Martin Wrigley MP: written questions 2024
45 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Hospices: Charitable DonationsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21470More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to monitor the declining charitable income of hospices and the potential link to deterioration in service.
Answer: Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in ...
Answered 8 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordDevolution: DevonMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21466More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how parameters set out in section 2.2.1 of the English Devolution White Paper, will be applied to Devonshire.
Answer: In September last year, this Government confirmed the establishment of a non-mayoral Combined County Authority with Devon and Torbay, in line with the devolution deal agreed with that area under the previous government. This was an important first step as...
Answered 10 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordMayors: ElectionsMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21465More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the English Devolution White Paper, in what circumstances Mayors will vote with other elected officials.
Answer: Mayors and Combined and Combined County Authority board members will vote on the areas set out in their governance arrangements. The new statutory framework will make these consistent across the country.In Mayoral Combined and Combined County Authorities,...
Answered 10 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordChildren: MaintenanceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21456More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help tackle unpaid child maintenance.
Answer: The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring separated parents support their children financially, taking robust enforcement action against those who do not.The CMS has a relatively low percentage of unpaid maintenance. Only 8% of the tota...
Answered 9 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal GovernmentMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21426More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to seek the approval of local councils before establishing new (a) foundation strategic authorities, (b) mayoral strategic authorities and (c) establ
Answer: The Government has announced its intention to introduce new Mayoral Combined Authorities and Mayoral Combined County Authorities with elections in May 2026. This will require the consent of all constituent local authorities involved, using the processes s...
Answered 13 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal GovernmentMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21425More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason the minimum population to become a Foundation Strategic Authority is different for (a) new unitary councils and (b) London boroughs.
Answer: The assumed population threshold for all levels of Strategic Authority is 1.5 million or above, but we accept that in some places, smaller authorities may be necessary.As set out in the English Devolution White Paper, new unitary councils must be the righ...
Answered 10 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordElections: DevonMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21424More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how she will ensure that district councils are in agreement with county councils following the outcome of the 2025 May local elections in Devonshire.
Answer: The government’s starting point is for all elections to go ahead in May 2025, unless there is strong justification for postponement. It is a matter for councils themselves to work together to develop plans and reach agreements that are in the interests of...
Answered 20 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordElections: DevonMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21423More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her policy is on holding local elections in May 2025; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that policy on levels of (a) democracy and (b) devolution i
Answer: The government’s starting point is for all elections to go ahead in May 2025, unless there is strong justification for postponement. It is a matter for councils themselves to work together to develop plans and reach agreements that are in the interests of...
Answered 20 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordDevolution: DevonMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21422More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she will take account of the results of upcoming local elections in Devonshire in the implementation of the English Devolution White Paper.
Answer: In September last year, this Government confirmed the establishment of a non-mayoral Combined County Authority with Devon and Torbay, in line with the devolution deal agreed with that area under the previous government. This was an important first step as...
Answered 10 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government: DevonMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21421More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she plans to take to merge (a) the 8 Devon districts and (b) Devon County Council into unitary councils with Torbay and Plymouth.
Answer: Following the publication of the English Devolution White Paper on the 16 December, I wrote to all councils where there is a two-tier structure of local government and to their neighbouring unitary councils, to set out further details on the Government's ...
Answered 10 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordDevolution: DevonMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21420More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make a comparative assessment of the (a) Devon and Torbay Devolution deal and (b) English Devolution White Paper, published on 16 December 2024.
Answer: In September last year, this Government confirmed the establishment of a non-mayoral Combined County Authority with Devon and Torbay, in line with the devolution deal agreed with that area under the previous government. This was an important first step as...
Answered 10 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordSouth West Main Line: DawlishDepartment for TransportTabled 19 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21418More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the letter from her Department to the hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth, published on 10 December 2024, whether she plans to fully fund phase 5 of the South West Rail Resilience Programme at
Answer: The Chancellor has been clear about the nation's finances and has launched a multi-year Spending Review. Decisions and timescales about individual projects, including the fifth phase of the South-West Rail Resilience Programme, will be informed by the rev...
