Rachel Gilmour

As sustainable biomass is a limited resource, the Government expects to prioritise its use in sectors like aviation which have fewest options to decarbonise. Renewable liquid heating fuels (RLHF) are also much more expensive to use than other heating solutions.

Before taking decisions on whether to support the use of RLHFs, like hydrotreated vegetable oil, in heating, the Government would require stronger evidence on their affordability for consumers, and the availability of sustainable feedstocks.

Evidence shows that heat pumps are suitable for a diverse range of housing archetypes in the UK and the clear majority of properties.

Modern heat pumps, capable of running efficiently at similar temperatures to an existing boiler, can increasingly be used in homes previously considered unsuitable for electrification. Other low-carbon heating solutions are available for properties that are not suited to a heat pump, and the government will continue to assess and support the options for all properties to decarbonise and reduce their energy use.

Currently, Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) produce an energy efficiency rating (EER) based on the estimated running costs of the property. Basing the rating and recommendations of the EPC on cost is done with the aim of generating improvement which will lead to a reduction in energy costs.

Last week, the Government published the consultation on EPC Reform, developed through close collaboration between DESNZ and MHCLG. The Government proposes using four key metrics for domestic EPCs: "fabric performance," "heating system," "smart readiness," and "energy cost." The Government is reviewing the methodology underpinning EPCs to make it fit for purpose to support net zero. The department is also reviewing consultation responses for the new building physics model, the Home Energy Model.

The Government has made no such specific assessment, as tariffs and energy contracts are a commercial matter for suppliers. However, the Government does want consumers to have access to a range of tariffs, so they can choose the contract that best suits their needs and can help to reduce energy bills. In circumstances where a supplier may not currently be able to offer a smart meter, Ofgem has been clear that suppliers are obligated under their licence conditions to ensure that a suitable metering system is installed.

We are considering how Project Gigabit can support the rollout of fast, reliable broadband to premises that have been descoped from Airband’s contracts with Connecting Devon and Somerset. This may include bringing more premises into the scope of Project Gigabit contracts in the region or supporting suppliers to deliver more projects through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. In some cases, premises that were set to be connected by Airband have since been included in suppliers’ commercial plans, so will no longer require public subsidy to receive access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection.

The industry-led migration from analogue to digital landlines (“the PSTN migration”) poses some specific risks for rural constituencies, for instance where areas may be more prone to power outages or lack mobile coverage. The Department is working with communications providers to ensure that they are mitigating these risks wherever possible, for example by encouraging the industry to provide improved power resilience to vulnerable customers.

Since the general election, the government has brought together communications providers, government departments, local government, telecare providers and water companies to ensure that the transition proceeds smoothly and stably. This has led to a new Charters of Commitments signed by industry to ensure additional protections for vulnerable customers and for Critical National Infrastructure.

The Create Growth Programme supports high-growth creative businesses and SMEs in twelve English regions outside London to scale up and become investment ready. This is delivered through three strands of support - bespoke business support, financial support and investor capacity building activities.

The financial support, including that offered through Competition 4, awards grants to support innovation projects to individual businesses who are registered or operational within one of the twelve participating regions. Participating regions were determined by a competitive application process to appoint local area partnerships.

The West of England and Cornwall local area partnership is a participating region in the programme. That partnership covers the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority area (ie Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset), North Somerset, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, but does not include the West Somerset Opportunity Area. There are currently no plans to increase the number of participating regions.

We would encourage all interested businesses to contact Innovate UK to explore other suitable support or opportunities which are open to the whole of the UK.

The government recognises the importance of the UKs copyright regime to the economic success of the creative industries, one of eight growth-driving sectors as identified in our Industrial Strategy. We are committed to supporting rights holders by ensuring they retain control over and receive fair payment for their work, especially as technology advances to include AI. We are actively working with stakeholders to ensure copyright protections remain robust and fit for purpose.

Although existing legislation gives creative rights holders control over the use of their protected works, we are aware that this can be very difficult to implement in practice in the context of AI, especially for individual firms and creators. The application of existing copyright legislation in the context of AI training is disputed, both in the UK and internationally, with many high-profile court cases underway. Right holders are finding it difficult to control use of their works to train AI models, and want greater ability to manage that activity and be paid for it.

Responses to our Copyright and AI consultation, published 17 December and closing 25 February, will inform our approach to the design and delivery of a solution to the current dispute over copyright legislation. Our aim is to clarify the copyright framework for AI – delivering legal certainty through a copyright regime that provides creators with real control, transparency, and helps them licence their content, while supporting AI developers' access to high-quality material, so that they can train leading AI models in the UK.

