Tag: 2016

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to encourage households to donate unused food.

    Rory Stewart

    Through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the Government continues to work with the grocery sector to reduce household food waste. The Love Food Hate Waste programme helps UK households to reduce food waste and save money through awareness raising and consumer advice. There has been a 15% (1.3 million tonnes) reduction in household food waste between 2007 and 2012.

    WRAP launched Courtauld 2025 on 15 March, which builds on the progress we have already made. This new agreement includes a target to reduce food and drink waste arising in the UK by 20% by 2025 (calculated as a relative reduction per head of population).

    For the average household, the price of avoidable food and drink waste is £470 per year. For the average household with children, the cost of avoidable food and drink waste is £700 per year.

    The total amount of food thrown away by the average household is 260 kg per year. 160 kg of this is avoidable waste. For the average household with children, this figure rises to 390 kg per year, including 240 kg of avoidable food waste.

    These are the latest available figures, applying to 2012. WRAP aims to publish updated figures for household food waste later this year.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2016 to Question 33687, what investment there has been related to the Collaborative TB Strategy for England 2015 to 2020 for (a) tuberculosis (TB) awareness raising, (b) TB case finding (screening) and (c) treatment for under-served populations such as the homeless; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England has resourced a National Tuberculosis (TB) Office to support implementation of the Collaborative TB Strategy for England, including working with stakeholders on awareness raising and case finding and treatment. The National TB Office is also overseeing the work of a Task and Finish group, which is looking at how to tackle the needs of those with TB in under-served populations, including homeless people. The group will present their findings to the National TB Programme in the autumn.

    NHS England has provided new investment, £10 million in 2015/16 and a further £10 million for 2016/17, to support latent TB infection (LTBI) testing and treatment which includes funding for TB awareness raising and TB case finding and treatment.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Nigel Dodds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with the devolved administrations on her Department’s priorities.

    Sir Desmond Swayne

    DFID Ministers have met Scottish Government Ministers on two occasions in the past year. DFID officials have met officials of the devolved administrations to discuss respective priorities on a number of occasions.

  • Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to support a role for Chinese companies in the construction or ownership of new nuclear power stations in the UK.

    Jesse Norman

    It is for the private sector to fund build and operate new nuclear power stations. We welcome proposals by qualified companies for new nuclear power.

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the power conferred on Ofcom to regulation offensive communications sent in the UK on (a) the internet and (b) social media platforms.

    Matt Hancock

    We are aware of concerns about offensive content on social media. Where this is the case Government expects social media providers to have robust process in place and act promptly when abuse is reported. The UK has strict laws governing such content, which apply equally online and offline.

    Ofcom does not regulate offensive communications on either the internet or social media platforms. The Communications Act 2003 requires Ofcom to set standards to ensure that generally accepted standards are applied to the content of television and radio programmes.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Government’s publication, Call to End Violence against Women and Girls’ Action Plan 2014, published in March 2014, what progress has been made on putting in place a new code of practice to ensure that safe addresses of victims of domestic and sexual abuse are protected; and if he will make a statement.

    Karen Bradley

    Protecting women and girls from violence and supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence remain key priorities for the Government. We will continue to improve the protection for victims and to bring offenders to justice.

    The Home Office has been working with a number of relevant Government Departments to assess what processes and guidance are currently used to protect the addresses and personal information of vulnerable persons and victims of crime. We are now developing a voluntary code of practice to address the identified gaps.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department spent on advertising to raise awareness of the dangers of drug driving in 2014-15.

    Andrew Jones

    In 2014-15 the Department’s THINK! Drug Drive campaign supported the drug drive legislation change by informing an ‘all adult’ audience about the new law and its consequences using PR and local press ads. In addition, we targeted those most likely to drug drive (young males aged 17-34) to challenge and deter them from drug driving, using radio, digital display, video on demand and outdoor advertising.

    The total spent on advertising was £1.4m.

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ensure that young people gain key transferable skills in order to increase their future employment opportunities.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    This Government is taking a series of important steps to help young people gain a good broad education with transferable skills such as literacy and numeracy, as well as employability skills from work experience.

    This includes our reforms to GCSEs to ensure that they are more stretching and provide greater assurance of core literacy and numeracy than the old GCSEs. We are also reforming Functional Skills to improve the rigour and relevance of these qualifications as well as improving their recognition among employers. The new Functional Skills qualifications will be ready to teach in 2018.

    As of August 2015, the condition of funding has been revised, so all 16-18 year old full-time students starting their study programme who have a grade D GCSE or equivalent in maths or English must be enrolled on a GCSE or approved IGCSE qualification in maths or English to work towards attaining a good pass.

    We have also built English and maths into the heart of traineeships and apprenticeships to ensure that young people have the literacy and numeracy skills needed by employers. Our traineeship programme is supporting 16-24 year olds to gain the skills and work experience they need to be able to compete for apprenticeships and other jobs. In addition, all of the new employer-led apprenticeship standards must demonstrate acquisition of transferable skills and offer more than just training for a single job or employer. Standards must ensure that an apprentice can adapt to a variety of roles, with different employers, developing the ability to progress in their careers.

  • Louise Ellman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Louise Ellman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Ellman on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many fixed penalty notices have been issued by police forces for driving on a motorway lane closed with a red X in each of the last 10 years; and if she will make a statement.

    Mike Penning

    Information on the number of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued by police forces for driving on a motorway lane closed with a red X is not available.

    Driving in a motorway lane closed with a red X comes under the broader offence category ‘neglect of traffic signs’ and cannot be separately identified.

    The Home Office has issued no formal guidance or instructions to the police on the enforcement of non-compliance of red X light signals. The enforcement of this offence is an operational matter for the police, as determined locally and based on local priorities.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of neonatal deaths in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK in each of the last ten years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.