimed and biodegrade, without residue, in a reasonable timeframe in the open environment. We continue to monitor the latest developments and evidence and are keen to see research published in international peer reviewed journals illustrating how these plastics degrade in the marine environment, open environment, and under the soil, specifically under naturalistic conditions, as opposed to experimental models of aging. We also welcome further research on the full environmental impacts of using bio-based plastics.

Over the coming months, we intend to commission a research project to further consider the evidence that has been supplied to the call for evidence within the context of wider literature and new research.

We do not plan to make representations to the European Commission on the usability and safety of oxo-biodegradable products in the farming industry.

The Government has commissioned studies to assess the impact of vehicle speed on emissions, for example undertaking a high-resolution emission modelling approach to understand changes in vehicle speeds and how it relates to emissions. The Department uses the best available evidence to model emissions in urban areas, including evidence linking vehicle speeds with emissions based on international guidelines. The evidence is that the factors influencing emissions are complex and the relative impact of vehicle speed, acceleration/deceleration and distance travelled (which are all related to journey times), will vary depending on the local situation.

In addition, the Government’s Joint Air Quality Unit helps local authorities to calculate NOx emissions in their local areas using outputs from traffic models, which use a range of parameters including speed and distance travelled (which influence journey time) and the number of vehicles. The results of these parameters are contained in their Full Business Cases which are all published documents.

The Government has commissioned a robust evaluation programme for the collection and analysis of air quality, traffic, and behavioural insights data from Local Authority areas implementing measures for the reduction of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). Case studies give further understanding of how local plans are affecting local groups and businesses.

The Government has published a series of annual reports which set out and discuss the analysis of these evaluation findings. Headline findings from these reports and other analyses give an insight into the effects of Clean Air Zones and other measures on air quality and vehicle fleets in Local Authorities. The 2021 annual report is available to view on the Defra Science Search - AQ0851.

The aim of speed management is to deliver a balance between safety objectives for all road users and mobility objectives, to ensure efficient travel, as well as environmental and community outcomes. The Department has published guidance designed to make sure that speed limits are appropriately and consistently set while allowing for flexibility to deal with local needs and conditions.

The regulatory emissions tests for type approval of new vehicles are conducted under dynamic rather than constant speeds in order to be more representative of real-world use. The Department does not have specific results for the situations outlined. Transport emission factors are used within the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory to provide information on the emissions of vehicle fleets based upon factors such as their average speed, fuel type and engine capacity. These are also used within the Emissions Factor Toolkit, published by DEFRA, to assist local authorities carrying out assessment of local air quality.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Government agency responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe, has not made an assessment on the case for reviewing the expiry dates of antibiotics.

Medicine expiry dates, including for antibiotics, are necessary to ensure that the safety and effectiveness of a medicine is maintained over its long-term shelf life. The active ingredient in many medicines can degrade over time resulting in a loss of potency or the formation of impurities in the product. Physical changes to a medicine such as discolouration, may also occur upon prolonged storage. Medicine expiry dates are supported by stability studies completed by the pharmaceutical company, which demonstrate that a medicine remains safe and effective throughout its shelf life. Any change to the expiry date of a medicine requires an independent review of the stability data by the MHRA.

Companies can and often do extend the shelf life of their medicines once the product is on the market, and as additional stability data become available. It is not possible, however, to extend the expiry date of all medicines unilaterally in the absence of supporting stability data.

The information requested is not held from other countries. Height and weight measurements are collected in England from approximately 500,000 children per year in reception year, aged four to five years old, as part of the National Child Measurement Programme. The collection started in 2006/07 and the latest available data is for 2021/22. Additionally, measured height and weight of children has been collected in the Health Survey for England for 1995 to 2019.

Data is collected in Scotland and Wales in both an annual child measurement programme and annual health survey, and in the health survey Northern Ireland. However, no data is published for height and weight that is comparable to the data published for England.