Answered 13 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government: ReformMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 18 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 21097More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the population sizes in the English Devolution White Paper refer to (a) electorate and (b) total population.
Answer: The population sizes outlined in the English Devolution White Paper for creating new unitary councils and new devolution geographies refer to total population.
Answered 9 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government: DevolutionMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20898More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has issued a map similar to that shown in Figure 1 of her Department's English Devolution White Paper, published in December 2024 for new English Devolutio
Answer: The Government has not published a map of England showing potential future devolution geographies.
Answered 20 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordParking: Codes of PracticeMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20863More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to implement a statutory code of conduct for parking operators that includes appropriate levels for permissible charges within this Parliamentary session.
Answer: The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 places a duty on the Government to prepare a code of practice containing guidance about the operation and management of private parking facilities.This government is determined to drive up standards in the private p...
Answered 20 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordLocal Government: DevonMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20854More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 101 of the English Devolution White Paper, published on 16 December 2024, whether she plans to postpone local authority elections in Devon in 2025.
Answer: It is usual for the government to take account of requests for reorganisation, and to decide on the appropriateness of elections taking place to local authorities which are planned to be replaced, usually postponing to allow elections to the new shadow au...
Answered 27 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordMayors: South WestMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20843More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans she has for establishing a mayor for Devon and Cornwall.
Answer: In September, the Government confirmed a non-mayoral devolution agreement with Cornwall and to establish a Combined County Authority in Devon & Torbay. These are important first steps for devolution in the region.We have set out the framework in the E...
Answered 27 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordMental Health Services: FinanceDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 16 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20357More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department plans to provide for meeting the Mental Health Investment Standard in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answer: We remain committed to the Mental Health Investment Standard. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will set out expectations for mental health funding, including the share of overall National Health Service expenditure in ...
Answered 8 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Inheritance TaxTreasuryTabled 13 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20074More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to (a) agricultural property relief and (b) business property relief on farm business productivity.
Answer: The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms. It is expected that up to around 2...
Answered 20 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Food SupplyDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 13 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20073More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the impact of family farms on food security.
Answer: Defra does not collect any farming data based on whether farms are owned by a family. Estimates are produced based on the economic size of farms (based on Standard Outputs*). The latest estimates show that in England in 2022, a small number of economicall...
Answered 24 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: SubsidiesDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 13 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20072More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has conducted an impact assessment of the decision to accelerate reduction of direct payments to farming businesses.
Answer: The Government has committed to support farmers through a farming budget of £5 billion over two years, including £2.4 billion in 2025/26. Accelerating the phase out of Direct Payments will allow us to focus more of this funding on Environmental Land Manag...
Answered 17 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordCountryside Stewardship SchemeDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 13 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20071More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to ensure timely payments from the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier.
Answer: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) began making payments to Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreement holders at the start of the December 2024, along with those in Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier and Environmental Stewardship, with around £330 million ...
Answered 23 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: GrantsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 13 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20070More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the closure of Capital Grant Applications on (a) farm productivity and (b) food security.
Answer: We have allocated the largest ever budget for sustainable food production through the farming budget. In the first week of December, we paid £343 million into the rural economy, benefiting more than 31,000 farmers. After unprecedented demand, parts of the...
Answered 18 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordRailways: DawlishDepartment for TransportTabled 13 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20069More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria her Department is using to assess the viability of the fifth phase of the Rail Resilience Programme for Dawlish.
Answer: Proposals for a fifth phase of the South West Rail Resilience Programme will be assessed against the criteria described in the document entitled ‘Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline - A New Approach for Rail Enhancements’ published in March 2018.
Answered 19 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordRailways: DawlishDepartment for TransportTabled 13 Dec 2024AnsweredUIN 20068More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of the timing of the funding for phase five of the Dawlish Rail Resilience Programme on the cost of phase four of that programme; and whether she plans to se
Answer: Decisions in relation to a phase five of the South West Rail Resilience Programme do not impact the cost of phase four, for which all physical works have now been completed. Phase five is being considered as part of the Spending Review in 2025.
Answered 19 Dec 2024
Original Parliament record
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