Tag: Anna Turley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the closure of Redcar coke ovens and blast furnace on the local economy.

Anna Soubry

The closure of SSI in Redcar will undoubtedly have a significant impact on individuals, the supply chain and local economy more broadly. That is why we have announced a support package, worth up to £80 million, to support the future of the Tees Valley economy and we are working closely with a local Task Force, chaired by Amanda Skelton, to deliver this support.

In total we have agreed over £40 million of support aimed at skills and jobs creation:

• £3m has been made available to four Further Education colleges in the region to support re-training activity, as well as a further £2.65m skills funding to plug any gaps in skills provision not available via the Further Education Offer;
• £1.7m to ensure that the fifty apprentices who were with SSI can continue their apprenticeships with alternative employers;

• A £16.5m Jobs and Skills Fund to help local firms employ former SSI workers or their spouses in full-time or part-time jobs for a minimum of three years;
• £16m support for firms in the SSI supply chain and wider Tees Valley impacted by the Redcar steelworks closure, to safeguard jobs, provide the stimulus to create new posts and provide expert assistance to help them expand their business
• £750,000 to fund advice and grants to start up a new business.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure the improved performance of the North East Ambulance NHS Trust in meeting its response time targets.

Jane Ellison

We expect all National Health Service ambulance trusts, including the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, to take action to ensure they meet the response time targets, and that commissioners oversee and support this process.

Ambulance services are facing unprecedented demand, delivering over 2,800 more emergency journeys every day compared to 2010 and still continue to respond to the majority of life-threatening cases in under eight minutes.

The Department continues to work closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement to monitor and support performance across all ambulance trusts in 2016-17. In the longer term, NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care Review will aim to tackle the root causes of the increasing demand on urgent and emergency care services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to extend the statutory obligation for employers to consult appropriate representatives of employees being made redundant when that employer dismisses fewer than 20 people at an establishment.

Nick Boles

The Government has no plans to bring forward legislation in relation to collective redundancies and existing thresholds for employers to consult with employee representatives nor in the treatment of ‘establishment’. The existing threshold balances such consultation rights of employees with the need for businesses to be able to restructure effectively to respond to changing market conditions.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department takes to monitor the levels of acetaldehyde that workers are exposed to in the chemical industry; and what steps he is taking to reduce routine exposure to acetaldehyde in that industry.

Justin Tomlinson

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has no plans to commission an assessment of the levels of acetaldehyde that workers are exposed to in the UK chemical industry.

Acetaldehyde has been assigned a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL). WELs are concentrations of hazardous substances in the air, averaged over a specified period of time, referred to as a time-weighted average (TWA). Two time periods are used; long-term (8 hours) and short-term (15 minutes). For acetaldehyde these are concentrations of 37 milligrams per cubic meter (mg.m^-3) and 92mg.m^-3 respectively.

Substances that have been assigned a WEL are subject to the requirements of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH). COSHH requires employers to prevent or control exposure to hazardous substances. Under COSHH, control is defined as adequate only if a) the principles of good control practice are applied; b) any WEL is not exceeded; and c) exposure to asthmagens, carcinogens and mutagens are reduced as low as is reasonably practicable. As part of the assessment required under regulation 6 of COSHH, employers should determine their own working practices and in-house standards for control of exposure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the fees paid to medical professionals for death certifications in (a) the North East and (b) England in each of the past five years.

David Mowat

There is no fee payable for completing the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD).

When a patient dies it is the statutory duty of the doctor who has attended the patient in the last illness to issue an MCCD.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the presence and scope of existing commercial assets when considering new public funding for research and development and innovation.

Joseph Johnson

All potential major capital projects are assessed against the additional value they add, including an evaluation of whether the research or innovation activity is already being undertaken elsewhere. The majority of decisions about which research investments to undertake are taken directly by Research Councils, based on rigorous criteria including peer review.

In respect of the establishment of Innovate UK’s 11 Catapult Centres, all candidate areas have undergone a robust evaluation by Innovate UK’s Senior Innovation Leads who have relevant domain expertise. In addition, facilitated workshops, with leading figures in the relevant industries – including business, academic and representatives from the public sector, are held to ascertain whether Innovate UK’s analysis of the market opportunities in this area is correct. Each candidate area is evaluated according to an agreed process to assess the size of the global market opportunity and the demand for a Catapult to help business build on their capabilities to commercialise innovation and realise this potential in the UK.

In setting up new Catapult centres Innovate UK take into account the option of working within or alongside existing physical centres in the UK either to avoid duplication or to achieve quicker delivery.

At a local level, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are responsible for identifying, assessing and approving Local Growth Funded projects. They do this in accordance with their strategic economic objectives and Local Assurance Frameworks which have to comply with the LEP National Assurance Framework. The National Assurance Framework covers value for money and states that methodology should be proportionate to the funding allocated and in line with established Government guidance including the HM Treasury Green Book.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information his Department holds on how many bids were received by the Official Receiver to buy or operate any element of the former SSI site in Redcar prior to the Receiver’s decision on hard closure.

Anna Soubry

My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State does not hold information regarding the number of bids received by the Official Receiver in respect to the former SSI site. The Official Receiver holds this information in his statutory role as an independent liquidator appointed by the Court. The Official Receiver received a number of expressions of interest in various assets of the company but none were translated into viable offers for the coke ovens or blast furnace ahead of his decisions to close them on 12 October 2015. The Official Receiver can be contacted at the address below: Ken Beasley, Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 2^nd Floor, 3 Piccadilly Place, London Road, Manchester, M1 3BN.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the number of people from the North East of England working offshore in each year since 2010.

Andrea Leadsom

Oil and Gas UK in the UK Continental Shelf Offshore Workforce Demographics Report 2015 estimate that of the total number of offshore workers resident in the UK, 13.8 per cent (7,711) live in the North East of England.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the socio-economic groups to which those deciding to have a termination of pregnancy after the 20 week scan of a neural tube defect-affected pregnancy belong.

Jane Ellison

Information on the socio-economic group for women having abortions is not collected centrally.

In 2014, 442 abortions were performed because of neural tube defects; 34% of these were performed at 20 weeks gestation or over.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the safe levels of acetaldehyde to which workers in the chemical industry can be exposed.

Justin Tomlinson

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has no plans to commission an assessment of the levels of acetaldehyde that workers are exposed to in the UK chemical industry.

Acetaldehyde has been assigned a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL). WELs are concentrations of hazardous substances in the air, averaged over a specified period of time, referred to as a time-weighted average (TWA). Two time periods are used; long-term (8 hours) and short-term (15 minutes). For acetaldehyde these are concentrations of 37 milligrams per cubic meter (mg.m^-3) and 92mg.m^-3 respectively.

Substances that have been assigned a WEL are subject to the requirements of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH). COSHH requires employers to prevent or control exposure to hazardous substances. Under COSHH, control is defined as adequate only if a) the principles of good control practice are applied; b) any WEL is not exceeded; and c) exposure to asthmagens, carcinogens and mutagens are reduced as low as is reasonably practicable. As part of the assessment required under regulation 6 of COSHH, employers should determine their own working practices and in-house standards for control of exposure.