This government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving young people’s life chances and wellbeing. As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people in their area. This is funded through the Local Government Settlement which amounts to over £60 billion this year.

This is in addition to the DCMS investment of over £500 million in youth services to ensure every young person has access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. Within the Tiverton and Minehead constituency, DCMS has directly provided funding for Duke of Edinburgh to be run within schools, encouraging young people to develop skills, build confidence, and make a difference in their communities through volunteering, access to the outdoors, and skills development.

It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and this is key to the government’s Plan for Change. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.

In the 2025/26 financial year, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements and the department has increased the early years pupil premium by 45%. On top of this we are providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant.

The early years is a diverse market, ranging from chains of nurseries and school-based providers to childminders and the hourly funding rate paid to local authorities for the early years entitlements is designed to recognise the average costs across different provider types and to reflect both staff and non-staff costs. The department knows, from listening to the sector and from our own regular research, that the cost of care is highest for younger children, which the funding rates reflect. However, funding is not ring-fenced by age and we know many childminders often look after children at a range of ages, often below and above the age of three. Where this is the case childminders can use all the funding they receive from their local authority to support with costs across all the children they look after.

The department also knows that the funding rates for younger children will often be significantly above previous parent paid rates and the childminding sector will benefit from the expanded entitlements for working parents.

Students attending full-time undergraduate courses and PGCE courses with child dependants qualify for a partially means-tested loan for living costs, a means-tested Childcare Grant, payable towards childcare costs for registered or approved childcare, and a means-tested Parents’ Learning Allowance to help with additional study costs.

The government announced in a Written Statement on 20 January 2025 that maximum loans and grants for living costs will increase by 3.1% for the 2025/26 academic year. This Written Statement can be accessed at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-%2001-20/hcws372.

A 3.1% increase to loans and grants for living costs in 2025/26 is in line with forecast inflation based on the Retail Price Index Excluding Mortgage Interest (RPIX) inflation index.

Maximum loans for living costs for 2025/26 will be £13,762 for students living away from home and studying in London, £10,544, for students living away from home and studying outside London and £8,877 for students living in the parental home.

Higher rates of loan for living costs are available for students who are eligible for benefits, such as lone parents.

The amount of Childcare Grant payable in 2025/26 will be based on 85% of actual childcare costs, subject to a maximum grant of £199.62 per week for one child only or £342.24 per week for two or more children. The maximum amount of Parents’ Learning Allowance payable in 2025/26 will be £2,024.

The government published an Equality Impact Assessment of changes to fees and student support for the 2025/26 academic year on 20 January 2025. This is accessible at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/263/impacts/2025/41.

Students attending full-time undergraduate courses and PGCE courses with child dependants qualify for a partially means-tested loan for living costs, a means-tested Childcare Grant, payable towards childcare costs for registered or approved childcare, and a means-tested Parents’ Learning Allowance to help with additional study costs.

The government announced in a Written Statement on 20 January 2025 that maximum loans and grants for living costs will increase by 3.1% for the 2025/26 academic year. This Written Statement can be accessed at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-%2001-20/hcws372.

A 3.1% increase to loans and grants for living costs in 2025/26 is in line with forecast inflation based on the Retail Price Index Excluding Mortgage Interest (RPIX) inflation index.

Maximum loans for living costs for 2025/26 will be £13,762 for students living away from home and studying in London, £10,544, for students living away from home and studying outside London and £8,877 for students living in the parental home.

Higher rates of loan for living costs are available for students who are eligible for benefits, such as lone parents.

The amount of Childcare Grant payable in 2025/26 will be based on 85% of actual childcare costs, subject to a maximum grant of £199.62 per week for one child only or £342.24 per week for two or more children. The maximum amount of Parents’ Learning Allowance payable in 2025/26 will be £2,024.

The government published an Equality Impact Assessment of changes to fees and student support for the 2025/26 academic year on 20 January 2025. This is accessible at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/263/impacts/2025/41.

I refer the hon. Member for Tiverton and Minehead to the answer of 29 January 2025 to Question 26025.

Overall core revenue funding for schools totals almost £61.6 billion this financial year, 2024/25. At the Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced an additional £2.3 billion for mainstream schools and young people with high needs for the 2025/26 financial year, compared to 2024/25. This means that overall core school funding will total almost £63.9 billion in 2025/26.

