Tag: Christopher Chope

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research her Department has undertaken on the best available means of countering coastal flooding and beach erosion at Avon Beach, Christchurch.

Rory Stewart

The Poole and Christchurch Bays Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) assessed options for managing the Avon beach and has set a policy of ‘holding the line’. This means its defences will be maintained and upgraded or replaced in their current position where funding permits. The SMP is available on line at:

www.twobays.net/index.htm.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26276, on recycling in Christchurch, if she will place in the Library a copy of the assessment including the cost-benefit analysis.

Rory Stewart

Repair and recovery grants were approved by the Executive Director of Operations on the advice of Environment Agency’s Large Project Review Group (LPRG) and its sub group LPRG Lite, which assessed the eligibility of schemes for recovery projects across the country.

The approval for each recovery project undertaken by the Environment Agency followed a national procedure set out in an operational instruction which I have placed in the House Library.

Additionally I have placed a copy of the Christchurch Beach Replenishment Scheme Asset Repair Planning Brief setting out the case for the work to take place under the recovery programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the balance of trade between the UK and the rest of the EU was in (a) sugars and confectionery, (b) beverages and tobacco, (c) animal products, (d) cereals and preparations and (e) fish and fish products using the same definitions as in the presentation of information on page 15 of The process of withdrawing from the EU, in the last year for which data is available.

Anna Soubry

The trade balance between the UK and the rest of the EU in the above commodity groups in 2015 is given in the table below. These figures are sourced from HM Revenue and Customs’ Overseas Trade Statistics database and based on the same definitions as in the presentation of information on page 15 of ‘The process of withdrawing from the EU’.

Commodity (HS commodity code)	UK trade balance with the EU (£ million), 2015
Sugars and confectionery (HS 17)	-451
Beverages and tobacco (HS 2009, 2201-08)	-1,969
Animal products (HS 01, 02, 1601-02)	-3,465
Cereals and preparations (HS 0407-10, 10, 1101-04, 1107-09, 19, 2102-06, 2209)	-2,729
Fish and fish products (HS 03, 0508, 051191, 150410, 150420, 1603-05, 230120)	+84

Source: HM Revenue and Customs Overseas Trade Statistics database

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make it the policy of the Government that electricity customers across the UK should pay the same for electricity transportation.

Andrea Leadsom

Electricity network charges vary by region and reflect the costs of running the network in that area and the number of consumers that those costs are spread over. The Government does not plan to move to national network charging, as the current cost reflective approach helps to ensure efficient use of the network and keeps overall costs down for bill payers across Great Britain. In contrast, national pricing risks an overall increase in network costs by weakening each network company’s local accountability to its customers, as well as making charges less transparent. On 23 October 2015, Ofgem published a report on the regional differences in network charges, which found no compelling case from a regulatory perspective to move to a national network charge. The report is available at:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/regional-differences-network-charges.

The Government will continue to consider any evidence that is presented.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-06-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is the policy of the Forestry Commission to sell the Cannon Hill plantation in Ferndown, Dorset for development.

Rory Stewart

We are committed to keeping the public forest estate in England, including Cannon Hill plantation, in trust for the nation and for it to continue to be sustainably managed by the Forestry Commission.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-09-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much (a) capital and (b) revenue expenditure his Department has given to local partnerships to date; and what estimate he has made of the value of his Department’s share in its joint ownership.

Mr David Gauke

As of March 2015, HM Treasury had made £800,000 of equity investments and provided £1,175,000 of loan stock to Local Partnerships. Local Partnerships has so far made £675,000 of repayments of loan stock to HM Treasury.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the opinions of e-cigarette users and people who use other reduced risk products are represented at the WHO conference on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in November 2016.

Nicola Blackwood

The Government has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to inform its negotiating position with other Parties attending the Conference of the Parties for the Framework on Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), including users of e-cigarette and other novel products. The Government recognises that e-cigarettes can help some smokers quit and the evidence indicates that they are considerably less harmful to health than cigarettes. However, they are not risk free and it is essential that we do not encourage smoking and continue to protect children from the dangers of nicotine. This is a position firmly grounded on the evidence base.

The United Kingdom is a world leader in tobacco control and as such has already implemented the majority of the FCTC’s provisions and taken further action in line with its non-binding guidelines, for example introducing Standardised Packaging. There are few further guidelines being developed by the FCTC and the focus of the Convention is now on full and comprehensive implementation by all 180 Parties. We therefore do not expect the outcomes of the forthcoming Conference of the Parties to significantly alter our tobacco strategy, but will continue to offer our support and experience to help other countries fully implement the provisions of the Treaty, especially low and middle income countries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-10-28.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government is taking steps to recover underpaid vehicle tax in respect of vehicles with higher emissions than certified by emission test data.

Damian Hinds

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rates are based on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. The “defeat devices” recently found in some VW diesel cars affect nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) emissions. There is therefore currently no evidence that this issue has resulted in an artificial reduction in VED revenues.

UK taxpayers will not incur higher VED if their existing vehicles are found to be fitted with illegal software that manipulates emissions tests. Following VW’s admission of using ‘defeat devices’ in diesel cars there is an ongoing UK government investigation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has been unable to provide MyCSP with accurate pension data for its staff on which pension benefit statements can be based; and by what date he expects that matter to be resolved.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is not able to provide myCSP with accurate pensions data on its staff because of an ongoing technical issue with the interface between its shared service supplier and myCSP.

All parties are working on a permanent solution and the MCA understands that this issue will be fixed early in 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-01-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much of the UK’s contribution to the EU budget through customs duties related to each (a) product type and (b) country in 2014-15.

Damian Hinds

To identify how much of the UK’s contribution to the EU budget through customs duties related to each (a) product type and (b) country in 2014-15 would incur disproportionate cost.