Written questions by Voaden.

Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for announcing the outcome of bids submitted to the Water Restoration Fund in spring 2024.

The Water Restoration Fund, which launched in April 2024, was established to reinvest water company environmental fines and penalties into projects to improve the water environment. Defra is continuing to work with His Majesty’s Treasury regarding continued reinvestment of the water company fines and penalties on water environment improvement.

What steps his Department is taking to help ensure the recognition of overseas medical qualifications of Ukrainian refugees.

The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of doctors, physician associates, and anaesthesia associates in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for setting standards that must be met by both domestic and international applicants wishi...

What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on steps to ensure sustainable funding is provided to local authorities for domestic abuse and sexual violence services.

This Government has set out an ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade and will treat it as the national emergency that it is. We will deliver a cross-government, transformative approach, underpinned by a new VAWG Strateg...

What estimate her Department has made of the number of students whose Universal Credit has been affected by receipt of a student loan in the most recent period for which data is available.

The requested information is not readily available as student loan income is not separated in the data we have and to provide this would incur disproportionate cost.

How many Pension Credit applications have been received in South Devon constituency since 22 August 2024.

On 28 November we published national Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application volumes from 29 July 2024 to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK Data is captured wee...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) farmers and (b) landowners are aware of relevant funding initiatives under the ELM scheme which are available to help them comply with

Defra regularly communicates and engages with farmers and landowners through a range of methods. Links to Defra’s grants and schemes are available through https://www.gov.uk/guidance/funding-for-farmers, a single webpage designed to make it easier for far...

Whether additional funding will be made available to students from England on graduate entry medicine courses under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.

Under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, the government will make available an additional entitlement for priority subjects and longer courses, above an individual’s core four year entitlement.Learners will be able to access this additional entitlement to...

Food and Rural Affairs, when the third round of Landscape Recovery will open for applications.

This Government reconfirmed its commitment to Environmental Land Management schemes in the recent Spending Review, where we prioritised directing investment to these schemes as part of the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and na...

Food and Rural Affairs, how many applicants in South Devon constituency received capital grant funding in (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25.

During the Financial Years (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25 a total of 115 Number of Farm Businesses have received Capital Grant Funding in South Devon constituency.These are broken down by financial year below. Capital Grants- How many applicants...

If she will relaunch the Kickstart scheme.

There are currently no plans to relaunch The Kickstart Scheme.The Kickstart Scheme was a time-limited response to the effects of the pandemic economic downturn on young people. The scheme came to an end in September 2022 with over 163,000 Kickstart jobs s...

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) school and (b) higher education leavers are supported into meaningful employment, and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of piloting in

The department is developing a comprehensive strategy for post‐16 education and skills, to break down barriers to opportunity, support the development of a skilled workforce and drive economic growth through the government’s Industrial Strategy. The depar...

What support is available to drivers involved in accidents with untraceable drivers (a) in cases where the innocent driver cannot afford to wait the time it takes for the Motor Insurance Bureau to process a cla

The Department for Transport is a party to the Uninsured and Untraced Drivers’ Agreements with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). However, the MIB is an independent organisation within the motor insurance industry and is separate from Government. The MIB i...

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the funding for local authorities to provide drug and alcohol support services.

Drug and alcohol treatment is funded through the Public Health Grant. In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery...

What steps he is taking to help ensure equality of access to NHS services in the context of increases in digital patient-facing systems.

We are striving for digital services to improve access, experience, and outcomes for the widest range of people, based on their preferences, as any digital healthcare benefits will be limited if people remain digitally excluded. Mitigating against the ris...

With reference to the report entitled First Do No Harm: the report of Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, published in July 2020, what progress he has made on setting up an ind

The previous Government did not previously accept the recommendation to establish a redress agency, as set out in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review. However, the Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the P...

What steps her Department is taking to protect parties during family court proceedings.

This Government is committed to ensuring the family court system is safe and supportive for all parties, particularly those who are survivors of domestic abuse.Family courts have various tools available to protect participants. Courts have the power to pr...

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of competition in the (a) leasehold and (b) freehold estate management markets; and if she will take legislative steps to help increa

Managing agents are contracted by landlords to deliver services on their behalf. Details of services provided are usually set out in a management agreement between the agent and landlord.The government’s response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s...

Communities and Local Government, if she will have discussions with the Competition and Markets Authority on the potential impact of large estate management companies on (a) role of SMEs, (b) the ability of SMEs

Managing agents are contracted by landlords to deliver services on their behalf. Details of services provided are usually set out in a management agreement between the agent and landlord.The government’s response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s...

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure children's wishes are considered by the Family Court during a hearing.

When deciding an issue relating to the upbringing of a child, the child’s welfare must be the court’s paramount consideration. When considering arrangements to be made for a child, the court must have particular regard to a list of factors, including the ...

What steps she is taking to help ensure that victims of domestic abuse are supported through the family courts system.

The Government recognises the impact family court proceedings can have on children and adult survivors of domestic abuse which is why we are is committed to halving incidences of violence against women and girls; reforming the family justice system so tha...