The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department’s Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern contractual breach notice, dated 7 July 2015.
Claire Perry
A copy will be placed in the libraries of both Houses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Amanda Solloway on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the proposed A52 improvement programme.
Mr John Hayes
Highways England, in accordance with its Delivery Plan, is delivering the A52 scheme in Roads Investment Strategy Period 1 (2015-2020) and plans to start construction by 2019/20. The scheme will deliver a package of measures to improve junctions along the A52 near Nottingham to assist with the development of the Nottingham Enterprise Zone adjacent to the A52.
Highways England has appointed design consultants to work up and assess a range of options and will be engaging stakeholders in the coming months.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-10-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the progression figures for students in receipt of publicly-funded bursaries studying at the Greenwich School of Management for degrees validated by Plymouth University for the academic years 2014–15 and 2015–16.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
Information on the proportion of students attending examinations at Higher Education Providers is not held centrally.
Progression rates are not produced separately for those students receiving student support.
Published statistics in respect of Alternatives Providers, including the Greenwich School of Management, are available in the Experimental Statistical First Release ‘Higher education student enrolments and qualifications obtained on undergraduate designated courses at alternative providers in England 2014/15’. This can be found at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/15-06-2016/sfr235-alternative-providers
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Civil Service Commission was consulted on changes to the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, published in October 2015.
Matthew Hancock
The October 2015 version of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers was revised and published in accordance with the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-11-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph 2.153 of Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what legal flexibilities the Government plans to give to National Parks.
Rory Stewart
Responding to requests from the national park authorities, on 30 November the Government tabled an amendment to the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill to give national park authorities a Function Specific General Power of Competence. The Government believe that this will further enable national park authorities to be a vital part of devolution deals and support growth across our rural economy. The government has committed in addition to protect the funding of the National Parks.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to declare ISIS’s actions against Christians and Yazidis a genocide.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The British Government has received a number of recent representations on these issues from Parliament and members of the public and is responding in writing.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the atrocities committed by Daesh against all civilians, including Christians, Mandeans, Yazidis, and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim population who continue to bear the brunt of Daesh’s brutality. The UK has led efforts within the UN to tackle and condemn Daesh and on the protection of civilians more widely. For example, we co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council Resolution mandating the UN to investigate and report on Daesh abuses.
It is a long-standing Government policy that any judgements on whether genocide has occurred are a matter for the international judicial system rather than governments or other non-judicial bodies.
Ultimately, the only way to protect Christians, Yazidis and other minorities in the region from Daesh is by defeating this terrible organisation, which in turn requires, amongst other things, ending the conflict in Syria. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), set out the UK’s comprehensive strategy for defeating Daesh and finding a political settlement to the Syria conflict in his response to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 26 November 2015.
The joint Office of the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect (the Office) are engaged with these issues and publish much of their activity online, including statements in relation to the situation of Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq. Our officials maintain regular contact with officials from the Office to discuss issues related to the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. The Government provides funding for the Office, including for their work with religious leaders and faith based organisations in the Middle East and North Africa region, aimed at the prevention of incitement to violence that could lead to atrocity crimes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Hepburn on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken was between a fatal accident occurring in construction and the start of a prosecution on the latest date for which data is available.
Justin Tomlinson
For fatalities in construction (Standard Industrial Classification, section F) reported to HSE between 2005/06 and 2014/15, the average time between the date of incident and the date prosecution action was approved is 751 days. This number does not include some more recent or complex incidents, which remain under investigation. The time between the incident and prosecution approved to date by yearly time bands is as follows:
|
Time between incident and approval |
Number |
Percentage |
|
0 – 1 year |
43 |
23 |
|
1-2 years |
51 |
27 |
|
2-3 years |
56 |
30 |
|
3-4 years |
28 |
15 |
|
4-5 years |
9 |
5 |
|
5 years + |
2 |
1 |
|
189 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reason the report commissioned by his Department from Ecofys on international electricity prices has not yet been published; when the Government plans to publish that report; and whether that report found that electricity price increases for energy intensive industries as a result of climate policies will be larger in the UK than any other country.
Anna Soubry
The Department is currently reviewing the findings of the Ecofys international energy price comparisons report. We are considering publication options but the report found that the increase in electricity prices for energy intensive industries varies considerably by country depending on their climate change policy landscape.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will estimate how many and what proportion of all women with mental health issues in the UK have been internally or internationally trafficked.
Mike Penning
The Home Office do not hold data that allows us to establish how many women with mental health issues in the UK have been trafficked.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-04-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which plant protection products are banned for use in the UK but are currently being used in other member states of the EU.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
There is a two-step process before a plant protection product can be placed on the market and used. First, the active substance or active substances contained in the product must be approved EU-wide by the European Commission. Second, the product itself must be authorised by the Member State. Authorisations are determined on the basis of an assessment of the risks to people and to the environment. The approach to the assessment is harmonised across the EU, but the outcomes of applications for the same product may differ because of variations in national conditions.
Companies will decide the Member States from which they wish to seek authorisation and authorisation holders may, at any time, instruct that authorisations are withdrawn.
Product authorisations may therefore vary between Member States. At present, there is no central database of authorisations which records these differences.