Tag: Danny Kinahan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-01-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of business lost to the Northern Ireland economy from the maintained level of air passenger duty.

Damian Hinds

The government has devolved control over the direct long-haul rate of air passenger duty to the Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA). The NIA has set this rate at zero.

In March 2015, the Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) published an economic impact assessment on air passenger duty. The report informed the NIE’s decision not to pursue devolution of the short haul rate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department’s policies on the design of new schools of the study entitled, The impact of classroom design on pupils’ learning, by Professor Barrett of Salford University, published in July 2015.

Nick Gibb

The Department continuously monitors literature published on the built environment as it relates to schools. Where relevant, the findings from this literature inform the development of the Department’s guidance on design and maintenance[1]. The Department uses this guidance to communicate with contractors, designers, schools and sixth form colleges about the standards in class room design.

Professor Barrett has met with officials from the department to discuss the findings of his research. Professor Barrett’s recommendations regarding daylight, temperature and air-quality in schools reinforce those already made in the Education Funding Agency’s (EFA) Building Bulletins and the requirements in EFA’s Facilities Output Specification, used in procuring many new school buildings.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/school-building-design-and-maintenance

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had on the (a) positive and (b) negative effects of e-cigarettes on people who try to stop smoking.

Jane Ellison

The best thing a smoker can do to improve their health is to quit smoking for good.

The Department recognises that electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) can help smokers quit and the evidence indicates that they are considerably less harmful to health than cigarettes.

This Government has committed to publishing a new tobacco control plan to further reduce the prevalence of smoking in England. The development of this plan is underway and will be published later this year. The new strategy will consider the role of e-cigarettes in further reducing the prevalence of smoking in England. To help inform this element of the strategy the Department has been engaging with e-cigarette experts to ensure that local authorities and Stop Smoking Services are provided with up to date, evidenced based advice on e-cigarettes.

Whilst the Department has not made a formal assessment of the number of e-cigarette users who have resumed smoking, the evidence suggests that in the short-term, relapse rates are lower in those using e-cigarettes to quit.

The Department has not made an assessment of the number of e-cigarette users who have purchased vaping supplies from black market sources.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the results of the post-occupancy data on schools built under wave 1 of the Priority Schools Building Programme will be published before wave 2 begins.

Edward Timpson

The Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) is rebuilding and/or refurbishing those school buildings in the worst condition across the country. We expect to deliver the vast majority of the new school buildings in Phase 1 by the end of 2017, two years earlier than originally planned. Work on schools in Phase 2 of the programme has recently begun and good progress is being made.

The Department is collecting a range of post-occupancy data on schools under Phase 1. For post-occupancy evaluation to be truly representative, schools need to be operational for a full year to experience all the seasons. The results of the post-occupancy exercise will be published once it is complete. Lessons learnt on Phase 1 are being transferred to Phase 2 of the PSBP.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, if he will take steps to make international collaboration between UK and EU universities a key part of the negotiations on the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Robin Walker

The Government has been clear that we will make a success of Brexit, including for our world class universities. The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK remains a world leader in international research and innovation collaboration and that is why the Government has been consulting, and will continue to consult, with a broad range of stakeholders in this sector.

We are not going to provide a running commentary on every twist and turn of the negotiations, but we will work hard to get the best deal for Britain, its universities, and the wider research sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the role of automated cone laying and retrieval on road maintenance worker safety.

Andrew Jones

Highways England and the Department for Transport (DfT) fully support the adoption of innovative techniques such as automated cone laying, where this will realise safety benefits for road maintenance workers. The then Highways Agency tested one machine – ‘Conemaster’ built by Jordan products Ltd., some years ago. On-road trials facilitated by the Highways Agency were successful and this indicated that the technique did offer positive safety benefits. In addition, the Highways Agency subsequently commissioned an independent economic assessment of the benefits of Conemaster in 2011. The final report, produced early 2012, concluded that the cone laying machine also offered positive economic benefits.

Highways England has a client role and it is for its supply chain to design and deliver traffic management solutions and it is for these suppliers to procure such equipment. The DfT has worked to assist Conemaster in its efforts to market its product and a meeting was facilitated with the then Highways Agency’s suppliers to demonstrate the benefits of the product.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to reduce barriers to small and medium sized enterprises supplying new products to the Highways Agency.

Andrew Jones

Highways England has set up an Engagement Council to ensure all highways suppliers, wherever they sit within the supply chain network, can have a voice and show leadership in identifying waste (cost, time and quality) and improvement to deliver better value.

Engagement Council

• Membership extends to all highway suppliers wherever they sit in the supply chain for Highways England contracts
• Prime route for collaboration
• Promotes innovation and improvement

Other ways which Highways England encourages SME involvements in its supply chain are:

• The use of Constructionline – a case study recently published by Constructionline recognises the benefits it brings to removing barriers through our Meet the Buyer events which allow us to directly engage with SMEs. This helps to identify potential tendering opportunities and give advice on the tendering process.
• Contract clauses – A standard contract clause included in our Model Contract documents to encourage the use of SMEs by our Tier 1 suppliers.
• Project Bank Accounts (PBA) – Highways England promotes the use of these on all contracts (unless there is a compelling reason not to do so) benefitting suppliers from a significant acceleration in payment of their monthly invoices.

Current PBA data at August 2015

• 48 PBAs in operation for live schemes.
• PBA total declared contract value of £4.66bn as of August 2015.
• In the first quarter of 2015/16 27% of the overall scheme spend is with SMEs. This data however is only based on those SMEs included in the PBAs and does not take account of spend with SMEs in the extended supply chain which could significantly increase this %.

Highways England is currently developing an SME mentorship scheme alongside key industry associations as well as the larger contractors operating on the network. The scheme will allow SMEs the chance to develop their capability and help to create an environment which removes barriers to market allowing them to operate effectively. Health & Safety, innovation and leadership will be key elements of the scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to ensure that the Armed Forces Covenant fully addresses the healthcare needs of all active and retired servicemen and women with (a) post-traumatic stress disorder and (b) other conditions.

Mark Lancaster

The Armed Forces Covenant sets a number of goals with respect to healthcare, including that members of the Armed Forces community should enjoy the same standard of, and access to, healthcare as received by any other UK citizen in the area where they live. With regard to Mental Health, the Armed Forces Covenant states that veterans should be able to access mental health professionals who have an understanding of Armed Forces culture.

The Ministry of Defence provides primary healthcare for all Service personnel including mobilised Reservists. The provision of veterans’ healthcare, including for those affected by post-traumatic stress disorder and other conditions, is primarily the responsibility of the National Health Service in England and the Devolved Administrations. Veterans in England, Scotland and Wales are entitled to priority access to secondary healthcare for conditions suspected to be due to their service in the Armed Forces, subject to the clinical needs of others. In Northern Ireland, the mental health needs of returning ex-Service personnel continue to be addressed either through the Ulster Defence Regiment and Royal Irish Aftercare Service, through Combat Stress, or directly within the mainstream Primary Care and Mental Health services.

For a summary of our approach to ensuring that our serving Armed Forces personnel receive the very best mental healthcare provision, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 September 2015 to Question 9141 to the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson). http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-09-07/9141/

For details of the steps we have taken to ensure that veterans are provided with the support they need, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 15 September 2015 to Question 9865 to the hon. Member for Inverclyde (Mr Cowan). http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-09-10/9865/

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will introduce a service medal to people serving in Operation Helvetic.

Mark Lancaster

There are no plans to issue a Service medal for the support provided by the UK Armed Forces to the Police Service of Northern Ireland since 1 August 2007, known as Operation Helvetic.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make it his policy to distribute a proportion of the frozen assets of the Muammar Gaddafi administration in the UK to the families of people killed (a) by Libyan-supplied semtex and weapons and (b) on flight LW1103.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

There is no legal basis upon which the UK could re-direct frozen Libyan assets or the interest accrued to individuals for the purposes of compensation. Regarding assets which belonged to Qadhafi or other regime figures, the UN Security Council has stipulated that when these are unfrozen, they will be made available to, and for the benefit of the Libyan people. For the duration of time that these assets are frozen, they and any interest they accrue will be governed in accordance with the specific sanctions in place over the individuals or entities to which the assets belong. In this case, the asset freezing measures are set out under EU Regulation 204/2011 which prohibits the release of frozen funds and the interest accrued belonging to listed individuals or entities except in very specific circumstances, which do not apply here.