Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the level of average savings of households.

Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government’s plan is working, with inflation down and growth forecast to improve. This allowed the government, at Spring Budget 2024, to cut taxes further for working people. These are the most important things that the government can do to support households to save.

At Spring Budget 2024, the Chancellor also set out further measures to support and encourage a savings culture across the UK and increase opportunities for people to save for the longer term. This included launching a consultation to introduce a new UK ISA with a £5,000 allowance for investments in UK assets and funds, in addition to the existing £20,000 ISA allowance, and the launch of British Savings Bonds, delivered through National Savings & Investment.

These measures sit alongside existing policies such as Help to Save, which supports people on low incomes to save, and the Lifetime ISA, which supports people to save for a first home or later life

The retail savings market currently offers a range of options to savers, who can access competitive rates on a variety of instant access and fixed-term products.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase the uptake of the HPV vaccine by (a) girls and (b) boys.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works closely with charities such as Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and the Teenage Cancer Trust to develop resources to raise awareness and educate young girls and boys about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and related cancers. The UKHSA has helped develop education resources for schools called EDUCATE, co-developed with teenagers and the Health Protection Research Unit on Behavioural Science and Evaluation.

School Aged Immunisation Service (SAIS) providers have continuously been focusing on HPV programme recovery since the pandemic and the school closures, and have robust catch-up plans in place for HPV vaccination based on population need, and utilising opportunities from the HPV programme change in September 2023 to deliver further catchup activities from the academic year 2023/24 using innovative models.

The UKHSA monitors uptake for immunisation programmes for teenagers. Annual published statistics help local NHS Screening and Immunisation teams develop plans to improve uptake and reduce inequalities in collaboration with key partners, including Directors of Public Health, and teams in local authorities.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of levels of plastic pollution per capita in the UK; what steps his Department is taking to tackle those levels; and what plans he has to reduce plastic waste generation in the long-term.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We have banned the use of microbeads in rinse-off personal care products. Our single-use plastic carrier bag charge, now 10p, has reduced the number of such bags given out by the main supermarkets by over 98%. We brought in measures to restrict the supply of single-use plastic straws and single-use plastic stemmed cotton buds and ban the supply of plastic drink stirrers in 2020. In October 2023, we also banned the supply of single-use plastic plates, bowls, and trays to the end-user and banned the supply of single-use plastic cutlery and single-use plastic balloon sticks and expanded and foamed extruded polystyrene food and drinks containers, including cups. In April 2022, we brought in the Plastic Packaging Tax, a tax of £200 per tonne on plastic packaging manufactured in, or imported into the UK, that does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic. From April 2023, it has increased in line with inflation to £210.82/tonne.

Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) will make producers responsible for the costs of collecting and managing packaging they place on the market when it is no longer used and becomes waste. This will encourage businesses to think carefully about how much packaging they use, to design and use packaging that is easily recyclable, and to use reusable and refillable packaging. This will contribute to our goals of a more circular economy, in which resources are kept in use for longer, minimising the waste we create, and cutting carbon emissions.

As one of the founding members of the high ambition coalition of countries calling for an end to plastic pollution by 2040, the UK will do all we can to press for the agreement of a high ambition Treaty by the end of 2024.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to reduce planning approval times for new electric vehicle charging installations.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

Nationally set permitted development rights enable the installation of electric vehicle charging points (EVCPs) without the need for a planning application. We are currently consulting on changes to the rights to provide increased flexibility to individuals and organisations wishing to install EVCPs. The consultation is open until 9 April and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-various-permitted-development-rights-consultation.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has held recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the potential impact of planning regulations on the installation of electronic vehicle charging points.

Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Officials in the Department for Transport and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) are exploring potential changes to planning to make it easier to install chargepoints.

In 2023, the Government introduced changes to permitted development rights (PDR), enabling chargepoint operators to install through PDR on behalf of local authorities. On 13 February 2024, DLUHC launched a consultation, seeking to make further changes to PDR. The proposed changes aim to make installations at off-street locations easier and quicker. A government response to the consultation will be issued in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential long-term impact of the cost of living on life expectancy; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce regional disparities in life expectancy.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is mindful of potential interactions between cost of living pressures and health, which is one of the reasons we are delivering cost of living support worth an average of £3,700 per household between 2022 and 2025. The Government is committed to its levelling up mission to narrow the gap in healthy life expectancy by 2030, and increase healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035.

In January 2023 we announced our plan to publish the Major Conditions Strategy. The strategy will be a direction setting document which aims to pave the way for further action towards integrated care, coordinated around the needs of people, to address our aims of improving healthy life expectancy, reduce pressure on the National Health Service, and reduce ill-health related labour market inactivity. It will emphasise the importance of working with local services and organisations to address disparities in health outcomes, supporting the levelling up mission. Our intention is to publish the Major Conditions Strategy in Spring 2024.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to encourage uptake of electronic vehicles among all socioeconomic groups.

Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government is committed to keeping the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) affordable for all consumers. Plug-in vehicle grants have been in place for over a decade to support the transition to EVs, and remain in place for harder to transition vehicles such as vans.

The uptake of EVs continues to be supported through generous tax incentives. The 2022 Autumn Statement extended favourable benefit in kind tax rates for EVs out to April 2028, and EVs are either exempt or pay minimal Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) until 2025. From 2025, EVs will still have preferential first year rates of VED in comparison to the most polluting vehicles.

