Tag: John Pugh

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the reasons for the recent reduction in the number of prosecutions for mobile telephone use while driving.

Mike Penning

No assessment has been made of the reasons for the recent reduction in the number of prosecutions for mobile telephone use while driving. Enforcement of this offence is an operational matter for the police. However, there may be a number of reasons, including drivers being more aware of the law, police deciding to prosecute drivers under more serious offences and officers choosing alternative methods of law enforcement, such as fixed penalties.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect on her Department’s work of re-allocating elements of her Department’s budget to help local authorities deal with Syrian refugees.

Justine Greening

There will be no substantive impact on existing DFID programming. It is right that we work with communities in the UK taking refugees as we do elsewhere in the world, but of course, we will stay within ODA rules.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what data her Department holds on the carbon footprint and emissions of local authorities.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has requested local authorities in England to annually measure, and report on their websites, greenhouse gas emissions data for their own estate and operations. A collation of the data extracted from local authority websites for the years 2008/09 to 2012/13 can be found on gov.uk:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sharing-information-on-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-local-authority-own-estate-and-operations-previously-ni-185#summary-of-local-authorities-ghg-emissions-data-for-20112012-and-20122013.

From 2013/14 DECC ceased to collate and publish the data on gov.uk.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2014-06-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effects of the distribution of cultural funds and subsidies throughout the regions of the UK.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Funding decisions for the arts are made independently of Ministers by Arts Council England (ACE). Earlier this week, ACE announced an increase in the proportion of spend on regional arts and major partner museums.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities have bid for each round of the Coastal Communities Fund but have so far received no funding.

Penny Mordaunt

The Coastal Communities Fund has had three bidding rounds to date, across the United Kingdom. My answer of 9 February 2015, PQ 223748, provided a list of areas which had received grants. I have placed in the Library of the House, a table listing the local authority areas from which bids have been received.

Ministers are not involved in the grant application or assessment process. The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for inviting and assessing applications to the Fund and makes recommendations to Ministers on which projects should be supported.

Whilst the Coastal Communities Fund is currently closed for further applications, I hope there will be further opportunities to support local schemes which have not benefitted from Government support to date.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which coastal resorts have received support in more than (a) one round and (b) two rounds of coastal communities funding awards.

Penny Mordaunt

The Coastal Communities Fund has had three bidding rounds to date. A table has been placed in the Library of the House giving details of 164 coastal communities across the UK that have received grants from the Fund in one, two or three bidding rounds. The table covers all grants awarded in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to date.

In addition to the coastal communities in the table, 22 grants were awarded to projects in local authority areas, and a further five grants awarded to cross local authority projects including two long distance coastal footpaths, where we do not have details of the individual coastal communities they will help.

Ministers are not involved in the grant application or assessment process. The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for inviting and assessing applications to the Fund and makes recommendations to Ministers on which projects should be supported.

The Coastal Communities Fund is currently closed for further applications. No decisions have been taken yet on whether there will be further bidding rounds. This will be a matter for the next Spending Review. However, I hope there will be further opportunities to support local schemes which have not benefitted from Government support to date.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) funds and (b) grants his Department makes available for the refurbishment or improvement of railway stations.

Claire Perry

The Department for Transport currently operates a number of schemes that makes funds available to enhance facilities at stations.

The Access for All programme and the Small Schemes fund provide improvements in accessibility. The National Stations Improvement Programme and Stations Commercial Project Facility are designed to deliver enhancements to passenger facilities. The New Station Fund has been established to help fund the construction of new stations.