These increases, against the backdrop of a challenging fiscal picture, demonstrate the government’s commitment to schools and ensuring every child can achieve and thrive through its commitment to the Opportunity Mission.

Schools have autonomy over how they use their core funding, including for their non-staff costs such as textbooks. The department will continue to monitor the balance of funding and costs for schools.

For too long, water companies have discharged unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.

That is why we are placing water companies under special measures through the Water (Special Measures) Act. The Act will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.

Storm Overflows are strictly regulated by the Environment Agency (EA). Where breaches are found, EA will not hesitate to hold companies to account.

The Tiverton and Minehead constituency is served by both South West Water and Wessex Water. As part of Price Review 2024 (PR24), which runs from 2025–2030, water companies will be delivering record levels of investment. This includes South West Water delivering £764 million and Wessex Water delivering £580 million of investment on storm overflows, continuous water quality monitoring, and event duration monitoring.

Beyond the Water (Special Measures) Act, we are also carrying out a full review of the water sector. The Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, will make recommendations to shape further action to transform how our water system works and clean up our waterways for good. A public Call for Evidence closed on 23 April, with all interested parties invited to share their views. The review's final recommendations will be published and shared with the UK and Welsh Governments this summer.

No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of reintroductions of pine martens project on Exmoor as the release of pine martens on Exmoor is yet to take place.

Devon Wildlife Trust, as part of their pine marten reintroduction project, have released pine marten on Dartmoor. These releases occurred in October 2024 and the Trust are closely monitoring the released animals through surveys, radio collars, camera traps and analysis of their faeces. Natural England, alongside NatureScot, provided guidance to the project throughout its development to ensure legal requirements in relation to licensing were met and full consideration of best practice were given (Reintroductions and other conservation translocations: code and guidance). This includes the requirements for detailed monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the projects results and impacts.

Natural England continues to liaise with the project to ensure best practice going forward.

Our Bovine TB Strategy is underpinned by robust routine and targeted testing of all cattle herds in England, restricting cattle movements from infected premises and detecting and removing all test positive cattle. This strategy is enhanced by statutory pre-and post-movement testing of cattle and slaughterhouse surveillance.

APHA produce regular analysis of the results of bovine TB epidemiology and surveillance in Great Britain in 2023, including those counties in the High Risk, Edge and Low Risk Area of England. This includes Devon and Somerset, in which Exmoor is located: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-epidemiology-and-surveillance-in-great-britain-2023

We have started work on a comprehensive new bovine TB eradication strategy to drive down TB rates to improve cattle and farmers’ livelihoods and to end the badger cull by the end of this parliament. Working closely alongside farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists to rapidly strengthen and deploy a range of disease control measures, we have also begun developing a new national wildlife surveillance programme. This will unlock a data-driven approach to inform how and where TB vaccines and other eradication measures are deployed.

The Government committed in its manifesto to improving responsible access to nature. The Department is currently assessing the best way to deliver this, and further information will be made available in due course.

The Environment Agency (EA) maintains assets and infrastructure, including flood relief channels to divert water during heavy flows. EA monitoring teams use telemetry systems to identify and respond to high levels, while field teams ensure water conveyance is maximised by removing obstructions and blockages from channels & trash screens, including proactive checks in advance of expected high rain volumes. We work alongside partner agencies such as Highways & Local Authorities whose duty is to ensure road gulleys are clear to allow surface water to drain and roads to remain open.

Protecting communities from the dangers of flooding is one of Defra’s top priorities.

Watercourse management responsibilities fall to different bodies. Riparian landowners are required to keep watercourses clear of anything which could cause an obstruction to the flow of water on their land, or downstream if washed away.

The Environment Agency has permissive powers to undertake maintenance on main rivers. Lead local flood authorities (LLFAs) or internal drainage boards (IDBs) have permissive powers for ordinary watercourses. The Environment Agency focuses its efforts on those activities which will achieve the greatest benefit in terms of protecting people and property from flooding.

The Government is investing a record £2.65 billion over two years in building, maintaining and repairing our flood and coastal defences, better protecting 52,000 properties. We are also shifting £108 million towards maintenance to shore up creaking defences, benefitting a further 14,500 properties.

The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age, currently sixty-six. The ENCTS costs around £700 million annually and any changes to the statutory obligations, such as lowering the age of eligibility, would therefore need to be carefully considered for its impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability.

