Tag: Jim Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department plans to recruit more trade specialists as a result of the outcome of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.

Mr Hugo Swire

As The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), told the House on 27 June, the Cabinet has agreed the creation of a new EU Unit in Whitehall, which will bring together officials and policy expertise from across the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

It will report to the whole of the Cabinet on delivering the outcome of the referendum, advising on transitional issues and exploring options for our future relationship with Europe and the rest of the world from outside the EU.

The Prime Minister has also said that it is important for us to secure the best and brightest from the private sector, whether they are lawyers, financial experts or trade experts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the possible long-term exchange rate fluctuations resulting from the outcome of the EU referendum on the viability of the North Sea Link project; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman

The North Sea Link interconnector is being developed by National Grid and Statnett as a commercial business. National Grid has confirmed to us that the outcome of the referendum does not affect the delivery of the project and that construction is continuing as planned.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the financial contributions to be made by her Department to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in each of the next five years.

James Wharton

The UK is the largest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Between 2011 and 2015, the UK contributed £1.32 billion to Gavi. No additional administrative support was provided during this time.

The UK investment over the five year period between 2011 and 2015 immunised over 60 million children against vaccine preventable diseases which is estimated to have saved over 1 million lives.

Between 2016 and 2020, the UK is investing £1.44 billion in Gavi. This investment will deliver the Government’s manifesto commitment to immunise 76 million children against vaccine preventable diseases and save 1.4 million lives.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of people to be resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Relocation programme in each of the next 12 months; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill

We intend to resettle up to 20,000 Syrians in need of protection during this Parliament. We will continue to work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify appropriate cases, prioritising the most vulnerable. The numbers resettled in a particular period will depend on a range of factors including the flow of referrals from UNHCR in the field and the availability of suitable accommodation and care packages in the UK. We continue to work closely with local authorities to manage the arrival of the Syrian refugees in to the resettlement places they have pledged. We will manage the flows based on need and in support of the wellbeing of the people and communities involved, rather than rushing to meet arbitrary targets. However, we are clear that we want to help as many people as we can as quickly as possible.

The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Latest statistics published on 25 August confirmed that a total of a total of 2,898 Syrians have been resettled under the scheme since it began, 2,646 of these arriving since 1 October 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much his Department has spent on overnight accommodation since it was created.

Greg Hands

Following her appointment on 13 July 2016 the Prime Minister established the Department for International Trade (DIT). The DIT aggregates UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), UK Export and Finance (UKEF), Trade Policy Units from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Until such time as a transfer of functions order establishes the Secretary of State as a corporation sole, DIT remains a unified Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department for accounting purposes.

As DIT is currently being formed, accurate data for overnight accommodation spend is unavailable.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps NHS England is taking to encourage local communities to input into individual sustainability and transformation plans; and if he will publish contact details for lead officers co-ordinating proposals on the way maternity services are delivered in each NHS area.

David Mowat

NHS England, with other national health and care bodies, released guidance to the local areas developing Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STP) entitled ‘Engaging local people’ in September 2016 which can be found on their website. Local proposals for health and care transformation are not expected to have gone through formal local National Health Service or other organisations’ board approval and/or formal public engagement or consultation at this early stage. We expect that areas will publish a version of their Sustainability and Transformation Plans between late October and the end of the year. We would also expect that most areas will undertake public engagement during this period, building on the engagement they have already done to shape thinking. Every area will be working to a different timeframe, based on its own circumstances and how well-progressed its plan is.

As with the current arrangements for planning and delivery, there are layers of plans which can sit below STPs, with shared links and dependencies. STPs act as an umbrella, holding underneath them a number of different specific plans to address key local issues. Clinical commissioning groups remain accountable for securing high-quality healthcare services for their local populations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the amount of landfill produced annually by non-recyclable coffee cups each year; and if she will make a statement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

Neither Defra nor the Environment Agency collect or hold data regarding the amount of non-recyclable coffee cups going into landfill. The data on waste tonnages accepted in disposal and recovery facilities is based on standard European Waste Classification (EWC) codes. These codes do not map directly to non-recyclable coffee cups.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of trends in the exchange rate on future energy imports; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman

Departmental officials advise that exchange rates are one of the factors which influence future energy imports and their cost. For example, the cost of importing gas is also affected by the availability and cost of a range of gas supplies, infrastructure constraints and global and regional demand. The cost of importing electricity to the UK through its interconnectors with other European countries is also influenced by the electricity generation mix in Europe, by gas, coal and carbon prices and by the level of electricity demand in the UK and other European countries.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the uptake of outdoor recreational activities by (a) children, (b) adults and (c) pensioners; and if he will make a statement.

Tracey Crouch

The Government recognises the importance of encouraging more people to take up outdoor recreation. Through Sport England we are investing in a range of outdoor activities for people of all ages.Adults make 2.85 billion visits to the outdoors each year; 568 million visits are with children. The Government is set to present a new sport strategy, which willconsider the role of outdoor recreation in getting the nation active.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the increase in state pension age in the Pensions Act 2011 on women born in the 1950s; and if he will make a statement.

Justin Tomlinson

Estimates of the effect of the increase in State Pension age in the Pensions Act 2011 are presented in Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment, published in November 2011, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181462/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexa.pdf

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