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  • Lord Higgins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Higgins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Higgins on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the increase in road congestion and the construction of Cycle Superhighways in London, how they will ensure that fire, ambulance, and other emergency service vehicles are able to use Superhighways in the event of a terrorist attack or other major incident.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    London’s cycle superhighways are the responsibility of the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL). Emergency service vehicles operating under blue lights will always find the safest and fastest way possible to arrive at a major incident or terrorist attack. This could mean using any part of the highway, including, where necessary and where the road layout allows this, part of a cycle superhighway.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by the Earl of Courtown on 15 March (HL6695), whether they will call on the government of Turkey to compensate civilians killed or injured, or whose property has been destroyed or damaged, by artillery, demolitions, or air attacks not only in Cizre, but elsewhere in Turkey.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We regularly discuss the situation in Cizre and elsewhere in south east Turkey with the Government of Turkey, who have underlined to us their desire to carry out security operations in a careful manner, fully respecting the rule of law. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), and our Ambassador to Turkey have emphasised to the Turkish government the need to respect human rights and avoid civilian casualties. We call for a Kurdistan Workers’ Party ceasefire and a return to the peace process. Turkey’s Development Minister has said the government is providing a range of support to those affected and is working on monetary and other forms of compensation for those whose homes and properties have been damaged.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prosecutions of criminal gangs in the food sector have been initiated by the National Food Crime Unit since it was established.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) is initially focusing on establishing the scale and nature of food crime in the United Kingdom at a strategic level through developing intelligence sharing relationships across the law enforcement community and with the food industry. This will also enable the Unit to instigate investigative interventions by law enforcement partners and local authorities to identify and disrupt specific instances of food crime. The NFCU’s budget is directed towards fulfilling this primary intelligence function.

    Intelligence analysts within the Unit have just completed the first ever Food Crime Annual Strategic Assessment (FCASA), which will be published soon. The FCASA sets out the Unit’s developing understanding of food crime in the UK and will drive its work to ensure resources are focused where the threat to consumers and other interests is the greatest.

    At the end of this year, the Food Standards Agency will review progress on food crime, in line with Professor Elliott’s recommendations following the horsemeat incident. This review will inform decision-making about the Unit’s future form and function.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the National Food Crime Unit’s annual budget is allocated to investigating serious crimes.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) is initially focusing on establishing the scale and nature of food crime in the United Kingdom at a strategic level through developing intelligence sharing relationships across the law enforcement community and with the food industry. This will also enable the Unit to instigate investigative interventions by law enforcement partners and local authorities to identify and disrupt specific instances of food crime. The NFCU’s budget is directed towards fulfilling this primary intelligence function.

    Intelligence analysts within the Unit have just completed the first ever Food Crime Annual Strategic Assessment (FCASA), which will be published soon. The FCASA sets out the Unit’s developing understanding of food crime in the UK and will drive its work to ensure resources are focused where the threat to consumers and other interests is the greatest.

    At the end of this year, the Food Standards Agency will review progress on food crime, in line with Professor Elliott’s recommendations following the horsemeat incident. This review will inform decision-making about the Unit’s future form and function.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of co-mingled recycling collection in the light of the recycling target of 50 per cent of municipal waste by 2020.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Local authorities are best placed to determine local collection arrangements. From January 2015, under the Waste (England and Wales) (amendment) Regulations 2012, waste collection authorities were required to collect separately paper, plastic, glass and metals unless it is not necessary in order to provide high quality recyclates or its not technologically, environmentally or economically practicable to do so.

    As part of a wider study by WRAP to assess the factors influencing the recycling performance of local authorities it was concluded that very little certainty could be applied in establishing a difference in recycling performance between dry scheme types where schemes were collecting the same set of dry recyclable materials. This analysis considered data reported by local authorities for the year 2012/13 and the report is available on WRAP’s website.

    With input from WRAP, Defra has considered a number of options for achieving higher recycling rates and this work has assumed a range of collection approaches as reflected by current practice. The work being taken forward to identify opportunities for greater consistency in recycling collections provides a further opportunity to consider the effectiveness of collection options in terms of contribution to national recycling rate, quality of material collected and cost effectiveness. This work will be reported on later this year.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to review and propose simplification of household waste and recycling collection across the UK.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Defra and the Waste and Resource Action Programme are working with local authorities and other waste management stakeholders to develop a vision and business case for greater consistency in the way materials are collected for recycling. This will set out the benefits that could be achieved for householders, local authorities, reprocessors and others. The vision is to be published in the summer and will include proposed models for more consistent arrangements for collection of recyclable materials.

    The broad aims for this work are to help local authorities to reduce costs; improve the quality and quantity of materials collected and to improve householder engagement and participation in recycling through reducing confusion and inconsistency and providing opportunities to improve communications.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many meetings of the National Flood Resilience Review have taken place, and when that review is expected to report.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    To protect the integrity of the policy making process, we do not comment on specific frequency or timings of ministerial meetings. The Review is set to be published this summer.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they are making in implementing their manifesto commitment to plant 11 million trees, and how such progress will be monitored and reported.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Between the beginning of April and the end of December 2015, around 495,000 trees were planted in newly created woodlands across the country, assisted by funding from the Rural Development Programme in England.

    Further planting figures for January to March 2016 are due to be published on 26 April.

    The area of woodland planted is published as one of Forestry Commission England’s headline indicators and is updated four times a year. Tree numbers are monitored through Countryside Stewardship administrative records and made available to the Programme Monitoring Committee of the Rural Development Programme.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of calls for an investigation into what action should be taken against those in Burma who are responsible for the crackdown by police at the Letpaden meeting of student protesters.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We publicly expressed our concerns at the violence that occurred in Letpadan in March 2015 and supported the EU’s call for a formal investigation to be initiated. The right to peaceful demonstration is a fundamental democratic freedom. Officials from our Embassy and those of other international partners have been attending the protesters’ trials. We look forward to working with the new government in Burma to make improvements across the spectrum of civil and political liberties.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they have to reduce the noise level of motorbikes travelling on public highways.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    There are already a number of measures in place to control motorcycle noise with manufacturers required to meet strict noise limits which are then enforced by the police and through the annual MOTs. There are currently no plans for further measures.