Tag: Lord Kennedy of Southwark

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the situation in (1) Sudan, and (2) South Sudan.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The situation in Sudan remains of concern, especially in the conflict areas of Darfur and the Two Areas. In this light, it was disappointing that African Union-mediated peace talks in Addis Ababa were suspended on 23 November without the parties reaching an agreement. We continue to urge both the Government of Sudan and opposition to return to discussions on a ceasefire, allow full humanitarian access and engage in inclusive, comprehensive and transparent political dialogue. In South Sudan, progress has been mixed on implementation of the compromise peace agreement signed in August. We welcome recent steps including the agreement of the transitional security arrangements and preparations for the return of the first group of the opposition to Juba. However, we remain concerned by delays to the formation of the transitional government of national unity, breaches of the ceasefire in Unity and Upper Nile states, and the continued lack of humanitarian access in many areas. We regularly lobby both sides on all these issues.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what budgets and programmes have been established since 2014 to help the regeneration of council housing estates.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

A total of £290 million of loan funding has been allocated by the Government to help the regeneration of local authority housing estates. The first tranche of this funding was announced jointly between the Greater London Authority and the Department for Communities and Local Government on 13 June 2014, and the second was announced by the my rt. hon. Friend, the Prime Minister on 11 January 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-04-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of emission tests undertaken by car manufacturers in the UK.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

As part of the exhaust emissions approval process vehicle manufacturers are obliged to undertake in-use emissions testing. They are required to submit a report of their results at regular intervals or when requested to do so by the approval authority. In accordance with EU regulation 715/2007, the authority will review the information and accept or reject the report. The UK type approval authority is the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) and they ensure manufacturers follow this process where they are the issuing approval authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they are taking to ensure that victims of domestic abuse and other victims of serious violence are aware that they can reregister to vote anonymously.

Lord Bridges of Headley

Electors who need to keep their name and address anonymous are able to submit an application for anonymous registration. As part of their application, electors must satisfy the Electoral Registration Officer that their safety, or that of people they live with, would be at risk if the register contained their name and address. For this purpose electors must provide either a court order or an attestation by a “qualifying officer”, which includes senior police officers and chief social workers. The evidential threshold for applications for anonymous electoral registration is to ensure that it is available only to those whose personal safety would genuinely be at risk if their details appeared on the electoral register. Domestic violence charities and other Non-Government Organisations may partner with Individual Electoral Registration Officers to ensure those in their area who may need to register anonymously are able to do so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-09-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Indonesia concerning the death penalty.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We raise our concerns at the highest level and will continue to do so. The former Prime Minister (the Right Hon. Mr David Cameron) reiterated our position to Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in April. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Reading West (Mr Sharma) has expressed his concerns about the executions that took place in July.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking with local government to promote green infrastructure.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The government is committed to developing a 25 year plan to improve the environment and this will include the importance of green infrastructure as a key underpinning of both the economy and well being.

The government is spending more than £600 million by 2020 to support the development, manufacture and uptake of electric ultra low emission vehicles in the UK. Part of this includes assisting local authorities by providing grant funding through the On Street Residential Scheme and Workplace Chargepoint Scheme to help meet the cost of installing electric vehicle chargepoints on streets in residential areas without access to off-street parking. Under the Go Ultra Low City Scheme the government is supporting a variety of infrastructure programmes for both public and domestic chargepoints across eight cities/regions of Bristol/West of England, London, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, York, Dundee, Oxford and the North East.

The government has made £1.5 million available to communities to create ‘Pocket Parks’, turning unused spaces into sensory gardens, wildlife habitats and food growing areas. The government has also submitted written evidence to the Select Committee inquiry on the future of public parks and will respond to any recommendations made as a result of this inquiry in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the net level of borrowing by the public sector in October 2015.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The government has made significant progress to date in reducing borrowing – the deficit has more than halved as a share of GDP since 2009-10 and as the latest Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast shows, the national debt as a share of GDP is forecast to be falling this year for the first time in over a decade. October public sector finance figures show government borrowing is falling, down £6.6 billion so far this year compared to last year. However, the job is not yet done. The government is committed to eliminating the deficit and returning the public finances to a more sustainable path. To achieve this, the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 sets out the action required to return the country to surplus over the course of this Parliament.
On the basis of these plans, the latest OBR forecast estimates that borrowing in 2015-16 will be on a like-for-like basis £73.5bn, £0.6bn lower relative to Summer Budget. The forecast also shows the government is on track to meet its fiscal targets, with a budget surplus of £10.1bn by 2019-20 and debt falling as a percentage of GDP in 2015-16 and for each year in this Parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have made no assessment of the number of people experiencing food insecurity.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

There is no single definition of food insecurity. The factors that impact on household food security are complex. There are multiple indicators such as quality, variety and desirability of diet as well as total intake, not all of which are measured consistently. It is therefore very difficult and potentially misleading to attempt to develop a single classification of food insecurity.

Defra publishes statistics annually to show the proportion of household income spent on food by (a) all households and (b) the lowest income 20% of households.The most recent statistics are in the Food Statistics Pocketbook 2015 on the GOV.UK website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many homeowners and businesses have received a grant from the Repair and Renew Grant fund, and what is the average payment.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Over 6,000 home and business owners have benefitted from the Repair and Renew Grant scheme to help protect their property against future flooding events. The average payment was £3,918.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the situation in Gaza.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We remain deeply concerned by the situation in Gaza. There is an urgent need for all the parties to reach an agreement that addresses the underlying causes of conflict in Gaza and to take the necessary steps to ensure Gaza’s reconstruction and economic recovery. Any agreement should ensure that Hamas and other militant groups permanently end rocket and other attacks against Israel; the Palestinian Authority resumes control of Gaza and restores effective governance; and that Israel lifts its restrictions to ease the suffering of ordinary Palestinians. Through the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism, over 96,000 people have now been able to buy materials to repair homes that were damaged during the conflict. The UN reports that more than 90 percent of damaged schools and hospitals have been repaired while repairs have either been completed or are ongoing on about half of all partially damaged homes. We continue to raise Gaza in our meetings with the Israeli government. On 10 September, the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymead and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), emphasised the importance of improving daily life for the people of Gaza with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. On 24 November our Deputy Head of Mission in Tel Aviv met the Head of Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories’ Civil Administration department. He stressed the urgency of Israel coming forward with a transformative package for Gaza and the West Bank, setting out in particular our concerns about power supply and movement and access restrictions. We are also urging Egypt to show maximum flexibility in opening the Rafah crossing.