The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to promote regional food and drink.
Elizabeth Truss
Defra launched the Great British Food campaign this week to promote food and drink entrepreneurs from across the UK at home and abroad.
Through the Food and Drink International Action Plan we have supported over 4,000 businesses and opened 130 new markets.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-12-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the grant from Viridor Credits to Twickenham Rowing Club was audited by ENTRUST, and what assessment they have made of the environmental objectives that grant fulfils.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Landfill Communities Fund is a tax credit scheme. It allows landfill operators to gain a tax credit against 90% of the voluntary donations they make to environmental bodies for spending on certain prescribed objectives.
The prescribed objectives include:
within the vicinity of a landfill site.
ENTRUST, the independent regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund assesses and approves applications for project funding to ensure they meet the objectives of the scheme. ENTRUST also carries out a programme of assurance under which a cross-section of projects are selected for audit to ensure they meet the prescribed objectives, and that funds are spent compliantly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much of his Department’s budget has been allocated to addressing overcrowding in housing in each of the last five years.
Brandon Lewis
The Government believes that increasing supply of housing is the best way to tackle overcrowding.
Last year, net additions to supply of housing increased by 25% on the previous year, the highest increase for 28 years.
In the recent Spending Review, and in the Prime Minister’s announcement of 4 January this year, we have announced the biggest affordable housing programme since the 1970’s, aimed at bringing land into the system, increasing rates of build out, increasing opportunities for home ownership, and delivering a step change in housing supply.
We have also provided £6.7 million to a number of local authorities to help them tackle acute and complex problems associated with rogue landlords, many of whom rent out overcrowded properties.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of proposed changes to housing benefit on tenants in supported housing and their access to mental health services.
Alistair Burt
Shortly, we will be engaging colleagues across Government on the proposed changes to housing benefit. As the cross-Government lead, the Department for Work and Pensions is coordinating any work to understand the likely impact of the reforms.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the implications are of her Department exceeding its Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit for the funding of other policies in her Department.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
There are no implications for the funding of other policies in my Department as a result of exceeding its Capital Departmental Expenditure limit. The Department’s operational expenditure is not included in this category of expenditure. Details of the breach were provided in the Northern Ireland Office Annual Report and Account 2014-15 which is available at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to Answer Question 26990, tabled on 11 February 2016 by the hon. Member for Glasgow South West.
Nick Boles
I apologise to the hon Member for the delay. I will reply as soon as possible.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of dairy products procured for her Department was sourced from British producers in the latest period for which figures are available.
Andrea Leadsom
I refer the rt. hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs today to Question 35061:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the total number of Iraqi civilians killed since the start of the 2003 Iraq war.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Government has not made an estimate of the number of Iraqis killed as a result of terrorism and war-related violence since 2003. While the security situation in Iraq has greatly improved since violence peaked in 2006-2007, Iraqi civilians have been victim to Daesh’s atrocities since the summer of 2014. We utterly condemn such violence and call for those responsible to be brought to justice. The UK is committed to supporting the Government of Iraq as it works to defeat Daesh and put Iraq on the path to long-term peace and stability.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-09-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 17 June (HL518), how many unplanned closures of the East Coast Main Line there were in August.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Network Rail and the relevant train operators will continue to develop the detail and performance implications of the 2021 timetable in line with the industry’s normal timetable development process, under the oversight of the Office of Rail and Road.
With regard to the operation of the Thameslink central core, this is a matter for Network Rail and the relevant train operators, under the oversight of the Office of Rail and Road. The industry is continuing to develop plans for integrating the 24 trains per hour proposed to run on the Thameslink route at peak times from December 2018 with other services on the East Coast Main Line, including the implications for punctuality and reliability.
After consulting with Network Rail we have established that there were five ‘unplanned closures’, on various sections of the line, on five separate days in August, two of which were infrastructure related and three as a result of passenger action.
Network Rail have defined days with ‘unplanned closures’ of the East Coast Main Line as days where there are more than five cancellation events. A cancellation event covers any service suffering one or more of the below events:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number of children who rely on public transport to get to school in (a) England and (b) the North East.
Caroline Dinenage
The Department for Education does not hold data on the number of children who use public transport for their home to school journeys. While we do oversee the school transport policy and legislative framework which determines the duties of local authorities and we support this through the Local Government Finance Settlement, we do not prescribe the type of arrangements or modes of transport that can be used locally.
The Department for Transport does however, undertake an annual National Travel Survey which includes data on the modes of school travel. The 2015 survey, including regional level data, is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-travel-survey-2015
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