Tag: Greg Mulholland

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 11 January 2016 to Question 21375 and of 18 January 2016 to Question 22215 on flood control: per capita costs, what steps she took to ensure that the geographical boundaries of Environment Agency areas and census regions matched for the purposes of those calculations.

Rory Stewart

Public facing Environment Agency Areas match local council boundaries used by the Office of National Statistics (with the exception of ‘Central Bedfordshire’) and so census figures can be scaled to the Environment Agency Areas that the flood risk management Grant in Aid allocations were taken from. As Central Bedfordshire is wholly within the Areas that make up our eastern hub this does not change the per capita calculation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the reduction in single-use plastic carrier bag usage in England since the carrier bag charge was introduced.

Rory Stewart

Retailers are required to provide data for the first reporting period ending 6 April 2016 by 31 May 2016. Any assessment the department makes on the reduction of single use carrier bags will be after that point.

In December, Tesco reported a 78% reduction in the number of single-use carrier bags distributed since the introduction of the charge. They also reported an increase of nearly 50% in the number of online shoppers selecting ‘bagless’ deliveries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support his Department gives to children with tuberous sclerosis complex.

George Freeman

The commissioning of most health services for children is the responsibility of local clinical commissioning groups. NHS England has the role of commissioning the specialised services which patients with tuberous sclerosis access. In addition clinical policies are developed for new treatments that potentially change the impact of the disease.

NHS England has approved, as an in year service development, the routine commissioning of Everolimus for angiomyolipomas associated with tuberous sclerosis. The policy statement will be published in the next few days which will define the clinical criteria for which access is supported.

A full clinical policy for the use of Everolimus for subependymal giant cell astrocytoma is currently out for public consultation. This policy proposition will be considered for investment in the annual prioritisation round in June 2016.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department or Saxton Bampfylde Ltd approached any person to apply for the Pubs Code Adjudicator vacancy.

Anna Soubry

The Department and the contracted executive search agency, Saxton Bampfylde, approached individuals to consider applying for the Pubs Code Adjudicator vacancy. This was done in accordance with standard practice.

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 amount 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 relevant qualifications the official from his Department who was seconded to oversee the appointment panel for the recruitment of the Pubs Code Adjudicator held; and what methodology was used by the Department to choose who would be seconded into that role.

Anna Soubry

No official from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was seconded to oversee the appointment panel for the recruitment of the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

In line with the Office for the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) guidance the recruitment panel was chaired by a Public Appointments Assessor. The Panel also included the relevant Director from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and an independent panel member.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.256 of Budget 2016, what meetings (a) he and (b) his officials have had with the Department of Health regarding the UK’s bid to host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.

Greg Hands

As stated in Spending Review 15 the government supports the ambition to host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup in the Northern Powerhouse.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel“

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

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

Jane Ellison

The information requested (as at 31 March in each of the two years) is presented below. The figures given take into consideration only information about staff who have formally declared their ethnicity.

	Average Hourly Rate 2015	Average Hourly Rate 2016
Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Staff	£18.50	£19.03
Non-Black and Minority Ethnic (Non-BME) Staff	£24.23	£24.34

17% of the Department’s staff are BME which is above the Civil Service average. The difference in average hourly rates between BME and non BME staff is due to there being a higher proportion of BME staff in junior grades at present.

To encourage recruitment and promotion of talented individuals from a BME background, the Department has undertaken several initiatives including, but not limited to, blind recruitment forms, mandatory unconscious bias training for all staff and a suite of other Diversity and Inclusion training, such as Race Awareness, Positive Action Pathways, and Future Leaders Schemes.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he plans to make changes to the procedure of the market rent only option once triggered, as planned in Part 6 of the withdrawn Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016.

Anna Soubry

No. The Government does not plan to make any material changes to the procedure of the ‘Market Rent Only’ option, once triggered, in the revised regulations. Some technical drafting improvements have been made to Part 6.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of levels of passenger satisfaction with light rail systems.

Paul Maynard

The Department for Transport has not made any assessment of passenger satisfaction levels in regards to light rail. However, Transport Focus, an independent transport user watchdog, published results in May 2016 which indicated overall journey satisfaction in 2015 had increased to 92% from 90% the previous year. This follows a survey conducted of over 5,000 passengers who had used light rail systems in operation in Blackpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh.

A copy of the Transport Focus report can be found at the following weblink:

http://www.transportfocus.org.uk/research-publications/research/tram-passenger-survey/

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