Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's policy is on personnel licensing in the aviation sector.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Personnel who currently hold EASA licences and would like to work in the UK will now have to apply for a new UK CAA licence, as mutual acceptance of licences between the UK and the EU has ceased following the UK’s withdrawal from EASA. Any UK personnel who seek to work within the EU will have to apply for a licence from an EASA competent authority.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 22 May 2023 to Question 185463 on Alternative Fuel Payments: Houseboats, what progress his Department has made on establishing whether there is a robust method for households without a permanent address to be able to claim the alternative fuel payment support.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government has determined that the most robust mechanism available for establishing whether someone resides permanently on a boat for the purposes of the EBSS Alternative Funding is to use the Canal and River Trust’s list of those who cruise continuously and held a long-term licence during the application window for the scheme.
Therefore, the Government has set up a process to issue a £600 support voucher to those itinerant boat dwellers through the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding for continuous cruisers. Eligible individuals will not need to apply for this support.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of pharmacies in Wakefield (a) constituency and (b) district.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The consolidated National Health Service pharmaceutical list is published once a quarter and can be accessed via the NHS Business Services Authority Open Data portal, which is available at the following link:
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/consolidated-pharmaceutical-list
This shows that as of March 2023 there were 22 pharmacies in Wakefield constituency and 74 in Wakefield district.
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion each year to the sector. In September 2022, we announced an additional one-off £100 million investment across this and last financial year. In May, as part of the Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care, we announced a further investment of up to £645 million over two years to expand the services offered by community pharmacies.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support community pharmacies in Wakefield.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The consolidated National Health Service pharmaceutical list is published once a quarter and can be accessed via the NHS Business Services Authority Open Data portal, which is available at the following link:
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/consolidated-pharmaceutical-list
This shows that as of March 2023 there were 22 pharmacies in Wakefield constituency and 74 in Wakefield district.
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion each year to the sector. In September 2022, we announced an additional one-off £100 million investment across this and last financial year. In May, as part of the Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care, we announced a further investment of up to £645 million over two years to expand the services offered by community pharmacies.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2023 to Question 193239 on Buses: Exhaust Emissions, how many and what proportion of zero emission buses funded through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme have been allocated per local transport authority.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The following table presents information on the number of zero emission buses funded through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme by local transport authority. The numbers in this table are not official statistics: they are based on the latest information available and are therefore indicative and subject to change. Where available, information has been provided on the status of the buses and the name of the bus manufacturer has been included.
Local Transport Authority | Number of buses funded | Number of buses ordered | Bus manufacturer |
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority | 30 | 30 | Volvo |
Kent County Council | 33 | 5 | 5 buses manufactured by Volvo. |
Leicester City Council | 114 | 114 | 108 – Wrightbus |
Warrington Borough Council | 105 | 105 | Volvo |
South Yorkshire Combined Authority | 27 | 4 | 4 – Alexander Dennis Ltd |
Norfolk County Council | 70 | 70 | Wrightbus |
North Yorkshire County Council | 39 | 0 | Bus manufacturer subject to outcome of procurement process by local transport authority or bus operator. |
Portsmouth City Council & Hampshire County Council | 62 | 62 | Wrightbus |
Blackpool Council | 115 | 0 | Bus manufacturer subject to outcome of procurement process by local transport authority or bus operator. |
Nottingham City Council | 78 | 24 | 24 - Pelican/Yutong |
Greater Manchester Combined Authority | 170 | 170 | Volvo |
Hertfordshire County Council* | 27 | 0 | Bus manufacturer subject to outcome of procurement process by local transport authority or bus operator. |
West Midlands Combined Authority | 124 | 0 | Bus manufacturer subject to outcome of procurement process by local transport authority or bus operator. |
City of York Council | 53 | 53 | Wrightbus |
West Yorkshire Combined Authority | 136 | 57 | 57 – Wrightbus |
Oxfordshire County Council | 159 | 159 | 104 - Wrightbus |
| 1,342 | 853 |
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2023 to Question 193239 on Buses: Exhaust Emissions, how many and what proportion of zero emission buses funded by the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (a) are and (b) will be built in Britain.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The following table presents information on the number of zero emission buses funded through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme by local transport authority. The numbers in this table are not official statistics: they are based on the latest information available and are therefore indicative and subject to change. Where available, information has been provided on the status of the buses and the name of the bus manufacturer has been included.
