Tag: Iain McKenzie

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain McKenzie on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the benefits and costs of a nationwide badger cull; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

The Government is committed to our strategy to make England free of bovine TB, of which culling badgers in areas where the disease is rife is a key element. The outcome of this year’s cull in Somerset indicates that industry-led culling can, in the right circumstances, deliver the level of effectiveness required to be confident of achieving disease control benefits.

The results for Gloucestershire show that continued progress is needed taking into account the additional challenges of interference and harassment by activists. The cost of the badger cull pilots in 2013 was £6.3 million. The estimated cost of England failing to tackle bovine TB is estimated to be £1 billion in the next decade.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain McKenzie on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what estimate he has made of the change in the level of real wages in Scotland since May 2010.

David Mundell

Our economy is recovering from the deepest recession since ONS records began in 1948.

Thanks to this government’s long-term economic plan we have seen average regular pay rising faster over the last year than inflation. Furthermore, business surveys expect the steady rise in real wages to continue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain McKenzie on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what extra consular assistance his Department will provide for British citizens in Brazil attending the World Cup.

Mark Simmonds

During the World Cup, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office will have a comprehensive consular plan in place to assist any British nationals that require our assistance. This includes a Consular Operations Centre in Rio de Janeiro on the day preceding, the day of and the day following all England games, a dedicated consular telephone number (which has been advertised on our travel advice and in the Football Supporters Federation’s tournament and match day programmes), a team of consular officers at every England game and consular officers from around the region and Portugal on standby to assist the Brazil network with any consular surges. We will also have a rapid deployment team from the Americas region on standby should they be required.

In the build up to the World Cup we have run a comprehensive travel advice campaign called ‘Be on the Ball’ that has featured Twitter Q&A sessions, attendance at fans forums in London, media interviews in printed and video forms. We have also run a number of exercises across the Brazil network so that consular officials are prepared should we need to assist British nationals in the case of major incidents.

I visited Sao Paulo on 4 June to view preparations which the Foreign & Commonwealth Office is making to give consular assistance during the World Cup. I also met the Deputy Mayor of Sao Paulo to discuss the local preparations for the tournament.

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office has also been working with the Football Association, UK Football Policing Unit, Brazilian local authorities and other stakeholders on contingency and crisis planning.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain McKenzie on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Thai government on the restoration of democracy in that country.

Mr Hugo Swire

Following a statement by the Foreign Secretary on 22 May, I made a statement on 25 May expressing my strong concerns about the situation in Thailand and calling for a clear timetable for elections and the restoration of democracy.

Our Ambassador to Thailand has communicated through senior Thai civilian officials our serious concerns about the military takeover. Through them, he has urged the Thai military authorities to provide a clear and detailed timetable for the restoration of civilian government. Most recently he met with the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 3 June. The Head of ASEAN Department in London met the Thai Charge d’affaires, also on 3 June to deliver the same message. Our Defence Attaché in Bangkok meets members of the Thai military on a daily basis and repeats these points each time.

We have made it clear to the Thai authorities that we will not continue to have normal bilateral relations until an elected government is in place. We are currently reviewing the scope of our cooperation with Thailand.

We are consulting with EU members, the US, Australia and other allies, to ensure that the international community speaks with one voice on this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain McKenzie on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she made of the humanitarian situation in Syria; and if she will make a statement.

Justine Greening

The humanitarian crisis in Syria has reached catastrophic proportions. The UN estimates that 9.3 million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid within Syria. At least 6.5 million people in Syria have been forced to flee their homes to other areas of the country and there are now over 2.8 million refugees in the region.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain McKenzie on 2014-05-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the economic benefits to the local economy of the lower Clyde of basing the UK’s submarine fleet at Faslane.

Mr Philip Dunne

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain McKenzie on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to reimburse people who have had to pay to upgrade to the premium one-day service to secure a (a) new or (b) renewed passport; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

There are no plans to reimburse customers who choose to use the four hour
premium service.

On 12 June, the Home Secretary announced in the House of Commons that where
people have an urgent need to travel, and their application has been with Her
Majesty’s Passport Office for longer than the standard processing time of three weeks
through no fault of their own, they will be able to upgrade their application
without charge. After their application has been through the proper checks, the
processing, printing and delivery of the new passport will be fast-tracked for
free. To qualify, customers must be booked to travel within the next 7 days.
Customers will be asked to provide details – such as flight numbers and the
name of the travel company – to confirm their travel plans.

This policy came into effect immediately after being announced and will be
available until further notice. This policy will not be applied
retrospectively.