Local authorities in England have the power to offer concessions in addition to their statutory obligations such as lowering the age of eligibility. Additional local concessions are provided and funded by local authorities from local resources.

The government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country. Devon County Council and Somerset Council have been allocated £11.6 and £6.8 million of this funding respectively. Funding allocated to local authorities to improve services for passengers can be used in whichever way they wish. This could include extending the discretionary concessions available in the local area.

At the Budget on 30 October, the Chancellor announced £1.6 billion of capital funding for English local highway authorities for highway maintenance for the 2025/26 financial year, an increase of £500 million or nearly 50% compared to the current financial year.

Funding allocations for individual local highway authorities for 2025/26, including Somerset Council, will be confirmed in due course. It is entirely a matter for Somerset Council how it spends this highway maintenance funding based on local needs, priorities, and circumstances.

I’m pleased to advise that the Rail Minister Lord Hendy has accepted an invitation to meet with the Chair of the Peninsula Rail Task Force, Cllr Andrea Davis, and officials are currently making the necessary arrangements.

Officials continually monitor the performance of Great Western Railway services, including instances of overcrowding, and actively hold operators to account through their contracts when they run less capacity than agreed. The Rail Minister additionally meets with Train Operating Companies to review their performance. We work closely with Great Western Railway to match supply to demand within operational and financial constraints including the provision of additional summer services. Great Western Railway is also exploring opportunities to increase the capacity of its rolling stock fleet.

Good local bus services are an essential part of prosperous and sustainable communities. As announced in the King’s Speech, the government will pass the Better Buses Bill to put the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders right across England. The government knows that every community will have its own unique needs from its public transport network and wants to empower local leaders to work with operators to design networks that meet these needs, including considering the use of different types of services, such as community transport and demand responsive transport services, alongside regular stopping services to deliver comprehensive coverage.

We will bring in a permanent, above inflation, rise to the standard allowance in Universal Credit for the first time ever by raising the standard allowance above inflation from 2026/27 until 2029/30. This is in stark contrast to the freeze between 2016/17 and 2019/20 and is a permanent increase to give families certainty. To the lowest income and working families up and down the country this will be crucial.

We have also uprated benefit rates for 2025/26 in line with inflation and are introducing a new Fair Repayment Rate, allowing 1.2 million households to keep more of their Universal Credit.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, this includes workplace health and safety risks created in agriculture.

The main piece of health and safety legislation enforced by HSE is the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA). Under the HSWA, those creating work-related risk have the primary duty to control it. Therefore, farmers who own or manage cattle as part of their business activities and place those cattle in fields, have a duty to ensure that the cattle are kept inside the designated field or fields by provision of suitable means such as perimeter fencing, walls or hedges.

In addition, where public rights of way run through fields in which cattle may be kept, farmers should consider and implement those control measures that are reasonably practicable for the particular farm or field as set out in HSE guidance sheet Cattle and public access in England and Wales. This may include provision of permanent or temporary fencing as a means to segregate cattle from members of the public using rights of way through the field. Again, the primary duty is on the farmer that owns or manages cattle to control risk to people to the extent required by health and safety legislation.

If other parties also have a role in the ownership or management of the land on which cattle are grazed, they may also have duties under health and safety legislation to co-operate with the farmer so that risks are adequately controlled.

Depending on the reasons behind any failure of perimeter fencing or in-field fencing along public rights of way, initial enquiries to determine any criminal liability would begin with those dutyholders who have responsibility for maintaining the perimeter fencing / in-field fencing.

We have interpreted your question to mean ‘To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an assessment of the financial impact of transitioning from ESA to Universal Credit on adults with preventable disabilities’.

The Government has given a commitment that those sent a managed migration notice requiring them to claim Universal Credit, where eligible, will not have a lower entitlement to Universal Credit than they had total existing benefit entitlement at the point they claim. Transitional Protection is available to ensure this commitment is met, including for those with preventable disabilities.

The Government has had to make hard choices to bring the public finances back under control. The policy change ensures that the Winter Fuel Payment will be better targeted to low-income pensioners who need it most.

Information on pensioners with incomes below £15,000 affected by the change to Winter Fuel Payment policy is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. However, the Department has produced some analysis on the impacts of the change in policy on poverty levels which was published here: Winter Fuel Payments eligibility change - Letter from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

State Pension payments are usually paid four weekly in arrears. People have the option to be paid weekly or in some circumstances bi-weekly. There are no plans to introduce alternative payment arrangements.