Tag: Greg Mulholland

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for how long Saxton Bampfylde Ltd has acted as an employment adviser to his Department.

Anna Soubry

Saxton Bampfylde does not act as an “employment adviser” to the Department. When recruiting for some senior positions Ministers may choose to engage an executive search agency to ensure a strong and diverse field of candidates. A procurement exercise is undertaken to contract with a suitable executive search firm for each specific recruitment campaign.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the average value of unused food thrown away by households in the last 12 months.

Rory Stewart

Through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the Government continues to work with the grocery sector to reduce household food waste. The Love Food Hate Waste programme helps UK households to reduce food waste and save money through awareness raising and consumer advice. There has been a 15% (1.3 million tonnes) reduction in household food waste between 2007 and 2012.

WRAP launched Courtauld 2025 on 15 March, which builds on the progress we have already made. This new agreement includes a target to reduce food and drink waste arising in the UK by 20% by 2025 (calculated as a relative reduction per head of population).

For the average household, the price of avoidable food and drink waste is £470 per year. For the average household with children, the cost of avoidable food and drink waste is £700 per year.

The total amount of food thrown away by the average household is 260 kg per year. 160 kg of this is avoidable waste. For the average household with children, this figure rises to 390 kg per year, including 240 kg of avoidable food waste.

These are the latest available figures, applying to 2012. WRAP aims to publish updated figures for household food waste later this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with representatives of sports governing bodies on the option for Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence Pathway Two learners to study additional qualifications funded by the Education Funding Agency.

Nick Boles

My officials have held discussions with a wide range of sports organisations including governing bodies on Apprenticeships in Sporting Excellence. A decision will be made on these alternative apprenticeships after further consideration of the extensive evidence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 34222, on the humanitarian situation in Madaya, for what reasons approval was not given for aid convoys to access five of the eleven besieged locations.

Mr Desmond Swayne

We are relieved that, as a result of the work of the International Syria Support Group, humanitarian convoys have reached over 220,000 – 45% – of the 487,000 people living in besieged areas since February 2016. However, progress is too slow. In particular, the Syrian Regime has still not granted approval for convoys to the besieged areas of Duma, East Harasta and Darayya, all of which are in dire need and mere minutes’ drive away from UN warehouses in Damascus.

Reasons cited by the regime for not authorising access include the lack of civilians in these areas as well as their inability to guarantee security for humanitarian actors. However, reports from humanitarian actors, including the UN, demonstrate the significant presence of civilians in areas to which access has been denied. For example, on a recent mission to besieged Darayya on 16 April, the UN reported the presence of thousands of civilians including women and children. In addition, whilst we recognise the importance of security concerns, experience in other besieged areas demonstrates that these populations can be reached safely.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average hourly earnings were of her Department’s (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

George Eustice

Defra employees are paid within salary bands according to their grades, they are not paid by the hour. The tables below set out a calculation of average hourly pay for all employees within the central department, by grade, and by BME, Non-BME, and Undeclared ethnic status (employees that have not declared their ethnicity).

2015	BME	Non BME	Undeclared
AA	*	*	£8.96
AO	£12.15	£12.17	£11.43
EO	£14.96	£13.92	£13.80
HEO	£17.29	£16.79	£15.98
SEO	£20.54	£19.96	£20.05
G7	£27.43	£27.33	£26.30
G6	*	£32.62	£33.10
SCS	*	£39.77	£46.42
2016	BME	Non BME	Undeclared
AA	*	*	£9.84
AO	£12.06	£12.17	£12.16
EO	£14.89	£14.41	£13.99
HEO	£17.23	£16.66	£16.05
SEO	£20.47	£20.51	£20.42
G7	£27.40	£27.35	£26.65
G6	*	£33.04	£32.84
SCS	*	£42.62	£48.85

*Number of staff in this group are below publishable level

Good progress is being made on actions in the Government’s Talent Action Plan and Defra’s Diversity Strategy to ensure that Defra is able to recruit and retain employees from a diverse range of backgrounds, and to enable them to develop and progress on merit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to lay the revised statutory instruments for the Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016 and Pubs Code (Fees, Costs and Financial Penalties) Regulations 2016 before the House.

Anna Soubry

The Government is working hard to bring the Pubs Code etc Regulations 2016 into force as soon as possible. We have drafted the necessary technical corrections, and will lay a revised draft as soon as possible. The Code will come in to force following Parliamentary scrutiny. The Pubs Code (Fees, Costs and Financial Penalties) Regulations 2016 will be laid at the same time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that humanitarian aid is delivered to displaced people along the Thai-Burmese border.

Rory Stewart

DFID has a £33.6m four year programme providing humanitarian, health and peacebuilding assistance to Eastern border areas of Burma. This includes humanitarian assistance to the nine Burmese refugee camps in Thailand, as well as assistance to displaced and conflict-affected people in Eastern Burma. DFID is the second largest donor to The Border Consortium, who provide food and shelter to the Burmese refugee camps in Thailand. DFID also funds health and legal assistance to refugees in the camps.

DFID officials visit the refugee camps regularly and work with implementing partners to monitor that our assistance is reaching the most vulnerable displaced people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects Network Rail to publish an update to its industry electrification strategy.

Paul Maynard

Network Rail is now evaluating electrification of routes on a case by case basis as one of the ways of delivering enhanced train services to meet the forecast growth in rail usage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support dairy farmers as a result of reduced milk prices.

George Eustice

Although government cannot control market volatility, our aim is to give farmers improved tools to manage it. We have extended the period over which they can average their tax from two to five years. We are exploring opportunities for a dairy futures market as well as for better branding and labelling in supermarkets in order to improve profitability. We are also exploring opportunities to help farming businesses become more resilient and ready to take advantage of the growing demand for British dairy products both at home and abroad.

According to the latest forecast of Farm Business Incomes for 2015-16, average incomes on dairy farms are expected to fall to £46,500. This reflects the impact of lower milk prices which started to fall in March 2014, and the reduced prices for cull cows and heifers. While the number of dairy farms in England and Wales has also fallen from around 13,500 in 2006 to 9,500 today, the number of dairy cows has remained almost unchanged, which suggests consolidation within the industry.

We have seen an increase in the UK farmgate milk price for the second month in a row to 21.34p per litre in August 2016. The long-term picture for our dairy industry remains positive.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with Interserve about members of his Department’s cleaning staff facing disciplinary action over a pay dispute.

Mr David Lidington

Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials asked Interserve to comment in light of allegations from Citizens UK that Interserve cleaners had been disciplined because of a letter written to The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) in July about the London Living Wage. Interserve replied to to say that they had carried out an investigation to establish whether the letter had breached their confidentiality agreement with their staff. Interserve has since confirmed that their investigation has concluded and that no disciplinary action will be taken against the staff members concerned.