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Tag: 2016

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy is on retaining access to EU agri-environment schemes for new applicants after the autumn statement; and what discussions her Department has had with HM Treasury on those schemes.

    George Eustice

    As announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, agri-environment agreements signed after the Autumn Statement and which continue after we have left the EU are guaranteed funding if they are good value for money and in line with domestic strategic priorities.

    Defra will have responsibility in England for the allocation of funds to agri-environment agreements in line with these conditions and the wider rules on public spending.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps the Government is taking to improve the process of switching suppliers for customers with prepayment meters.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government is working with Ofgem on a programme of work to radically overhaul the change of supplier process for gas and electricity customers and deliver reliable next day switching.

    The Government’s commitment to ensuring every home in Britain is offered a smart meter by the end of 2020 will enable quicker and easier switching for all customers, including those with pre-payment meters. A number of suppliers are already offering or trialling smart pre-payment services to consumers.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 February 2016 to Question 26169, on social security benefits: disqualification, what the established safeguards are which are in place to prevent the accrual of sanctions.

    Priti Patel

    The sanctions regime has a range of safeguards for claimants, including ensuring all requirements placed on claimants are reasonable, taking into account individual capability and circumstances, such as health conditions, disability and caring responsibilities.

    A further safeguard exists so that sanctions at the same level do not increase in duration when the claimant accrues 2 or more within a two week period. This ensures claimants cannot accrue lengthy sanctions within a short period in between meetings with their work coach. We keep the sanctions process under constant review and use research analysis and insight to improve the clarity of all our products and policies.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-03-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 7 March (HL6225) and 8 March (HL6323), and the letter from the Chief Executive of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to both Lord Alton of Liverpool and the Department of Health on 7 March, whether there are any principled reasons why copies of the patient information and consent forms submitted to the HFEA by the person responsible in order to perform genome editing in human embryos by means of CRISPR-Cas9 have not yet been made publicly available; if so, what those reasons are; and if not, when they will place those documents in the Library of the House.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it is has no objections to these documents being placed in the Library. While licence applications and associated documents are not routinely placed in the public domain, inspection reports relating to licence renewal applications and the minutes of the licensing Committee’s decision, which contain lay summaries, are published on the HFEA’s website.

    Licence applications may contain third party personal information. On this occasion, a copy of the research licence application and associated documents is attached with third party personal information redacted.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for economic security of the proposed merger between the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Once formally notified of the proposed merger, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (as supervisors of the London Stock Exchange Group’s UK-authorised subsidiaries) must assess the proposal from a regulatory standpoint.

    In addition the proposed merger must be approved by competition authorities and is subject to a range of other assessments including those of overseas regulators and shareholders.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on his review of the legal and financial implications of an alternative pavement parking regime.

    Andrew Jones

    I chaired a roundtable meeting with stakeholders in March to discuss the practical, legal and financial implications of a possible alternative enforcement regime for pavement parking in England, outside London. The Department aims to build the evidence base on this issue over coming months working with local authorities and other interested parties. The outcome of this work will inform consideration of options later in the year.

  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to support Royal Blackburn Hospital’s accident and emergency department.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The provision of accident and emergency services at the Royal Blackburn Hospital is a matter for the local National Health Service.

    The Pennine Lancashire System Resilience Group is responsible for overseeing system performance and the effective delivery of urgent and emergency care locally.

    We are making additional resources available to the NHS to deal with increased demand, by backing the NHS Five Year Forward View with £10 billion a year real terms additional funding by 2020-21, compared to 2014-15, and £3.8 billion real terms growth in 2016-17.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of greyhound trainers’ kennel standards before legislation is to be brought forward to amend the Welfare of Racing Greyhound Regulations 2010.

    George Eustice

    Defra’s Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010 contained an assessment of standards at trainers’ kennels and found that more was needed to be done to safeguard welfare. As a result, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) has agreed to work through the British Standards Institution and with other stakeholders, to develop a consensus standard for trainers’ kennels. The GBGB has also agreed to seek to extend its current United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accreditation to cover the enforcement of these new standards at the kennels of GBGB licensed trainers. During the Review process no evidence was submitted to Defra on the numbers of greyhound trainers operating solely at the four remaining independent tracks in England and the conditions at any such kennels. Therefore Defra are giving further consideration as to how best to gather this evidence, this includes a possible joint research project with the Dogs Trust. Any Defra research will be published on the Gov.UK website and any useful information found will be used in an Impact Assessment that would accompany any regulations for trainers’ kennels.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of measures to stimulate demand for recycled material; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    Incentivising recycled content in new products has environmental benefits, and consumers generally have a positive image of products with recycled content.

    Working through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), we have developed and delivered a number of activities in support of both the use of recycled materials in new products, and on activities to stimulate its demand. Developing and securing sustainable end markets for recycled materials is key to ensuring the UK meets its statutory recycling targets and supports growth of the waste reprocessing sector. For example, recycled bottle plastic now has a number of end markets, including “back to bottles” and plastic packaging such as trays, as well as its more traditional end market of fibre.

    We have significant ongoing work in the area, including the delivery of the Plastics Industry Recycling Action Plan. This includes projects on design for recyclability and development of suitable end markets for plastic recyclate; and the coordinated development and delivery of a Food Waste Recycling Action Plan by industry and Local Authorities to disseminate and promote current research and best practice to increase the supply and quality of household and commercial food waste to the food waste recycling industry.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions in each of the last three years the Ambassador of the UK to Burundi (1) visited Bujumbura, and (2) met the President of Burundi.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    In 2014 our Ambassador visited Bujumbura on eight occasions and met with President Nkurunziza on three occasions.

    In 2015 our Ambassador visited Bujumbura on seven occasions and met with President Nkurunziza on two occasions.

    In 2016 our Ambassador has visited Bujumbura on one occasion so far.