Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to introduce a specific width limit for passenger cars.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A width limit for passenger cars is already in place. All vehicles are required to meet rigorous requirements for safety to protect occupants and other road users and stringent environmental standards. With respect to climate change, our Zero Emission Vehicle mandate will put us on a pathway to ensuring that, by 2035, all new cars and vans will be zero emissions at the exhaust.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of hospital admissions were due to liver disease in 2022-23.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities publishes liver disease profiles. These provide data on the number and rate of hospital admissions for liver disease in England and local areas. The profiles currently include hospital admissions data up to the financial year ending 31 March 2022.
In the financial year ending 2022, there were 82,290 hospital admissions in England due to liver disease. The profiles do not include the proportion of all hospital admissions that are due to liver disease. Data on hospital admissions is updated regularly in the profiles, and data for the financial year ending 2023 will be published this summer.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which of the commitments in the 2021 Transport Decarbonisation Plan have been (a) completed and (b) abandoned; and when he plans to complete each of the remaining commitments.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government’s 2021 Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP) set out 78 commitments to support decarbonisation of the UK’s transport system by 2050. Since then, significant progress has been made with over a third of these commitments having been delivered or exceeded within three years. For example, the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate entered into force in January 2024 - the world’s most ambitious national level regulation of its kind. We regularly review our transport decarbonisation policies to ensure they are on track and are committed to publishing our progress and reviewing our net zero pathway at least every five years.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will introduce mandatory food waste reporting for (a) large and (b) medium sized businesses.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State decided in November 2023 to look again at how best to secure the benefits of food waste reporting for large businesses. We now intend to gather further evidence and re-consider all options in the 2022 consultation, including mandatory reporting, using the latest available data. We expect to make the decision later this year.
Medium sized businesses (MSBs) are not under consideration for mandatory reporting approach. MSBs are supported to report voluntarily, including through the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap and the Guardians of Grub programme, which provide guidance to businesses of all sizes on tackling food waste.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the potential role of ground-mounted solar farms in increasing solar deployment to 70 gigawatts by 2035.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As published in the British Energy Security Strategy and Energy Security Plan, we are aiming for 70 gigawatts of ground-mount and rooftop solar capacity by 2035. We will publish a Solar Roadmap in 2024, setting out a clear step-by-step trajectory.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department plans to hold a public consultation on proposals to decouple electricity from wholesale gas prices.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As part of the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) programme, the Government is considering a range of potential options to shield consumers from the impacts of potential future commodity price spikes and to ensure they benefit from renewables. The Government plans to publish a second REMA consultation in early 2024.
The CfD scheme already insulates consumers against electricity price spikes. Over time this scheme will significantly reduce dependence on fossil fuelled power generation, lowering consumer exposure to gas prices.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if her Department will allocate funding to (a) planning authorities and (b) statutory consultees to help reduce approval times for renewable (i) generation and (ii) storage projects.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Measures for improving resource and capability in the Planning Inspectorate and statutory consultees were set out in the Nationally significant Infrastructure Planning Action Plan published by the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Local Communities in February last year (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationally-significant-infrastructure-projects-nsip-reforms-action-plan/nationally-significant-infrastructure-action-plan-for-reforms-to-the-planning-process), and were then consulted on in July last year. In parallel, provisions for cost recovery were included in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act. That is now being taken forward. This Department does not plan to allocate additional funding to these bodies.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish a list of civil enforcement areas that were granted to local authorities for the enforcement of bus lanes in 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No additional local authorities were granted bus lane enforcement powers in 2023.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects to publish his Department's response to its consultation entitled Ending the sale of new, non-zero emission buses, coaches and minibuses, published on 26 March 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The National Bus Strategy and Transport Decarbonsiation Plan contained a commitment to set a legal end date for the sale of new diesel buses and set an expectation for when the entire bus fleet will be zero-emission.
In spring 2022, the Department consulted on determining the exact date for ending the sale of new, non-zero emission buses. Calls for evidence about the decarbonisation of coaches and minibuses were also conducted. We will provide further information in due course.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's policy paper entitled Bus Back Better: national bus strategy for England, published on 15 March 2021, what his planned timetable is for the review of the rights of local authorities to set up new municipal bus companies.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department intends to publish a Call for Evidence , as the first part of a review into whether it remains right that local authorities cannot set up new municipal bus companies.