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1087149

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Access to Work Programme
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to improve information for (a) job seekers and (b) employees on the support available through Access to Work.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	231374
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2019 answer text <p>Access to Work continues to undertake targeted marketing and awareness raising activities. For example, the scheme is promoted to benefit claimants through Jobcentre Plus and to a range of business leaders through the Disability Confident scheme. We have also worked with a variety of stakeholder organisations to market Access to Work to their clients, including sharing information about how individuals can apply for support.</p><p> </p><p>We are currently testing a number of communication activities to raise awareness of Access to Work among Jobcentre Plus staff in Greater Manchester, in order to equip work coaches with the knowledge to have conversations with customers who may require in work support. We will evaluate the most successful methods before a national roll-out.</p><p> </p><p>Access to Work is also reviewing the content and formats of its existing information channels, including considering how to achieve more effective use of alternative formats such as British Sign Language videos.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 15/03/2019 14:38:03 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1063813

	registered interest
	date	18/02/2019
	answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
	answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
	hansard heading	Accident and Emergency Departments: Standards
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on patient care of removing A&E waiting time targets.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	222748
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2019 answer text <p>The Prime Minister announced a clinically-led review of standards in June 2018. The review is considering the appropriateness of operational standards for physical and mental health relating to planned, unplanned urgent or emergency care, as well as cancer. The Review is being led by NHS England’s National Medical Director, Professor Stephen Powis. In the interest of patient safety, we are committed to ensuring that any changes to waiting time standards are based on clinical evidence. Any changes should, and will, only seek to further strengthen current operational standards.</p><p> </p><p>The Review will report its interim findings in the spring of 2019, after which any recommended changes will be carefully field-tested across the National Health Service, before they are implemented.</p> answering member constituency Wimbledon answering member printed Stephen Hammond question first answered 26/02/2019 11:54:30 answering member 1585 label Biography information for Stephen Hammond
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1107815

	registered interest
	date	29/03/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Affordable Housing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Government's document entitled Homelessness: Causes of Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, published in March 2019, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there is more affordable housing for people on low incomes.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	238608
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/04/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to increasing the supply of social housing and has made £9 billion available through the Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022 to deliver 250,000 new affordable homes of a wide range of tenures, including homes for social rent.</p><p>In addition to this, we announced an additional £2 billion of long term funding certainty for housing associations. This extra funding will deliver more affordable homes and stimulate the sector’s wider building ambitions, through strategic partnerships. Our ten year funding commitment through strategic partnerships marks the first time any government has invested such long-term funding in new homes through housing associations.</p><p>Since 2010, we have delivered over 407,000 new affordable homes, including over 293,000 affordable homes for rent.</p><p>On 25 March we published a joint study by MHCLG and DWP on the causes of homelessness and rough sleeping. We are currently considering options for how we will take forward the main study following completion of the feasibility study. We will report back to the Public Accounts Committee in June 2019.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 03/04/2019 14:36:51 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1125061

	registered interest
	date	07/05/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Age of Criminal Responsibility
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission of 7 May 2019, Torture in the UK: update report, whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to raise the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	251270
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2019 answer text <p>We have no current plans to change the age of criminal responsibility. We believe that setting the age at 10 provides flexibility in dealing with young offenders and allows for early intervention in a child’s life with the aim of preventing subsequent offending. That is why there are a range of options available to the police to resolve offences and put in place interventions to prevent further offending. Furthermore, the particular needs of a child will be identified through assessment by the local multi-agency youth offending team who can refer them on to other services for further investigation and support.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 13/05/2019 16:32:59 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1122166

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Age: Discrimination
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce ageism in the workplace.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	245681
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2019 answer text <p>The Equality Act 2010, provides strong protection against direct and indirect age discrimination in employment and makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee or a job applicant because of their age, unless the employer can justify it as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.</p><p> </p><p>Government has put in place a number of measures to support people of all ages to enter and remain in a workplace.</p><p> </p><p>We have taken steps to support younger workers by introducing the Youth Obligation Support Programme, an intensive package of labour market support for 18-21 year-olds looking to get (back) into work. We are committed to providing targeted support for young people, so that everyone, no matter what their start in life, is given the very best chance of getting into work. In April 2019, Mentoring circles were rolled out nationally, which involve national employers offering specialised support to unemployed, young jobseekers to help build their confidence and raise their aspirations.</p><p>To support older workers to remain in or return to the labour market, the Government has removed the Default Retirement Age meaning most people can choose when to retire, and extended the right to request flexible working to all employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service with their employer.</p><p>In February 2017, the UK Government published “Fuller Working Lives: a partnership approach” to set out the role employers, individuals and Government can play in supporting fuller working lives. <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/587654/fuller-working-lives-a-partnership-approach.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/587654/fuller-working-lives-a-partnership-approach.pdf</a></p><p>The Government has also appointed the Business In The Community (BITC) Age at Work leadership team as Business Champion for Older Workers. The BITC team of employers spearhead the Government’s work to support employers to retain, retrain and recruit older workers. They actively promote the benefits of older workers to employers across England.</p><p>The number of older workers in employment is at a record high. There are now 10.4 million people aged 50 and over in the workforce.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 30/04/2019 11:19:34 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1122784

