Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many Competition and Markets Authority employees were seconded to the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the financial year 2022 to 2023 five employees from the Competition and Markets Authority were seconded to the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
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 8 March 2024 to Question 16313 on Laboratories: Disease Control, what the budget for the maintenance of Category 4 laboratories was for each of the last five years; and what funds have been allocated for such maintenance for the future.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency’s Porton Down and Colindale scientific campus sites do not have separate operational costs for the Category 4 laboratories. Spend on the maintenance and operation of these sites is provided through the spending review process.
Work is ongoing to establish the most robust approach for continued delivery of the high-quality science at Porton Down
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
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 8 March 2024 to Question 16314 on Laboratories: Disease Control, what the budget was for Porton Down in each of the last five years; how much has been allocated for future years; and what plans she has to ensure the long-term (a) sustainability and (b) effectiveness of Porton Down.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency’s Porton Down and Colindale scientific campus sites do not have separate operational costs for the Category 4 laboratories. Spend on the maintenance and operation of these sites is provided through the spending review process.
Work is ongoing to establish the most robust approach for continued delivery of the high-quality science at Porton Down
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the pay ranges at each grade are for Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency staff based (a) in and (b) outside London.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following tables show the pay ranges for each grade for both London and National staff, and the Senior Civil Service’s maximum and minimum pay band, respectively:
| London Rates | National Rates | ||
| Minimum | Maximum | Minimum | Maximum |
Grade 6 | £70,011 | £78,548 | £66,261 | £74,798 |
Grade 7 | £56,353 | £63,403 | £52,603 | £59,653 |
Senior Executive Officer | £42,869 | £47,948 | £39,119 | £44,198 |
Higher Executive Officer | £34,841 | £39,109 | £31,090 | £35,359 |
Executive Officer | £31,064 | £31,064 | £27,314 | £27,314 |
Administrative Officer | £27,469 | £27,469 | £23,719 | £23,719 |
Administrative Assistant | £23,875 | £23,875 | £20,125 | £20,125 |
| Minimum | Maximum |
Senior Civil Service pay band 3 | £127,000 | £208,100 |
Senior Civil Service pay band 2 | £97,000 | £162,500 |
Senior Civil Service pay band 1 | £75,000 | £117,800 |
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the pay ranges at each grade are for Food Standards Agency staff based (a) in and (b) outside London.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Standards Agency salary structure and ranges for 2023/24 effective from 1 August 2023 are available at the following link:
https://www.food.gov.uk/about-us/fsa-salary-structure
The then Minister for the Cabinet Office and HM Paymaster General, the Rt Hon Jeremy Quin MP laid a written statement (HCWS940) on 13 July 2023 which outlined the pay ranges for senior civil servants from 1 April 2023.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will hold discussions with the National Police Chiefs' Council on increasing awareness of neurodiverse conditions in recruitment processes.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Our Police Uplift Programme supported forces with a variety of attraction and recruitment strategies, whilst delivering a campaign that was designed to reach diverse audiences.
We continue to work with The College of Policing and NPCC to support efforts to recruit a diverse workforce, and to ensure policing is a career where recruits can thrive.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the usage of emerging technologies that help directly reduce methane levels in the atmosphere.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Methane reduction technologies are within scope of Defra’s £270 million Farming Innovation Programme and were in scope of its predecessor, Farming Innovation Pathways.
Defra’s evidence programme includes Research & Development exploring ways to reduce emissions from livestock. The portfolio includes research on nutrient and livestock management, feed and grazing regimes, methane suppressing feed products, ways to identify and selectively breed for more sustainable and productive animals, and ways to better manage manures.
Defra considers that Methane Suppressing Feed Products (MSFPs) are an essential tool to decarbonise the agriculture sector. In England, our objective is to establish a mature market for these products, encourage uptake and mandate the use of MSFPs in appropriate cattle systems as soon as feasibly possible and no later than 2030. We are committed to working with farmers and industry to achieve this goal, and in early March convened the inaugural meeting of a Ministerial-led industry taskforce on MSFPs.
The UK catalysed action on methane during our COP26 Presidency, including being one of the first countries to support the Global Methane Pledge - a collective commitment to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030, against 2020 levels. As part of its commitment to the Global Methane Pledge, the UK published a Methane Memorandum in November 2023 during COP27. The Memorandum outlines how the UK has achieved a robust track record in reducing methane emissions and how it continues to explore and implement measures to secure future progress. We were pleased that methane emissions were prioritised at COP28, with more countries joining the Pledge and a particular focus on mobilising finance to support developing countries with their methane emissions. The UK committed £2 million to the Methane Finance Sprint.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much and what proportion of funding is the Government investing in methane reduction technologies.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As announced in the Government’s Net Zero Strategy 2021, we are bringing forward £295 million of capital funding which will allow local authorities in England to prepare to implement free weekly separate food waste collections for all households in England. This will deliver significant carbon savings over sending food waste to landfill.
