Tag: 2016

  • Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress has been made on selecting a route for high speed rail across the Pennines.

    Andrew Jones

    In the recent 2016 Northern Transport Strategy Spring Update, Transport for the North published some of the emerging options for Northern Powerhouse Rail, including new lines and major upgrades across the Pennines.

    By the end of the year, Transport for the North and the Department for Transport will have established a more detailed view of the potential route options for Northern Powerhouse Rail, their capabilities, and their costs and benefits, providing the evidence base for prioritising route options.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people were living in the private rented sector by (a) age group and (b) local authority area in each of the last five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department collects information on the age of private renters via the English Housing Survey (EHS). The size of the EHS sample does not permit us to produce local authority estimates. England figures going back to 2003 can be found in AT1.4 here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/501068/2014-15_Section_1_Households_tables_and_figures_FINAL.xlsx

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-09-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the role that Parliament should play in triggering the Article 50 process, in the subsequent negotiating process, and in approving or otherwise the final terms under which the UK leaves the EU.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Department for Exiting the EU will work closely with Parliament on what the approach to negotiations should be. The Government’s position is clear: triggering Article 50 is a prerogative power and one that can be exercised by the Government. There are now legal proceedings underway and it would therefore not be appropriate for the Government to comment further on these at this time.

    The precise timing, terms and means by which we leave the EU will be determined by the negotiations that follow the triggering of Article 50. We will observe in full all relevant legal and constitutional obligations that apply.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for which departments and organisations which receive public funding it is his policy that exit payment caps for public sector workers as proposed in the Enterprise Bill should not apply.

    Greg Hands

    The Government consulted on implementing a public sector exit payment cap in July 2015. The Government response to this consultation was published on 16 September 2015. This response provides detail on the potential impacts of the cap and sets out which organisations the Government intends to capture within scope of the public sector exit payment cap. The final policy is in line with the Government’s manifesto commitment to end tax payer funded six figure payoffs for public sector workers.

    The consultation ran from 31 July to 27 August 2015. Over 4000 responses were received. These representations were considered during and after the consultation to inform the Government response that was published on 16 September 2015.

    The response document can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464367/Public_sector_exit_payments_response.pdf

    An impact analysis was published within the exit payment cap consultation document which respondents had an opportunity to comment on. Further, the Government worked with departments and took into account consultation responses received after the official deadline to inform the impact of a public sector exit payment cap set at £95,000 in different sectors and for different categories of workers. This assessment gave due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty.

    The exit payment cap is intended to capture organisations classified as public sector by the Office for National Statistics with few exceptions as identified in the consultation response.

    The Government does not expect the cap to have a widespread impact on the take-up of voluntary redundancy.

    At the 2015 Spending Review the Government announced it will consult on further cross public sector action on exit payment terms. This consultation will provide a good opportunity to collect further information on the trends in the level of exit payments between the private and public sector.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many £5,000 flood protection grants have been paid to (a) households and (b) businesses by local authorities.

    James Wharton

    To date, local authorities have received 1,285 applications for Property Level Resilience grant funding and have so far approved 162.

    Property Level Resilience grants are dependent on works which require properties to dry out and are usually claimed retrospectively. The current rate of payments is similar to equivalent previous schemes where the profile of spend shows payments accelerate in the third and fourth quarters after damage.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2015 to Question 5063, whether the text of the EU Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement will be subject to approval by Parliament once it has been laid.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government currently expects the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) to be a “mixed agreement” i.e. between Canada, the EU and the EU’s Member States. This would mean that the complete draft text of the agreement would be laid before Parliament for at least 21 sitting days and during this time MPs and Lords may debate the treaty and vote on the proposed ratification.

    CETA is an ambitious trade agreement. However, the Government has concluded that “overall a free trade agreement along the lines of EU-Canada would bring less advantageous terms for UK trade than those we currently enjoy, with particular issues for UK services losing access to the Single Market" (Paragraph 3.65, Alternatives to membership: possible models for the United Kingdom outside the European Union; March 2016).