To transform the availability of charging for drivers without off-street parking, the Government introduced the £381 million Local EV Infrastructure Fund. This will deliver tens of thousands of local chargepoints, ensuring the transition to EVs takes place in every part of the country. The Government also continues to provide funding for domestic and workplace chargepoints. This includes the recently announced grant for eligible households without off-street parking, to install a cross-pavement charging solution.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of levels of train cancellations into Preston; and what plans he has to help reduce such cancellations.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Ministers, DfT and Rail North Partnership Officials regularly meet with the senior management of Network Rail and train operators to review performance, including at Preston. We continue to hold operators to account for matters within their control and will continue to use all contractual levers to drive the best outcomes for passengers. The Department will continue to work collaboratively with train operating companies and Network Rail to ensure a high performing railway contributes to growth and local economies.

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 5 February 2024 to Question 11582 on MMR Vaccine: North West, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the lower uptake of MMR2 at five years; and what steps her Department is taking to increase the uptake of childhood vaccines.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

It is vitally important that everyone takes up the vaccinations to which they are entitled. Vaccination rates across the country are too low, particularly in some local areas, and we need a concerted effort to reach the 95% coverage, with two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, required to provide population protection.

The Department works with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS England to improve immunisation through diverse delivery methods, making getting vaccinated easier for all, including those in traditionally under-served groups. The UKHSA launched a new multi-media marketing campaign across England on 4 March 2024, to remind parents and carers of the risk of their children missing out on protection against serious diseases that are re-emerging in the country.

There have also been increased outreach efforts to make sure that communities with historically lower uptake are informed of the benefits of vaccines and have access to inclusive resources. For example, in the North West and the Midlands, National Health Service teams are using initiatives like roving clinics, extra vaccination sessions in schools, and community pharmacies to step up their efforts to get more children protected with the MMR vaccine.

The Government supports NHS programmes focused on improving coverage, including regional and national campaigns for polio, and a new targeted national MMR catch-up campaign for children aged six to 11 years old this year, extended to all those aged 11 to 25 years old in London, the West Midlands and the North West. Human papillomavirus infection vaccination catch-ups for adolescents are also taking place.

The NHS Vaccination strategy outlines plans to maximise convenience, with more vaccination services at locations that the public can easily access such as libraries, leisure centres, social clubs or sports grounds, family hubs, support services, and places of worship, or at local cultural and community events, with flexible opening hours and booking options.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to prepare for (a) an avian influenza outbreak and (b) a future pandemic.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Department continues to plan and prepare for a range of pandemic and emerging infectious disease scenarios, including those caused by respiratory contact, both influenza and non-influenza, and vector-borne pathogens, building on lessons learned from exercises and incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department, working with health and care partners, is strengthening pandemic preparedness by considering the flexible and scalable response capabilities that can be adapted to any threat that the health and social care system needs.

These capabilities include stockpiles of critical medicines, an advance purchase agreement for a pandemic specific influenza vaccine, and a long-term strategic partnership with Moderna on vaccine development. These complement core scalable capabilities in the UK Health Security Agency, such as surveillance and diagnostics.

We are carefully monitoring avian influenza globally. The risk to people in the United Kingdom from avian influenza is very low. It is primarily a disease of birds and there is currently no evidence that it can spread more easily to people, or that it can spread between people. We continually review our readiness plans as new evidence emerges.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions of young people there were in (a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Preston in each of the last five years; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the trend in the number of such convictions.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice holds information on convictions by age group and Police Force Area, covering the period requested. The latest data available, until year ending June 2023, can be obtained in the following published tool: Outcomes by Offence tool: June 2023.

The tool linked above will allow you to select particular age groups of interest through the age group filter, and areas of the country through the police force area filter.

It is not possible to separately identify all convictions in Preston courts specifically, as those at magistrates’ courts in Preston are counted within the wider geographical area of Lancashire outlined in the first part of the question. Figures for the rest of 2023 will be available in the next update of the Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly publication, expected in May 2024.

The Ministry of Justice has not carried out any recent location-specific assessment of on how our policies have influenced the trend in the number of children convicted since 2019 in Preston, Lancashire and the North West. However, there has been analysis of the broader national trend, which is a fall in the overall number of children entering the criminal justice system more generally in recent years. Since 2012, the number of first-time entrants to the youth justice system has declined by 72%. This can be attributed to a number of drivers. These include changes to policing and criminal justice practices intended to increase police discretion to divert children who had committed low-level offences from the formal justice system, prevention programmes to support vulnerable families and Youth Offending Teams undertaking prevention work with children perceived to be at risk of offending.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase nursery staff in the North West, in the context of the Government's plans to expand the number of free childcare places.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

By the 2027/28 financial year, the government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.

In February, the department launched a new national recruitment campaign for the early years and childcare sector, ‘Do something BIG. Work with small children’, and a financial incentives pilot. Eligible joiners and returners will receive a tax-free payment of up to £1,000. This followed the introduction of workforce flexibilities to the Early Years Foundation Stage in January.

The department has also introduced Skills Bootcamps for Early Years, which will create a pathway to accelerated Level 3 Early Years Apprenticeships. The number of paid childcare staff in 2023 is estimated at 347,300 compared to 334,400 paid childcare staff in 2022, an increase of 3.86%. Additionally, the department has invested up to £180 million in providing an early years education recovery package of workforce training, qualifications and support and guidance for the early years sector. This includes additional places for early years initial teacher training (EYITT), and new level 3 qualifications criteria for early years educators to ensure higher quality training and better care for children. The new criteria will come into effect from September 2024.

For the North West, the total number of staff working in group and school based providers has increased from 39,394 in 2018 to 42,027 in 2023, an increase of 6.68%.

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