Tag: Lord Greaves

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-12-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what type of body is Transport for the North; who made the decision to set it up; what are its terms of reference; whether it has a constitution; what form its controlling body takes, how its composition was decided, and who are its members; whether any members of the controlling body other than the chairman receive remuneration, and if so, on what basis and how much; what is its annual budget, and from which funds that budget is derived; how many staff are employed to work for it; where those staff are based; and what property it occupies, and on what basis.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Transport for the North (TfN) membership is drawn from the North’s combined and local authority, and Local Enterprise Partnership leaders working in a unique partnership with the Government, Network Rail, Highways England and HS2 Ltd. It was established by the Government with Northern leaders in October 2014. The TfN governance framework is outlined in the Principles for Governing the Relationship between Transport for the North (TfN) and the Department for Transport (DfT) document, which is attached and is available on the TfN website. The Chairman of TfN is the only Partnership Board member receiving remuneration for this role. Building on the summer budget commitment to provide funding to TfN, the Government is committing a total of £50m (£10m per annum) over this parliament, enabling TfN to build its capacity and capability to recruit the staff it needs and get on with planning better rail and roads to deliver the Government’s ambitious programme to create a Northern Powerhouse.This is in addition to the £8.5m already provided by DfT and up to £4m committed by the members of TfN. Following the recent appointments of the Chief Executive and Chairman, the recruitment process for both permanent and temporary staff is now underway. TfN is based at temporary premises in Manchester until a permanent location is agreed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the role and responsibilities of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) in relation to flood prevention and defences; whether they have been changed in the light of recent flooding; whether they have asked the NIC for advice following that flooding; and whether they have received any such advice.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The National Infrastructure Commission is an independent body that will advise on the country’s infrastructure challenges by adopting a long-term approach in assessing the UK’s infrastructure needs over a 10 to 30 year horizon.

The Commission will have a mandate to examine all sectors of economic infrastructure – including flood defences, energy, transport, water and sewage, waste and digital communications.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they intend to distribute the £20 million funding for English lessons for women speakers of other languages; which bodies will be responsible for delivering the new provision; on what basis it will be allocated; how much will be made available in each year of this Parliament, and what kind of learning provision the money will be used for.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Our new English language training offer, worth £20 million over this Parliament, will be informed by the findings of Louise Casey’s Review of Integration and the learning from the six community-based projects we have funded as part of our current integration programme. In particular, we will work with Louise Casey to identify the most isolated communities in England and on the detail of how the programme will be delivered, to ensure it is targeted at those women who need it most. We are working towards as early a launch date as possible for the programme in 2016-17.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any controls exist over the operation of unmanned ground vehicles (1) on highways, and (2) in other public spaces; whether controls exist over the use of such vehicles on pavements and other walkways, cycleways and bridleways; in the event of an accident or other event involving such a vehicle on a highway, who is responsible (a) for assessing responsibility, and (b) for paying any compensation that might be due; whether such vehicles must display information identifying the owner or controller; whether traffic police have any jurisdiction over such machines when being used on a highway; whether the police or other authorities have any powers to deal with such machines in the event of them causing a public nuisance; and whether insurance is required for the use of such machines.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

All vehicles, including connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), must be used in line with UK road traffic law. Failure to comply with UK law may well result in enforcement agencies taking action.

The Pathway to driverless cars: a regulatory review, published in February 2015, sets out how current laws apply to CAVs, and points to where the position is not clear and should be reviewed further. For example, chapter 13 deals with insurance, and Annex B looks at innovative personal transport.

In addition, to secure the safe development and introduction of CAVs in the UK, the Pathway sets out a number of action points. The government is working on these, including having published the Code of Practice for testing automated vehicles in July 2015, to ensure that British citizens and businesses will benefit from CAVs in the short and long term.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the new rules for English Votes for English Laws relating to votes on matters that have been returned from the House of Lords to the House of Commons during parliamentary ping-pong will allow for amendments to, and substitution of, Lords amendments, as well as the rejection of Lords amendments.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

Members of the House of Commons will continue to be able to table amendments to, and suggest the substitution or rejection of, Lords amendments, as they can now.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the budget for the National Infrastructure Commission for the current year; what are the locations of its office accommodation; what that accommodation costs; and how many staff it employs, and at what cost.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

A suitable budget will be made available to cover the costs of staff and commissioning work from external organisations where necessary. The Commission is currently located at 1 Horse Guards Road on a temporary basis. The Commission is expected to have a staff of around 30 and it is now recruiting for these positions. The staff are being paid in line with salaries for government officials.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-12-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the rail layout in Leeds should allow HS2 trains from London, Birmingham, the East Midlands and Sheffield to Leeds to continue on to the East Coast Main Line to Newcastle upon Tyne and Edinburgh.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

In November 2015 Sir David Higgins published his “Yorkshire Hub” interim report on Leeds HS2 station setting out his recommendation for a new hub station in Leeds. HS2 Limited is examining options that could allow regional services using HS2 from the south to travel via Leeds to York, Newcastle or Hull. The Government will take a decision on the Phase Two route in autumn 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their definition of a sink estate and what criteria they are using to draw up a list of them; what discussions they have had, or will have, with local authorities before drawing up such a list and before any decisions are made about the future of estates on that list; and which estates they have so far identified that (1) qualify as sink estates, and (2) they propose to demolish in whole or in part.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Estates Regeneration Advisory Panel members, criteria and terms of reference will be published in due course.

The Panel will evaluate the potential for the regeneration of particular estates over the coming months, and will report by this year’s Autumn Statement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government in their assessment of the need for new high speed rail services what weighting they are giving to improving passenger services between the north east and the south west of England.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

As the HS2 scheme has developed, HS2 Ltd have examined a variety of potential train services and infrastructure configurations. This has included looking at the case for running services from the North East to the South West. Passengers travelling from the north east of England to the south west will generally benefit from HS2 by a reduction in travel times for journeys.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-03-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the discovery in the UK of the tick-borne canine parasite Babesia canis and the associated disease babesiosis in dogs; what action they are taking to provide information to dog owners, breeders, vets and others who come into contact with dogs, including those who deal with stray dogs; and what assessment they have made of the possible introduction into the UK of species of Babesia that may also infect humans, and of the possible presence of, and risks presented by, ticks that can host and spread both Babesia and Borrelia pathogens.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Experts at the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) and Public Health England (PHE) are working together to investigate the locally acquired cases in Essex and this will include providing advice to the local authority, vets, pet owners and the public on what to do in the event of finding ticks on animals or observe clinical signs in pet dogs, through specialist press and public messages from the Defra, APHA and PHE communications teams.

On the risks of introduction of pathogens such as Babesia and Borrelia to humans and potential spread by ticks, PHE is responsible for the monitoring of Lyme disease through surveillance of reference laboratory diagnosed cases and provides guidance on avoiding tick bites. PHE runs a “Tick Surveillance Scheme” for ticks found by members of the public, general practitioners, vets and those working with wildlife, so PHE can map tick species across the UK and monitor changes in distribution.

Humans can be infected by Babesia microti, a rodent pathogen, and by Babesia bovis and Babesia divergens. Very few human cases have been reported in Europe or the UK, but virtually all have been related to B. divergens. In the US, human cases are caused by B. microti linked to white footed mice, a common rodent host of Borrelia burgdorferi in N. America. There are no reports of human infection with B. canis.