Tag: Nicholas Soames

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many train services on the (a) Brighton and (b) East Grinstead line have been cancelled due to train reliability issues in each of the last six months.

Claire Perry

The operator is not required to supply this information to the Department. We have such figures at the franchise level, but not to the level of disaggregation required. Therefore we can provide the following:

	Cancellation due to:-
15/16	GTR – Driver	GTR – Rolling stock	GTR – Other	Network Rail responsible	Other TOC responsible	Trains Planned
Period 1 ending 2 May*	941	468	337	2385	305	91581
Period 2 ending 30 May	725	462	333	1615	122	90926
Period 3 ending 27 Jun	1118	582	254	1574	93	91445
Period 4 ending 25 Jul	1291	775	375	1826	79	91867
Period 5 ending 22 Aug	1551	787	402	1582	76	92103
Period 6 ending 19 Sep	1741	535	489	1098	75	91303
Period 7 ending 17 Oct	1139	944	394	1537	74	91338

* The figure for period 1 was ‘normalised’ to a 28-day period as it was actually four days longer than usual to take into account the start of the financial year

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he intends to bring forward legislative proposals to replace the horserace betting levy with a horserace betting right.

Tracey Crouch

Work is continuing on the detailed policy design of the replacement for the existing levy. We will make a further announcement in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to paragraph 2.144 of the Summer Budget 2015, what progress has been made on designing the Horserace Betting Right; and when he plans to publish his proposals on that matter.

Tracey Crouch

Work is continuing on the detailed policy design of the replacement for the existing levy.

As part of the design work we commissioned an independent economic analysis of the costs and funding of racing. This will draw on information provided by betting and racing, and will be key to assessing what level of funding from betting to racing would be reasonable.

We will make a further announcement in due course

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the effect of bus franchising on the vehicle manufacturing sector.

Andrew Jones

My Department has not yet entered into discussions with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the effect of bus franchising on the vehicle manufacturing sector. My officials have however discussed proposals with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will carry out a review of UK dairy processing capacity.

George Eustice

Dairy processors have undertaken a sustained high level of investment in the UK. In recent years, capital investment by the top five dairy organisations in the UK has regularly exceeded £100m per annum. In total, over the period March 2006 to 2013, capital expenditure by these organisations exceeded £1.2bn.

It is important to continue to encourage high quality inward investment from around the world to boost security and growth. UKTI, the Great British Food Unit and Dairy UK are hosting a senior delegation of dairy companies from China in March 2016. These companies are interested in building stronger relations with British counterparts whether through the development of direct imports of finished products into China, collaboration on ingredients and processing, or joint ventures.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-03-01.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made on implementation of the National Infrastructure Plan.

Greg Hands

In the past year a number of key projects have been completed, including the opening of Smart Motorway projects on the M6 and M1, significant rail station redevelopments at Birmingham New Street and Manchester Victoria, and major local transport schemes in Nottingham and South Devon.

The government will shortly publish a new National Infrastructure Delivery Plan, setting out how it will deliver key projects and programmes over the next 5 years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the trained strength of the Royal Navy is by (a) officers and (b) non-commissioned ranks.

Mark Lancaster

The trained strength of the Royal Navy by officers and non-commissioned ranks as of 1 February 2016 is as follows.

	Officers	Ratings
Royal Navy	5,130	17,650
Royal Marines	770	6,170
Total	5,900	23,820

All totals are rounded in accordance with the Defence Statistics rounding policy; therefore totals may not equal the sum of their parts. All numbers are rounded to the nearest 10 with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to avoid bias.

These figures were published on 10 March 2016 in the Royal Navy and Royal Marine Situation Report at: www.gov.uk

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) survivability, (b) sustainability and (c) readiness of NATO forces.

Mr Julian Brazier

The Readiness Action Plan (RAP), agreed at the NATO Summit in Wales in September 2014, is progressing well and it will deliver enhanced NATO Response Forces, including the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), by the time of the NATO Summit in Warsaw in July 2016. The UK has played a leading role in the implementation of the RAP: we have committed to spending 2% of GDP on Defence, and 20% of that on new equipment; we will lead a capable and credible VJTF (Land) Brigade in 2017; we have increased our commitment to NATO’s Standing Naval Forces this year; and will continue to provide Airborne Early Warning, Air to Air Refuelling, Tornado and Typhoon aircraft to the VJTF (Air).

Considerable work on survivability, sustainability and readiness of NATO forces has been undertaken. The RAP includes a commitment to generate an enhanced NATO Response Force (eNRF) including a VJTF. To enhance survivability, the eNRF has been designed from the outset as a Joint, Multi-National force with an appropriate quantity and balance of forces needed to effectively conduct the full range of potential operations. Integral logistic structures, which include the newly created Multi-National Corps Headquarters in Poland and a Multi-National Division Headquarters in Romania, ensure the sustainability of the enhanced NRF and VJTF. Enhanced NRF forces are designed to meet the readiness timelines that are laid down in NATO’s strategic planning documents, including the Alliance’s Graduated Response Plans.

Considerable work on Interoperability has also been undertaken since the end of combat operations in Afghanistan at the end of 2014. This has built upon NATO’s Connected Forces Initiative to ensure that NATO’s Multi-National forces force are able to continue to operate together effectively beyond the end of combat operations in Afghanistan. For our lead of the VJTF (Land) in 2017, the British Army will operate alongside the armed forces from 13 contributing nations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of UK relations with Iran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

16 January 2016 marked Implementation Day of the Iran nuclear deal which, along with the subsequent lifting of international sanctions, has the potential to represent a new era in Iran’s relationship with the wider world. Since the Foreign Secretary reopened our Embassy in August 2015, significant progress has been made in developing the bilateral relationship between the UK and Iran. We welcomed Foreign Minister Zarif to London on 4 February 2016, in what was the first bilateral visit of an Iranian Foreign Minister since 2003. We look forward to the Business Secretary leading a trade delegation to Tehran in May, building on previous visits by Lord Maude and Transport Minister Robert Goodwill.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance he has given to NHS England – South (South East) on consulting local authorities on housing growth and other demographic change when planning future demand for GP services.

Alistair Burt

If there is a successful planning application for a new housing estate then NHS England or the delegated clinical commissioning group will consider the availability and accessibility of services from nearby general practitioners’ practices and if it is deemed insufficient or inadequate then the commissioner would go out to tender for a new service.