Tag: Jim Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether his Department plans to begin the formal negotiation process for trade deals with (a) EU and (b) non-EU countries after the (i) initiation and (ii) conclusion of the Article 50 process; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Hands

The Prime Minister has been clear, we are not going to provide a running commentary on the negotiations. We recognise the need for a smooth transition as the UK leaves the EU, which minimises disruption to our trading relationships. Ministers and officials in the Department for International Trade are working closely with counterparts across a wide range of markets, in order to promote the UK as a great place to do business and with which to trade. We are taking advantage of all the opportunities available to us to ensure that Britain becomes the global leader in free trade once we leave the EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the productivity of UK farmland; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

Defra produces a number of statistics on UK agricultural productivity and these are published on the GOV.UK website.

The land productivity index (calculated as total agricultural output divided by the amount of land in agricultural production) shows:

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Productivity by land	98.1	100.0	103.8	99.2	100.7	107.7

Index base year = 2010

Care needs to be taken in interpreting this measure, as agricultural output is determined by a number of inputs, both within farmers’ control (eg. labour) and outside their control (eg. weather).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the amount spent on advertising campaigns aimed at teacher recruitment in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb

The estimated amount spent on advertising campaigns aimed at teacher recruitment in each of the last five years is:

	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Total spend	£4,210,000	£4,630,000	£6,020,000	£1,800,000	£4,770,000

These estimates include advertising campaign costs, such as production and purchased media space in TV, newspapers, online and social media.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-10.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) complaints and (b) investigations into complaints made by civil servants against special advisers in his Department (i) have been made in each of the last five years and (ii) are currently ongoing.

Harriett Baldwin

There have been no a) complaints and b) investigations into complaints made by civil servants against special advisers in HM Treasury either in the last five years nor are there any currently ongoing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number and accessibility of pharmacy facilities; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

There were 11,674 community pharmacies in England at 31 March 2015. 95% of the population is within a 20 minute walk of a community pharmacy, with access greatest in the most deprived areas. It is not for the Department to determine or advise on how health and social care providers, including pharmacies, comply with equalities legislation. It is up to each pharmacy owner to ensure their pharmacy premises comply with the Equality Act 2010.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 November 2015 to Question 16933, how many representations he has received from his (a) Iranian and (b) Russian counterpart on the threat posed by ISIS in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Further to my answer of 23 November, we remain open to discussion with Iran and Russia on how best to deal with shared threats such as Daesh. The UK has discussed Daesh with the Presidents of both countries, as well as their Ministers and officials. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Philip Hammond) attended the talks aimed at finding a political solution to the situation in Syria held in Vienna on 30 October and 14 November, which Russia and Iran also attended.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the average per kwh cost of energy in each of the next five years; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

Energy price assumptions underpinning DECC’s 2015 Energy and Emissions Projections are available in Annex M of the supporting documentation available online.1 The table includes wholesale coal, crude oil, electricity, and natural gas price assumptions, and retail electricity, natural gas, and petroleum product price assumptions for a range of sectors. Assumptions are available out to 2035, and for a range of scenarios.

The Government is implementing a package of measures to reduce the projected cost of policies on the average household dual fuel bill by £30 from 2017. The bulk of these savings will come from reforms to the current Energy Company Obligation, which will be replaced by a new cheaper supplier obligation from April 2017. The new scheme will deliver on the government’s commitment to help 1 million homes see lower energy bills through energy efficiency improvements by the end of this parliament. The government is committed to ensuring that energy is affordable for families and businesses.

[1] Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2015.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many remotely piloted aircraft system pilots are employed in the RAF; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt

There are currently 40 Remotely Piloted Aircraft System pilots in the Royal Air Force.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2015 to Question 6809, what progress his Department has made on allocating funding for investment into ultra low emission vehicles and the infrastructure to support such vehicles.

Andrew Jones

The government allocated more than £600 million to support the uptake and manufacture of ultra low emission vehicles in the 2015 Spending Review. This represents an increase of over £100 million on the Government’s previous commitment and means the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) will continue to provide one of the most comprehensive packages of support for ultra low emission vehicles in the world.

On 17 December the Government announced it has allocated £400 million so that the Plug-in Car Grant will continue to at least 2018, well beyond the previous guarantee of February 2016, and which will mean more than 100,000 people will benefit over the coming years – double the number who have already claimed the grant since 2011. The Government also announced the continuation of the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme, which will provide £500 towards the cost of installing a domestic chargepoint.

We will provide further details about the wider OLEV programme during the first part of 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what representations his Department has received from professional football teams in England and Wales on the potential introduction of safe-standing facilities at higher tier sports stadia in the last year; and if he will make a statement.

Tracey Crouch

Representations have been received from one League One club, Peterborough United, and from Grimsby Town in the National League about the possible introduction of safe standing accommodation at their respective grounds.

The Minister for Sport has also met Andrew R T Davies, Leader of the Conservative Party at the Welsh Assembly to discuss the possibility of a safe standing pilot in Wales.