Tag: Alex Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what savings his Department has made as a result of the Rating (Empty Properties) Act 2007 in each of the last five financial years.

Mr Marcus Jones

In July 2012 the Department for Communities and Local Government published a post – legislative assessment of the then Government’s Rating (Empty Properties) Act 2007 which can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/236094/8411.pdf

We do not hold the figures requested. Details of empty property rate relief granted can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/417995/150326_Table_2_-_3_years.xlsx

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of reports by the Chief of Staff of Europol that 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees may have disappeared in Europe in 2015.

James Brokenshire

Unaccompanied children in other EU countries should be able to access the support needed in those countries. The European countries in which they arrive have international obligations and a duty to provide adequate protection and support to refugees within their territory.

We are working closely with UN agencies, NGOs and the Member States involved to ensure that protection is provided. We will provide further resources to the European Asylum Support Office to help in border “hotspots” in Greece and Italy to help identify and register children at risk on first arrival in the EU.

The Government remains concerned about the needs of vulnerable children on the move in Europe and the Balkans, and the needs of those who become stranded along the route. The UK has therefore increased its aid to refugees and migrants, including children, in Europe and the Balkans to £46 million, divided among the most affected countries and including specific support of £2.75 million to UNICEF, which will benefit 27,000 children. In addition, the Department for International Development (DFID) is creating a new fund of up to £10 million to support the needs of vulnerable refugee and migrant children in Europe, the Refugee Children Fund for Europe.

This will include targeted support to meet the specific needs of unaccompanied and separated children who face additional risks. The support will be delivered through a range of UN agencies and NGOs. Unaccompanied children that have a close family link to the UK and claim asylum in another EU country may be entitled to be transferred to the UK under the family unity provisions of the Dublin Regulation. We want to ensure we reunite children with any close family in the UK as quickly and as safely as possible, and we work closely with EU partners on this issue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of commissioning an Environment Agency assessment of the SSI steel works site on Teesside to determine what work would be required to prepare that site for redevelopment; and what the costs of the redevelopment would be.

Rory Stewart

Officials in the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive are already working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government to provide the Official Receiver with the necessary support to deliver a ‘safe state’ position for the SSI site.

We are also working with the Official Receiver, Lord Heseltine, Redland and Cleveland Borough Council and local partners on the longer-term future of the site to realise its economic potential. Once we have a better collective understanding of the potential future use of the site, it will be possible to assess what the costs of the redevelopment will be.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what powers she intends to extend to farmers in relation to the dredging of watercourses on their land.

Rory Stewart

The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 were laid before Parliament on 2 February. Subject to parliamentary approval, from April the Regulations will remove a number of low risk activities from the need for a flood defence consent permit from the Environment Agency, enabling it to focus on the highest risk activities. This includes allowing farmers to maintain ditches up to 1.5km long subject to a number of conditions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make maps of UK land ownership available as open data as part of her Department’s OpenDefra initiative.

George Eustice

The OpenDefra initiative extends to the whole of Defra including the Rural Payments Agency. The initiative does not extend to the Land Registry.

The Rural Land Register, the Land Management System that has replaced it, or other systems maintained by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), do not look to establish land ownership. The RPA is required to maintain information on land use, in England because land use, and the entitlement to use it, is one of the determining factors in relation to eligibility to claim funds that RPA validates.

We are currently reviewing, the Data Protection Act, confidentiality of information held and intellectual property rights to determine whether information on land use can be released under the open data initiative.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2015 to Question 13258, whether an hon. Member will be informed about a post-16 area-based review on the basis that their constituency is in the area covered by the review or on the basis that a college in their constituency is included in a review.

Nick Boles

The Joint Area Review Delivery Unit supporting the area reviews will arrange for Hon. Members to receive a letter informing them when a review is being launched that covers any part of their constituency and inviting them to give their views.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the current average waiting time is for the completion of pre-employment checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service involving (a) Cleveland Police and (b) the Metropolitan Police Service.

Karen Bradley

Performance data for the Disclosure and Barring Service for March 2016 indicates that average processing time for DBS applications was 14.8 days. Certificates dispatched to applicants by the DBS in March 2016 involving (a) Cleveland Police and (b) the Metropolitan Police Service took an average of (a) 24 days and (b) 122 days.

Protecting the public is a priority for this Government and it is important that checks undertaken are thorough; a proportion of the applications received by the DBS must be referred to one or more police forces as part of the enhanced disclosure process. In the vast majority of cases these checks are completed within target. The DBS is working closely with the small number of forces, including the MPS, whose performance does not meet turnaround time targets. The performance of police disclosure units is an operational issue for individual police forces and the MPS has established a Gold Group to oversee the recovery plan which they have in place to reduce the time taken. I have made clear to the MPS that its current delays must be addressed as a matter of priority and I continue to maintain close oversight of the progress being made.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will confirm that any funding received as a result of the application for EU Solidarity Fund Assistance will be distributed to those communities affected by recent flooding.

James Wharton

We are determined to do all we can to support flood-affected areas, which is why we have already paid out over £250 million to ensure that communities and businesses can get back on their feet as soon as possible. Once our application to the EU Solidarity Fund has been finalised, and approved by the Commission, we will consider how any additional funding should be used.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of (a) Airbus EC225 and (b) AS332 helicopters have been withdrawn from commercial service in the UK North Sea oil and gas sector since the fatal incident off the coast of Bergen, Norway on 29 April 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has been working very closely with the Norwegian CAA following the Airbus EC225LP incident on the 29^th April.

Shortly after the accident, the CAA introduced restrictions to Airbus Helicopters EC225LP to prevent operations for commercial flights by UK operators. On 11^th of May, these restrictions were extended to include the AS332L2 Super Puma helicopter.

Following a report by Norwegian Air Accident Investigators on 1st June, the CAA further extended these restrictions to prohibit all flights by these helicopters until further information is available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what provisions her Department has made for (a) child and adolescent friendly spaces and (b) other psycho-social support for children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK is the third largest donor to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is providing basic education and protection for over 230,000 children in Gaza.

As part of the UK’s humanitarian response to the 2014 conflict, DFID activated its £3 million Rapid Response Facility which included support to Handicap International, Plan International and International Medical Corps to provide psycho-social support, child protection and mental health support to children in Gaza.

DFID also provided support to the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) who have cleared all UNRWA and 21 Palestinian Authority schools of unexploded ordnance allowing 250,000 students to return to school.