The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on measures to ensure that banks and other financial institutions are not able to profit from the merging of any further education institutions as a result of his Department’s area reviews.
Nick Boles
I refer the hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 02129.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her speech at the Oxford Farming Conference on 6 January 2016, what additional powers she plans to grant to internal drainage boards and other groups to maintain local watercourses.
Rory Stewart
The Government believes that flood risk management work should be carried out by those best placed to do it. The Environment Agency (EA) works in close partnership with Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) and regularly discusses local watercourse maintenance plans with them, including to agree where IDBs could do work on the EA’s behalf, through public sector cooperation agreements. We will continue to discuss with IDBs and other groups where they could take on more responsibility and control of local flood risk management, including by facilitating flood risk partnerships.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will undertake a reassessment of the adequacy of flood alleviation measures proposed in planning permissions that have been granted to developments on floodplains affected by recent flooding.
Brandon Lewis
It is primarily the responsibility of local planning authorities to determine applications for planning permission. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that local planning authorities should avoid inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding by directing development away from areas at highest risk, including floodplains. If there are better sites in terms of flood risk, or a proposed development cannot be made safe, it should not be permitted. Any new buildings that are permitted in flood risk areas should be appropriately flood resistant and resilient.
Local planning authorities and developers are best-placed to understand the details of the development proposed and the local circumstances and risks to determine if a review is needed. It is in the interest of both the local planning authority and the developer to review a planning permission that has yet to be implemented in an area affected by the recent flooding. This can lead to an entirely new planning application being submitted by the developer to deal with the flooding issues now known. If adjustments can be made to the development, an application to make a non-material amendment under section 96A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 may follow. This would allow the local planning authority to impose new conditions and remove or vary conditions attached to an existing planning permission, and may include a requirement to submit an updated flood risk assessment.
If needed, local planning authorities also have powers under section 97 of the 1990 Act to make an order revoking or modifying a planning permission, prior to completion of the development.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will direct local planning authorities to reassess planning permissions granted to developments on floodplains that have been affected by recent flooding events.
Brandon Lewis
I am writing to local authorities affected by the recent floods to remind them of the options available where a development site with an unimplemented planning permission has flooded. Local planning authorities, in consultation with developers, are best-placed to consider whether reviewing a planning permission is appropriate, and what subsequent action may be required to ensure developments will be safe and resilient to flooding, in line with national planning policy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects effective processes to be in place to allow the issuing of fixed penalty notices to people who are smoking in cars when children are present.
Jane Ellison
Local authorities can issue fixed penalty notices for offences related to smoking in private vehicles carrying children; the police can use the traffic offender report to pass information to local authorities who can issue the fixed penalty notice and collect the fines. Guidance on this process has been sent to police forces.
The police and local authorities can also collaborate on enforcement action, for example when carrying out local road safety operations, when the local authority can take enforcement action as appropriate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-04-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time is for the Independent Case Examiner to review accepted cases; and if he will make a statement.
Justin Tomlinson
During the 2015/16 financial year complaints examined by the Independent Case Examiner’s (ICE) Office took an average of 37 weeks to process from the point at which they were accepted.
Improvements in complaint handling within DWP mean that the ICE Office receive far fewer cases which can be resolved, to the complainant’s satisfaction, without a full investigation of the evidence. This means that the ICE process is reserved for more complex cases which are, by nature, more time consuming.
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 11 May 2016 to Question 36451, if she will make it her policy to publish dates of meetings held between the Inter-Ministerial Group on Oil and Gas and representatives from that industry since May 2015.
Andrea Leadsom
The members of the Inter-Ministerial Group are fully engaged with this industry and use this to inform the group’s work.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps the Government is taking to tackle low pay in Northern Ireland.
Mr Ben Wallace
This Government is committed to delivering a higher wage, lower tax and lower welfare society.
That is why we have introduced the new National Living Wage of £7.20 which will benefit 100,000 people in Northern Ireland and increase annual wages by up to £900.
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, whether he has had any meetings or correspondence with his Australian counterpart on recent power cuts in Southern Australia in order to learn any appropriate lessons for the UK energy market.
Jesse Norman
My rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no meetings on the recent power cuts in Southern Australia but we are aware of the problems experienced in Southern Australia following the damage to the grid in severe gales.
The speech made by Alex Cunningham, the Labour MP for Stockton North, in the House of Commons on 9 December 2022.
I congratulate the hon. Member for South Basildon and East Thurrock (Stephen Metcalfe) on promoting this private Member’s Bill and on introducing it today. He made his case very well; this is a matter of great importance that can affect so many of us.
Last year, I wrote to the then Justice Minister overseeing this portfolio, the hon. and learned Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk). I had several concerns, particularly regarding the lack of training and awareness on the limits of power of attorney, that had been brought to my attention by a number of practitioners. The then Minister’s response was reassuring and I am glad that the agenda in this area is moving forward with Government support, but there is still much to be done to improve the system beyond the Bill’s parameters. That said, Labour supports the Bill’s aims and welcomes the modernisation of the process for making and registering lasting powers of attorney.
It is of cardinal importance that donors are protected. If technology can provide more effective ways of strengthening those protections, we should make full use of it. Furthermore, although I understand that the strain on the Office of the Public Guardian has reduced in recent times with the recruitment of more caseworkers, the staff there are still stretched and delays are still being experienced. I hope that the modernisation process provides the necessary streamlining to ease the burden on the Office of the Public Guardian.
We welcome the Bill’s amendment to section 3 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1971, which the hon. Member for South Basildon and East Thurrock mentioned, which will enable chartered legal executives to certify copies of powers of attorney. It is good to see that particular matter addressed. However, there are several areas on which I would welcome the thoughts of the hon. Member or the Minister to inform my understanding of why they have been omitted from the Bill. One notable absence from the Government’s response to the consultation was the Law Society’s recommendation that certification should expressly include consideration of the donor’s capacity. This seems like a sensible proposal to me, and I am interested to hear why the Bill has not taken it on.
While LPAs are one important mechanism by which it is possible to support the exercise of legal capacity, as Alex Ruck Keene KC notes in an article on his excellent website about mental capacity law and policy, it is certainly not the only mechanism. He notes that it would be possible within the same zone of endeavour as this Bill
“to flesh out the provisions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to secure that a person is recognised as being able to make their own decisions in more situations than is currently the case.”
Should we expect further legislation that would provide for wider reforms, or is this Bill the extent of the Government’s ambition for legislative work in this area? I ask with genuine interest, as we are looking forward to working with the Government, and the hon. Member, on introducing reforms in this important area.
I was pleased to read in the Minister’s foreword to the consultation response that
“it remains for me to emphasise again the importance of us modernising LPAs in a way that is right for donors. They are the ones who choose their attorneys, they are the ones that should set the scope of the powers they wish to confer under an LPA, and they are the ones whose rights and freedoms must be protected and facilitated through this service. It therefore remains the case that their needs are paramount and must come before those of any other party as we seek to make changes.”
We very much agree with this sentiment and are looking forward to scrutinising and potentially improving these measures at Committee stage.