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 assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness and operation of the Rating (Empty Properties) Act 2007.

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 steps she is taking to reunite lone refugee children in mainland Europe with family members in the UK.

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 Justice, if he will commission an assessment of the effect on victims of domestic abuse and their families of the use of common entrances at family courts for both the perpetrators and victims of that crime.

Mike Penning

Every family court has a system to support vulnerable court users. Protective measures are put in place whenever a court is aware that an individual involved in a case may be violent. These can include separate waiting areas, additional security and the use of separate entrances where appropriate.

Information on the number of children or women injured by a perpetrator of domestic violence after a Family Court decision relating to child contact is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost by manually checking case files in criminal and family courts and matching records.

The family court takes the issue of domestic violence extremely seriously. Where domestic violence or abuse is admitted or proven, any child arrangements order put in place must protect the safety and wellbeing of the child and the parent with whom the child is living, and not expose them to the risk of further harm. In particular, the court must be satisfied that any contact ordered with a parent who has perpetrated violence or abuse is safe and in the best interests of the child.

Where the court does conclude that direct contact is safe and beneficial for the child, it can impose conditions such as supervised contact to protect the child.

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, with reference to her comments at the Oxford Farming Conference on 6 January 2016 on additional powers to internal drainage boards, what plans she has to give local authorities a role in the maintenance of local watercourses.

Rory Stewart

Local Authorities (LAs) have powers to carry out flood risk management works, including maintenance on ordinary watercourses, while the Environment Agency (EA) has powers to carry out work on main rivers. In addition, under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, flood risk management authorities may carry out work using the powers of other risk management authorities using public sector cooperation agreements. There are some excellent examples of LAs working in partnership with the EA and internal drainage boards, for example in Lincolnshire and Somerset.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people caught smoking in cars with children present receive a fixed penalty notice and their fine collected.

Jane Ellison

In changing the law we always said the measure of success would be in changes in attitude and behaviour. As with other smokefree legislation, we expect high levels of compliance with this change. Discussions are ongoing with the relevant authorities about enforcement action.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2016 to Question 31014, whether her Department has (a) paid and (b) been issued with any fines for not meeting the aim of achieving good status for all water bodies by December 2015.

Rory Stewart

The Department has not been issued with any fines relating to any aspect of its implementation of the Water Framework Directive.

The exemptions referred to in my reply to PQ 31014 are:

• Article 4(4) provides for extensions of the deadline to 2021 or 2027 for reasons of disproportionate cost or technical feasibility;

• Article 4(5) provides for setting of less stringent objectives where it would be disproportionately expensive or technically infeasible to achieve good status due to natural conditions or the effects of essential human activity;

• Article 4(6) allows for temporary deterioration due to natural causes such as extreme floods or prolonged drought; and

• Article 4(7) allows for deterioration from high status to good status and failure to achieve good status to allow for new sustainable development activities.

The application of each of the exemptions is subject to conditions set out in the above provision.

River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) provide the framework for protecting and improving the water environment. Updated plans covering the period 2016 to 2021 were published by the Environment Agency (EA) on 18 February.

The Plans for England confirm over £3 billion investment in the water environment by 2021, leading to improvements in at least 680 water bodies by 2021, including an overall target to enhance at least 8,000km of fresh waters by 2021. The EA is currently working with Defra to profile the delivery of this target over the six years that the RBMP covers, and is also working with partners to explore opportunities to deliver more.

The EA coordinates action by water companies, farmers, local groups, businesses and councils to achieve the targets set out in the Plans. These actions include reducing pollution from sewage treatment works, managing water abstraction, opening up rivers to salmon and other fish species, and improving the physical habitat.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many lifetime disqualification orders have been issued under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in each year since that Act was passed.

George Eustice

There are no central records of disqualification orders issued by the courts under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Each individual court would have the details of any disqualification order they have made.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies enhances the capability and effectiveness of existing bodies such as the UNHCR and the Emergency Education Cluster and does not duplicate their work.

Mr Nick Hurd

Education Cannot Wait is designed to bring together the expertise, energy and capabilities of different actors, to work together more effectively on education in emergencies and protracted crises. A diverse range of organisations were involved in the development of the fund – including UN agencies, donors, recipient countries and civil society – through a consultative process co-chaired by the UK and Canada. The fund is intended to enable agencies to do more of what they currently do well in the sector, for example through providing support to strengthen the humanitarian education cluster at a global and local level. The UK will continue to engage closely during Education Cannot Wait’s inception phase, to ensure that this objective is fully reflected in its final design and finance mechanisms, and that a wide range of organisations are represented through the fund’s governance structure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2016 to Question 39766, what proportion of all flights between UK airports and oil rigs were undertaken by (a) AS332 Super Puma and (b) Eurocopter EC225 aircraft in each of those years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The proportion of flights between UK airports and oil rigs undertaken by the AS3332 SUPER PUMA and Eurocopter EC225 aircraft in each year since 2007 is as follows:

Aircraft Type	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
AEROSPATIALE AS332 SUPER PUMA C1E	54.1%	42.5%	33.4%	28.7%	24.9%	23.5%	25.9%	13.4%	4.0%
EUROCOPTER EC225 (H225)	11.0%	14.6%	17.2%	23.4%	27.2%	21.0%	1.5%	15.8%	21.4%

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 makes for long-term humanitarian funding for children in protracted crises (a) in Central African Republic and (b) elsewhere where aid organisations are inhibited in providing psycho-social support for children affected by armed conflict because of short-term funding cycles.

Mr Desmond Swayne

Since 2013, the UK has committed £58 million to address the needs of Central Africans, Central African children and of CAR refugees. This funding has enabled agencies to support children who have been separated from their families, provide services for girls and boys who have suffered sexual and gender-based violence, to reduce malnutrition, and give children access to education and training. The UK monitors need in CAR and reviews regularly the strategy and level of support it provides.

In many other conflict affected countries DFID is providing multi-year funding to help humanitarian agencies with strategic longer term plans to assist conflict affected populations, including children.

In the Syria region for example, the UK has allocated £111 million to provide protection, psychosocial support and education for children affected by the crisis in Syria and the region. In Iraq, this includes funding to establish women and children’s centres, which provide counselling and support for women, and safe spaces for children to play and learn. In Syria, the UK is supporting children with food, shelter and health. The UK also helped launch, and mobilise international support for, the ‘No Lost Generation’ Initiative (NLGI), which aims to prevent a whole generation being lost to the Syria conflict through physical and psychological trauma and lack of access to quality education and other basic services.