The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has spent any money on advertising the Northern Powerhouse policy since May 2015.
James Wharton
There has been no advertising spend by the Department for Communities and Local Government on the Northern Powerhouse policy since May 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what licences were granted for exports to Israel of (a) military use and (b) dual use equipment in 2015.
Anna Soubry
Information on military and dual use export licences (including Iicences for Israel) is published as Official Statistics in the quarterly and annual reports on Strategic Export Controls. These reports contain detailed information on export licences issued, refused or revoked, by destination, including the overall value, type (e.g. Military, Other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences.
Data for the period 1 January to 30 September 2015 is available to view at GOV.UK. Information covering the period 1 October to 31 December 2015 will be published on 19 April 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his European partners about asylum for Yazidi women who were enslaved by Daesh to allow them to access medical and psychological support.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We regularly discuss the plight of Yazidi women and girls in Iraq and Syria with our European partners. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) discussed the humanitarian implications of the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Syria with members of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in December 2015.
The UK is committed to supporting the victims of Daesh’s brutality. In Syria and the wider region, the Department for International Development (DFID) is funding specialised services for survivors and those at risk of gender-based violence. This includes safe spaces, psychosocial support, cash assistance and reproductive healthcare. In Iraq, DFID has deployed two experts to work with the UN to improve the humanitarian response to sexual and gender-based violence.
Over the course of this Parliament we are resettling 20,000 of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees to the UK. Resettlement is only one strand of our efforts in the region. It is complemented by the UK’s significant humanitarian aid programme and diplomatic efforts to end the conflicts. We believe that this approach is the most effective way to ensure that the UK’s help has the greatest impact for those who remain in the region. To date, we have pledged over £2.3 billion of humanitarian assistance in response to the Syria crisis, and provided an additional £79.5 million to Iraq to help support the most vulnerable.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department plans to spend on walking in each year from 2016 to 2021.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Department’s spending on walking programmes is stated in the table below.
|
Programme |
2016/17 |
2017/18 |
2018/19 |
2019/20 |
2020/21 |
Total |
|
Walking |
£97.0m |
£89.8m |
£69.3m |
£44.5m |
£23.3m |
£323.9m |
The totals shown above include the Department’s Sustainable Transport Transition Year and Access Fund plus spending by local bodies on walking projects using sums from within current Local Growth Fund and Integrated Transport Block allocations. Not all of the Local Growth Fund is currently allocated, so as future allocations of the Local Growth Fund are made to Local Enterprise Partnerships, the amount supporting walking projects through to 2020/21 is likely to rise.
In addition to the above, from within the record £6 billion allocated to local highways authorities between 2015 and 2021 for road maintenance, this funding can help maintain footways cycleways. Further, from 2018/19 the plan is to change the formula used to allocate local highways maintenance capital funding so that it also takes into account footways and cycleways as well as the roads, bridges and street lighting, which it is currently based on. Once implemented, around 9% of the funding will be based on footway and cycleway lengths.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2016 to Question 40362, (a) for what reason the Government has concentrated gamma interferon testing outside the high risk areas and (b) what assessment she has made of the effect of the reduced number of gamma interferon tests in high risk areas on the incidence and spread of bovine TB.
George Eustice
Supplementary interferon gamma blood testing improves the detection of infected cattle in TB affected herds in the Low Risk and Edge Areas of England reducing the risk of TB taking hold in parts of the country where the disease is not yet endemic.
Information published by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on gov.uk shows more supplementary interferon gamma tests in the High Risk Area in each of the years 2012 to 2015 than in 2009. We continue to explore options for wider deployment of this test in the High Risk Area.
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/532709/ATIC0882.pdf
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-09-15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the role the legal domestic ivory market in the UK has in facilitating illegal trade in ivory.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
A number of proposals on elephant and ivory related issues will be discussed at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to be held in South Africa between 24 September 2016 and 5 October 2016. This will include discussions on the existing global ban on the trade in ivory, which the UK is committed to maintaining, and the role of domestic ivory markets in illegal trade. Officials have engaged in substantial discussions with counterparts from other EU Member States on these and other issues over several months in formulating the EU and Member State position at the CITES Conference. The UK will continue to play a full role in these discussions.
The then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Affairs, Rory Stewart, discussed the issue of the closure of domestic ivory markets with the Government of the United States (US) during a trip earlier this year. In addition officials in Defra are in regular contact with their US counterparts and have discussed the US measures on a number of occasions.
The Government has been actively exploring options with relevant parties about how to implement the UK Government’s manifesto commitment to press for a total ban on ivory sales and the steps to be taken in respect of the UK’s ivory market. On 21 September 2016 the Secretary of State announced plans for a ban on sales of items containing ivory dated between 1947 and the present day, putting UK rules on ivory sales among the world’s toughest.
The Government will consult on plans for the ban early next year, seeking views from conservationists, traders and other relevant parties to ensure clear rules and guidance for those operating within the law, while cracking down on illegal sales. This will complement the existing UK ban on trade in raw ivory tusks. Trade in raw tusks presents the greatest risk of poached ivory entering the legal market.
TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring organisation, has recently published its independent report – A Rapid Survey of the UK ivory market. Although not an exact comparison with a survey conducted in 2004, TRAFFIC’s survey found the number of market stalls offering ivory for sale had declined by approximately two-thirds and the number of items offered for sale had halved. No new or raw ivory was seen in any of the physical market outlets or online platforms— only one ivory item seen for sale was reportedly from after the legal cut-off (1947) for antique ivory being sold without CITES documentation within the EU. Ivory is a key UK wildlife crime priority with an enforcement action plan in place to tackle risk. For example, UK Border Force through Operation Quiver has in particular successfully targeted ivory sent through postal systems.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department’s review of guidance relating to the eligibility of children with Type 1 diabetes for Disability Living Allowance was initiated; and what conclusion that review reached.
Justin Tomlinson
The current guidance for DLA decision makers on children with type 1 diabetes has been under review since March 2015. It is now near completion with conclusions reached in close collaboration with subject matter experts and will be published shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2015-12-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times her Department has met Wigan Council in 2015 to date.
James Brokenshire
The Home Office meets regularly with local councils throughout the year on a number of different matters. A central record of all the meetings that are held is not maintained.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who the Deputy Director for Transparency is in his Department.
Matthew Hancock
All deputy directors have a responsibility for transparency policies whichreflects the breadth and importance of the agenda. An organogram of the Cabinet Office is available here: https://data.gov.uk/organogram/cabinet-office
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will estimate the cost to the tourist industry in Calder Valley of recent flooding and severe weather in that area.
David Evennett
No assessment has been made by DCMS of the direct cost to Calder Valley’s tourism industry following the recent flooding. However, some tourism businesses in flood affected areas have reported a drop in bookings of up to 60%. We want to ensure that our tourism businesses have as much support as possible as they recover from the recent floods and that is why a new £1m PR campaign was announced by the Prime Minister in Cumbria, on the 28th January, to support businesses ready to receive visitors, and this is part of a wider package of immediate measures to help the area.