Tag: Ian Lavery

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what dates the National Flood Resilience Review met; what the dates are for future meetings of that review; and if he will publish the (a) agendas for and (b) minutes of meetings of that review.

Mr Oliver Letwin

The National Flood Resilience Review Group meets regularly to review progress of the review. We do not comment on specific date, nor do we publish agendas or minutes

The National Floods Resilience Review Group is chaired by Oliver Letwin and consists of Ministers and senior officials from relevant departments, including Defra, DECC, DfT, DCLG, HMT, DCMS, the Environment Agency and the Met Office.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he and his ministerial colleagues have had with the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the creation of a statutory duty on firefighters in England and Wales to respond to flooding.

Mike Penning

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Office.

Both the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 detail the roles and powers of fire and rescue authorities, in respect of both emergency response and rescue in a wide range of situations, including from flooding. Fire and rescue authorities are expected to undertake integrated risk management planning, dovetailed with the community risk register overseen by the Local Resilience Forum (a multi-agency grouping of which fire and rescue authorities are key members). Integrated Risk Management Plans identify the full range of risks that an authority’s service is expected to respond to and are subject to consultation. The National Fire Framework published in July 2012 and given statutory effect in August 2012 makes this clear and I believe that fire and rescue authorities are fully competent to deliver on this.

The Government has had no recent representations on this arrangement and in light of how well fire services have responded to recent flooding suggests there is no need for review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to respond to the increase in the number of flood related emergencies.

Rory Stewart

We have announced a National Resilience Review to better protect the country from future flooding and increasingly extreme weather events. The Review will consider how we calculate flood risk in light of recent events, and will be delivered by a new cross-Government team.

The Review will also cover ‘worst case scenario’ planning and the future impacts of climate change. It will also carry out a risk assessment of critical infrastructure like electricity substations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect reductions in public spending have had on the ability of fire and rescue services to respond to floods and other emergencies as a result of Storm Desmond.

Mike Penning

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Office.

The Government has been in constant contact with local responders and over 22 Fire and Rescue Services have provided mutual aid to areas with support from others including the RNLI. The Government has activated the Bellwin Scheme, funding which supports local authorities in the costs associated with an emergency response.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government plans to set a levy of at least three per cent of gross working premium on insurers to fund the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payments Scheme.

Justin Tomlinson

The levy will be set at a figure estimated to meet the cost of the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme for 2015/16. This figure falls within industry expectations and below 3 per cent of employers’ liability gross written premium.

A Ministerial written statement (HCWS460) was tabled in the House of Commons on 12 January 2016 and provides details of the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme levy for 2015/16.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons a levy of at least three per cent of gross working premium on insurers to fund the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payments Scheme has not yet been introduced.

Justin Tomlinson

The Mesothelioma Act (2014) requires active insurers to pay a levy with a view to meeting the costs of the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (DMPS) each year.

The 3% figure was the maximum percentage of the active employers’ liability insurance market to be levied on the insurance industry to recoup the costs of the scheme in any one year. This figure is a cap rather than a set rate. Each year the levy rate is calculated using the costs of the DMPS so far in that financial year, extrapolated to cover the remainder of the period. As this is a demand led scheme, the calculations for the levy are done afresh each year. An upturn in applications to the Scheme would result in a higher levy rate in future years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the National Flood Resilience Review will assess the (a) maintenance requirements of flood assets and (b) capacity of the Environment Agency to maintain flood defences.

Rory Stewart

The National Flood Resilience Review is not assessing the maintenance requirements of flood assets or the capacity of the Environment Agency to maintain flood defences. The terms of reference for the Review were published on 26 January 2016. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-flood-resilience-review-government-action-to-tackle-floods.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support UKTI has provided to Rio Tinto in locations where Rio Tinto invests or plans to invest.

Anna Soubry

UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) mining sector team has regular and ongoing engagement with Rio Tinto both in market and in the UK as we seek to realise economic benefit for the UK through the involvement of the UK’s mining supply chain in Rio Tinto’s projects.

Rio Tinto closed its Lynemouth Aluminium facility in 2013. That same year UKTI was part of a Rapid Response taskforce (which included local Economic Development organisations and Rio Tinto), to explore redeployment and site re-marketing options.

UKTI support included:

– an audit of the unique characteristics and selling points of the site to determine the sectoral focus of Rio Tinto’s site marketing activity to potential investors.

– research to assess from where the strongest investor interest was likely to come from.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the National Flood Resilience Review team has made on assessing the damage that extreme rainfall could cause across England.

Rory Stewart

The National Flood Resilience Review led by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is making good progress with gathering evidence and stress-testing our resilience to flood risk. Our call for evidence closed on 4 March and we are now reviewing the 66 responses received.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what diplomatic support British Embassies have provided to Rio Tinto in locations where Rio Tinto invests or plans to invest.

Anna Soubry

UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) mining sector team has regular and ongoing engagement with Rio Tinto both in market and in the UK as we seek to realise economic benefit for the UK through the involvement of the UK’s mining supply chain in Rio Tinto’s projects.

Rio Tinto closed its Lynemouth Aluminium facility in 2013. That same year UKTI was part of a Rapid Response taskforce (which included local Economic Development organisations and Rio Tinto), to explore redeployment and site re-marketing options.

UKTI support included:

– an audit of the unique characteristics and selling points of the site to determine the sectoral focus of Rio Tinto’s site marketing activity to potential investors.

– research to assess from where the strongest investor interest was likely to come from.