The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 November to Question 14627, what estimate her Department has made of the total funding that will be available to the Waste and Resources Action Programme in each of the next five years; and if she will make a statement.
Rory Stewart
Future funding of WRAP will depend on the outcome of the current spending review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-01-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to encourage volunteers to monitor CCTV to help the police service.
Mike Penning
The Government believes that volunteers could play a greater role in policing, which is why a consultation was recently held to give Chief Constables greater flexibility to designate police powers to staff and volunteers, to enable them to support officers more effectively in keeping their communities safe.
I am aware that a number of forces use volunteers within their CCTV control rooms already and more are currently recruiting for these roles. However all decisions on the recruitment, size and composition of a police force’s workforce are rightly a local matter for chief officers and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of how much dispatchable electricity capacity will be lost in 2016 due to planned power station closures.
Andrea Leadsom
It is estimated that the total conventional capacity installed in 2016/17 will be 58.1 – 59.1GW[1]. This represents closures of around 0.5GW – 1.8GW[2] between 2015/16 and 2016/17 and reflects the July 2015 Future Energy Scenarios outlook.
However, for 2016/17, National Grid have already secured 3.6GW of capacity within their Contingency Balancing Reserve, in which additional power stations are held to provide security in times of system stress. This extra capacity will help us to ensure we meet the GB 3 hour LOLE reliability standard and will be sufficient to maintain security of supply even in the toughest system conditions.
In addition to the Contingency Balancing Reserve, from 2018, the Capacity Market will ensure that retiring plant can be replaced by new investment by providing additional secure investment for both existing and new electricity generators
[1] As presented in Ofgem’s Capacity Assessment 2015, including Nuclear.
[2] Figures presented in this response are not de-rated to reflect expected availability at Winter peak.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department spent from the public purse on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months.
Karen Bradley
The cost of Employment Tribunals can be found within the HM Courts & Tribunals Service annual accounts published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/433948/hmcts-annual-report-accounts-2014-15.pdf .
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions his Department’s cyber strike capability was used in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.
Penny Mordaunt
We continue to develop the ability of our Armed Forces to deploy a broad range of offensive cyber capabilities as an integrated part of military operations. As with other sensitive defence capabilities, we do not reveal specific details in order to safeguard national security. As we have previously made clear in the context of the war powers convention, we do not propose to define the circumstances in which we would consult Parliament about the use of particular military capabilities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-05-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will issue a response to Early Day Motion 660, Legal recognition for people who do not associate with a particular gender.
James Brokenshire
UK passports currently recognise only male and female genders. To introduce a third category, such a denoted by an ‘X’ in the passport, would require a change in UK primary legislation.
The Government is currently considering this issue as part of its response to the report on Transgender Equality by the Women and Equalities Select Committee.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the legal status of a Sustainability and Transformation Plan will be.
George Freeman
The Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STP) has no legal basis. Any plans submitted will be proposals that will form the basis for discussion. Depending on the level of local and national agreement, they may form the basis for further plans and actions that will be subject to the same legal and best practice requirements that govern the National Health Service.
The local, statutory architecture for health and care remains, as do the existing accountabilities for Chief Executives of provider organisations and Accountable Officers of clinical commissioning groups. Organisations are still accountable for their individual organisational plans, which should form part of the first year of their footprint’s STP.
The June STP submissions will be work-in-progress, and as such we do not anticipate the requirement for formal approval from boards and/or consultation at this early stage. Plans have no status until they are agreed. When plans are ready, normal rules around engagement and public consultation will apply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the circumstances were of the collision involving HMS Ambush near Gibraltar on 20 July 2016; and whether there will be a board of inquiry investigation into that incident.
Harriett Baldwin
It is UK policy that we do not comment on matters relating to submarine activity or operations as this would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
HMS AMBUSH is undergoing repairs at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde, the duration of which is under review.
On 28 July 2016, the Director General of the Defence Safety Authority convened an independent Service Inquiry to investigate the circumstances of this incident. It would be inappropriate to comment further while this investigation is on-going.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what representations she has received on trends in life expectancy in Northern Nigeria; and if she will make a statement.
Priti Patel
Survey data on infant and child mortality rates shows that mortality rates are much higher in the north of Nigeria compared to the south.
In 2015/16, of a total DFID bilateral spend in Nigeria of £214m, approximately 60% of programming focused in six northern states. Additionally, over the last two years, DFID has scaled up its response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the northeast, bringing life-saving support to those affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that providers of care are funded at a sustainable rate; and if he will make it his policy to implement the recommendations relating to care funding in the report by the Homecare Association, entitled the Homecare Deficit, published in March 2015.
Alistair Burt
The Government recognises the importance of maintaining a sustainable pool of independent social care providers to give people a choice of quality services.
The Government welcomes the United Kingdom Home Care Association’s report that was published earlier in the year which made an important contribution to our understanding of pressures in the adult social care system.
The overall allocation of funds to local government for adult social care that is funded by the state is being considered as part of the current spending review, and the Chancellor will make an announcement later in the month. The Government has taken into consideration demand and inflationary pressures. The Better Care Fund continues to provide additional funding to support integration between health and social care.
More broadly, the Department is enhancing its market stewardship activity, and will develop a national Market Position Statement to set government’s ambition for the market, and will also continue to work to make the market more effective, in particular, working with the smaller businesses that typify the sector.