Tag: Anna Turley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria the Government considers before making an application to the European Globalisation Fund.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The UK has not made any applications to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF).

The European Globalisation Fund (EGF) provides a financial contribution for active labour market measures, aimed at reintegrating those made or at risk of being made redundant in the labour market. EGF Regulations state that these measures must complement actions at national, regional and local level.

The EGF Regulations also set out strict criteria and eligibility for potential applicants with regards to the number of redundancies that take place over a given period of time and the link between these redundancies and globalisation or the global financial and economic crisis.

The UK already offers a broad range of personalised support to workers made redundant through its Rapid Response Service and Jobcentre Plus, which could therefore not be duplicated or substituted by EGF.

The Rapid Response Service and the Jobcentre Plus Core Offer are effective reintegration tools which represent good value for money and are our primary and most effective means of response to support the industry.

In addition to this, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills also announced packages of support worth up to £80 million for SSI in Redcar.

It has, therefore, not been necessary to make an application for EGF funding to provide complementary support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve journey times on the Tees Valley Line.

Andrew Jones

As part of the new franchise award, the Northern franchisee will be required before October 2017 to undertake a feasibility study, identifying options for journey time improvements across the whole network, including services in the North East. This will include possible changes to existing infrastructure, improvements to rolling stock capability and reliability and the implementing of changes to service patterns.

Any resulting changes would be in addition to the local benefits secured as part of the franchise including the withdrawal of pacer trains and the refurbishment of all the existing carriages retained in the franchise long term.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the official receiver on the future of the former SSI UK site in Redcar since July 2016.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is in regular contact with the Official Receiver regarding the continuing safety and security of the former SSI UK site, and are providing regular updates to My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State and other Ministers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the power conferred on Ofcom to regulation offensive communications sent in the UK on (a) the internet and (b) social media platforms.

Matt Hancock

We are aware of concerns about offensive content on social media. Where this is the case Government expects social media providers to have robust process in place and act promptly when abuse is reported. The UK has strict laws governing such content, which apply equally online and offline.

Ofcom does not regulate offensive communications on either the internet or social media platforms. The Communications Act 2003 requires Ofcom to set standards to ensure that generally accepted standards are applied to the content of television and radio programmes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department made of the financial viability of the Redcar coke ovens and blast furnace as a standalone operation without South Bank coke ovens.

Anna Soubry

We have made no such assessment. On liquidation of a company, it is the responsibility of the liquidator to sell the free assets of the company. In the case of SSI UK, this was the Official Receiver who is independent. I am informed that the Official Receiver did maintain operations at SSI, including the coke ovens, for a period while he tried to find purchasers for the assets of SSI UK but as of the 12 October, no purchaser had been found and the Official Receiver ceased operations of the coke ovens and blast furnace.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many live births of children affected by (a) spina bifida, (b) hydrocephaly and (c) anencephaly there have been in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

Information on the number of live births affected by congenital abnormalities including spina bifida, hydrocephalus and anencephaly has been collected by the British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers and is currently available for the years 2009–2012 at:

http://www.binocar.org/publications/reports

There are no current mechanisms in place for monitoring the take-up of advice given on the NHS Choices website about preventing spina bifida.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time on the organ waiting list for a kidney transplant was for people in Teesside in each year from 2010; and what that average such waiting time was for people from BAME backgrounds in that area in each of those years.

Jane Ellison

Information on waiting times is provided by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). This is provided by transplant centre rather than area.

Patients in Teesside who require a kidney transplant are likely to be referred to the Newcastle Transplant Centre, where the average waiting time for a kidney transplant is 583 days. This is lower than the national average of 979 days. These averages are based on patients registered from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2012.

NHSBT does not hold waiting time figures broken down by ethnicity for each transplant unit.

Note:

The average is drawn from a median formula.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support disabled passengers and passengers of reduced mobility on the Tees Valley Line for the duration of operation of Pacer trains.

Andrew Jones

The Northern franchise was recently awarded to Arriva Rail North, who took over operations in April 2016. Arriva Rail North sets out its policy for providing assistance to disabled passengers and passengers of reduced mobility in its Disabled People’s Protection Policy (DPPP). Publishing commitments to on-board assistance in a DPPP is a passenger train operating licence requirement and is approved by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). Arriva Rail North is also required to participate in the national Passenger Assist scheme for pre-booking assistance.

‘Pacer’ trains operated by Arriva Rail North on the Tees Valley Line will be replaced ahead of the 2020 accessibility compliance deadline. From that date, all trains operated by Arriva Rail North will have to be compliant with the accessibility standards mandated by the Persons of Reduced Mobility Technical Specification for Interoperability (PRM-TSI). While Pacers do not meet the standards set out in the PRM-TSI, they do offer wheelchair spaces, audio announcements and manual boarding ramps to assist disabled passengers and persons of reduced mobility when travelling.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to negotiate a financial settlement with those banks in Thailand which have a controlling interest in the former SSI UK site to ensure redevelopment in a timely manner for the benefit of the local community.

Mr Nick Hurd

My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State and I are committed to the future of the Redcar area following the closure of the SSI steelworks. I am pleased that we have recently had the opportunity to discuss this in depth with the hon Member for Redcar and the leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, Sue Jeffrey.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many meetings Ministers of her Department have had with social media companies to discuss harmful online content since May 2015.

Sarah Newton

Home Office Ministers routinely meet with a range of stakeholders, including social media companies, to discuss action to protect people from harmful online content. Ministers also meet social media companies on specific issues such as online hate crime and extremism.

In addition, they attend meetings of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), which brings together industry, law enforcement, academia, charities, parenting groups and government departments and meets on a regular basis.