Tag: Caroline Lucas

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport of 11 May 2016, Official Report, HC Deb, column 692, when officials began working on the proposals to implement the 15-minute threshold for rail journey compensation; from what date he expects that customers will be able claim compensation under that threshold; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry

We are committed to improving compensation arrangements for passengers. The Chancellor announced in his Autumn 2015 Spending Review that passengers will soon have access to compensation when trains are over 15 minutes late. We expect to make an announcement on this in the next few months.

We will work with the rail industry to agree the best possible deal for passengers in implementing this improvement and will set out the details of when the new arrangements will be in place shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Rail Minister’s response to the letter of 20 June 2016 from the Chief Executive of the Campaign for Better Transport on the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise.

Claire Perry

No response has yet been issued.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the Answers of 10 June 2015 and 22 December 2015 to Questions 700 and 19860, when she plans to (a) publish the evaluation report on the pilot Access to Elected Office Fund and (b) make a decision on whether that Fund should continue.

Caroline Dinenage

An evaluation of the pilot fund is currently being undertaken and will be published when an announcement about the future of the fund is made in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-09-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to respond to the concluding observations and recommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the UK’s sixth periodic report in relation to fiscal policy, corporate tax, inheritance tax and domestic and global tax abuse; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

In paragraph 73 of the UN recommendations, the UN requested that the UK submits its next period report under the Covenant (inclusive of a response to all the recommendations from this year’s examination) by 30 June 2021; it would therefore not be appropriate to pre-empt this report by anticipating what we, or indeed a future UK Government in 2021, might say.

The government is committed to a competitive and fair tax system and to tackling tax evasion and avoidance by multinational companies. The UK has played a leading role in the development and implementation of the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project, which is aimed at ensuring that tax is paid on profits in the country in which they are generated. On tax evasion, the UK has also led on the development of the new global standard for the automatic exchange of information between countries on offshore accounts. All of the UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies have signed up to this new Common Reporting Standard and will begin exchanging information with the UK this month.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2016 to Question 906370, if he will publish the London and South Coast Rail Corridor Study; whether he plans to fund proposals for a Brighton Mainline 2 in order to remedy the significant capacity and performance constraints identified; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard

The Government will publish the London and South Coast Rail Corridor Study, and its response to the recommendations, in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to safeguard access to the Interreg programme of interregional cooperation projects (a) until and (b) after the UK leaves the EU.

Andrew Percy

The Chancellor’s statement of 3 October 2016 explains that UK participants in European Structural and Investment Fund projects who have funding agreements signed after the Autumn Statement but before the UK leaves the EU will have their funding guaranteed, so long as they provide strong value for money and are in line with domestic strategic priorities. UK participants will not see a funding shortfall.

Leaving the EU means that we will want to decide how we deliver the policy objectives currently delivered by EU-funded programmes. We will consult closely with stakeholders to review all EU funding schemes in the round, to ensure that any on-going funding commitments best serve the UK‘s national interest, while ensuring appropriate investor certainty.

The source of ERDF funding is provided by the overall contributions made by each EU Member State. The United Kingdom currently makes a contribution to the EU, net of what it receives in return.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of primary schools signed up to (a) Centre for Education and Monitoring, Durham University, (b) Early Excellence, (c) GL Assessment, (d) Hodder Education, (e) National Foundation for Educational Research and (f) Speech Link as baseline assessment providers by 30 April 2015; and which schemes were subsequently approved by her Department.

Nick Gibb

A full break down of suppliers which were removed from the approved list has not been provided because of potential commercial sensitivities for the suppliers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2015 to Question 15636, if he will make it his policy to collect data on which local areas are providing take-home naloxone for opioid overdose in people who use drugs; whether he plans to monitor the effects of provision of naloxone and instances of drug-related deaths; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need and commissioning substance misuse services, using the public health grant, to meet that need. Public Health England (PHE) supports local authorities in this work and has provided advice on naloxone provision to commissioners and service providers for them to use in planning naloxone supply. PHE is providing support to areas with higher than average death rates.

PHE is engaged in ongoing monitoring and analysis of drug-related deaths based on data collected by the Office for National Statistics, including matching with treatment data. PHE is investigating the use of this data to assess the impact of increased naloxone availability following the legislative change.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy is on the level of atmospheric carbon concentration required to prevent harmful ocean acidification; what assessment she has made of the effect of ocean acidification under atmospheric carbon concentration scenarios used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on (a) marine species and (b) coastal populations; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

Defra and DECC have together supported the UK Ocean Acidification Programme to better understand the impacts of climate change on our seas.

Although we are still awaiting the final summary report, outputs from the programme point to a complex range of effects on marine species and ecosystems resulting from the interplay between acidification and temperature increase. The economic effects on coastal populations are uncertain at this point though preliminary work indicates they are likely to be increasingly negative as the century progresses.

However, by reducing emissions in line with the stringent emissions scenario produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Representative Concentration Pathway 2.6) which is consistent with keeping mean global temperature increase below 2°C, we would significantly increase the options for protection, adaptation and repair of the ocean.

This is why the UK Government is seeking ambitious global action on climate change this month in Paris to protect our oceans in the future.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 26 September 2014 to Question 209770 asked by the hon. Member for Moray, how much his Department has spent on studies on whether to refurbish or replace the existing Trident warhead design to date.

Michael Fallon

As of the end of the last financial year (March 2015), the Ministry of Defence had spent £80 million on technology studies to support refurbishment of the current system and explore options for a potential future warhead, and £5.5 million on studies to support the decision whether to refurbish or replace the existing warhead.