Tag: Julian Sturdy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what safeguards are in place to ensure that private hire vehicle operators remain responsible for journeys sub-contracted to other licensed operators across licensing authority boundaries.

Andrew Jones

Whilst private hire vehicle operators have the freedom to subcontract bookings, the operator that originally accepted a sub-contracted booking remains ultimately responsible for that booking.

Both the initial operator who accepts the booking and the operator who fulfils the booking by providing a driver and vehicle are under a duty to keep records of the booking. The relevant enforcement authorities are able to check those records.

All bookings, including those subcontracted, have to be fulfilled by operators, drivers and vehicles all of whom have been licensed by their local authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the guardianship of the property and affairs of missing people.

Dominic Raab

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton on 9 March 2016, which can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2016-03-01/29212/.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of diplomatic and economic relations between India and the UK.

Mr Philip Hammond

As, respectively, the world’s oldest and largest democracies, the United Kingdom and India have a strong friendship, which Prime Minister Modi’s visit has enhanced. We continue to work together to strengthen our defence and security partnership and expand trade and investment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what checks are in place to ensure that foreign-registered vehicles entering the UK are insured.

Andrew Jones

All drivers using roads in the UK have to be in possession of third party insurance covering the use of that vehicle in this country.

Under the sixth Motor Insurance Directive (2009/103/EC) an insurance policy issued in any EU Member State must cover the use of that vehicle for third party risks in all other EU Member States.

Drivers entering the EU from non-member states have to produce evidence that they have the necessary insurance cover in place when they enter the EU.

Checks on insurance by the police for any vehicle using UK roads can be carried out as they determine is necessary at any time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason the Government is proposing to raise the small claims limit to £5000 rather than to £3000.

Dominic Raab

The Government is determined to crack down on the compensation culture and has announced reforms, including raising the small claims limit, to tackle the problem. These reforms will build on previous measures taken by the MoJ to control costs, tackle fraud, strengthen the medical evidence process and reduce incentives to pursue trivial whiplash claims. £5,000 is considered to be the appropriate level for the small claims limit and the rationale for this will be set out in the consultation document which will be published in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans her Department has to differentiate between different types of less-established technologies in the next Contracts for Difference allocation round.

Andrea Leadsom

As we did in the first CFD allocation round, we will use an auction to differentiate between the projects in the less established technologies pot. We keep the technologies eligible for each pot under review to make sure that our decarbonisation and affordability objectives are met.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications for the Legion d’Honneur have been withdrawn since July 2015 due to the death of the applicant; and what further steps his Department is taking to ensure that people nominated to receive that medal receive it as quickly as possible.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence has been made aware of 37 cases from the original list of approximately 3,300 names submitted to the French authorities where the veteran had died before their case could be submitted. In addition, the French Embassy has advised us of 14 cases in which the medal has been sent out but was returned to them specifically because the individual had died.

Under the terms of the arrangement with the French authorities, within which the normal timetable for processing awards has greatly reduced, the Ministry of Defence can submit 100 cases per week. Cases are normally submitted in order of their original submission to the Department; but we prioritise cases where we are notified of life-threatening or serious conditions.

Since the new system began in July last year we have sent 3,150 applications to the French Embassy and it should be remembered that this alone is more cases than would normally be dealt with by the Legion d’Honneur in all categories for a whole year. The French are also receiving applications from the other Allied nations that took part in D-Day, and the overall level of applications will clearly be far higher.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assistance the Government provides to local authorities to enable them to provide recycling facilities for all kinds of plastics.

Rory Stewart

The Government works with local authorities and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to provide advice and promote best practice on waste and recycling. The UK Recycling rate has increased from 11% at the turn of the century, to 44.9% in 2014. This progress is thanks in large part to the hard work of local authorities and householders towards recycling more.

For 2015/16, local authority spend on waste services was approximately £3.5 billion, of which nearly £600 million was spent on recycling. In addition the Government, through the Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme, has allocated some £3 billion in grant funding to a number of local authority waste infrastructure projects. This funding has helped authorities to build waste treatment infrastructure including energy from waste, mechanical biological treatment, anaerobic digestion and material recovery facilities, as well as to implement household recycling collection services and communal recycling centres for plastics and other recyclable materials.

Local authorities are best placed to decide on their waste recycling services and the range of materials collected, taking into account local circumstances such as geography and population. WRAP’s best understanding of collections being operated by local authorities in England as of June 2016 shows us that 99% of English local authorities offer a collection of plastic bottles while 72% offer collection of plastic packaging, pots, tubs and trays.

I have asked WRAP to work with the waste sector, to look at the benefits and opportunities there are from having more consistency in the materials collected for recycling and in collection systems. This will help local authorities to identify value for money and to help householders recycle more and put the right materials in the right bin. This not only includes opportunities for local authorities, but also what others can do to support greater consistency and increased recycling.

I am expecting WRAP to publish a framework for greater consistency in the summer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the relative costs of tidal lagoon projects compared to other forms of tidal power technology.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government’s extensive Severn Tidal Power feasibility study and the recent work as part of the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon Contract for Difference negotiations show that costs for tidal lagoons may be broadly comparable to other tidal range technologies. However, the detailed relative costs of projects will be dependent on their geographical location, individual design and financing models.

We have not made any comparative assessment of costs with tidal stream technologies, which are at a very early stage of development and have a highly different asset-life to tidal range.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Indian government on the Seaman Guard Ohio since the Indian court ruling relating to that matter in January 2016.

Mr Hugo Swire

We continue to follow this case closely, raising it at ministerial and official level at every opportunity, as we have done since November 2013. Following the court ruling on 11 January 2016 Ministers have raised the case with Foreign Secretary Jaishankar, the Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr VK Singh and the Indian High Commissioner Mr Navtej Singh.

Whilst we cannot interfere in any foreign legal process, we shall continue to use every opportunity to raise the case at all levels, calling for any legal proceedings to move forward quickly.