Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on how many occasions Ministers from his Department have visited (a) Wales, (b) Scotland and (c) Northern Ireland in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Across the UK Government we are committed to delivering the best possible outcomes for all citizens, no matter where in the country they call home. All citizens contribute to the strength of the United Kingdom which is the most successful political and economic union the world has ever seen.
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: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support the (a) growth and (b) development of the creative industries in South Wales.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK Government has a clear plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and add another 1 million jobs by 2030. As set out in the Creative Industries Sector Vision, we are committed to working with industry and the devolved administrations to ensure our creative industries continue to be the best in the world. As part of this, we invited Creative Wales to become a member of the Creative Industries Council to ensure they are represented in discussions about the UK’s creative industries.
Culture and the creative industries are devolved policy areas. The UK Government has provided opportunities to support Welsh creative businesses through the following programmes:
The UK-wide Film & TV Restart scheme which supported 1,259 individual film and TV productions and £3.06 billion in production expenditure through the pandemic. Wales received £287.5 million – the largest share of funding of any nation after England (c.9%).
The £56 million Creative Clusters programme was announced in the 2018 Sector Deal: and supported R&D across the Cardiff Clwstwr one of 9 first-wave of clusters across the UK. The Clusters programme has generated approximately £252 million of private co-investment, creating or safeguarding over 4000 jobs.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, on how many occasions Ministers from her Department and its predecessor Department have visited (a) Wales, (b) Scotland and (c) Northern Ireland in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Across the UK Government we are committed to delivering the best possible outcomes for all citizens, no matter where in the country they call home. All citizens contribute to the strength of the United Kingdom which is the most successful political and economic union the world has ever seen.
We do not hold information centrally on all Ministerial visits to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland conducted since the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was established in February 2023. However, we are able to provide some detail of recent Ministerial visits.
This week, the Minister for Science visited Edinburgh for Arctic Science Summit Week.
In December 2023, Minister for Technology and the Digital Economy visited the compound semiconductor cluster in South Wales.
In May 2023, Chloe Smith MP also visited the compound semiconductor cluster in May 2023 during her time as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Earlier this month, the Minister for AI and Intellectual Property visited Belfast for CyberNI Week. The Minister also visited Belfast for CyberNI week in April 2023, along with a visit to the Intellectual Property Office HQ Newport, Wales in November 2023.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many civil servants in his Department have a criminal conviction.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
As of September 2023, there were 101,276[1] (FTE) staff in post across the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
To provide the quantitative base to answer this PQ, this could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. This would require manually entering each individual record to extract the data and engaging with all workplaces across England and Wales to ascertain locally managed/ recorded information.
All Ministry of Justice staff are held to high levels of professional and personal conduct and are subject to pre-employment vetting checks to ensure suitability for employment into post. Across the MoJ, all directly employed roles require a minimum of Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) level to enter the organisation and this includes a request of criminal conviction history. For any roles requiring a higher security level, roles may require an enhanced DBS check or be subject to National Security Vetting (NSV) checks which are carried out externally by UK Security Vetting (UKSV).
Across the MoJ, we must act in accordance with the high expectations that the Government and members of the public expect from us to ensure we drive our vision to deliver a world-class justice system that works for everyone. People are at the heart of what we do, and security and safety considerations are paramount in ensuring we welcome the right people to come to work for us to deliver our objectives. This might mean that some people may not ever be considered suitable to hold employment with us because of their background. Criminal conviction history of the applicant, including offence type and length of time since conviction will be assessed during vetting decision making to assess suitability for the role applied.
[1] Workforce management information: MOJ - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Donald Trump’s comments about NATO members and spending on defence.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK’s commitment to NATO, and the principle of collective defence under Article V, is resolute. We expect all NATO Allies to come to the aid of others.
The UK has led the conversation on defence spending at NATO. Since the NATO Defence Investment Pledge, which Leaders agreed in Newport Wales in 2014, European Allies and Canada have invested heavily on Defence and will have added more $600 billion by the end of this year. Now is the time for all Allied and democratic nations across the world to ensure their defence spending is growing.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to minimise reputational damage to the UK’s Armed Forces capability, following recent issues regarding the material state of the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The recent issue on HMS Queen Elizabeth was identified during pre-sailing checks and is corrosion on a coupling on the starboard shaft caused through general wear and tear. It is not the same issue experienced by HMS Prince of Wales in 2022. It is not uncommon to have maintenance issues with state-of-the-art ships which contain complex engineering and technology. HMS Queen Elizabeth is a decade old and has thousands of miles under her hull, conducting operations around the world.
As a replacement, HMS Prince of Wales was able to deploy to take part in Operation Steadfast Defender in seven days, which is a huge undertaking. This ability to rapidly deploy another carrier to an urgent task underlines the importance of having two aircraft carriers, providing flexibility and the ability to project power around the world.
The Royal Navy continues to meet its operational commitments at home and abroad.
Asked by: Lord Willoughby de Broke (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales to be ready for active service.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Navy is one of only two navies in the world able to operate 5th generation aircraft from two carriers.
By maintaining two aircraft carriers, the UK has one carrier available at very high readiness for operational deployment, at all times.
Any decision to deploy the carriers will be made in conjunction with our allies and partners and will be based on operational need. This is kept under constant review.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what targets his Department has set to help achieve the Government's commitments on net zero.
Answered by Fay Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Wales Office)
The Government set out how we would meet our commitments in the Net Zero Strategy in 2021 which included a detailed breakdown of actions required across all sectors of the economy. This was updated in 2023 through the publication of 'Powering Up Britain'.
The UK has halved its emissions, ahead of every other major economy, and we have grown our economy by over 70% since 1990. The UK over-achieved against the first and second carbon budgets, and the latest projections show that we are on track to meet the third.
We have one of the most ambitious decarbonisation targets in the world, and we have set more stretching targets for 2030 than most countries. We plan to cut emissions by 68% by 2030, which is more than the EU, Japan or the United States.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve the regulatory environment for medical devices and technology.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is progressing reforms to the Medical Devices Regulations 2002. These are outlined in the Government response to the consultation on the future regulation of medical devices in the United Kingdom published in June 2022.
On 9 January, the MHRA published a roadmap, which sets out a clear path for the development of new and robust regulations for medical devices over 2024 and 2025. The new regulations will put patient safety first, whilst enhancing the United Kingdom’s position as a world-leading environment for medical technology innovators.
In September 2023, the Department, in partnership with the MHRA, the National Institute of Care Excellence, NHS England, Health Technology Wales and Scottish Health Technology Group, launched the Innovative Devices Access Pathway pilot. The pilot provides an accelerated pathway for innovative technologies that meet an unmet need in the National Health Service, including regulatory and support to streamline their adoption into the NHS.