Tag: Craig Whittaker

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the progress of local authorities in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department of Energy and Climate Change annually requests that local authorities in England measure, and report on their websites, greenhouse gas emissions data for their own estate and operations. The exercise enables local authorities to make assessments of their own progress against previous years and also against other local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many train services on the Calder Valley rail line have been cancelled as a result of train reliability issues in the last 12 months.

Claire Perry

The Department for Transport does not usually hold information at this level of detail. However, the operator has on this occasion informed us that from mid-October to the beginning of December, 17 trains during the morning and evening peaks were cancelled as a result of train reliability issues on the Calder Valley rail line.

As one of the signatories to the Northern Franchise Agreement, West Yorkshire Combined Authority – who are responsible for specifying and sponsoring local rail services in West Yorkshire – may be able to supply the information requested to the level of detail you require. They can be contacted at West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Wellington House, 40-50 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 2DE; by phone: 0113 251 7272 or email at enquiries@westyorks-ca.gov.uk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to work with farmers and land owners in areas susceptable to flooding to encourage them to allow parts of their land to flood to avoid flooding elsewhere.

Rory Stewart

Temporarily storing flood water on agricultural land can be a cost effective way of reducing risks elsewhere in a catchment, and where such schemes are planned, farmers/landowners are paid to store flood water on their land in a managed way, with payments being made to offset the damages caused by additional deliberate flooding that forms a part of the flood management scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will estimate the cost to the tourist industry in Calder Valley of recent flooding and severe weather in that area.

David Evennett

No assessment has been made by DCMS of the direct cost to Calder Valley’s tourism industry following the recent flooding. However, some tourism businesses in flood affected areas have reported a drop in bookings of up to 60%. We want to ensure that our tourism businesses have as much support as possible as they recover from the recent floods and that is why a new £1m PR campaign was announced by the Prime Minister in Cumbria, on the 28th January, to support businesses ready to receive visitors, and this is part of a wider package of immediate measures to help the area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to encourage local authorities to (a) create a business-friendly environment and (b) expand their business rates base.

Mr Marcus Jones

The business rates retention scheme was introduced in 2013-14 to give councils greater autonomy over their finances and to incentivise them to grow their business rates base. According to local authority forecasts, 54% of authorities benefitted from growth above assumed levels in 2013-14, which has risen to 91% in 2016-17. By the end of the Parliament, local authorities will retain 100% of their business rates, further strengthening the incentive for growth. Councils will also have the power to cut the business rates multiplier to improve the business environment for enterprise and attract further businesses to their area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential economic benefits to the Calder Valley of accelerating the upgrade of the M62 to a four-lane smart motorway between junctions 20 and 25.

Andrew Jones

The recent Budget announced that funding had been brought forward to enable Highways England to accelerate the smart motorway investment for the M62 Junction 10 to 12 scheme by two years, and to accelerate delivery of the M62 Junction 20 to 25 smart motorway.

Design development work on these schemes is at the very earliest stage, and as such the analysis of the full economic potential of this investment is still being developed as part of the business case.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to close attainment gaps between the best and worst performing local authority areas as judged by GCSE and A Level results.

Nick Gibb

Our recent White Paper, ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’, set out our intention to place a new focus on ‘Achieving Excellence Areas’ where too few children have access to a good school and there are insufficient high quality teachers, leaders, system leaders and sponsors. By doing this we will enable the school-led system to deliver rapid and sustainable improvement.

We want to eradicate the pockets of underperformance in our school system and will do so by targeting the Department for Education’s programmes in the areas of greatest need. We intend to pilot this approach from September 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to (a) invest in and (b) modernise Territorial Army centres.

Mark Lancaster

The Department continues to develop and invest in the Army Reserves, including its infrastructure and estate, in line with commitments set out in the Reserves White Paper (Cm8655) published on 3 July 2013 and accompanying statement (Official Report, column 49WS) and through our wider estate optimisation plans.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners serving a mandatory life sentence have been released early from prison in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Sam Gyimah

A life sentence is mandatory for murder. A life sentence must also be imposed for a second, very serious, specified violent or sexual offence – for example, manslaughter, GBH with intent, rape, and sexual assault on a child under 13 – unless the court finds that there are particular circumstances relating to the offence or the offender which would make it unjust to do so.

Under a life sentence, the offender must serve the full minimum term imposed by the court before being considered for release on life licence by the Parole Board, which will only release an offender if and when it considers it safe to do so. Where a whole life order is imposed the offender is not eligible for parole.

The number of life sentences imposed in each of the last ten years can be found on gov.uk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the level of financial reserves of local authorities.

Mr Marcus Jones

Local authorities are responsible for managing their own finances. They are required by statute to have regard to the level of reserves needed for meeting estimated future expenditure when calculating their annual budget requirement.

In making their assessment, they must have regard to the good practice guidance produced by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.

Where authorities have maintained significant revenue reserves, this will give them room to manoeuvre on their finances in future years.

Authorities should consider dipping into their revenue reserves where it can be sensible to provide and protect front line services for local tax payers.

My Department publishes statistics on the level of reserves held by each authority, based on reports from them, which are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing-england-2014-to-2015-individual-local-authority-data-outturn

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