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  • Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the mean time was between application for payment and receipt of payment of the (a) Basic Farm Payment and (b) Single Farm Payment to individual farms in Kent in the financial year 2014-15.

    George Eustice

    We do not hold information on mean time taken between the application for payment and a receipt of payment for the Basic Payment Scheme and the Single Payment Scheme in England.

    Like-for-like comparisons cannot be made as the scheme rules and consequent administrative checks are different.

    As of 10 March 90.5% of farmers (1,661 of 1,835) in Kent had been paid their BPS claim.

  • Ian Lavery – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Ian Lavery – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the National Flood Resilience Review team has made on assessing the damage that extreme rainfall could cause across England.

    Rory Stewart

    The National Flood Resilience Review led by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is making good progress with gathering evidence and stress-testing our resilience to flood risk. Our call for evidence closed on 4 March and we are now reviewing the 66 responses received.

  • Ian Lavery – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Ian Lavery – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the National Flood Resilience Review will assess the (a) maintenance requirements of flood assets and (b) capacity of the Environment Agency to maintain flood defences.

    Rory Stewart

    The National Flood Resilience Review is not assessing the maintenance requirements of flood assets or the capacity of the Environment Agency to maintain flood defences. The terms of reference for the Review were published on 26 January 2016. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-flood-resilience-review-government-action-to-tackle-floods.

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  • Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Saville Roberts on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs brought into the UK under the Pet Travel Scheme have been (a) seized and (b) put through quarantine in each year since 2012.

    George Eustice

    The Pet Travel Scheme covers pet dogs, cats and ferrets. There are separate rules for the commercial importation of these animals; for example for sale or rehoming.

    Any dog, cat or ferret identified as being non-compliant with either Pet Travel Scheme or commercial rules to enter the UK will be placed into quarantine. We hold data on illegally landed animals for the three previous years and do not record the species involved or whether the quarantined animals were a pet travel or commercial movement.

    The numbers of dogs, cats and ferrets quarantined were 461 in 2013, 498 in 2014 and 609 in 2015.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs were imported into Northern Ireland for (a) non-commercial reasons under the PETS scheme and (b) commercial reasons in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what the countries of origin of those dogs were in each category.

    George Eustice

    The movement of dogs into the United Kingdom, whether through the Pet Travel Scheme or for commercial reasons is a devolved matter.

    The Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland has suggested that the Honourable Member write to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive.

  • Ian Lavery – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Ian Lavery – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the membership of the National Flood Resilience Review team is.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    The National Flood Resilience Review Group meets regularly to review progress of the review. We do not comment on specific date, nor do we publish agendas or minutes

    The National Floods Resilience Review Group is chaired by Oliver Letwin and consists of Ministers and senior officials from relevant departments, including Defra, DECC, DfT, DCLG, HMT, DCMS, the Environment Agency and the Met Office.

  • Ian Lavery – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Ian Lavery – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what dates the National Flood Resilience Review met; what the dates are for future meetings of that review; and if he will publish the (a) agendas for and (b) minutes of meetings of that review.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    The National Flood Resilience Review Group meets regularly to review progress of the review. We do not comment on specific date, nor do we publish agendas or minutes

    The National Floods Resilience Review Group is chaired by Oliver Letwin and consists of Ministers and senior officials from relevant departments, including Defra, DECC, DfT, DCLG, HMT, DCMS, the Environment Agency and the Met Office.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been transferred to the UK from (a) Italy, (b) Hungary, (c) Croatia, (d) France, (e) Belgium, (f) Austria and (g) Germany under (i) articles 6 and 8, (ii) articles 9, 10 and 11, (iii) article 16, and (iv) article 17 of the Dublin III Regulation in the last 12 months.

    James Brokenshire

    Data on cases progressed under the Dublin III Regulation is recorded on the main immigration database. However, this data is not held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons only four of the 10 ePassport gates at Luton Airport were in operation between 7pm and 8pm on 26 February 2016.

    James Brokenshire

    The numbers of ePassport gates in use is an operational decision for Border Force and are flexed according to need. On the evening in question, there was a high proportion of arriving passengers using ID cards who were ineligible to use the gates. Officers were therefore redeployed to the manual immigration desks to assist with the majority of passengers requiring manual checks.

    Waiting times between 19.00 and 20.00 were within agreed service level agreements, with queue measurements for passengers at the ePassport gates being no more than 8 minutes and those at the manual control being no more than 21 minutes.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of visa arrangements for international students on the number of those students coming to study in the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    The student migration system we inherited was too weak, and open to wide-spread abuse, damaging the UK’s reputation as a provider of world-class education. The National Audit Office reported that in 2009/10 up to 50,000 students may have come to work, not study.

    We have clamped down on immigration abuse from poor quality institutions selling immigration rather than education, and since 2010 we have struck off more than 920 bogus colleges. Visa applications for the further education sector, where abuse has been most prevalent over recent years, are down 75 per cent compared with 2010.

    At the same time, we have maintained a highly competitive offer for international students who would like to study at our world-class institutions. This is borne out by the figures: visa applications from international students to study at British universities are up by 16 per cent since 2010, whilst visa applications to our world-leading Russell Group institutions are up by 39 per cent since 2010.

    We will continue to reform the student visa system to tackle abuse and deliver an effective immigration system that works in the national interest.