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Tag: 2016

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what (1) proportion, and (2) volume, of excavated spoil from each of the Thames Tideway Tunnel construction sites will be transported from them by river.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Development Consent Order for the Thames Tideway Tunnel (TTT) requires 100% of the specified materials to be transported by river for construction sites on the Thames foreshore, unless an approved derogation is in place. Derogations could include periods when it is not possible to use river transport due to factors such as river closures, incidents, weather and supply chain failures, and for material not suitable for river transport such as contaminated material that needs specialist disposal or material that is too wet for safe transit without specialist vessels.

    The commitment to transportation by river from the construction sites was secured through the River Transport Strategy, which was included in Thames Water’s application for Development Consent for the Tunnel, although it only applies to specific material listed in the Strategy (including excavated material from the main tunnel at main tunnel drive sites and material excavated from the shafts at foreshore sites).

    Bazalgette Tunnel Limited (operating as Tideway), the company appointed to design, finance, build and operate the TTT, has estimated the proportion and volume of excavated spoil that will be transported by river from each of the TTT construction foreshore sites (see Table 1 below). The percentages shown for each site demonstrate the anticipated effect of derogations on the amounts of excavated spoil they will be able to transport by river.

    However, Tideway and appointed mains works contractors have made commitments to maximise their use of river transport and are therefore working on opportunities to increase the extent of river transport further in liaison with the Local Authorities, Greater London Authority, Port of London Authority and Transport for London.

    Table 1 – Excavated specified material percentage and volume by river transport

    SITE

    % of all excavated specified material transported by river

    Volume to be transported by river (m3)

    Putney Bridge Foreshore

    90%

    14,000

    Carnwath Road Riverside

    90%

    353,400

    Cremorne Wharf Depot

    90%

    9,000

    Chelsea Embankment

    90%

    44,400

    Kirtling Street

    81%

    693,600 *

    Heathwall Pumping Station

    82%

    16,300**

    Albert Embankment

    90%

    56,300

    Victoria Embankment

    90%

    27,900

    Blackfriars Bridge

    90%

    72,100

    Chambers Wharf

    90%

    416,100

    King Edward Memorial Park

    90%

    57,500

    *excludes shaft and excavated material from ‘other’ minor structures, due to restricted river frontage

    **excludes ‘excavated material from ‘other’ minor structures’, due to site constraints

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to respond to the European Parliament’s call for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, and if so, how.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    It is up to individual member states, not the European Parliament, to make national arms export licensing decisions.

    The Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of all relevant factors at the time of the application.

    We are able to review licences and suspend or revoke as necessary when circumstances require.

    The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK’s export licensing criteria.

  • Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what estimate his Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment he has made of which of his Department’s agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.

    David Mundell

    Under the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which will be transposed into national law by June 2017, a politically exposed person is one who has been entrusted with a prominent public function domestically or by a foreign country. This would include some senior civil servants, such as ambassadors and chargés d’affaires.

    The Government’s view is that the Directive permits a risk-based approach to the identification of whether an individual is a politically exposed person and, when identified, the Directive enables the application of different degrees of enhanced measures to reflect the risks posed. The Government will be setting out this view in a consultation which will be published shortly.

  • Lord Clark of Windermere – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Clark of Windermere – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clark of Windermere on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with National Grid in relation to the erection of pylons to carry power through the Lake District National Park from the proposed nuclear generation station adjacent to Sellafield.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Government holds regular discussions with National Grid across a range of energy matters. Some of these include factual updates from National Grid on its proposed major electricity transmission projects. When this occurs, Ministers and officials do not provide any views to National Grid due to the role DECC Ministers would play in the determination of any development consent applications.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost was of a tribunal hearing for a benefits claimant who had been sanctioned for not complying with work search requirements in the last 12 months; how many such tribunals there were in each of the past five years; and what the total cost was of those tribunals in each of the past five years.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The information requested is not held centrally.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase public awareness of the role of social workers.

    Edward Timpson

    Social workers perform some of the hardest roles in society and that is why it is already a graduate profession. Government is continuing to invest in social work education and training, including through the highly successful Step Up to Social Work and Frontline programmes, both of which aim to bring high calibre graduates into child and family social work, and Think Ahead, which offers a new route for graduates and career-changers into adult mental health social work.

    Improving the quality and status of child and family ‎social work is a high priority. Higher standards, including through the introduction of a national system of assessment and accreditation will help provide greater assurance that social workers have the necessary knowledge and skills for the demanding work they do. The Government does not, however, have any specific plans to increase public awareness of the role of social workers.

    Government does not collect data on the number of cases held by social workers on a weekly basis. The department expects to publish caseload information, for the first time, relating to the year ending 30 September 2016, in February 2017.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how (a) much funding from the public purse has been allocated to and (b) many full-time equivalent staff were employed by (i) UK Visas and Immigration and (ii) the UK Human Trafficking Centre for their work in relation to the National Referral Mechanism in each of year since 2009-10.

    Sarah Newton

    Staff in the Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Unit (MSHTU, formally UKHTC), and the Home Office UKVI who engage in work related to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) often undertake additional or different work based on changing priorities. It is therefore not possible to provide figures on the budget and full-time equivalent staff dedicated to the NRM function.

  • Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to prepare for the outcome of the EU referendum.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in the United Kingdom – so we get a better deal for our country and secure our future. We are confident that the right agreement can be reached.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Turkey about the number of children killed by military and police action in Turkey since June 2015.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    As I said in my answer to Lord Patten’s question on 1 February (HL5288), the ongoing violence in south east Turkey is extremely concerning. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) continues to kill members of the Turkish police service and security forces in violent terrorist attacks. We believe Turkey has a legitimate right to defend itself against the PKK, whose attacks we condemn as we condemn all terrorism. Our thoughts are with the victims of these attacks, and the civilians, including children, who have been caught up in the violence.

    We have been clear, in public and private, that PKK violence must end and we support a return to the peace process, in the interests of Turkey and the region. We stand ready to help in any way we can. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), and our Ambassador to Turkey have emphasised the need to respect human rights and the importance of avoiding civilian casualties to the Government of Turkey.

  • Baroness Suttie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Suttie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Suttie on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are funding training for the Tunisian tourism industry in order to improve their security arrangements, and if so, by how much.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Following the terrorist attacks in Sousse the British Government made a commitment to help the Tunisian government improve its security arrangements. This includes helping them improve their counter-terrorism capacity and ability to protect tourists, including British nationals. The UK continues to lead on providing expertise and mentoring for protective security with support from international partners. We do not release details of specific counter-terrorism activities for operational and security reasons.