Vet Bills, Coastal Homes, Insulation Schemes

Available for over a year

For the next eight weeks, the government is consulting on new rules to force greater price transparency at veterinary surgeries. The CMA recently found that big chains, which own 60% of practices, charge on average 16% more than independent practices. Vet practices will also have to be officially licenced in the same way as GPs surgeries and care homes. In the last six weeks, houses have been demolished on the east coast of England in coastal towns like Hemsby in Norfolk and Thorpeness in Suffolk, because of coastal erosion. So far this year, storms have battered the east coast, causing the loss of up to 20 metres of land in just a few days in some places. We’ll hear from someone whose house is at risk and find out what is being done to help. On Friday, a report by MPs found that 30,000 homes have defects caused by government-backed insulation schemes. The Public Accounts Committee said the insulation schemes - ECO4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme - were so badly designed they were almost 'bound to fail'. Martin McCluskey, Labour MP for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, joins us on the programme to discuss what help is on offer to those impacted. Eighty per cent of the seafood we eat in the UK is imported and mostly consists of the same five species: cod, prawns, haddock, tuna and salmon. However, experts say that eating less popular and more local fish would be positive for both our health and food security. Are you ready to swap your tuna for sprats and sardines?