Tag: Lord Hunt of Chesterton

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether UK government agencies were providing remote sensing data to detect, forecast and provide warning of the recent earthquakes in Afghanistan to the affected communities and government agencies.

Baroness Verma

The science is clear on this matter – earthquakes cannot be forecast with any degree of reliability. Remote sensing does exist, but can only operate in extremely technically sophisticated environments, and even then can only provide limited warning of a few seconds or minutes in which to respond. As such the UK Government does not provide remote sensing data to detect, forecast, and provide warning of earthquakes in Afghanistan.

When it comes to other forms of natural disaster, DFID funds a resilience and disaster risk reduction programme in Afghanistan which provides £9.6m over four years (2015-18) to an NGO consortium called Afghanistan Resilience Consortium (ARC). Implementation is focused in the eight northern provinces of Afghanistan which are the most disaster prone.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, following the French Foreign Minister’s visit to Iran, they plan to use the UK’s political and official diplomacy to promote Airbus products and make clear that they are not solely French products, but contain significant components from the UK.

Lord Maude of Horsham

We will continue to promote the UK interests in Airbus in support of their global sales campaigns. We work closely with the Company and the governments of France, Germany and Spain on these campaigns given the shared economic benefits that arise from sales of Airbus aircraft. Because of the significant level of UK products on Airbus aircraft, the company is frequently represented on UK trade missions; it also enjoys the financial support of UK Export Finance and the commercial support of UK Trade & Investment’s overseas network.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2016-04-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average training period for graduates newly appointed to the UK civil service, and whether that training includes learning about UK government and history.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Civil Service graduate programme is known as the Fast Stream and its average training period is up to four years. The Fast Stream core curriculum includes learning about UK Government and history and the central induction for Fast Streamers also has activities relating to this topic. Graduates can also enter the civil service via direct appointment without being part of a formal training scheme. Those who do so have access to a wide range of training options, including how the UK government operates.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to introduce planning and building regulations to ensure that within public and private buildings the concentrations of atmospheric pollutants do not exceed safety standards.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

There are already strong protections in place to safeguard people from unacceptable risks from air pollution. National planning policy in England is clear that new development should be appropriate for its location, taking proper account of the effects of pollution on people’s health, and building regulations require adequate means of ventilation for people in buildings. This requirement applies when new buildings are constructed or work is carried out on existing buildings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2016-04-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to introduce standards to minimise the risk of the malfunctioning of electronic financial transactions and data storage by financial and public organisations; and what information is available to the general public to enable them (1) to choose which organisations and services to use, and (2) to know whether or not to use electronic systems depending on those services.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

On 18^th March, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, Matthew Hancock, announced that the new National Cyber Security Centre will work with the Bank of England to produce advice for the finance sector for managing cyber security effectively. This will build on tools such as the Cyber Essentials scheme, which sets out the technical controls organisations should have in place to demonstrate that they are following a basic level of ‘good practice’ in terms of their cyber security.

It is the responsibility of firms to ensure the resilience of their Information Technology (IT) systems. Through the Dear Chairman Exercise I and II, the Financial Authorities have assessed large UK deposit-takers’ technology resilience, and are working with firms to ensure that further improvements are made and customers are protected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to ensure that UK scientific institutions have the funds to collaborate with those in Arctic countries to monitor and predict the melting of permafrost and the release of methane; and what practical steps are being considered to minimise the environmental impact of the melting of permafrost and the release of methane in the Arctic.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The UK is funding and participating in a number of projects that will improve our knowledge of the Arctic, for example the current NERC Arctic Research Programme, the European JPI (Joint Programming Initiative) Climate collaboration between 16 European countries to coordinate jointly their climate research, and NERC’s Discovery Science grant programme. The UK also continues to invest in infrastructure to support polar science such as the new £200m polar research vessel.

The best practical way to limit the melting of permafrost and the subsequent release of methane is to keep the rise in global temperatures as low as possible. At the recent United Nations conference on climate change in Paris, the world took an important step forward with an unprecedented number of countries agreeing to a deal to limit global temperature rises.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2016-05-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Met Office will cease to provide forecasts for the BBC; what assessment they have made of the impact of that change on the provision of the shipping forecast in particular; and what discussion they have had with the BBC about ensuring that future providers have detailed knowledge of the UK.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Details of the contract between the Met Office and BBC are a matter for the BBC.

The Met Office and BBC are in discussion over the future use of Met Office public weather service data and National Severe Weather Warnings during periods of significant weather.

The Shipping Forecast is paid for and provided by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). The MCA have responsibility for providing maritime weather products (including a Shipping Forecast), ensuring that the contracted supplier meets the necessary required standards. The current supplier contracted by the MCA is the Met Office. Their current contract runs for a minimum of 3 years, until 2018, with the possibility of a further 2 years. The MCA are in the process of finalising a written agreement with the BBC that will ensure the maritime forecasts that they broadcast will be the ones supplied by the MCA.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2015-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, as a contribution to establishing future targets and implementation plans for the reduction of carbon emissions at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015, what policies are being proposed by the United Kingdom delegations to the United Nations specialised agencies responsible for climate change mitigation, including United Nations Habitat, the United Nations Environmental Programme, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Maritime Organisation and the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Baroness Verma

We recognise the UNFCCC as the only place where a legally binding international agreement could be delivered at the scale necessary to meet the challenge of climate change, given its universal coverage and legitimacy. As such, we are working with countries to intensify domestic preparations for the new deal and want as many as possible to put forward contributions to the UNFCCC by the first quarter of 2015, which set out how they are going to achieve their commitments on post-2020 mitigation. Alongside this we are working closely with UN institutions and relevant international agencies to assess how different international actors can best support an ambitious deal in Paris.