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  • Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to A UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies, how many times the Leadership Council has met; and what the items for discussion were at each meeting.

    Mr David Willetts

    The Agri-Tech Leadership Council has met four times. The items discussed are set out below:

    Date

    Subjects discussed

    23rd September 2013

    1. Launch of the Agri-Tech Strategy and future implications for the Leadership Council

    2. Funding position

    3. Leadership Council – general principles and roles, skills and knowledge

    4. Communications – general principles and ways of working

    5. Catalyst process and timetable

    6. Marketplace Networking Events for the Centres for Agricultural Innovation

    26th November 2013

    1. Centres for Agricultural Innovation – reflections and next steps

    2. Leadership Council – Outcomes, Metrics, Management

    3. Information and Project Plan

    4. Evaluation of the Agri-Tech Strategy

    5. UKTI approach on exports and inward investment

    6. Communications

    7. International funding

    8. Skills and knowledge transfer

    16th January 2013

    1. Agri-Tech Strategy small and medium size enterprise perspective

    2. Update on Catalyst bids and the Agri-Informatics Centre

    3. Potential private sector investment in Centres for Agricultural Innovation

    4. UKTI Programme on agri-tech inward investment and exports

    5. Skills

    6. Communications

    2nd April 2014

    1. Agri-Engineering

    2. Updates on the first successful Catalyst projects and discussions with the private sector on Centres for Agricultural Innovation.

    3. Next steps in establishing the Centres

    4. Skills – update on next steps

    5. Priorities for the Leadership Council in next 12 months

    In addition, the Leadership Council held a telephone conference on 24th February 2014 which discussed the proposed timetable and actions for commissioning the Centre for Agri-Informatics and Metrics of Sustainability, and arrangements for evaluating the Agri-Tech Strategy.

  • Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to A UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies, what progress UK Trade and Investment has made on identifying possibilities for UK-based food and drink producers through the High Value Opportunity Programme for Food Security.

    Mr David Willetts

    The scope of the High Value Opportunity for Food Security is dependent on the national strategies to be published by key target markets. Prospects for UK-based food and drink producers will become clearer once these strategies are published.

  • Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to A UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies, for what reason Qatar was chosen as the first country for UK Trade and Investment to work with.

    Mr David Willetts

    Qatar was chosen because of its Government’s commitment to increase agricultural production over the coming years with the aim of becoming less reliant on imported food and more self-sufficient. This may offer important future opportunities for UK agri-tech organisations.

  • Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to A UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies, if he will list the activities undertaken by the UK Trade and Investment Business Ambassador to champion UK agri-tech; and which early stage markets have been identified for future growth.

    Mr David Willetts

    James Townshend, the UK Business Ambassador for agri-tech, has undertaken the following activities to raise the UK’s reputation in agri tech; to support inward investment and exports:

    2013

    London – 18 April. Met Hamish Renton, UK dairy specialist, in advance of visit to Qatar in May 2013.

    London – 29 April. Met my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Owen Paterson), to discuss HMG Agri-Tech Industrial Strategy.

    London – 30 April. Attended and delivered the keynote speech at the UK Dairy Export Forum.

    London – 8 May. Met the Ambassador of Belarus to the UK to discuss potential business opportunities in Belarus for UK agricultural companies.

    Qatar – 20 – 23 May. Led a scoping mission aimed at positioning UK companies to win potential contracts. .

    Turkey – 1 September. Visited the Agroexpo/Animal Expo, Eurasia.

    Angola 8 – 9 October. Led, with my noble Friend Lord Marland, a multi-sector trade mission to Luanda, which included calls on the Angolan Ministers for Finance, Petroleum, Agriculture, Defence, Energy, Trade & Industry and Education.

    2014

    Burma 19 – 23 January. A scoping visit and meetings with key decision makers and practitioners.

    Early stage markets already identified are Angola and Qatar and we continue to keep our activity under review.

  • Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to A UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies, whether UK Trade & Investment has established a new dedicated team to increase the volume and value of overseas investment into the UK agri-tech sector.

    Mr David Willetts

    Yes. The Agri-Tech Investment Organisation was established on 1 August 2013 within UK Trade and Investment. It is staffed by a mix of civil servants and industry experts dedicated to increasing the value and volume of overseas investment into the UK agri-tech sector.

  • Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to A UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies, what progress he has made in establishing a Centre for Agricultural Informatics.

    Mr David Willetts

    Over the last few months we have held a number of discussions and consultation events to identify priorities for this Centre and others that will follow. Building on this input, a sub-group of the Agri-Tech Leadership Council has developed a specification that will be published later this month. The application process will open shortly thereafter.

  • Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many people have been prosecuted under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 for breach of a non-molestation order in each police force area in each year since that Act came into force.

    Oliver Heald

    The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service do not identify the number of people prosecuted for a breach of a non-molestation order. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur disproportionate cost.

  • Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many prosecutions have been (a) commenced, (b) resulted in a non-custodial sentence and (c) resulted in a custodial sentence for (i) witness intimidation, (ii) perverting the cause of justice and (iii) conspiracy to pervert the course of justice as a result of incidents arising from cases involving domestic violence in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

    Oliver Heald

    The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) identify the number of offences in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in magistrates’ courts which were flagged as involving domestic violence, rather than the number of defendants or cases prosecuted.

    The data is accurate only to the extent that the flag has been correctly applied.

    Offences of perverting the course of justice are charged under Common Law, conspiracy to pervert justice, by way of Section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 and intimidation of a witness or juror by way of Section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

    The table below shows, for each of the last five years, the number of these offences charged and reaching a first hearing at magistrates’ courts, which were identified as involving domestic violence.

    2009-2010

    2010-2011

    2011-2012

    2012-2013

    2013-2014

    Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 51 }: Intimidating/threatening or harming a witness or juror

    846

    859

    763

    611

    686

    Common Law: Perverting the course of justice (including attempts)

    140

    136

    103

    121

    150

    Criminal Law Act 1977 { 1 }: Conspiracy to pervert the course of justice

    4

    7

    5

    4

    8

    Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

    There is no indication of the final prosecution outcome, or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at the time of finalisation. It is also often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same victim.

    It is not possible to centrally disaggregate offences charged by way of Section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, to separately identify those offences relating to witnesses from those concerning jurors. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur disproportionate cost.

    The CPS does not hold records of sentences imposed following a conviction. Statistics relating to sentences are maintained by the Ministry of Justice.

  • Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2014-03-31.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will establish a formal investigation, independent of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), into the FCA’s handling of the announcement it made via the press on 28 March of an investigation into closed insurance funds; and whether they have made an estimate of the financial consequences of the creation of a possible false market in insurance securities as a result of the initial announcement and subsequent amendments.

    Lord Newby

    The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Board has announced an investigation which will be independent of the FCA executive. A senior independent lawyer will investigate what went wrong and make appropriate recommendations.

    The Chancellor has written to the Chair of the FCA setting out the questions that the investigation should answer. This includes the question of to what extent a false or disorderly market was present in the period before the FCA issued its statement of clarification. The letter was copied to the Treasury Committee and has been published on the Treasury’s website.

  • Lord Willis of Knaresborough – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Willis of Knaresborough – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Willis of Knaresborough on 2014-03-31.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, following the repeal of European Union Directive 2009/40/EC and the agreement of a new directive at Strasbourg on 11 March with regard to the periodic roadworthiness testing of motor vehicles and their trailers, it will be the United Kingdom Government or the European Union Commission that will decide how the new directive is implemented.

    Baroness Kramer

    The European Union Commission does not have a role in deciding how to implement the new Directive. We are already compliant with the new Directive in most areas and will implement appropriately in the remaining areas in consultation with all parties impacted by changes.