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  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the phasing out of Revenue Support Grant to local authorities includes, or otherwise affects, the New Homes Bonus.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Government is considering the detailed impacts of the changes to local government funding announced as part of the recent Spending Review. A full consultation exercise on reforms to the New Homes Bonus, reflecting the changes that have been announced and including reforms to improve its impact in incentivising housing growth, will be issued later this month.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the ability to raise council tax by up to 2 per cent to fund social care applies to districts that are not social care authorities, and if so, on what services the resulting income can be spent.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The two percent council tax flexibility has been offered for authorities with adult social care responsibilities, for all years of the Spending Review, provided that they use the additional funding for adult social care. The flexibility does not apply to non-metropolitan district councils. Details of how the two percent flexibility will operate will be confirmed alongside the provisional local government finance settlement in due course.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of (1) the number of unaccompanied refugee children who are waiting at or near Calais and other Channel ports on the European mainland in the hope of crossing to England, and (2) how many of those are dependents or close relatives of persons who are living in the UK.

    Lord Bates

    The management of the migrant camps in Calais is the responsibility of the French Government. The UK Government does not routinely assess the numbers of migrants (including children) in Calais, or hold a breakdown of their ages. EU asylum rules oblige Member States to bring together close family members, including children. For a refugee child to be reunited with family members in the UK, a claim must first be lodged with the French authorities. The French and UK Governments are actively encouraging and assisting migrants in the Calais area to claim asylum in France.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they treat UK citizens in Iraq and Syria who participate in ISIL actions and activities as enemy combatants or criminals, and whether in making such assessments they consider what the actions of those individuals were, in particular whether they are violent or of violent intent, and whether or not their violence is targeted at the UK or UK citizens.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    More than 750 Britons of national security concern have travelled to the region since the start of the conflict and we estimate that around half of those have returned. Those who have committed criminal offences (including financing terrorism, training for terrorism and murder) should expect to be prosecuted for their crimes on their return to the UK.

    The British Government is carrying out air strikes to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces’ efforts against Daesh in Iraq. UK citizens who are part of Daesh in Iraq are in no different position to other Daesh members there. The current position in Syria is that the UK will only take military action if there is a critical British national interest at stake or there was the need to act to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. In relation to the airstrike against Reyaad Khan on 21 August, I refer the noble Lord to the oral statement of 7 September 2015 made by the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), which was repeated the same day in the House of Lords by The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston), (Official Report, column 1249).

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they give local authorities on (1) the minimum desirable frequency of waste collections for (a) recyclates, (b) food waste, and (c) other residual waste, and (2) the criteria that they should use when deciding such frequencies.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Decisions on collection arrangements and frequency are for each Local Authority to make, taking into account local circumstances including the practicalities, characteristics of the area, providing the service that local residents want, and the need to protect public health and the environment.

    Defra has funded the Waste and Resources Action Programme to provide advice and support to Local Authorities on good practice for waste and recycling, and to help Local Authorities promote their services more effectively and make them convenient. We are also encouraging greater harmonisation of waste collection and recycling services across different local authority areas.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they can consult the National Infrastructure Commission on applications for planning consent for nationally significant infrastructure projects, and if so, whether they will consult the Commission regarding such applications, and what criteria they would use in deciding whether to do so.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The National Infrastructure Commission is not currently consulted on nationally significant infrastructure projects, but the Government will consider carefully any request by the Commission to do so.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the first UK-owned P8 Maritime Patrol aircraft will be flying operationally.

    Earl Howe

    Under current plans, we anticipate that the Boeing P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft will enter service in the UK in financial year 2019-20. Exact dates are yet to be agreed between the Department and the US Department of Defense.

  • Lord Wakeham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Wakeham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wakeham on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the estimated financial contribution of central government to local government (1) for the year ending 5 April 2016, and (2) for each of the years to 5 April 2020, in the light of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The local government departmental expenditure limit (LG DEL) is £11.5bn in 2015/16 with the Spending Review announcing that it will reduce to £5.4bn by 2019/20. With forecast increases to other sources of local government income, overall local government spending will be higher in cash terms by 2019/20 than in 2015/16, an estimated rise from £40.3bn to £40.5bn.

    The total financial contribution made to local authorities by central government will be dependent on the grants made available by individual government departments. As departments will not yet have determined how much funding will be made available as grant across all years, it is not possible to provide a definitive end of parliament total.

  • Lord Tebbit – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Tebbit – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 16 November (HL3254), what is the UK share of the Common Agricultural Policy budget for 2015 in percentage and cash terms respectively.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    In 2015, the UK was allocated 7% of the Common Agricultural Policy budget which is equivalent to €4 billion.

  • The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research they have conducted into the bacterial infection spread by the Agrilus biguttatus beetle.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Over the past five years Forest Research, in collaboration with Rothamsted Research, has conducted a systematic survey to model the distribution of acute oak decline (AOD) in England and Wales. The results show that the condition currently affects several thousand oak trees, mostly across East Anglia, the Midlands and southern England.

    The complex nature of the condition means it is often associated with other pathogens, as well as insect defoliators and the research has not yet concluded whether AOD kills trees or not. A large proportion of the infected trees monitored have entered remission suggesting some level of host resistance. We do not have information at the landscape level on the number of oak with AOD symptoms that die every year.

    Since 2013, Defra has invested £1.1 million in research to understand the causes, distribution and scale of AOD in the UK. This includes work to investigate the bacterial species associated with the condition and to understand whether the Agrilus biguttatus beetle plays a role in the dispersal of these bacterial species. Early findings from this research are still inconclusive. There is currently no firm evidence of transmission by the beetle.

    Earlier this year, Defra in collaboration with the Research Councils, Scottish Government and the Forestry Commission launched a further £2 million call for research proposals on ‘oak health’ and Phytophthora. The successful bids from this call are due to be announced shortly.