Tag: Alex Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2016 to Question 22026, what proportion of the £47 million paid to local authorities under the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme was subsequently paid by local authorities to households which were not entitled to flood compensation payments.

James Wharton

Local authorities are responsible for the administration and delivery of the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme.

They determine how to use the money to best meet local need and ensure value for money. My Department does not collect detailed information on the payments that have been made through the Scheme. However, officials are aware that of more that 15,000 payments made to households, fewer than 50 have been found to be incorrect. Those have been returned to the local authority in question.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to prevent new psychoactive substances being used among the prison population.

Andrew Selous

We take a zero tolerance approach to drugs in prison and there are already a range of robust measures in place to detect drugs, including the use of search dogs and intelligence-led searches.

We recently introduced tough new laws which will see those who smuggle packages over prison walls, including new psychoactive substances, face up to two years in prison. We are piloting mandatory drug testing for new psychoactive substances from this month, and intend to roll it out to all prisons by April 2016.

Those who involve themselves in the distribution of drugs in our prisons should know that they will face prosecution and extra time behind bars.

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 applications have been made to local authorities for £5,000 flood protection grants.

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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23729, what the Government’s policy is on the confiscation of the belongings of Syrian refugees over a certain value to help meet the cost of their stay in the UK.

James Brokenshire

The Government does not confiscate the belongings of Syrian refugees or refugees of any other nationality to help meet the cost of their stay in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she expects to have put in place comprehensive management plans for each of the existing Marine Conservation Zones.

George Eustice

The Government is committed to delivering a ‘Blue Belt’ of well-managed Marine Protected Areas around our coasts. Where fisheries management measures are required, the Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authorities and the Marine Management Organisation will put in place measures, such as byelaws, for all inshore Tranche 1 Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) by the end of this year. To date, 19 new byelaws and 14 new voluntary measures that complement over 25 legacy byelaws are already in place. Appropriate fisheries management measures for inshore Tranche 2 MCZ sites will be identified by January 2018, following their designation earlier this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on the competitiveness of different construction materials competing in the same downstream markets of the EU Emissions Trading System.

Anna Soubry

The analysis underpinning the UK Government’s position on the EU Emissions Trading System has considered the impact on the competitiveness of those sectors that compete in the same markets such as construction. We continue to engage proactively with industry as Phase IV discussions continue and welcome any research or evidence on the competitiveness impacts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer of 14 April 2016 to Question 33418, what progress her Department has made on options for taking account of process emissions in a tiering system for the allocation of free allowances under Phase IV of the EU Emissions Trading System; and what those options are.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government supports reform to strengthen the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) while continuing to support the competitiveness of British businesses in the transition to a low-carbon economy. We recognise the barriers to decarbonisation in certain sectors due to high proportions of emissions from chemical processes. Negotiations to reform the EU ETS are still in the early stages, with discussions ongoing on possible tiered free allocation to industrial sectors. We will continue to work closely with UK industry to consider ways to account for the issue of process emissions in the next phase of the EU ETS starting in 2021.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure (a) compliance with and (b) appropriate implementation of COMPASS contracts in Teeside.

James Brokenshire

The provision of accommodation for asylum seekers is provided under the COMPASS contracts. It is the responsibility of all of the suppliers to ensure that all accommodation used meets the required contractual standard and complies with the Decent Homes Standards. The accommodation should be safe, habitable and fit for purpose. The COMPASS providers are required to inspect properties each month and UKVI’s contract compliance teams reinforce this by visiting properties regularly.

The Home Office expects the highest standards and where a contractor is found to be falling short of these standards we work with them to ensure that issues are quickly addressed.

Earlier this year, we instructed our supplier (G4S) to repaint the doors of G4S and Jomast managed properties to ensure that no one colour is predominant. I have received confirmation from the Provider that this had been completed, UKVI staff have also confirmed that no one colour is predominant as they have visited properties as part of their inspection regime.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Government plans to formally respond to Lord Oxburgh’s report on carbon capture and storage in the UK, published on 12 September 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman

The Government will consider closely the findings and recommendations made in the report, ‘Lowest Cost Decarbonisation for the UK: the critical role of carbon capture and storage’, published by the Lord Oxburgh- led Parliamentary Advisory Group on CCS.

Government will be setting out its future approach to CCS in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the breadth of physical activity opportunities beyond sport available to children (a) in and (b) out of school.

Edward Timpson

We want all children to lead healthy and active lives. The government will publish a new sports strategy by the end of 2015. The strategy will set out how the government intends to support young people to participate in, and engage with sport and physical activity.

Schools can offer a variety of opportunities for children to be physically active. Physical education (PE) is a compulsory subject at all four Key Stages in the national curriculum for maintained schools. The curriculum sets out the expectation that pupils should be physically active for sustained periods of time. Teachers have the flexibility to organise and deliver a range of activities.

Through the Primary PE and Sport Premium, the government has committed over £450m of ring-fenced funding to primary schools to improve the quality of their PE and sport provision.

Other programmes focused on increasing physical activity include Change4Life Sports Clubs and the Young Ambassador Peer Leaders programme. Change4Life Sports Clubs aim to increase the physical activity, health and wellbeing of the least active children through healthy lifestyle activities. In May 2015, an independent evaluation on Change4Life Primary Clubs found that around 270,000 children participated in Change4Life Primary Clubs over the lifetime of the programme (2011/12 – 2014/15). Young Ambassadors are primary and secondary pupils who promote physical activity across their school and lead activities with their less active peers.

Outside of school, more than 385,000 families signed up to the Change4Life 10 Minute Shake Up summer campaign and over 700,000 children participated. The campaign encouraged children to team up with some of their favourite Disney characters and enjoy 10 Minute Shake Up activities to keep them healthy and physically active.

The government is also keen to encourage more pupils to walk to school. Statutory guidance for local authorities on travel and transport to school was published in July 2014. Local authorities have a duty to promote the use of sustainable travel and transport and to develop a strategy for sustainable local travel.