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of Yazidi women who have escaped from captivity by Daesh and are now (a) being given refuge by organisations in Iraq and (b) in refugee camps in Turkey.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    It is difficult to accurately estimate the number of Yazidi women who have escaped from Daesh captivity. Some reports suggest the figure could be approximately 2500 but there is no definitive estimate.

    There are now over 3.4 million Internally Displaced Persons in Iraq. Our humanitarian partners do not take into consideration the ethno-religious origins of people requiring assistance. Assistance is provided on a needs basis, regardless of race, religion or ethnicity. It is therefore very difficult to breakdown figures for those being cared for by organisations in Iraq or in refugee camps in Turkey on the basis of religion.

    To date, the UK has pledged over £2.3 billion of humanitarian assistance in response to the Syria crisis, and provided an additional £79.5 million to Iraq to help support those displaced by Daesh.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total cost was of the InterCity West Coast rail franchise consultation; and if he will make a statement.

    Claire Perry

    The InterCity West Coast rail franchise consultation launched earlier in the month and is due to close in August, so the total cost is not yet known. To date around £12,500 has been incurred to produce and distribute the consultation documentation and supporting materials in both English and Welsh.

    We will continue to engage with the public at events over the coming weeks and hope that they will make their views heard so that we can ensure that the next franchise truly meets their needs. We will also be holding regional events with stakeholders across the route over the consultation period providing opportunities for them to put questions to DfT officials to help inform their responses to the consultation.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department has spent on preventing the spread of ash dieback disease since that disease was first detected in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    We are monitoring and managing ash dieback and have invested over £4 million into surveillance and research.

    Our surveillance programme involving Government, industry, conservation groups and the public, enables us to monitor the disease and to target resources effectively.

    Investing in research on the development of tolerant trees is one of our key commitments in response to the disease. Ash trees have a very wide genetic diversity and have the potential for great levels of resistance compared to other tree species that have been affected by diseases.

    The Government-funded research and screening trial of 155,000 ash saplings is unprecedented in its scope. It has now identified native ash trees that show tolerance to ash dieback, raising the possibility of using selective breeding to develop strains of trees that are tolerant to the disease.

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

    Lord Clement-Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-09-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with other governments about the closure of domestic ivory markets.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    A number of proposals on elephant and ivory related issues will be discussed at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to be held in South Africa between 24 September 2016 and 5 October 2016. This will include discussions on the existing global ban on the trade in ivory, which the UK is committed to maintaining, and the role of domestic ivory markets in illegal trade. Officials have engaged in substantial discussions with counterparts from other EU Member States on these and other issues over several months in formulating the EU and Member State position at the CITES Conference. The UK will continue to play a full role in these discussions.

    The then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Affairs, Rory Stewart, discussed the issue of the closure of domestic ivory markets with the Government of the United States (US) during a trip earlier this year. In addition officials in Defra are in regular contact with their US counterparts and have discussed the US measures on a number of occasions.

    The Government has been actively exploring options with relevant parties about how to implement the UK Government’s manifesto commitment to press for a total ban on ivory sales and the steps to be taken in respect of the UK’s ivory market. On 21 September 2016 the Secretary of State announced plans for a ban on sales of items containing ivory dated between 1947 and the present day, putting UK rules on ivory sales among the world’s toughest.

    The Government will consult on plans for the ban early next year, seeking views from conservationists, traders and other relevant parties to ensure clear rules and guidance for those operating within the law, while cracking down on illegal sales. This will complement the existing UK ban on trade in raw ivory tusks. Trade in raw tusks presents the greatest risk of poached ivory entering the legal market.

    TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring organisation, has recently published its independent report – A Rapid Survey of the UK ivory market. Although not an exact comparison with a survey conducted in 2004, TRAFFIC’s survey found the number of market stalls offering ivory for sale had declined by approximately two-thirds and the number of items offered for sale had halved. No new or raw ivory was seen in any of the physical market outlets or online platforms— only one ivory item seen for sale was reportedly from after the legal cut-off (1947) for antique ivory being sold without CITES documentation within the EU. Ivory is a key UK wildlife crime priority with an enforcement action plan in place to tackle risk. For example, UK Border Force through Operation Quiver has in particular successfully targeted ivory sent through postal systems.