Local Transport Authority | Number of buses funded | Number of buses ordered | Bus manufacturer |
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority | 30 | 30 | Volvo |
Kent County Council | 33 | 5 | 5 buses manufactured by Volvo. |
Leicester City Council | 114 | 114 | 108 – Wrightbus |
Warrington Borough Council | 105 | 105 | Volvo |
South Yorkshire Combined Authority | 27 | 4 | 4 – Alexander Dennis Ltd |
Norfolk County Council | 70 | 70 | Wrightbus |
North Yorkshire County Council | 39 | 0 | Bus manufacturer subject to outcome of procurement process by local transport authority or bus operator. |
Portsmouth City Council & Hampshire County Council | 62 | 62 | Wrightbus |
Blackpool Council | 115 | 0 | Bus manufacturer subject to outcome of procurement process by local transport authority or bus operator. |
Nottingham City Council | 78 | 24 | 24 - Pelican/Yutong |
Greater Manchester Combined Authority | 170 | 170 | Volvo |
Hertfordshire County Council* | 27 | 0 | Bus manufacturer subject to outcome of procurement process by local transport authority or bus operator. |
West Midlands Combined Authority | 124 | 0 | Bus manufacturer subject to outcome of procurement process by local transport authority or bus operator. |
City of York Council | 53 | 53 | Wrightbus |
West Yorkshire Combined Authority | 136 | 57 | 57 – Wrightbus |
Oxfordshire County Council | 159 | 159 | 104 - Wrightbus |
| 1,342 | 853 |
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2023 to Question 193239 on Buses: Exhaust Emissions, if he will list the Government schemes which will be funding the 4,233 zero emission buses
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The following table presents information on the estimated number of zero emission buses that have been funded across the United Kingdom since February 2020. The numbers in this table are not official statistics: they are based on the latest information available and are therefore indicative and subject to change. The table includes zero emission buses funded by the devolved administrations. They have been able to make this investment as a result of ongoing funding support provided by the UK Government.
Funding scheme | Number of buses funded |
Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas Scheme | 1,342 |
All Electric Bus Town or City Scheme | 275 |
Transforming Cities Fund | 38 |
City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement | 100 |
Levelling Up Fund | 52 |
Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme | 82 |
Local transport authority funding | 43 |
England Outside London | 1,932 |
Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme (London) | 126 |
Transport for London funding settlement | 1,290 |
London total | 1,416 |
England total | 3,348 |
Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme (Wales) | 68 |
Welsh Government funding | 50 |
Wales total | 118 |
Scottish Government funding | 558 |
Northern Ireland Executive funding | 244 |
UK total | 4,268 |
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many zero emission buses had been allocated Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas funding as of 10 July 2023; and how many zero emission buses funded through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme (a) have been ordered and (b) are on the road as of 1that date.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme provided funding to 16 local transport authorities in England outside London. The scheme will fund up to 1,307 zero emission buses, though this is subject to change as projects are progressed by local transport authorities. Of the buses funded, an estimated 748 have been ordered and 68 are on the road.
We are committed to supporting the introduction of at least 4,000 zero emission buses and achieving an all zero-emission bus fleet across the UK. Since February 2020, across the UK an estimated 4,233 zero emission buses have been funded, of which an estimated 2,464 have been ordered and 1,604 are on the road. These numbers are not official statistics: they are based on the latest information and are therefore subject to change.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department has provided on whether driving licences need to be surrendered by people who receive single justice procedure notices for speeding fines.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice has not issued guidance on the surrender of driving licences. The Police are responsible for issuing the single justice procedure notice for traffic offences and they removed references to surrendering the licence from their notices when the legislation was commenced.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 May 2023 to Question 182481 on Secondary Education: Teachers, whether her Department (a) provides and (b) plans to provide support for non-specialist teachers who do not qualify for an eight-week subject knowledge enhancement course and need to increase their subject knowledge for religious education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The number of teachers remains high, with over 468,000 full time equivalent teachers working in state funded schools across the country, over 27,000 more than there were in 2010.
The Department provides funded Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses for 9 subjects, including religious education, for those who have yet to start an initial teacher training course. Eligibility is subject to an applicant meeting the requirements to train to teach in England and the applicant accepting a conditional offer which specifies the requirement to complete a SKE course. Eligible participants can receive a bursary of £175 per week. Religious education courses last 8 weeks.
Once teachers are qualified and working in schools, the responsibility for supporting non specialist teachers rests with head teachers, as they are best placed to assess the needs of their staff and provide appropriate support, such as continuing professional development.
Oak National Academy will provide both specialist and non specialist teachers with access to high quality digital curriculum resources. This includes resources for religious education. Oak will work closely with the sector and utilise sector expertise when developing these new curriculum resources.
The Department has also transformed the training and support available to teachers of all subjects. An entitlement to at least three years of structured training, support and professional development for all new teachers has been created, to bring teaching into line with other prestigious professions such as law, accountancy and medicine. Underpinning this is the new Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework and the Early Career Framework, and together, these ensure that new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence based training, across ITT and into their induction.
Beyond the first few years of teaching, the Department’s priority is to help all teachers and head teachers to continuously develop their expertise throughout their careers so that all pupils get the best start in life.
National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) are available to education professionals at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in high quality teaching practice, to those leading multiple schools across trusts. The qualifications have been designed with professionals in mind, using the latest and best available evidence, and can be completed flexibly around existing commitments.
Four specialist NPQs are available, for those who want to broaden their existing knowledge, expertise, and skills in specialist areas of teaching practice including an NPQ in Leading Teaching where participants will learn how to lead the teaching of a subject, year, group or phase.