Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to help support low-income households to transition to net zero in Suffolk Coastal constituency.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is allocating around £20 billion over this Parliament and next improving energy efficiency and low carbon heating of homes, reducing reliance on fossil fuel heating and reducing household energy bills for low income households in Suffolk Coastal constituency as well as other constituencies.
The Government will deliver upgrades to over half a million homes in the coming years through Social Housing Decarbonisation, Home Upgrade Grant Schemes and Energy Company Obligation Schemes.
The Government has spent over £2 billion to support transition to zero emission vehicles (ZEVs), focusing on reducing barriers to adopting ZEVs, including offsetting higher upfront cost, and accelerating rollout of chargepoint infrastructure.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress his Department has made on implementing the Darwin Plus fund.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government has recently expanded the Darwin Plus programme to better meet the needs of the UK Overseas Territories. In 2023, Defra introduced to Darwin Plus a new local scheme aimed at building capacity and growing local economies in-territory, and a new strategic scheme for fostering greater innovation, ambition and collaboration in and between Territories.
On 22 April 2024, Defra will open the programme to new applications. The longstanding Darwin Plus Fellowships scheme will be rebranded as Darwin Plus People and Skills to appeal to applicants beyond academia. Under its new name, this scheme will welcome applications from Territory nationals and long-term residents for activities which will upskill them and support them to meet long-term strategic outcomes for their natural environments.
The UK Government remains committed to keeping the structure of the programme under review, with a focus on suitability and practical conservation.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees have been planted on behalf of his Department in (a) Suffolk and (b) Suffolk Coastal constituency since 2020.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Forestry Commission publishes statistics on new planting of woodland, and trees outside woodland, in England. These can be found in Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators. These statistics are reported for each financial year in thousands of hectares.
This Government has not set specific targets for individual constituencies and the reporting statistic the hon. Member has requested is not currently available.
Our England Trees Action Plan has kickstarted tree planting, we have planted nearly 13 million trees over the past 3 years. Last year we planted 3,600 hectares of new woodland and trees outside of woodland, this represents the highest planting rate for nearly a decade and an almost 40% increase on the previous year.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will introduce a system of redress for NHS dentists that fulfil less than (a) 80%, (b) 50% and (c) 10% of their performance target.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service dental contract holders are awarded funding at the start of each financial year, based on the contracted number of Units of Dental Activity (UDA). Contractors are required to deliver at least 96% of their contracted activity on an annual basis. Where this does not occur, the NHS reclaims the difference between the monies paid to contractors and the value of work which has been delivered. NHS England will encourage commissioners and contractors to work together to resolve underperformance against the contract at the mid-year review point, or by voluntarily rebasing their contract in the first instance. Where this is not possible, and where there have been three consecutive years of persistent underperformance, commissioners will be able to rebase contracts to the highest level of UDAs delivered over the three-year period from the following year, and recommission unused activity to other providers.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how her Department determines the performance target for units of dental activity for each dental practice.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England.
The current General Dental Service (GDS) contract and Personal Dental Service (PDS) agreement were introduced in 2006. The majority of contracts which deliver routine, or mandatory, dental services are legacy arrangements from pre-2006, and the contracted Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) under these contracts generally reflect the treatment volumes that were required from each practice prior to the new arrangements coming into force.
Activity levels for any new GDS contracts or PDS agreements would be determined as part of the procurement process, taking into account oral health needs assessments undertaken by ICBs, to identify areas of need and to determine the priorities for investment.
Contractors are expected to deliver 96 to 102% of their agreed activity each year. Where contracts deliver less than 96%, the value of the undelivered activity is recouped from the contractor. Undelivered activity between 96 to 100% may be carried forward into the next financial year. Activity greater than 100% may be funded to 110%, if there is a local arrangement with the ICB, or may be deducted from the activity requirements of the next financial year.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
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 March 2024 to Question 16340 on Dental Services, whether column H in the spreadsheet link provided is the (a) monthly or (b) annual unit of dental activity performance target.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The answer of 5 March 2024 to Question 16340 provided a link to data published by the NHS Business Services Authority on English Contractor Monthly General Dental Activity. Column H of the data spreadsheet is the annual Units of Dental Activity performance target.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many licences for abstraction in chalk streams have been rescinded in each year since 2010.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A total of 110 licences affecting chalk streams have been revoked since 2010. A further 158 have been varied or reduced.
