Tag: David Anderson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what impact assessment she has made of the proposed closure of the Visa and Entry Clearance Office in Dhaka; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

Decision making on UK visa applications lodged in Bangladesh was moved from Dhaka to New Delhi in September 2014. An internal assessment of the potential impact was completed in early 2014 which covered various aspects including decision quality and customer service. UKVI retains a small team in the British High Commission, Dhaka to carry out the remote printing of visas and local checks.

There has been, and will be, no change to the process for customers in Bangladesh. Customers are still able to apply in the same Visa Application Centres with applications being processed under the same global customer service standards of 15 working days.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will take steps to develop and fund a new home energy efficiency programme.

Andrea Leadsom

A reformed domestic supplier obligation (ECO) from April 2017 will upgrade the energy efficiency of well over 200,000 homes per year. This will help to tackle the root cause of fuel poverty and continue to deliver on our commitment to help 1 million more homes this Parliament.

We are providing support for households to improve their energy efficiency through the new supplier obligation, which will run for 5 years.

Our extension of the Warm Home Discount to 2020/21 at current levels of £320m pa will alsohelp households who are at most risk of fuel poverty with their energy bills.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the dependency that hen welfare has on the frequency of human attention regardless of the position of the cages in which they are kept.

George Eustice

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) enforces the relevant welfare legislation and carries out welfare inspections on farms to check that the UK legislation, which implements European law, is being followed. This includes spot checks and planned risk based inspections.

In addition, a programme of inspections is carried out under EU cross compliance legislation to farmers that claim cross-compliance subsidies. The APHA also enforce the requirement for owners or other responsible persons to inspect their hens at least once a day.

Our expert advisory committee, the Farm Animal Welfare Committee, has concluded that stockmanship, and the correct application of husbandry standards, whatever the system of production, is key to ensuring good welfare for farmed animals. This view is relevant to all livestock, whether in intensive or extensive production systems. The EU Commission’s Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare recognised that there is a wide variety of enriched cage designs for laying hens, and that the layout of some cages can affect bird inspection. Both the EU Commission in its 2008 report on the welfare of laying hens in various systems and the Farm Animal Welfare Committee recognise the welfare benefits of enriched cages and have given their support to this system of production.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference his oral evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights of 16 December 2015, Question 20, HC 574, whether his Department’s position was that the UK was in an armed conflict (a) before, (b) on the date of or (c) as a result of the drone strike that killed Reyaad Khan of 21 August 2015.

Michael Fallon

An armed conflict was occuring in Syria at the time of the air strike on 21 August 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will discuss with her German counterpart the steps the German government plans to take to ensure that it can meet its carbon reduction targets while expanding coal-fired power stations in that country.

Andrea Leadsom

Ministers and officials in the department regularly discuss a range of energy and climate change issues with our German counterparts.

Emissions in the traded sector (including German energy sector) are capped under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) which is set to decrease emissions within these sectors by 43% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

Germany has national targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% to 95% below 1990 levels by 2050. In 2014, the German government published their Climate Action Programme with additional measures to achieve their 2020 target. Later this year, the German government is expected to adopt its national Climate Action Plan 2050 which will include interim targets for post 2020 period and next steps in light of the Paris Agreement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether there are Reaper Ground Control Stations available for use by UK Reaper Squadrons 13 and 39 in North Africa.

Penny Mordaunt

The Government has a long standing policy not to comment on intelligence matters.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his assessment is of the latest date on which the process of organising an election in May 2017 for a Regional Mayor in the north east of England can begin.

James Wharton

For local elections the last date by which the notice of election must be published is the 25^th working day before the day of election.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will place a summary of how the UK’s energy interconnectors are funded in the Library.

Andrea Leadsom

Yes, I will be placing a copy in the Libraries of the House.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to prevent any person convicted of animal abuse from owning an animal.

George Eustice

The Animal Welfare Act 2006 already allows courts to make a disqualification order in respect of someone who has been found guilty of causing any unnecessary suffering to an animal. It is for the courts to decide whether to make such an order and, if so, for how long based on the individual circumstances of the case. If a court decides not to impose such an order, it must give its reasons in open court. I consider, therefore, that the courts have the necessary powers to impose appropriate penalties in relation to acts of animal cruelty

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 20 April 2016 to Question 6502, what the reasons are for the time taken to answer that question.

Anna Soubry

The hon. Member’s question was approved on time, but an administrative error with submitting the answer through the Question and Answer system meant that the reply was not sent. Procedures have been put in place to ensure that this issue does not reoccur.