Written questions by Mayer.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will hold discussions with Ofwat on the potential merits of (a) employees and (b) bill payers being made members of the Boards of water companies.

On 11 July 2024, the Secretary of State announced consumers will gain new powers to hold water company bosses to account through new customer panels. For the first time in history, customers will have the power to summon board members and hold water executives to account. The Water (Special Measures) Bill will therefore give Ofwat the power to set rules requiring water companies to have arrangements in place for involving consumers in decision-making. The rules may include a requirement for persons representing the views of consumers to be members of a board, committee or panel of a relevant undertaker.

What her planned timetable is for bringing forward changes to the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence.

Legislative proposals to reform the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence were laid in May. This Government intends to continue with these planned reforms and expect the necessary Debates to be held soon.

If her Department will make an assessment of the cumulative environmental impact of airport expansion plans when considering the expansion of individual airports.

Guidance on the requirements of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulation 2017 and for undertaking cumulative effects assessments in the context of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) under the Planning Act 2008 can be found on GOV.UK.

What discussions she has had with Network Rail on crowd management improvements to Euston station required by the Office of Road and Rail.

Network Rail is responsible for the safe operation and management of major railway stations and is regulated by the Office of Rail and Road. Ministers and officials routinely engage with Network Rail to hold it to account for matters within its control and drive improvements for passengers.

How many and what proportion of all purchases of premium bonds made in the last financial year were under the value of (a) £100, (b) £1000 and (c) £10,000.

According to National Savings and Investments (NS&I), in the 2023/24 there were: 4,520,011 Premium Bonds sales under the value of £100, which equates to 32.3% of all Premium Bonds sales.10,344,803 Premium Bonds sales under the value of £1,000, which equates to 74.0% of all Premium Bonds sales.12,991,219 Premium Bonds sales of under £10,000, which equates to 97.4% of all Premium Bonds sales. This does not include the value of any prizes that were reinvested into Premium Bonds. Further information on investments received in 2023/24, across NS&I’s products, can be found in its latest Annual Reports and Accounts published earlier this year.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that building regulations take into account the need for homes to be resilient to extreme (a) heat and (b) cold.

A new requirement was introduced as part of the Building Regulations in 2021 to reduce the risk of overheating in new residential buildings. The requirement came into effect in June 2022 and means that new residential buildings must now be designed in such a way as to reduce overheating. The Future Homes and Buildings Standard consultation was published in December 2023 and closed in March 2024. It sought views on whether the current overheating standards are appropriate or require amendment. We are reviewing proposals and feedback from the consultation and will publish the Government response in due course. An uplift to the energy efficiency standards for new homes was also introduced in 2021. This uplift delivered a significant increase in fabric standards, including insulation standards, and came into effect in June 2022. New homes built to the 2021 standards will be warm, comfortable and resilient to extreme cold.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of rainfall levels in September 2024 on (a) Government spending and (b) the local economy in each of the 10 English counties that have had the highest levels of rainfall.

Economic stability is a priority for this government. The COBR Unit in the Cabinet Office operates a well-established arrangement for monitoring near-term civil contingency-type risks, including severe weather, for the purpose of ensuring the Government is prepared to respond as appropriate to the challenges they may bring. This Government is committed to protecting communities across the country from the dangers of flooding. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has launched a Flood Resilience Taskforce to provide oversight of national and local flood resilience and preparedness ahead of and after the winter flood season, and the Secretary of State chaired its first meeting in September.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that programmes to retrofit homes to make them more energy efficient protect against extreme heat as well as cold.

The Government has started delivery of the Warm Homes Plan, including a new Warm Homes: Local Grant, and the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund. These schemes require installers to be Trustmark registered and measures to be installed in accordance with the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2030 and PAS 2035. This ensures the risks of unintended consequences, such as mould, condensation due to poor ventilation and overheating, are minimised. The Warm Homes Plan will ensure that homes are fit for the future. To support policy development in this area, the Government is conducting research to identify which building types are most vulnerable to extreme heat and appropriate adaptation solutions.

If she will make it her policy to expand the Unicard rail ticketing hub to include buses.

While Unicard’s technology has multi-modal capabilities, its current contract is for the provision of ticketing on Transport for Wales rail, only. The Department is currently working with Transport for West Midlands and the UK’s major bus operators to develop a national, contactless ticketing solution for bus and tram services initially, with the functionality to integrate other modes, including rail, in the future.

Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a single reporting mechanism for fly-tipping incidents.

Local authorities are often best placed to tackle local issues such as fly-tipping, and incidents can be reported to them by visiting the local authority's website. Individuals can get help on identifying the relevant local authority webpage at https://www.gov.uk/report-flytipping.

Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of instances of fly tipping in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency in each year since 2010.

Local authorities are required to report fly-tipping incidents and enforcement actions to Defra, which the department have published annually since 2012, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/env24-fly-tipping-incidents-and-actions-taken-in-england. This data isn't available at a constituency level and excludes the majority of private-land incidents.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including education on identifying misinformation online in the school curriculum.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering key stages 1 to 5, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The review will seek to deliver a curriculum that ensures children and young people leave compulsory education ready for life and ready for work, building the knowledge, skills and attributes young people need to thrive. This includes embedding digital, oracy and life skills in their learning. The review will consider the key digital skills needed for future life and critical thinking skills to ensure children are resilient to misinformation and extremist content online.