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 2015-10-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much surplus land owned by the Department for Education 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 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.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-01-15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many adopted local plans include the designation of local green spaces; and how many such spaces have been designated.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We do not collect detailed statistics on individual policies within Local Plans.