Tag: Matthew Offord

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what response her Department has received to the consultation on regulations on the gender pay gap.

Caroline Dinenage

This government is committed to closing the gender pay gap in a generation by addressing the underlying causes of the gender pay gap, including the gender bonus gap. Our consultation on Closing the Gender Pay Gap closed on 6 September, and received nearly 700 responses. Over 200 employers and business organisations responded, including the CBI, whose members employ around a third of the private sector workforce. We have announced that this will apply to large employers and to large public bodies. We will be working with employers on how this will be implemented as they will be required to publish information showing the differences in pay between men and women.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the UK National Screening Committee’s policy on screening people over 65 for atrial fibrillation.

Jane Ellison

In 2014 the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommended that screening people aged 65 and over for atrial fibrillation should not be offered. This is because the evidence did not show that those identified by screening would benefit from early diagnosis. Ministers have accepted the UK NSC’s recommendation.

As part of its three yearly recommendation review process, the UK NSC will review this recommendation in 2017/18.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the performance of Govia in operating the Thameslink franchise.

Claire Perry

The Department’s senior officials attend four weekly meetings with the train operators senior management team, where all aspects of performance under the franchise agreement can be scrutinised and challenged. In terms of Govia Thameslink Railway’s (GTR’s) delivery of services to passengers, while operational performance on its Great Northern route is robust, performance on its Thameslink route has been poor.

Ministers and officials have held a number of meetings with Network Rail, GTR and the Office of Rail Regulation to discuss the poor performance on the Thameslink route. This has resulted in GTR and Network Rail publishing a high level improvement plan on their websites which sets out the actions they are taking to turn things around. They have also committed to updating the plan by the end of February with specific commitments on the outputs that will be delivered. Furthermore, the Department has secured a commitment that Network Rail and GTR shall provide a monthly report on progress towards their committed outputs and publish this on their websites, so that passengers have transparency on what is being delivered.

The Government is determined to hold GTR and Network Rail to account for the delivery of their joint initiatives to improve Thameslink performance and, ultimately, provide the levels of service that passengers deserve.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the CITES Management Authority has declared that the Cayman Turtle Farm is a humane facility.

George Eustice

The elected government of the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, has devolved constitutional responsibility for animal welfare and conservation including for legislation and policies governing the Cayman Turtle Farm.

An independent investigation in 2002, carried out in support of an application to register the Cayman Turtle Farm as a captive-breeding operation under CITES, a Convention for which Defra is responsible, concluded that the standards of care at the Cayman Turtle Farm were humane.

The UK Government has been in contact with the Cayman Islands Government more recently, expressing the UK’s commitment to raising animal welfare standards and requesting an assurance that the Cayman Islands Government takes the findings of a report by the then World Society for the Protection of Animals seriously and be committed to making appropriate improvements. I am pleased to say that the Deputy Premier of the Cayman Islands, Mr Kirkconnell, gave that assurance in a response to the Secretary of State on 24 October 2013.

The UK CITES Management Authority has not made a recent assessment of whether the Cayman Turtle Farm is a humane facility.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the degree to which the Cayman Turtle Farm is a humane captive breeding facility.

Mark Simmonds

The elected government of the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, has devolved constitutional responsibility for animal welfare and conservation including for legislation and policies governing the Cayman Turtle Farm. The UK is responsible for the international relations of the Cayman Islands and for their compliance with obligations arising under international law. The UK has extended the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to the Cayman Islands. The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is providing technical support and advice to support the Cayman Islands in fully meeting its international environmental and conservation obligations. The UK CITES Management Authority has not made a recent assessment of whether the Cayman Turtle Farm is a humane facility, but did commission an independent investigation in 2002 in support of an application for registration as a captive-breeding operation under CITES, which found it was a humane facility.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many road traffic accidents there were per 100,000 of the population in (a) the UK, (b) London and (c) Barnet in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The numbers of reported personal injury road traffic accidents per 100,000 population in a) Great Britain, b) London and c) Barnet for the years 2009 to 2013 are shown in the table below:

The number of reported personal injury road traffic accidents in a) Great Britain b) London and c) Barnet per 100,000 population: 2009 to 2013.

			2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
a) Great Britain			270	253	246	235	223
b) London			234	300	298	290	274
c) Barnet			317	343	311	280	269

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to simplify existing environmental, marine and agricultural regulations.

George Eustice

By contributing to Red Tape Challenge, Defra has reviewed over 1200 of its regulations. As a result of these reviews Defra has made commitments to revoke or improve nearly 800 regulations and as well as a number of significant non-regulatory changes that will directly benefit business and the wider public. These include the reform of all regulatory guidance produced by Defra and its agencies by spring 2015, so that users can quickly access clear information on what they need; changes to data reporting obligations, to remove any duplicate and unnecessary requests for information; and plans to explore opportunities to simplify and reduce the number of compliance inspections on farms.

These reforms are being made without reducing existing protection of the environment or animal and plant health and are detailed in a report entitled “Defra better for Business: A Strategic Reform Plan for Defra Regulations” which was published on 9 April 2014[1]. Defra is working to deliver the vast majority of these proposals by April 2015 so that benefits can be felt quickly. Current estimates suggest that business could by then be saving £300million per year as a result of these reforms.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/302112/pb14166-defra-better-for-business.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment he has made of the UK’s performance towards the targets in the Kyoto protocol on emission reduction targets between 2008 and 2012.

Amber Rudd

The UK has a target for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce its emissions by an average 12.5 per cent below base year levels over the five-year period 2008-12.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the success of steps taken to meet the 2013 and 2020 EU Landfill Directive.

Dan Rogerson

We are confident that we will have met the 2013 landfill diversion target and will meet the 2020 target set out in the EU Landfill Directive.

In October 2013 we published an analysis of progress against the 2020 target, which can be found on the GOV.UK website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/forecasting-2020-waste-arisings-and-treatment-capacity-norfolk-county-council-residual-waste-treatment-project . The analysis concludes that there is a high likelihood of meeting or exceeding the 2020 target.

Landfill tax is a key instrument to meeting the landfill diversion targets along with our policies and initiatives such as support of infrastructure to divert waste from landfill through the Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to restore upland peat sites.

Dan Rogerson

Defra has a range of measures in place to support the restoration of upland peat sites. These include protection through statutory area designations such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs). In addition there are specific incentives for peatland restoration in agri-environment schemes. In 2013 we committed £31.2 million through Environmental Stewardship (covering around 98,000ha) to management options for the maintenance and restoration of moorland habitats. A further £4.1million was committed in capital grants for grip blocking. These are the key options in Environmental Stewardship that contribute to the management of upland peat. This support will continue to be provided under the new environmental land management scheme.

The Dark Peak Nature Improvement Area (NIA) in the Peak District, one of the twelve NIAs announced in 2012, is focused on improving upland peatland habitats across an area of 25,000ha.

In September 2013 we launched the pilot UK Peatland Code which provides a basis for business sponsorship of peatland restoration. An initial suite of restoration projects from across the UK have been identified covering over 25,000 ha of mainly blanket bog.

Upland peat restoration is also being addressed through Defra’s Research and Development Programme, with over £1 million committed between 2010 and 2015 to identify restoration techniques with the best environmental outcomes.