	registered interest
	date	24/04/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect on investment in (a) farm infrastructure and (b) agri-environment schemes of uncertainty about when and on what terms the UK will leave the EU.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	246957
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2019 answer text <p>In the ‘Health and Harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit’ consultation, which ran from February to May 2018, we asked ‘what are the main barriers to new capital investment that can boost profitability and improve animal and plant health on-farm?’ Over 3,000 responses were submitted to this question, and the most frequently selected option (77% of respondents) selected ‘uncertainty about the future and where to target new investment’.</p><p> </p><p>The UK Government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/funding-from-eu-programmes-guaranteed-until-the-end-of-2020" target="_blank">has guaranteed</a> that any Rural Development Programme projects where funding has been agreed before the end of 2020 will be funded for their full lifetime. This applies in both a negotiated and a no-deal scenario. It will ensure continued funding for these projects until they finish and means that Defra and the devolved administrations can continue to sign new projects after the UK leaves the EU during 2019 and 2020. The Government has also committed to provide the same total level of funding for farm support in cash terms until the end of this parliament, expected in 2022.</p><p> </p><p>The Countryside Stewardship scheme is open for applications for both multi-annual agreements starting on 1 January 2020 and capital works, such as for water quality and hedgerows and boundaries. For agri-environment schemes we are developing proposals for the scheme offer from 2021.</p><p> </p><p>As we develop the new Environmental Land Management system and evolve the Countryside Stewardship offer, we will work to ensure we can offer a smooth transition from Countryside Stewardship to the Environmental Land Management system when it becomes fully operational from 2024.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 30/04/2019 12:34:02 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1125038

	registered interest
	date	07/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Diversification
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support farmers to create a sustainable diversified farming system.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	251236
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2019 answer text <p>The Agriculture Bill will help farmers in England to grow strong and diversified businesses producing high quality food in a more sustainable way, enhancing the environment for future generations. We will create an ambitious new system based on paying “public money for public goods”, which will include improving air and water quality, biodiversity and habitats for wildlife. Financial support for innovations like precision farming can also help farmers become more productive, reduce the use of expensive chemicals and protect the environment.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 13/05/2019 12:42:07 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1108654

	registered interest
	date	01/04/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Air Pollution
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to ClientEarth's correspondence with local authorities in England and Wales on the the legal risk of inaction on air pollution, whether local authorities are sufficiently equipped to address illegal air pollution levels.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	239189
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The UK continues to meet all current international air quality limits except for NO2. In July 2017 we published the NO2 Plan, backed by £3.5 billion funding, which sets out the steps we are taking to comply with NO2 limits as soon as possible. Also, we published our ambitious Clean Air Strategy in January which the Director-General of the World Health Organization described as “an example for the rest of the world to follow”.</p><p> </p><p>Recognising that there are still local authorities which are in breach of statutory limits on roadside NO2 concentrations, the UK government allocated £495 million of funding to support local authorities in its 2017 plan. Local authorities already have many powers to monitor and reduce air pollution and we continue to work intensively with them, to identify measures to bring forward compliance as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 04/04/2019 15:42:02 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1061040

	registered interest
	date	14/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Anaerobic Digestion
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the development of small-scale anaerobic digestion plants, for farm waste.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	221596
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2019 answer text <p>The Government supports anaerobic digestion (AD). AD can reduce greenhouse gas emissions (such as methane) from on-farm waste when best practice is used.</p><p> </p><p>Government supports AD for electricity through the Feed in Tariff and Contract for Difference schemes. The Department for Business, Energy &amp; Industrial Strategy is currently consulting on the new Smart Export Guarantee which would allow a route to market for small scale AD.</p><p> </p><p>AD is also supported by the Renewable Heat Incentive which encourages the uptake of renewable forms of heating. In May 2018, Government introduced a Renewable Heat Incentive tariff uplift for the biomethane sector, encouraging the use of waste and residue feedstocks for AD.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 19/02/2019 10:26:45 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1124188

	registered interest
	date	01/05/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Animal Experiments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress his Department is making on reducing the use of animals in experiments and replacing such experiments with machine learning.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	249864
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/05/2019 answer text <p>The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 requires project licence holders to ensure that their programme of work does not involve any regulated procedures for which there is a scientifically satisfactory alternative method or testing strategy that does not entail the use of a protected animal.</p><p><br>The government is committed to the replacement, reduction, and refinement of the use of animals in research - the ‘3Rs’. Implementing the 3Rs requires that, in every research proposal, animals are replaced with non-animal alternatives wherever possible; that the number of animals is reduced to the minimum needed to achieve the results sought; and that, for those animals which must be used, procedures are refined as much as possible to minimise their suffering.</p> answering member constituency Wyre and Preston North answering member printed Mr Ben Wallace question first answered 08/05/2019 13:57:08 answering member 1539 label Biography information for Mr Ben Wallace
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly