Tag: Greg Mulholland

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to support the sustainable management of forests outside the UK.

Andrea Leadsom

Protecting forests delivers substantial climate, development, biodiversity and ecosystem outcomes. Stopping deforestation offers the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a globally significant scale, while protecting the vital services, such as regulating rainfall patterns, on which the world economy depends for agricultural productivity and sustainable economic growth.

Addressing deforestation and supporting the sustainable management of forests is a priority for the UK’s £3.87 billion International Climate Fund (ICF), and the Prime Minister announced in September that this will rise to £5.8bn over the next Spending review period. To date, over £700m has been programmed, including initiatives that: incentivise action to reduce deforestation and forest degradation; support forest management, governance and market reforms; curb illegal and unsustainable use of forest resources; and promote investments in sustainable forestry, agriculture and land management.

The UK also plays an active leadership role in international fora, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biodiversity, and the United Nations Forum on Forests. Last year, we played a key role in the negotiation of the New York Declaration on Forests, which set ambitious targets for halving (by 2020) and halting (by 2030) the loss of natural forests, eliminating deforestation from the production of key agricultural commodities by 2020, and accelerating restoration efforts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the contribution of 30 November 2015 by Lord Mendelsohn, in the House of Lords, Official Report, column 937, if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter referred to on the amendment concerning UK Government Investments Limited.

Anna Soubry

A copy of the letter to Lord Mendelsohn, dated 27 November, referred to during the debate on the Enterprise Bill on 30 November 2015, has been placed in the Libraries of the House. A previous letter to Lord Mendelsohn, dated 19 November, also on the subject of UK Government Investments, has also been placed in the Libraries of the House.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Business Growth Service.

Anna Soubry

An interim impact evaluation of the Growth Accelerator programme was published in November 2014. This was followed by a formative evaluation in January 2015, which looked at the delivery of the programme and informed the design of the Business Growth Service. A policy response to the formative evaluation was published in March 2015, in line with a commitment to the National Audit Office

A review of the Manufacturing Advisory Service was completed in December 2010 and published the following year. An Impact Analysis Methodology study of the Manufacturing Advisory Service is being published in early 2016.

A full economic evaluation of the Business Growth Service will continue beyond the closure of the service in March. All documents will continue to be available on www.gov.uk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to the US (a) government and (b) Congress on comments made by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on banning Muslims from entering the US.

Mr Hugo Swire

We have not made any formal representations to the US Government or Congress. However, the Prime Minister, my right hon Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has made clear that he completely disagrees with Mr Trump’s comments, which the Prime Minister described as “divisive, unhelpful and wrong”.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of curry chefs working in the UK in each of the last 10 years.

Anna Soubry

The Government does not hold information on the value of the curry industry, the number of curry houses, trends in the number of curry houses or the number of curry chefs.

Official statistics carry figures on the value and number of restaurants, takeaways and other food service businesses in general, but do not detail specific types of food being served. Similarly while the number of chefs and catering staff will be estimated there is no consideration of their specialisation in terms of cuisine.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for which countries that the UK has reimbursement arrangements with under the European Health Insurance Card regulations his Department has identified as not having staff with relevant language skills.

Justin Tomlinson

There is no requirement for DWP staff to have foreign language skills when dealing with EEA Member States in relation to the reimbursement process under the EHIC regulations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on improving tenants’ access to longer-term family friendly tenancies.

Brandon Lewis

The Government supports longer tenancies, and promotes them through its Model Tenancy Agreement. Some mortgage lenders incorporated clauses in their agreements with landlords preventing them from granting tenancies of longer than a year. We have continued to encourage lenders to permit family friendly tenancies, and consequently the majority have now changed their policies, and permit tenancies of up to two to three years. We are encouraging those remaining lenders, who have not changed their policies, to do so and to promote the use of our Model Tenancy Agreement to their landlord customers.

We also know that tenants value the flexibility that private renting offers and not all want longer tenancies. A recent report by Knight Frank reported that the majority of Private Rented Sector tenants (53%) favour a six month or one year tenancy. The average length of residence, according to the English Housing Survey 2013-14, was three and a half years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on patient access to medicines of planned reductions to the community pharmacy budget.

Alistair Burt

Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services including public access to medicines. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. A consequence may be the closure of some pharmacies but that is not our aim.

We are not able to assess which pharmacies may close or the number of people who may lose their jobs, because we do not know the financial viability of individual businesses or the extent to which they derive income from services commissioned locally by the NHS or local authorities or have non-NHS related income.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with police authorities on tackling stone theft.

Karen Bradley

Stone theft has a detrimental effect on towns and communities across England and Wales. The impact of these crimes includes both the economic cost to the victim, but there are also wider costs to the community, for example where schools, churches or heritage items are targeted by criminals.

We have received no recent representations from local authorities on this issue, nor have we had recent discussions with the police on stone theft specifically. However, the police are working with Historic England, the Crown Prosecution Service and others to share intelligence and shape good practice in tackling and preventing heritage crime, such as stone theft.

We would encourage all victims of stone theft, whether individuals or organisations, to report instances of these crimes to their local police, so that the crimes can be properly recorded and investigated. The local response is a matter for individual chief officers of police and Police and Crime Commissioners, taking into account the specific local issues and demands that they face.

We are satisfied that the existing legislation provides the police and courts with sufficient powers to respond to stone theft.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what role Ministers played in the recruitment process for the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

Anna Soubry

The process was conducted in accordance with the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies.

Ministers at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills took active involvement in overseeing the recruitment process for the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

The Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise met the candidates judged by the panel as appointable. In accordance with the Code of Practice, a senior representative of OCPA was present at those meetings.