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  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many local authorities have not conducted any sampling to check food composition over the last 12 months.

    Jane Ellison

    The Food Standards Agency (FSA) collects food law enforcement monitoring returns from local authorities annually. Data for the period 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 is currently being collected. Following collation and analysis, the FSA plans to publish this data in November 2014.

    The FSA advises that the following local authorities did not report any food composition sampling in 2012-13 via the Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring System (LAEMS):

    Armagh

    Birmingham

    Blackburn

    Bolton

    Darlington

    Isle of Wight

    Leicester City

    Plymouth City

    Redcar and Cleveland

    Rochdale

    Rutland

    South Lanarkshire

    Swindon

    Tameside

    All of these authorities reported taking other labelling or microbiological samples in 2012-13.

    A table has been placed in the Library which shows how many food standards samples (composition and labelling) each local authority reported via LAEMS in 2012-13, together with a comparison against the number reported in 2011-12 and how many food standards samples each local authority reported through a FSA-funded project.

    All of the reported food standards samples were official samples and would have been submitted to the local authority’s appointed Public Analyst for analysis. Out of 22,055 food standards samples in 2012-13, 4,387 were funded by the FSA, all other food standards samples would have been paid for by the local authority. By comparison, in 2011-12, the FSA funded 5,072 out of 21,970 food standards samples.

    For some local authorities, the FSA funded sampling figure is larger than the number included in the LAEMS report. The difference will be due to the LAEMS reports only including samples for which the analytical result was received from the Public Analyst before 31 March 2013.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what protection of existing (a) staffing levels and (b) tickets revenue sharing arrangements with other train operating companies were secured in negotiations with Govia over the extension from the London passenger rail franchise; and if he will seek such protections in future negotiations over the planned direct award of the franchise to Govia.

    Stephen Hammond

    Staffing levels are a matter for the train operator, as long as they continue to deliver services that meet the requirements of the Franchise Agreement. The 7-period extension announced on 9 June was a priced option in the current Franchise Agreement.

    Any existing ticket revenue sharing arrangements continue through the extension. Although preliminary negotiations have taken place with regard to a Direct Award to run services from April 2016, no timetable for formal negotiations is yet in place, and formal negotiations are yet to take place.

  • Karen Lumley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Karen Lumley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 8 May 2014, Official Report, column 276W, on motor vehicles: exhaust emissions, if he will place the data from his Department’s 2006 study of liquefied petroleum and petrol vehicles in the Library.

    Stephen Hammond

    The report produced for the Department at the end of the study (Ref: M. Clark, P. Sayer, Euro 3 LPG Retrofit Emissions Factor Testing, Tickford Powertrain Test Ltd., ER07/015, June 2007) contains the data captured by the testing. Copies of the report will be placed in the in the Libraries of the House.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the existing contractual obligations to share ticket revenue with other train operating companies through the Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services system in the current franchise agreement between his Department and Govia for passenger rail services on the London Midland line.

    Stephen Hammond

    The Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services (ORCATS) is owned by Rail Settlement Plan Ltd, a company administered by the Association of Train Operating Companies and wholly-owned by the Train Operating Companies collectively. It is one of the means of allocating revenue. Under the Ticketing Settlement Agreement, ORCATS is the default allocation method used in respect of any ticket type and flow. However, it is not mandatory, and Train Operating Companies are free to agree a non-ORCATS allocation in respect of particular ticket types and/or flows if they think that the ORCATS model will not produce a fair estimate of true passenger behaviour.

  • Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 2014-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they are making in talks with Spain to prevent excessive delays at its border with Gibraltar.

    Baroness Warsi

    The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), suggested ad hoc talks, involving all relevant parties, to address practical issues (including the delays at the border) to the Spanish government in April 2012. We are actively discussing this proposal with the Governments of Gibraltar and Spain and hope it will be possible to hold talks soon.

    In the meantime, we are maintaining strong diplomatic pressure on the Spanish government to end disproportionate and unlawful checks at the border. We have also asked the European Commission to continue to monitor the situation and urge Spain to return their checks at the border to proportionate levels.