UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2015

  • Lord German – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord German – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord German on 2015-09-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the annual cost of maintaining the first and second Severn crossings in each of the last 10 years.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Severn River Crossing Plc (SRC) is required to maintain and repair both Severn Crossings. This includes performing regular maintenance and inspections work and carrying out any necessary repairs.

    Separate maintenance costs are not available. The figures below for both crossings show all of SRC’s operational expenditure including maintenance on both crossings.

    Year

    Operational expenditure (including maintenance) £m

    2005

    8.75

    2006

    9.90

    2007

    10.62

    2008

    10.65

    2009

    10.71

    2010

    10.70

    2011

    13.03

    2012

    13.05

    2013

    14.37

    2014

    13.16

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-09-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether not automatically inviting those aged 75 or over for a bowel screening test complies with their duties under the Equalities Act 2010.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation based on the best available evidence.

    Bowel cancer screening by Faecal Occult Blood testing for men and women aged 50-74 was recommended by the UK NSC in July 2003. Following this recommendation, the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England initially invited men and women aged 60-69 years old as the programme was rolled out across the country. This has now been extended to men and women aged up to 74, as recommended in the Cancer Reform Strategy (2007). The programme offers screening up to the age of 74 based on the original English1 and Danish2 trials along with evidence published in 2010 (Cairns et al, 2010) which recommended that surveillance seizes at the age of 75.

    No assessment has been made regarding automatically inviting those over 75 years for bowel screening. Men and women aged above the eligible age limit have been able to self-refer for screening every two years since the programme began, and so far over 150,000 have done so.

    1Hardcastle JD, Chamberlain JO, Robinson MH, Moss SM, Amar SS, Balfour TW, James PD, Mangham CM. Randomised controlled trial of faecal-occult-blood screening for colorectal cancer.

    Lancet. 1996:348(9040);1472-7

    2Kronborg O, Fenger C, Olsen J, Jorgensen OD, Sondergaard O. Randomised study of screening for colorectal cancer with faecal-occult-blood test.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2015-09-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they plan to make to the government of Hungary about the use of tear gas and water cannon on those seeking asylum.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK expects all EU Member States to meet their obligations to comply with international standards including with regards to the fundamental values of respect for human dignity, freedom and respect for human rights, in the same way they have this expectation of us. The British Government recognises that Hungary has received the second highest number of asylum claims of any EU Member State this year to June, reaching unprecedented levels. We continue to follow closely the situation in Hungary and other Central European countries regarding the arrival of unprecedented numbers of people seeking entry and, often, passage onwards. Staff at our Embassy in Budapest have visited the border with Serbia and reception centres and have also met with Hungarian officials. More broadly as the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has stated, the UK and its EU partners must pursue a comprehensive approach which addresses the causes of the migration problem as well as the consequences.

  • Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-09-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the cost of a twin-bored A303 road tunnel at Stonehenge of length (1) 2.9 kilometres, (2) 4.5 kilometres, and (3) at least 7 kilometres, in order to avoid the entire surface area of the Stonehenge part of the World Heritage Site and its setting.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Road Investment Strategy is clear that the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down scheme involves a tunnel of at least 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometres). Highways England is in the early stage of scheme development, looking at options, including the length of tunnel. Consultation on options will take place in 2017 and will involve stakeholders, local residents, businesses, road users and interested parties.

    Highways England does not yet have reliable cost estimates for a 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometres), or 4.3 miles (7 kilometres) tunnel. This information would become available during the consideration of options. The A303/A30/A358 Corridor Feasibility Study indicated that the cost estimate for a 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometres) tunnel is in the range of £864m to £1321m.

    To date, Highways England has not sought funding outside of their own resources to fund a solution for the A303 past Stonehenge although this does not preclude them from considering other funding sources in the future.

  • Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-09-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has accrued to the public purse in tax receipts from the extraction of coal from open cast mines over the period 1995 to 2015.

    Damian Hinds

    There are no taxes levied specifically on open cast coal mining. This activity is subject to the UK’s general taxation regimes such as VAT and Corporation Tax. However it is not possible to say how much revenue these taxes raise from open cast mines, as the number of companies involved is below the Government’s threshold for disclosing tax liabilities.

  • Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-09-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of how many people will lose their working tax credits as a result of being paid the national living wage.

    Damian Hinds

    The information requested is not available.

    The government’s target is for the National Living Wage to reach over £9 by 2020, which means that a full-time worker currently on the National Minimum Wage will be earning over £5,200 more per year.

  • George Kerevan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    George Kerevan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Kerevan on 2015-09-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the legal basis is for RAF aircraft entering and transiting Syrian airspace when flying from Akrotiri to bombing missions in Iraq.

    Michael Fallon

    RAF aircraft do not enter Syrian airspace when flying from Akrotiri to conduct strike missions in Iraq.

  • Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2015-09-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what consultations her Department held with animal welfare organisations before laying the draft Hunting Act 2004 (Exempt Hunting) (Amendment) Order 2015.

    Rory Stewart

    The Government has received representations from a wide range of interested parties both for and against any repeal or amendment to the Hunting Act 2004.

    The measures proposed in the draft Hunting Act 2004 (Amendment) Order 2015 would not remove the ban on hunting. Given this we judged that more consultation would not have been likely to add to the information available to us.

  • Henry Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Henry Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2015-09-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were admitted to hospital as an emergency case with acute retention of urine due to a blocked Foley catheter in the last three years.

    Jane Ellison

    The requested information is not available centrally as Hospital Episode Statistics cannot identify blocked catheters or the type of catheter in use.

  • Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-09-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refused asylum seekers have been forcibly removed from the country over the last five years.

    Mr John Hayes

    The attached tableshows the number of enforced removals from the United Kingdom for the last five years of people who had claimed asylum at some point.

    The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of enforced removals from the United Kingdom, within the Immigration Statistics release. Data relating to enforced removals are available in tables rv_01 and rv_01_q in Immigration Statistics: April – June 2015 on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.