The abstraction licence changes have returned over 37 billion litres of water per year to chalk catchments and prevented a further 110 billion litres per year being abstracted.
Number of abstraction licences, affecting chalk streams, that have been changed up to 30.09.23 | |||
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Year | Number of licences varied or reduced | Number of licences revoked | Total |
2010 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
2011 | 2 | 10 | 12 |
2012 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2013 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
2014 | 14 | 6 | 20 |
2015 | 30 | 5 | 35 |
2016 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
2017 | 24 | 45 | 69 |
2018 | 43 | 16 | 59 |
2019 | 5 | 12 | 17 |
2020 | 9 | 5 | 14 |
2021 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
2022 | 1 | 1 | |
2023 | 10 | 3 | 13 |
Total | 158 | 110 | 268 |
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent discussions she has had with the Leader of the House on making parliamentary time available for scrutiny of the Draft Strategy and Policy Statement for Energy Policy; and whether she plans to table a motion to refer that Strategy to a Delegated Legislation Committee.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Draft Strategy and Policy Statement for Energy Policy will be debated in a Delegated Legislation Committee tomorrow.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many voluntary donations have been paid to the Government in each of the last 20 years; and what the total amount paid in voluntary donations is over that time period.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury received a total of 137 voluntary donations for a total of £4,111,587.79 from January 2003 up to 13th March 2024. The breakdown for each year is in the table below.
Calendar year | No. of donations | Value of donations |
2003 | 4 | £3,103.00 |
2004 | 7 | £97,518.13 |
2005 | 1 | £5.00 |
2006 | 7 | £821,669.41 |
2007 | 3 | £4,270.66 |
2008 | 4 | £5,411.17 |
2009 | 7 | £452,208.81 |
2010 | 7 | £972,621.71 |
2011 | 7 | £60,657.19 |
2012 | 1 | £670.00 |
2013 | 1 | £99,423.00 |
2014 | 0 | - |
2015 | 0 | - |
2016 | 2 | £47,078.41 |
2017 | 3 | £92,847.53 |
2018 | 1 | £800.00 |
2019 | 3 | £65,000.00 |
2020 | 1 | £1,193,875.76 |
2021 | 10 | £13,334.00 |
2022 | 29 | £150,120.55 |
2023 | 38 | £28,212.26 |
2024 (to 13th Mar) | 1 | £2,761.20 |
TOTAL | 137 | £4,111,587.79 |
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many Government funded start-up loans have been issued (a) in every year since 2012 and (b) in total.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As of January 2024, a total of 110,699 Start Up Loans have been issued since 2012 with an aggregate value of £1,075,873,213.
The attached table contains a breakdown of Start Up Loans issued by year, from 2012-13 to Jan 2024.
Year | Loans Made | Amount Lent |
2012-13 | 1884 | £ 9,578,673 |
2013-14 | 12647 | £ 70,146,440 |
2014-15 | 13543 | £ 66,902,431 |
2015-16 | 9191 | £ 64,961,014 |
2016-17 | 9263 | £ 89,618,969 |
2017-18 | 8521 | £ 104,723,856 |
2018-19 | 7896 | £ 83,258,440 |
2019-20 | 8532 | £ 95,572,650 |
2020-21 | 11318 | £ 137,286,554 |
2021-22 | 10372 | £ 130,745,218 |
2022-23 | 9536 | £ 119,952,292 |
2023-24 | 7996 | £ 103,126,676 |
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Totals (2012-2024) | 110699 | £ 1,075,873,213 |