Tag: Lord Greaves

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what amendments were made to the formula for police funding following the consultation process with individual police forces.

Lord Bates

We received over 1,700 responses to our recent public consultation on proposed police funding reforms. The overwhelming view from respondents was supportive of a new formula and the principles we set out. We have carefully analysed the feedback received and, in light of this, are proposing a number of refinements to the model:

– retain population volume and households with no adults employed and dependent children as core indicators;

– clarify that the second population characteristic we intend to use is the updated ‘urban adversity’ version of the Acorn 5 indicator which has replaced the old ‘hard pressed’ version (this ensures that the model is in line with CACI Limited’s current Acorn classifications);

– revise the bar density measure so that it takes account of bar volume as well as bar density, reflecting strong consultation feedback that this better captures scale and the impact of clusters of bars and the night-time economy within a force area;

– remove ‘Band D equivalent properties’ as a core indicator, reflecting strong consultation feedback that this variable did not adequately capture the ability to raise additional precept income as intended;

– add an Area Cost Adjustment (ACA) to the model to reflect regional variations in the cost base.

These proposed refinements to the model produce an adjusted set of weightings across the remaining four core indicators as follows:

Variable	Weighting
Population volume	30%
Households with no adults employed and dependent children	31%
Urban adversity/Acorn 5	31%
Volume and density of bars	8%

The Policing Minister wrote to all PCCs and Chiefs on 8 October to provide detail on the proposed refinements and to set out the indicative force-level impact and invite further comments.

We will then finalise the model in light of further feedback received.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will announce proposals for the use of the proposed £1 billion fund to support brownfield housing schemes.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The operation and focus of the Brownfield Fund are currently being developed and details will be available when the Fund is launched.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether companies carrying out hydraulic fracturing operations in the United Kingdom must provide full details of the chemicals that they use including all the ingredients of proprietary products, and whether this information will be made available to the public.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Operators are required to disclose fully the composition of fracturing fluid additives as part of their application for environmental permits. The Environment Agency (EA) assesses the hazards presented by fracturing fluid additives or drilling muds on a case-by-case basis and will not permit the use of chemicals hazardous to groundwater where they may enter groundwater and cause pollution. The EA has the power to restrict or prohibit the use of any substances where they would pose an environmental risk.

Information on chemical substances and their maximum concentrations is included within the environmental permit. The permit is placed on the public register.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government to what extent the proposed new police forces funding formula is weighted to reflect the importance of (1) historic crime levels, (2) historic clear-up levels, and (3) preventative and educative work; and in what ways it reflects policy relating to the maintenance of a network of neighbourhood policing.

Lord Bates

Our proposed funding model is based on a set of four indicators which correlate well with long term patterns of crime. The indicators cover population, population characteristics and environmental characteristics. They are used as proxies for police demand and are based on objective, robust and reliable data that can be compared across all force areas.

Decisions about the size and composition of the police workforce are an operational matter for chief officers, working with their Police and Crime Commissioner.

We continue to strongly support neighbourhood policing, and are committed to the principle that tackling local crime and anti-social behaviour should be a priority for the whole force – not just neighbourhood policing teams – working collaboratively with other local agencies, businesses and residents to respond to the problems they face.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, and to what extent, they are (1) engaged in diplomatic contacts with, and (2) providing support to, the Kurdish authorities and groups involved in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK has a strong and well-established relationship with the Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq. We maintain a Consulate General in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, and have regular contact with officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government. As part of our wider support to Iraq, we are providing significant military assistance to the Kurdish Peshmerga to help them degrade and defeat ISIL. In addition to air support, we have trained over 2,100 Peshmerga fighters in infantry fighting skills, weapons handling and Counter-Improvised Explosive Device procedures. We have also gifted weapons, non-lethal equipment and airlifted support provided by other partners in the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL.

In Syria the situation is more difficult. Kurdish groups are effective against ISIL, and have benefited from US airstrikes against ISIL. But we remain concerned that the Syrian Kurdish authorities maintain links with the Assad regime and the proscribed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), so we are not able to provide material support. UKofficials have discussed our concerns with the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the ruling Kurdish authority in Northern Syria and continue to do so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many citizens of each European Union member state, other than the United Kingdom and Ireland, aged 18 or over are resident in the United Kingdom; and of those, how many have been resident in the United Kingdom for more than five years, broken down by their country of citizenship.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much surplus land owned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and its agencies they estimate is suitable for building new houses on; how much has been released in each year since 2010–11; and how much they expect to release in (1) the current year, and (2) each year to 2020–21.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

During the last Parliament, the Government exceeded its ambition to release surplus land with capacity for 100,000 homes. The housing capacity of the land released by Government Departments and their arms length bodies is set out in the attached table.

