Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of water abstraction plans by Thames Water at Teddington.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Teddington Direct River Abstraction is a water recycling scheme considered in Thames Water’s draft Water Resources Management Plan 2024 (dWRMP24) and Water Resources South East’s (WRSE) Regional Plan as a supply option for 2030/31.
The Environment Agency has scrutinised WRSE’s plan and has responded to Thames Water’s dWRMP24. Any scheme developed will have to meet environmental requirements, and where possible enhancements. The scheme will need environmental permits that the Environment Agency regulate, and planning consents where the Environment Agency is a statutory consultee.
The scheme is being developed through the ‘Regulators Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Delivery’ (RAPID) gated process and has undergone environmental assessment largely meeting the Regulators’ expectations for Gate 2. Risks have been identified in the Gate 2 submission. There is a risk to scheme feasibility if environmental impacts cannot be mitigated. The Environment Agency has asked Thames Water to undertake further investigations and studies to address these risks by 31 August 2023.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what provision is being made for the education of and the disruption caused to children from asylum seeking families who are moved to hotel accommodation.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Irrespective of where “school aged” asylum seeking children are housed, the responsibility for the provision of education remains with the Local Authority in conjunction with the parent(s). When dispersal accommodation is identified a dispersal notification is issued which generally provides 5 days’ notice to the family. For those children of service users who are due to be dispersed there is a responsibility on the parent to ensure that their childrens’ school is advised they are due to move. Where necessary, accommodation providers will signpost and assist asylum seekers with this.
In terms of the new receiving school, it remains the responsibility of the asylum seeker to ensure that the new school is advised of their child’s previous place of education so effective ‘link up’ can be made by both schools, as is the case for the general population. Accommodation providers reiterate the importance of this when signposting asylum seekers to schools within the local area. Receiving councils will work quickly to ensure that available school places are offered to the children of asylum seekers.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure the smooth flow of Eurostar passengers at St Pancras.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The Government recognises the important benefits international rail services provide for citizens and businesses, providing fast and sustainable connections to European destinations. Ensuring the smooth flow of passengers at St Pancras remains a priority for Government.
My Department, together with the Home Office as the lead Department on borders, routinely engages with the French Government, Eurostar and other relevant parties in discussions on border-related matters and also to ensure that respective arrangements between the UK and French authorities work as effectively as possible.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to (a) introduce retraining programmes and (b) take further steps to help support unemployed people over the age of 50 move back into the workforce.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Government offers a wide range of training programmes such as Sector-based Work Academies, Skills Bootcamps and Apprenticeships aimed at helping people of all ages find work or a new career. Unemployed benefit claimants are supported by Work Coaches and other Jobcentre Plus staff, who are equipped with knowledge about local labour markets and training opportunities, including what may be available for older people looking to move back into employment.
The Government is also providing over £20 million over the Spending Review Period for an enhanced offer for people aged 50+ to remain in and return to work.
Mid-life MOTs will be delivered to people in work in the private sector; to eligible customers in the Jobcentres; and the digital Mid-life MOT will also be expanded and improved. Sessions in the Jobcentres have already started to be delivered.
This funding will also ensure that older jobseekers on Universal Credit receive more intensive, tailored support during the first nine months of their claim. This will give work coaches more time to spend with older job seekers who have recently become unemployed, and who the work coach feels need extra support to tackle barriers or difficulties in finding work.
There are also multiple over 50 jobs fairs, Mid-life MOT fairs and 50 plus events in individual regions and JCPs to facilitate this.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that adequate mental health care is available for children with autism and those awaiting autism diagnoses.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The transformation of Children and Young People’s Mental Health services is a priority for the National Health Service. We are increasing access to support for those that need it, including autistic children and children with a learning disability with mental health needs. The NHS Long Term Plan, includes a commitment that an additional 345,000 children and young people aged 0 to 25 years old will have access to NHS-funded mental health support, including in new Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges, by 2024.
For people and families who are waiting to have an autism assessment, we know that this is a challenge. NHS England is currently developing a national framework to support partners in local areas to commission and deliver autism assessment services for children, young people and adults. The aim of this work is to improve access to and the quality of these assessment processes and to reduce the time that people wait for an assessment. The framework will be published in due course.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of HMRC in enforcing the agency regulations when collecting PAYE tax from agencies.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agencies must deduct Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) at source from payments of earnings to agency workers. HMRC’s processes for collecting any Income Tax and NICs due from agencies under Pay As You Earn (PAYE) are the same as those for other employers.
Where HMRC finds that a UK agency has failed to account for Income Tax and NICs in circumstances where the agency rules apply to them, it will usually seek to recover unpaid amounts due from them. Whether the agency rules apply in a particular case is dependent on the facts of that case.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to help ensure that charity collection bags posted through letterboxes are biodegradable.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
In April 2021 we published our response to the call for evidence on the need for standards for bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics. The Government has no plans to make charity collection bags biodegradable. Government measures focus on extracting maximum value from plastic materials by making sure we keep it in circulation for longer, moving away from a take, make, throw model and shifting towards a circular economy.
The Government wants to see the recycling of plastic film (including bread bags and plastic carrier bags) increased and plastic films will be included in the plastic recyclable waste stream required to be collected by local authorities from every household in England by March 2027.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate his Department made of the number and proportion of vehicles that were untaxed in the last two years.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) operates a comprehensive package of measures to tackle unlicensed vehicles. These range from reminder letters, penalties and court prosecutions through to the use of automatic number plate recognition cameras, wheelclamping and the removal of unlicensed vehicles. The DVLA is currently running a publicity campaign to highlight the consequences of not licensing vehicles. The DVLA also runs adverts on social media, mobile gaming, search engines, poster sites, and radio.
The DVLA collects more than £7 billion in vehicle excise duty each year on behalf of HM Treasury. Every two years, a roadside survey is carried out to estimate the number of unlicensed vehicles on the roads. The last survey, carried out in June 2021, showed that 98.1 per cent of vehicles were correctly licensed.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the number of untaxed vehicles.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) operates a comprehensive package of measures to tackle unlicensed vehicles. These range from reminder letters, penalties and court prosecutions through to the use of automatic number plate recognition cameras, wheelclamping and the removal of unlicensed vehicles. The DVLA is currently running a publicity campaign to highlight the consequences of not licensing vehicles. The DVLA also runs adverts on social media, mobile gaming, search engines, poster sites, and radio.
The DVLA collects more than £7 billion in vehicle excise duty each year on behalf of HM Treasury. Every two years, a roadside survey is carried out to estimate the number of unlicensed vehicles on the roads. The last survey, carried out in June 2021, showed that 98.1 per cent of vehicles were correctly licensed.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
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 ensure the availability of NHS dentists in Enfield Southgate constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
NHS England is responsible for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population. Many of the dentistry commissioning functions undertaken by NHS England will transfer to integrated care boards (ICBs) from April 2023. ICBs will be responsible for meeting the needs of their local population of all ages, working with patient groups. NHS England has made available to commissioners an Assurance Framework to provide assurances on commissioning.
In circumstances where a patient is unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through a National Health Service dental practice, they are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance.
In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’ which sets out how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to NHS dental care whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices. These changes have been implemented, including through regulations that came into effect on 25 November 2022.
NHS England is holding further discussions with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders for additional reforms of the NHS Dental System planned to take place in 2023.