Tag: Jim Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of its ability to (a) forecast and (b) mitigate the impact of extreme weather events on the UK; and if she will make a statement.

Rory Stewart

The Flood Forecasting Centre – jointly operated by the Environment Agency and Met Office – combines world class science, knowledge and experience on meteorology and hydrology to forecast flood risk. The daily assessment of risk enables extra time for emergency responders to prepare.

The Government has recently announced funding for a £97m supercomputer that will cement the UK’s position as a world leader in weather and climate prediction. In addition to this, the Environment Agency operates a flood forecasting and warning service for over 3000 local communities at risk from both rivers and the sea. Advice is provided by phone and text to over 1.1m home and business owners when their property is at risk.

Further investment to improve timely and accurate information to the public is underway. A £6m programme of improvements to weather radar will be completed this year and live data on river levels from across England was made available on the Government’s website earlier this year.

Climate change is factored into all the modelling work that the Environment Agency does, but in light of this extreme weather we must look at that modelling and ensure it is fit for purpose for future decisions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff made up the BIS Automotive sector team in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry

Information on the number of staff in the BIS Automotive sector team over each of the last five years is illustrated in the table below.

Year (Calendar)	Number of Staff (Full-Time Equivalent)
2011	15
2012	15
2013	17
2014	20
2015	20

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual maintenance spend by the (a) Royal Navy, (b) British Army and (c) Royal Air Force has been in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

Annual maintenance spend, on equipment support and property management, is not recorded by individual arm of Service. This is because our Armed Services operate as integrated joint organisations in which the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force work together and share land, buildings, facilities and equipment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what financial support her Department provides to livestock farmers to mitigate the development of antibiotic resistance; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

No specific financial support is offered to livestock farmers to mitigate the development of antibiotic resistance.

We will continue to promote the importance of the vet-farmer relationship, and the need to be proactive in looking at any measures in husbandry practices that will reduce disease, and therefore the need for antibiotics, in livestock production

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) total research and development spend by his Department in each of the last five years and (b) forecast research and development spend by his Department in the next five years.

Mr Philip Dunne

Ministry of Defence (MOD) research and development expenditure is published in "Departmental Resources Statistical bulletin" (Excel Table 5), which is available at the following website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/defence-departmental-resources-2015

There is no fixed forward budget for research and development because development expenditure is mostly part of the equipment programme applied as needed against the development requirements of individual projects. The government will dedicate 1.2% of its growing Defence budget to the Defence Science and Technology Programme, the centralised research budget, under the Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to ensure that rail commuters have greater access to the cheapest available tickets (a) on the day they travel and (b) when booking in advance; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry

We recognise the pressure on hardworking families and have put a stop to increases in regulated fares until 2020, extending the cap on rail fares which we regulate introduced in 2014. This will save the average season ticket holder £425 in this Parliament and means average earnings are outstripping rail fare increases for the first time in a decade. We are also taking a number of steps that will make it easier for people to obtain the best value ticket for their journey. We have committed to introducing more flexible tickets for people who work or commute part-time, which could enable customers to buy discounted advance carnet-style tickets. Arriva Trains Wales and Great Northern already offer flexible products and both GTR and c2c have commitments to introduce more flexible tickets on their smartcards.

The evidence also shows that advance fares, which can offer good value for people who are able to book in advance, are a key rail success of recent years where we have seen huge growth. Unregulated advance tickets have increased from 8% of revenue in 2007/08 to 15% of revenue in 2014/15.

In December 2014, I challenged the rail industry to improve the information they provide through ticket vending machines. The industry has responded positively with a code of practice on retail information published in March 2015. Most train operators now have actions underway and complete, including providing new messages on screens and improved availability of off-peak tickets through vending machines. The Department continues to monitor progress closely in this area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department collects on the number of A&E visits by patients who are (a) above and (b) below the recommended body mass index to NHS hospitals in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

The information requested is not collected centrally. The Health and Social Care Information Centre does not collect body mass index details as part of the accident and emergency or Hospital Episode Statistics datasets.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what submissions she has received from teachers’ representatives on the rollout of the English Baccalaureate in the last year; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb

On 3 November 2015 we launched a consultation seeking views on how to ensure that pupils receive a rigorous education in the core academic subjects; an education that includes the English Baccalaureate GCSEs: maths, English, science, a foreign language and history or geography. The consultation closed on 29 January.

Alongside the consultation, we have discussed the English Baccalaureate with more than 50 head teachers from schools or academy trusts in roundtable discussions, individual meetings or phone conversations. We have also met representatives from teaching unions to discuss the EBacc consultation.

We will publish the results of the consultation and the government’s response later in the spring. This will include information about the submissions received from teachers’ representatives.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of rent repayment orders issued to houses in multiple occupation which were not adequately licensed in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis

The Department does not collect or hold information about the number of rent repayment orders issued in respect of unlicensed houses in multiple occupation.

A local authority may apply to the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) for such an order if Housing Benefit was paid to cover or assist with rent payments during the period a house in multiple occupation was required to be licensed, but was not. Information about the number of rent repayment orders issued to local authorities will be held by the authorities themselves.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many grants of what value were made by his Department for meningitis research programmes in each of the last five years.

George Freeman

Since 2011, the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has made the following awards through its research programmes and fellowship schemes for research relating to meningitis:

– Impact of conjugate vaccination on population immunity to pneumococcal and meningococcal disease in England: immunosero-epidemiological analysis (£605,843; 2013-15); and

– Improving the diagnosis of meningitis in adults in the United Kingdom (£415,242; 2013-16).

In addition, the NIHR funds research relating to meningitis through:

– the NIHR Clinical Research Network;

– NIHR Biomedical Research Centres;

– NIHR Clinical Research Facilities for Experimental Medicine; and

– Health Protection Research Units.

Since 2011, the Department’s Policy Research Programme has made the following award for research relating to meningitis:

– Characterisation of meningococcal carriage isolates from UK MenCar4 study (£199,990; 2016-17).