Over this Parliament, the Government is committed to releasing surplus public sector land with capacity for up to 150,000 homes by 2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is working with Departments to review their land holdings in order to identify suitable surplus public sector and finalise disposal plans for this Parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-01-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authorities in England have taken part in the Weekly Collection Support Scheme; how many authorities took part in the expression of interest process; which have subsequently received financial support, and how much; and of those, which have reinstated weekly collections of general (“grey” or “residual”) waste, which have used the support to collect food waste separately, and which have used it in other ways.

Lord Ahmed

In March 2012, my Department received initial expressions of interest from 151 lead local authorities, which resulted in bids from 113 local authorities. Some local authorities submitted multiple expressions of interest which were consolidated before final bid stage. The final bids were then assessed in line with the published criteria, and recipients then awarded funding.

A detailed table listing the schemes that are being supported is attached and on my Department’s website.

It may be helpful to the noble Lord to outline what this Government has delivered since 2010:

• Safeguarded weekly collections for 6 million households through the Weekly Collection Support Scheme as well as championing innovation and best practice; the answer of 14 May 2014, Official Report, House of Commons 646W, outlined how 14 million households in England have some form of weekly collection of smelly rubbish.

• Issued the first ever Whitehall guidance on weekly bin collections, demolishing the myths that fortnightly bin collections are needed to save money or increase recycling. This best practice was directly informed by the Weekly Collections Support Scheme;

• Supported over 40 innovative reward schemes to back recycling through the Weekly Collection Support Scheme (as pledged in the Coalition Agreement); the winning bids for a further Recycling Rewards Scheme for 2015-16 will be announced shortly;

• Stopped the Audit Commission inspections which marked down councils who do not adopt fortnightly rubbish collections, and rejected the Audit Commission guidance which advocated fortnightly collections (“Waste Management: The Strategic Challenge and Waste Management Quick Guide”);

• Abolished the Local Area Agreements and National Indicator 191 imposed by Whitehall which created perverse incentives to downgrade waste collection services;

• Scrapped the Whitehall requirement for municipal Annual Efficiency Statements, which allowed a reduction in the frequency of a household rubbish collection service to qualify as a “valid efficiency” and allowed revenue from bin fines to classed as a “cashable efficiency gain”;

• Scrapped the imposition of eco-towns which would have had fortnightly bin collections and/or bin taxes as part of the “eco-standards”;

• Through the Localism Act, revoked the 2008 legislation that allowed for the imposition of new bin taxes;

• Issued guidance to stop the imposition of illegal ‘backdoor bin charging’ on households bins;

• Stopped funding the ‘Waste Improvement Network’ which told councils to adopt fortnightly collections as best practice;

• Challenged the incorrect interpretation by some bodies that European Union directives require fortnightly collections, and resisted the imposition of bin taxes by the European Union;

• Removing powers of entry and snooping powers from bin inspectors and scrapped guidance telling councils to rifle through families’ bins;

• Changed building regulations and planning guidance to tackle ‘bin blight’, and worked with the NHBC Foundation to produce new best practice guidance for house builders;

• Changing the law through the Deregulation Bill to scrap unfair bin fines.

Without our active support, Ministers are clear that weekly collections would have disappeared across England. This Government’s approach can be contrasted with the devolved Labour-led Administration in Wales, where fortnightly bin collections are official policy, and pilots of monthly bin collections are being actively encouraged.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-01-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many patients presented themselves to the Accident and Emergency and Urgent Care Units at the Royal Blackburn Hospital and Burnley General Hospital respectively in each month in the last two years; and in each month how many of those patients were admitted for treatment.

Earl Howe

Information is not available in the format requested.

Information showing quarterly accident and emergency activity and admissions at the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust between Q4 2010-11 and Q4 2014-15, is shown in the attached tables.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-01-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the percentage change in spending on rights of way and countryside access by each local highway authority between 2010–11 and 2014–15.

Lord De Mauley

Local highway authorities are responsible for protecting the rights of the public to use footpaths and other rights of way. They are also responsible for determining their own local spending priorities and it is for local people to hold them to account. Consequently, the information requested is held by each local highway authority, not centrally, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.