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Tag: 2016

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce food waste.

    Rory Stewart

    Through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the Government has made significant progress to reduce food waste through the Courtauld Commitment, the Love Food Hate Waste Campaign and the Hospitality and Food Service Agreement.

    Household food waste reduced by 15% between 2007 and 2012 and Courtauld Commitment signatories reported a reduction in supply chain waste of 7.4% from 2009 to 2012, with interim results for Courtauld 3 showing a further 3.2% reduction by 2014.

    Interim results for the Hospitality Agreement show signatories achieved a reduction in CO2e emissions of 3.6% by preventing food waste and the food and packaging recycling rate rose from 45% to 57% between 2012 and 2014.

    WRAP is currently brokering a new agreement with the food sector to build on this success. The Courtauld Commitment 2025 will take a whole food supply chain approach to food sustainability and will include new ambitious targets to reduce food waste. Courtauld 2025 is expected to be launched in March 2016.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to encourage competition between rail services providers in the UK.

    Claire Perry

    Since the launch of the franchising programme in March 2013, the Department has introduced a series of measures aimed at increasing the number of companies in the market.

    Working with UKTI and other partners in Government, we have been actively seeking potential new entrants. We have engaged closely with a number of companies that are looking to join the market and have provided advice on the conditions and qualities of our market so they can begin the process of entry.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Prime Minister’s Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

    Jane Ellison

    At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

  • The Lord Bishop of Leeds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Lord Bishop of Leeds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Leeds on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Iraq on resolving the budget impasse with the Kurdish Regional Government.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We regularly raise the importance of securing a new budget agreement between Baghdad and Erbil with senior representatives of the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

    During his visit to Iraq in March the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), raised the issue with both Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and President of the Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani.

    The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), underlined the importance of a new agreement with Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani in Iraq in December 2015.

    Officials at our Embassy in Baghdad and our Consulate General in Erbil continue to highlight the benefits of a united Iraq and the benefits to both sides of agreeing a new oil sharing and budget arrangement.

  • Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what proportion of dairy products procured for her Department was sourced from Northern Irish producers in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    Figures which detail the origin of dairy products are not held by my Department.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data or other information on the deployment of tasers in mental health settings was provided by Chief Constable David Shaw’s review of taser use.

    Mike Penning

    Data is not recorded centrally on the number of times the police have deployed Taser devices on psychiatric wards. A Taser record is completed by police officers each time a Taser is used. However, this record does not currently show the detailed geographical or type of location.

    Police Use of Taser statistics are published by the Home Office and most recently on 28 April 2016. These provide a snapshot of Taser use.

    We have been very clear that the public need greater transparency and that is why the Home Secretary asked Chief Constable David Shaw to lead an in-depth review of the publication of Taser data and other use of force by police officers.

    The review recommended that the police record and publish the ethnicity, age, location and outcome of all serious use of force by police officers, including physical restraint and Taser. Pathfinder forces started to collect this data from April this year, and it is anticipated that the collection will form part of the 2017-18 Home Office Annual Data Return.

    A copy of Chief Constable David Shaw’s review will be placed in the House library. The review contained no data on the number of times the police have used Taser in mental health settings.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding is given annually by the UK to assist refugee projects in the Middle East.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Department for International Development is providing support to refugees in a number of countries in the Middle East including in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Yemen and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In financial year 2015/16 our support totalled more than £204 million.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the effectiveness of the Need to Sell scheme for residents who are reapplying, (b) the level of flexibility offered by that scheme for those who are reapplying under different criteria, (c) how that scheme streamlines its procedures for those constituents who have terminal illnesses, financial burdens arising from High Speed 2 or any other pressing requirement to sell.

    Andrew Jones

    The Need to Sell scheme is operating as it was intended, and operating fairly. We have already updated guidance to reflect learning from the scheme since its inception in January 2015. This demonstrates that we keep the scheme under review and act if necessary to improve the way it operates.

    Those reapplying for the Need to Sell scheme within six months of their initial application are only judged on the criteria on which they previously failed to meet. Furthermore the assessment panel provides detailed feedback directly to applicants on the criteria they failed to meet. This means that when reapplying applicants can provide targeted evidence that may increase the chance of a re-application being accepted.

    HS2 Ltd endeavours to make decisions on all applications as quickly as possible. As all applicants are applying with a compelling reason to sell it would not be fair to introduce a fast-track system for some applicants. We aim to deal with all applications within three months, however currently the average time to deal with an application is seven weeks.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the existing Vineyard Register is maintained in accordance with EU regulations.

    Jane Ellison

    The Food Standards Agency (FSA) currently maintains a Vineyard Register for the United Kingdom on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This was established and managed in accordance with the European Union requirements set out in Regulation (EC) 436/2009. This statutory obligation was removed on the 1 January 2016 as a result of Regulation (EC) 1308/2013.

    The FSA uses the register for the purposes of official controls relating to UK wine production and to underpin traceability for the various UK wine schemes.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken for appeals for benefit sanctions.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) decisions on a range of benefits.

    HMCTS does not record data specifically relating to appeals against sanctions imposed by DWP.

    In order to increase the capacity of the Tribunal, and therefore speed up the appeals process, HMCTS has recruited extra judges and medical members, increased venue capacity and introduced more efficient processes. This action, coupled with a reduction in appeal receipts, has enabled HMCTS to reduce the overall average length of time to administer appeals from 28 weeks in the period July to September 2014, to 19 weeks for the same period in 2015 (the latest period for which statistics have been published). The median length of time to administer appeals (which will be the experience of the majority of appellants) has reduced from 18 weeks to 14 weeks in the same period.

    Information on the length of time taken to administer appeals generally is published by the Ministry of Justice in Tribunal Statistics Quarterly. The most recent report, for the period July to September 2015, published on 10 December 2015, can be viewed at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2015

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