Tag: Alex Cunningham

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children and women were seriously injured by a perpetrator of domestic violence after a Family Court decision to allow child access for a perpetrator of that crime in each of the last five years.

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 decentralising decision-making, what steps she plans to take to ensure funding to tackle flooding and the maintenance of flood defences is allocated fairly and transparently to local groups.

Rory Stewart

The Environment Agency allocates funding according to where it will have the most benefit to people and property using System Asset Management Plans for each of its flood defence asset systems. The Environment Agency discusses local maintenance programmes with local communities and groups like internal drainage boards. The Environment Agency publishes its maintenance programme online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/river-and-coastal-maintenance-programme.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which areas of the UK are covered by his Department’s application for assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund to help communities affected by recent floods.

James Wharton

The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February. The application included an estimate of eligible costs from Scotland, Wales, Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and the City of York, West Yorkshire, and Northumberland.

Having made this initial application, we are in the process of refining our cost estimations and figures, and will work with the Commission to finalise details.

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, what exemptions provided by the EU Water Framework Directive allow (a) the deadline to be extended to 2021, (b) the deadline to be extended to 2027 and (c) a less stringent objective to be set.

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 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 she is taking to encourage other donors to fund Education For All: the fund for education in emergencies at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit.

Mr Nick Hurd

The UK has played a leading role in the development of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23rd May. The UK has committed to provide £30 million in support over two years to the new fund as a founding donor, which was announced by the International Development Secretary at the fund’s launch. The UK is working closely with UNICEF and other partners to encourage a broad funding base to Education Cannot Wait, including funding from non-traditional donors, private sector and philanthropic organisations. An example is UK technical support to the fund’s case for investment and other key communication and outreach products, to raise awareness of the fund with others.

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, on offshore industry helicopters, how many and what proportion of flights in the UK North Sea oil and gas sector were undertaken by each other licensed model helicopter in each year since 2007.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The proportion of flights between UK airports and oil rigs undertaken by helicopters other than AS3332 SUPER PUMA and Eurocopter EC225 aircraft in each year since 2007 is in the attached table.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of electric charging points in air quality management areas, (b) number of such points needed to have an effect on air quality and (c) associated costs of upgrading the necessary grid infrastructure.

Andrew Jones

The Government wants almost every car and van to be a zero emission vehicle by 2050 and is investing £500m between 2015 and 2020 to help deliver this. The long-term transition to ultra low emission vehicles can help improve local air quality, and will also lower UK greenhouse gas emissions and provide high value jobs and growth, but our modelling suggests that even very rapid uptake can have only a marginal impact on today’s air quality problems because of the time taken to turn over the vehicle fleet.

We are aware that a number of local authorities have been assessing electric car charging point requirements in air quality management areas.

The Government is considering future grid and chargepoint requirements as part of its planning for this transition. The UK already has the largest network of rapid chargepoints across Europe and over 6000 publically accessible chargepoints have been part-funded by the Government. We will continue to collaborate with industry to ensure that the UK’s infrastructure network meets the needs of electric vehicle drivers.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of levels of compliance with the Environmental Protection (Restriction of the Use of Lead Shot) (England) Regulations 1999 (as amended).

Rory Stewart

The Government is considering the independent Lead Ammunition Group’s report on the effect of lead shot on human and wildlife health and will respond as soon as possible.

The Food Standards Agency has produced advice on the consumption of lead shot game which can be accessed at https://www.food.gov.uk/science/advice-to-frequent-eaters-of-game-shot-with-lead.

“

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what level of lead consumption his Department has defined as safe; and what evidence his Department has received on the mean level of lead in (a) game meat and (b) game meat shot with lead ammunition.

Jane Ellison

Government set up the independent Lead Ammunition Group in 2010 to provide advice on risks to wildlife and human health from lead shot game. The Government is considering the independent Lead Ammunition Group’s report on the effect of lead shot on human and wildlife health and will respond as soon as possible The Food Standards Agency (FSA) accepts the expert advice of the UK Committee on Toxicity and the European Food Safety Authority that it is not possible to set a safe level for exposure to lead from food. However, to better understand the potential risk to UK consumers the FSA produced a risk assessment in 2012 based on its survey data from 2007 of game meat samples; Veterinary Medicines Directorate data from the national surveillance scheme was also considered. The FSA risk assessment considered the potential levels of exposure to lead from lead shot game for adults, children and toddlers based on different levels of game meat consumption.

This risk assessment led to FSA issuing targeted advice to frequent consumers of lead shot game in 2012, warning of the potential risks. The advice was promoted as especially important for vulnerable groups such as toddlers and children, pregnant women and women trying for a baby, as exposure to lead can harm the developing brain and nervous system. The FSA risk assessment was published along with this advice. The Government has not estimated the number of people who regularly consume game meat shot with lead.

More generally, the FSA, works on behalf of the UK within the European Union to agree harmonised controls to reduce public exposure to lead in the food chain. EU maximum limits apply for lead in a range of foods and these are regularly reviewed by the EU Commission and member states. These maximum limits apply to all food produced in the EU or imported to the EU.