Methane reduction technologies are within scope of Defra’s £270 million Farming Innovation Programme and were in scope of its predecessor, Farming Innovation Pathways.
While primarily a safety focussed programme, the Health and Safety Executive-led Iron Mains Risk Reduction Programme (IMRRP) is expected to invest approximately £4 billion in replacing iron gas mains with plastic pipework over the current Ofgem price control period (2021-2026), improving safety and reducing methane emissions. By the conclusion of this programme in 2032, it is estimated that the IMRRP will have achieved a 66% reduction in CO2 equivalent emissions from the gas distribution network since the programme commenced in 2013.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to help reduce methane emissions from (a) anthropogenic sources, (b) landfills and (c) fossil fuel production.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the UK, overall greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector have decreased by 74% since 1990. This is mostly due to the implementation of methane recovery systems at UK landfill sites, increasing landfill methane capture rates, and reductions in the amount of biodegradable waste disposed of at landfill sites. In 2022, the waste sector accounted for 4.6% of total UK territorial greenhouse gas emissions, with landfill methane emissions responsible for 80% of the sector’s emissions.
We are committed to tackling these remaining emissions and are exploring options for the near elimination of municipal biodegradable waste being sent to landfill in England from 2028, in line with the commitment in the Net Zero Strategy. Under the Government’s Simpler Recycling reforms, set out within new s45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (as amended by the Environment Act 2021), all households, businesses and relevant non-domestic premises will be required to arrange for the collection of food waste for recycling or composting. Recycling via anaerobic digestion will produce biogas and significant carbon savings over sending food waste to landfill. To explore further measures to achieve our commitment we issued a call for evidence on 26 May 2023 to support detailed policy development. A summary of responses to this call for evidence and further information will be published in due course.
We are undertaking research to quantify site-specific methane emissions from landfill and update our understanding of residual (non-recyclable) waste composition. Both of these projects will support efforts to further reduce methane emissions from landfill sites and report our emissions in line with UNFCCC guidelines.
Defra considers that Methane Suppressing Feed Products (MSFPs) are an essential tool to decarbonise the agriculture sector. In England, our objective is to establish a mature market for these products, encourage uptake and mandate the use of MSFPs in appropriate cattle systems as soon as feasibly possible and no later than 2030. We are committed to working with farmers and industry to achieve this goal, and in early March convened the inaugural meeting of a Ministerial-led industry taskforce on MSFPs.
The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR) provide wide-ranging powers to control emissions to air, water and land from regulated installations through permits. Methane is a pollutant under the EPR and, where relevant, industrial installations must comply with EPR permit conditions to control and monitor methane.
In the 2020 Energy White Paper, the Government committed to the World Bank’s ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’ initiative which aims to eliminate routine flaring from oil production globally.
Through the North Sea Transition Deal and the industry’s subsequent Methane Action Plan, UK industry has committed further to accelerate compliance with the World Bank's initiative where possible, set a 50% methane reduction target by 2030 (against a 2018 baseline) and have adopted the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative’s methane intensity target of 0.2% by 2025.
Emissions associated with methane venting and flaring are accounted for in our binding domestic carbon budgets.
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) already expects methane emissions to be as low as possible, and for all new developments to be developed on the basis of zero routine flaring and venting, (and to be either electrified or electrification-ready).
All platforms are expected to have zero routine flaring and venting from or before 2030.
The consenting process for flaring and venting is administered by the NSTA, which is working with industry to keep non-routine flaring and venting to a minimum.
The NSTA recently consulted on its draft OGA Plan, which included a section on flaring and venting. It is due to publish its response and the final OGA plan soon.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of recent global action on reducing levels of methane emissions.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is committed to the Global Methane Pledge, collectively to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030.
COP28 mobilised action, with countries including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan joining the Pledge. We also welcomed new regulatory initiatives, companies committing to the Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter, and the Methane Finance Sprint mobilising funding. The UK committed £2 million to help developing countries address energy-related methane emissions.
The International Energy Agency has recently reported that methane emissions from fossil fuels are set to decline once recent announcements are implemented.