The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2015-11-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the current average waiting time is for a workplace capability assessment.
Priti Patel
Official statistics for the current average waiting times for a Work Capability Assessment are not readily available and to provide the information requested would incur disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2015 to Question 13499, when the Civil Aviation Authority began its review of certain aspects of the safety of operations at RAF Northolt; if he will publish the full remit of the review and its conclusions; when he expects to receive the conclusions of the review; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) began its review in July in order to respond to several points raised in a letter from Biggin Hill Airport dated 8 July 2015.
The CAA has now concluded the review and I understand, will communicate the results directly to Biggin Hill Airport shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Tyrie on 2015-11-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will instruct the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to reproduce Table 7.1 of the Final Report of the Airports Commission, published in July 2015, using the Commission’s (a) global growth, (b) relative decline of Europe, (c) low-cost is king and (d) global fragmentation scenarios.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Government is currently considering the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.
The Government will carefully consider all the evidence set out, including that on costs, when making a decision on additional runway capacity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the risk premium negotiated with EDF energy for the waste transfer contracts covering radioactive waste from Hinkley Point C is; and what advisers her Department appointed to assist in those negotiations.
Andrea Leadsom
The waste transfer contracts for the Hinkley Point C power station have been prepared in line with the approach set out in the Waste Transfer Pricing Methodology published in 2011.
As set out in the methodology, the contracts provide for the setting of a Waste Transfer Price for the provision of a waste disposal service. The Waste Transfer Price will be set at a level over and above estimated costs and include a risk premium to compensate the taxpayer for taking on the risk of subsequent cost escalation.
In line with the methodology, the contracts provide that the Waste Transfer Price, and hence the risk premium, is not set at the outset but instead is deferred for a specified Deferral Period to enable greater certainty over expected costs. Therefore the waste transfer contracts for Hinkley Point C do not specify a risk premium. Rather, the contracts set out how the Waste Transfer Price, and hence the risk premium, will be determined at the end of the Deferral Period and the approach in the contracts is in line with the published methodology.
DECC appointed Slaughter and May to provide legal advice in the negotiations on the waste transfer contracts for Hinkley Point C.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-11-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost will be of the safe landing modifications required to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth; and what the implications for those additional costs are for the total cost before operational use of that carrier.
Mr Philip Dunne
The ability of the Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) Aircraft Carrier to support F-35B vertical landings has been incorporated into the design from the outset. The cost of preparing the flight deck was included in the revised cost of £6.2 billion announced by the previous Defence Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Philip Hammond), on 6 November 2013, (Official Report, column 251-254).
For information on the modifications being made to the flight deck of the QEC Aircraft Carrier, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 June 2014 (Official Report, column 237W) to the right hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the factors contributing to the reclassification of Atlantic puffins as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Rory Stewart
The latest population trends indicate a recent decline in the population of UK puffins. This is thought to be due to a combination of factors, including climate change-related food shortages and inclement weather conditions during the breeding season.
The UK is currently undertaking a review of the terrestrial and coastal network of UK Special Protection Areas (SPA), classified under the EU Wild Birds Directive. The review will inform the need for any further SPA provision for this species.
The UK is also making good progress in identifying a number of SPAs in the marine environment to complete our network. These will be in addition to the existing 108 SPAs with marine components currently in place in the UK, which provide protection for just over 11,500km2 of seabird habitat.
Additionally in England, Natural England has been involved in projects to eradicate mammalian predators on Lundy and the Isles of Scilly which should improve the nesting conditions for breeding puffins.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-11-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department provides to support efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation; and what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of that funding.
Mr Nick Hurd
DFID provides no bilateral aid to Brazil. As such, DFID does not provide any support to protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation. DFID does provide support to stop deforestation in other developing countries, such as Indonesia, Liberia, and the Central Africa region, and this is a key priority for UK climate finance.
DFID’s relationship with Brazil focuses on working together in partnership to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development in other developing countries.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support people affected by the rocket attack on Camp Liberty, Baghdad, on 29 October 2015.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We strongly condemn the shameful attack against the civilian residents of Camp Liberty in Iraq on 29 October. Officials from our Embassy in Baghdad raised the attack with the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office on 30 October and made clear the importance of an urgent and comprehensive investigation into the incident and ensuring that all those responsible are brought to justice.
In all of our engagement with the Government of Iraq on this issue, including at Ministerial level and in our statements, we have emphasised the importance of the Iraqi Government doing everything possible to ensure the safety of the residents of Camp Liberty. We support the United Nations’ calls for more to be done to protect the residents.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2015-11-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect on claimants of the extension of time for personal independence payment reassessments referred to in the OBR forecasts of November 2015; and what steps he is taking to address the concerns of people on disability living allowance whose reassessments will take longer to process as a result.
Justin Tomlinson
The Government is committed to delivering Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a safe and secure way, ensuring that we continue to roll it out to existing recipients of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) based on capacity, to ensure an effective and efficient service for claimants. Full PIP roll out started in July this year in a controlled way, allowing us to test, learn and improve the service before we ramp up at scale. From October, in line with previously published plans, we began the full rollout of PIP nationally. There are no delays in the claiming system and we are currently working at business as usual capacity. Existing DLA claimants are being kept informed about reassessment activity, including when or under what circumstances they may be invited to claim PIP, through a range of communication measures including information provided in the annual uprating letter or through information available on www.gov.uk.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress is being made on the accelerated access review for drugs for rare cancers; by what date he plans for that review to be concluded; and if he will set a deadline by which arrangements must be in place for the assessment of new drugs.
George Freeman
The Accelerated Access Review which was set up to look at speeding up access to innovative drugs including those for rare diseases, devices and diagnostics for National Health Service patients has been making strong progress since it was first announced in November 2014.
The review which is independently chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor has been engaging stakeholders extensively over the summer to gather evidence on the big questions the review is considering, and has developed a number of emerging solutions.
Sir Hugh published his interim report of the review on 27 October 2015. The report is high-level, direction-setting and grounded in evidence gathered through the review’s stakeholder engagement to date. The review is embarking on a second phase of engagement with stakeholders to further build the evidence, stress-test and refine the reports interim findings.
The review will conclude with Sir Hugh making his final recommendations to Government by April 2016. The Government will thereafter consider how best to respond.