The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-06-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether data about all deaths of NHS cancer patients in England are collected by the National Cancer Registry; and if so, within how many months of death those data are collected.
Lord Bridges of Headley
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawson on 2016-09-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the health and safety implications of discarded pieces of rail and equipment alongside tracks across the rail network.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The independent regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), is responsible for monitoring and enforcing health and safety matters in respect of Britain’s railway. It has confirmed that Network Rail has standards in place regarding the removal of material and equipment following the completion of works and that Network Rail provides adequate guidance to its staff on this issue in order to minimise health and safety risks. However, the ORR has noted some inconsistent application of these standards; its inspectors are therefore actively engaging with Network Rail to address this issue.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce public exposure to lead in the food chain.
Jane Ellison
Government set up the independent Lead Ammunition Group in 2010 to provide advice on risks to wildlife and human health from lead shot game. The Government is considering the independent Lead Ammunition Group’s report on the effect of lead shot on human and wildlife health and will respond as soon as possible The Food Standards Agency (FSA) accepts the expert advice of the UK Committee on Toxicity and the European Food Safety Authority that it is not possible to set a safe level for exposure to lead from food. However, to better understand the potential risk to UK consumers the FSA produced a risk assessment in 2012 based on its survey data from 2007 of game meat samples; Veterinary Medicines Directorate data from the national surveillance scheme was also considered. The FSA risk assessment considered the potential levels of exposure to lead from lead shot game for adults, children and toddlers based on different levels of game meat consumption.
This risk assessment led to FSA issuing targeted advice to frequent consumers of lead shot game in 2012, warning of the potential risks. The advice was promoted as especially important for vulnerable groups such as toddlers and children, pregnant women and women trying for a baby, as exposure to lead can harm the developing brain and nervous system. The FSA risk assessment was published along with this advice. The Government has not estimated the number of people who regularly consume game meat shot with lead.
More generally, the FSA, works on behalf of the UK within the European Union to agree harmonised controls to reduce public exposure to lead in the food chain. EU maximum limits apply for lead in a range of foods and these are regularly reviewed by the EU Commission and member states. These maximum limits apply to all food produced in the EU or imported to the EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2015-12-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of brownfield land in the Purbeck District Council area has been redesignated as community land trust in the last five years.
Brandon Lewis
The Department does not hold information centrally on the amount or type of land held by community land trusts.
The Department’s annual Green Belt statistics monitor the amount of land designated as Green Belt in England and any changes to the designated area since the previous year. The statistics record the change by local planning authority.
Of the local planning authorities for which information was requested, the following have made changes to the Green Belt in the last five years:
East Dorset reduced the area of designated Green Belt in 2014-15 by 160 hectares to 16,720 hectares, a reduction of 1 per cent; and
Purbeck increased the area of designated Green Belt in 2012-13 by 460 hectares to 8,200 hectares, an increase of 6 per cent.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-01-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much UK steel will be used in the manufacture of the new Type 26 frigates in (a) market value and (b) weight in tonnes.
Mr Philip Dunne
Steel is sourced by our contractors from a range of UK and international suppliers, reflecting the need to ensure a competitive price and delivery at the required time and quality. UK suppliers have provided significant quantities of steel for major defence equipment procurement programmes, whenever they have been able to meet specified standards. Our new Government guidelines, published in November 2015, will help UK steel suppliers to compete effectively with international suppliers for major projects, including those in defence.
No steel suppliers have been selected or any orders placed for the Type 26 Global Combat Ships. It is therefore too early to say how much steel will be used in this programme or from where it will be sourced.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on removing from local authorities powers to veto planning applications for fracking.
James Wharton
Mineral planning authorities have a responsibility to consider planning applications for shale gas exploration under the Town and Country Planning regime. Planning law requires that applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan for the local authority area, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The Government has taken steps to ensure this locally led regime is effective, as set out in Written Ministerial Statements of 16 September, HCWS201 and HCWS202. This includes making available £1.2 million to ensure mineral planning authorities have adequate resource to reach timely decisions.
Community involvement in planning applications and people’s safety and the environment will remain paramount. No decision has been made to take shale gas exploration out of this local authority led process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to improve apprenticeship standards among employers.
Nick Boles
We have taken significant steps to improve the quality of apprenticeships. Apprenticeships now must have substantial training; last at least 12 months; and lead to full competency in an occupation.
We are going further by giving employers the opportunity to design high quality apprenticeships across a range of occupations to meet their skills needs. More than 1300 employers are involved with 205 new apprenticeships standards already published and more than 150 are in development.
The new Institute for Apprenticeships will support improvements in the quality of apprenticeship standards in England. It will be responsible for setting quality criteria for the development of standards and assessment plans, reviewing, approving or rejecting them; and quality assuring some end point assessments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Freer on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department plan to attend the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS at the UN headquarters in New York in June 2016.
Jane Ellison
The United Kingdom Government will be represented at this meeting. Precise attendance has still to be finalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to promote the development of biomass technologies.
Andrea Leadsom
Support is provided for biomass under a range of renewable financial incentives: the Renewables Obligation (RO), Feed in Tariff (FIT), Contracts for Difference (CfD) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). The RO closed to co-firing and conversions last year and any future support will be via CfD.
The government announced it will hold three auctions for Contracts for Difference of up to £730 million this Parliament. Details of the future CFD allocation rounds will be published in due course.
The Government confirmed increased funding for the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme in November 2015 as part of the Spending Review, with the annual budget rising from £430m in 2015/16 to £1.15bn in 2020/21.
The Government has successfully supported innovation in biomass technologies such as through the Energy Technology Institute, the Research Councils, Innovate UK and in partnership with other European Countries through the Bioenergy Sustaining the Future (BESTF) network.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Parminter on 2016-06-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of leakage at landfill sites in Britain, and what plans they have to investigate landfill sites to identify any that are leaking.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Environment Agency is responsible for regulating landfill sites that hold an environmental permit, which includes all operational and some closed sites. Operators of landfill sites must comply with their permit conditions and these will normally include a requirement to monitor emissions or leakage. The Environment Agency assesses compliance with permit conditions on an ongoing site-specific basis.
The monitoring and management of historic landfill sites that are no longer operating under a permit is a matter for local authorities under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Government does not hold these records and has therefore not made an assessment of leakage from these sites.