Tag: Alex Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the total paid out by his Department in flood compensation grants to households who were not entitled to such payments in the last six weeks.

James Wharton

To date my Department has paid out £47 million to local authorities under the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme. The Scheme is intended to support local authorities with community recovery, business support and property resilience.

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 the Government is taking to assist unaccompanied child refugees in Europe.

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 Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23778, on civil servants: pensions, and with reference to his letter to the hon. Member for Stockton North of 7 January 2016, for what reason a deduction was made from the refund on the Principal Civil Service Pension of the constituent referred to in that letter.

Matthew Hancock

Like other occupational pension schemes, the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) is required by law to provide a widow’s pension, in respect of service from 6 April 1978, whenever a member dies and leaves an eligible widow – irrespective of when that marriage took place. To cover the risk of the scheme having to pay a widow’s pension in respect of a marriage that took place after a member leaves service, a non-refundable insurance-type premium is deducted from the refund of members of the classic section of the PCSPS who remain single throughout service. This premium is a type of group insurance against the specific risk of a member dying and leaving an eligible widow/widower.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the deadline is for making an application to the EU Solidarity Fund in relation to the Cumbria floods.

James Wharton

Applications for the European Solidarity Fund must be received by the Commission within 12 weeks of the date of first damage caused by the disaster.

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 extend her Department’s OpenDefra initiative to the Rural Payments Agency and Land Registry.

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 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what work has been carried out under the National Flood Resilience Review on the costs of protecting the UK from future flooding and extreme weather events.

Rory Stewart

The National Flood Resilience Review, led by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, is making good progress. It is gathering evidence and using extreme flood modelling to stress-test the resilience of Core Cities and key infrastructure. This work will inform future options on the investment needed to secure the resilence of the country against such flood events. Our call for evidence closed on 4 March and we are now reviewing the 66 responses received.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with the Metropolitan Police Service to reduce the time taken to complete pre-employment checks by the Disclosure and Barring 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 2016-05-23.

To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the Government’s ability to prosecute criminals who have left the UK.

Jeremy Wright

The Government’s position is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

Through participation in the European Arrest Warrant, the UK is able to extradite foreign suspects and bring suspects back to the UK more quickly and economically. Since April 2011, it has enabled us to transfer around 5,500 suspects out of the UK and to bring back around 650 to face justice here.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of workforce confidence in the safe operation of commercial helicopter transport in the North Sea oil and gas industry.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The UK’s independent safety regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) takes seriously concerns raised in the safe operation of commercial helicopter transport.

The CAA currently leads the Offshore Helicopter Safety Action Group (OHSAG) which seeks to drive through safety improvements.

The Group is represented across industry and includes pilot and workforce representatives from key organisations to facilitate dialogue between helicopter operators, workforce representatives, manufacturers and regulators.

The OHSAG has made significant safety improvements, including prohibiting helicopter flights in the most severe sea conditions.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much of the money pledged by the UK at the donor conference for Palestinians in Cairo in October 2014 has reached beneficiaries in the Gaza Strip; and what that money has been spent on.

Mr Desmond Swayne

In October 2014, the UK pledged £20 million in early recovery assistance at the Gaza Reconstruction Conference in Cairo. We have fully disbursed our pledge and will exceed it over the coming months, as we disburse residual funds on getting businesses back to work in Gaza.

DFID’s support has included reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation for those injured in the conflict, clearance of unexploded ordnance, short-term employment schemes, shelter and basic services, support to the private sector, funding for the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM), and direct support and technical assistance to the Palestinian Authority.