Tag: Michelle Donelan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what work his Department has completed with the charity Open Doors since 2010.

Mr David Lidington

Ministers and officials from the FCO’s Human Rights and Democracy Department and from a number of geographical departments regularly meet with representatives of Open Doors. FCO Ministers have also attended and spoken at the annual launch of the Open Doors Annual Report.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he plans for the provision of charging points for electric cars at multiple locations in the UK.

Anna Soubry

Plug-in vehicles are generally charged at home and overnight, and so the Government provides grants of up to £500 for the installation of domestic chargepoints. More than 60,000 have been installed to date. The UK also has over 11,000 publicly accessible chargepoints; in streets, car parks and motorway service areas. This includes almost 900 rapid chargepoints that can charge a car in 20-30 minutes – the largest network in Europe.

The Department for Transport’s Road Investment Strategy includes funding of £15m to improve the network of chargepoints on the strategic road network, and the Go Ultra Low city scheme is expected to deliver around 750 more publicly accessible chargepoints in UK towns and cities by 2020. We will announce further targeted support for plug-in vehicle chargepoints in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what regulations there are on the ratio of staff to patients in care homes.

Ben Gummer

There are no regulations setting out staff to residents ratio’s in care homes, however all providers of regulated activities have to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall.

One of the fundamental standards relates to staffing and requires that a provider must have sufficient numbers of suitability qualified, competent, skilled and experienced persons in order to meet the requirements of residents.

The CQC has a wide range of enforcement powers that it can use if the provider is not does not meet the fundamental standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of humanitarian conditions inside the town of Daraya in Syria.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The United Nations has been unable to deliver assistance to the 4,000 people besieged by the Syrian Regime in Darayya since November 2012, despite repeated requests for permission. The UN report that humanitarian conditions there are dire, with reports of severe shortages of food, clean water, medicines, electricity and basic commodities. The United Nations stands ready to deliver assistance to Darayaa as soon as access is granted by the Syrian regime.

Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a day-by-day basis. It is unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war. We have given support to the UN and international NGOs since the start of the conflict to deliver aid to these areas and are pushing for humanitarian access to be granted to all besieged and hard to reach places in Syria through the International Syria Support Group Humanitarian taskforce and our position in the UN Security Council.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he next plans to review speed limits in England.

Andrew Jones

There are no plans to review national speed limits in England except for temporary speed limits at road works. Local traffic authorities are responsible for setting speed limits on local roads where local needs and conditions suggest a speed limit which is lower than the national speed limit. Traffic authorities have the flexibility to set local speed limits that are appropriate for the individual road, reflecting local needs and taking account of local considerations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to support the electric car industry.

Anna Soubry

The UK offers one of the most comprehensive packages of support for ultra low emission vehicles in the world, and has committed funding of more than £600m by 2020. This includes plug-in car and van grants, support for recharging infrastructure, a joint government-industry communications campaign, as well as substantial investment in R&D. In addition, the Government and industry are investing around £1bn over 10 years in the Advanced Propulsion Centre to develop, commercialise and enable the manufacture of advanced propulsion technologies in the UK. The UK manufacturers around one in five of the pure electric cars sold in the European Union.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the NHS of (a) furniture, (b) crutches and (c) other equipment given to people with short-term need was in each of the last three years.

Alistair Burt

This information is not collected centrally. It is for National Health Service trusts to ensure they make the best use of the resources available to them.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 28 January 2016, Official Report, column 426, on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, how many (a) arms export licences have been awarded to Saudi Arabia and (b) reviews of arms sales to Saudi Arabia have been conducted in 2016.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK Government is satisfied that extant licenses for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK’s export licensing criteria. The Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms exports control regimes in the world.

Information on military and dual use export licences is published as Official Statistics in the quarterly and annual reports on Strategic Export Controls which are all available to view on GOV.UK. These reports contain detailed information on export licences issued, refused or revoked, by destination (including Saudi Arabia). The statistics include the overall value, type (e.g. Military, Other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. Information covering the period 1 October to 31 December 2015 will be published on 19 April 2016. The 1st quarter results for 2016 covering the period 1 January to 31 March 2016 will be published on 19 July 2016.

Since the outset of the conflict in Yemen, the Government has kept all extant licenses and new licensing to Saudi Arabia under continuous review, and has exercised special caution and vigilance in granting new licences for exports to Saudi Arabia, handling each on a case-by-case basis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to support the electric car industry.

Anna Soubry

It has not proved possible to respond to my hon Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing incentives to encourage householders to have outdoor charging points provided at their premises to encourage the uptake of electric cars.

Anna Soubry

The Government already offers grants of up to £500 towards the cost of installing a chargepoint at home, through the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme. All available evidence suggests that electric vehicle drivers prefer to charge at home and at work. Reducing the cost of homecharging removes a potential barrier to uptake and allows owners to charge conveniently and at low cost. Dedicated home chargepoints will also play an important role in the smarter, more dynamic charging and electricity grid.