Tag: Oliver Colvile

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what improvements to WiFi coverage on trains are being made by Great Western Railways.

Paul Maynard

First Great Western InterCity and Thames Valley trains have been fitted with on-train Wi-Fi. Following the Direct Award Great Western Railway is fitting free Wi-Fi to all Super Express Trains, Electrical Multiple Units and long term diesel trains remaining in the fleet.

The fitted trains include the new AT300 trains providing London to South West services. Great Western Railway state in their ‘Annual Stakeholder Report 2015-16’ that this work will be completed by December 2018.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who is on the board of the Dormant Assets Commission, announced on 19 December 2015.

Mr Rob Wilson

Nick O’Donohoe, outgoing Chief Executive of Big Society Capital, was announced as Chair of the new Commission on Dormant Assets on December 19 2015. The Commission is still being set up and I expect the appointments of commissioners who will work with the Chair to be finalised shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-05-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect that the proposals in the Education excellence everywhere White Paper, Cm 9230, will have on (a) Church of England and (b) Roman Catholic schools.

Edward Timpson

We value the important and longstanding role played by the Church of England and Catholic Church in our education system. Around 1,200 Church schools have already become academies. The White Paper is clear that Church schools’ role and their religious character will be protected as more become academies. We continue to work closely with the National Society and Catholic Education Service and recently published Memoranda of Understanding to provide a strong basis for our ongoing relationship with Church schools and their dioceses.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for Zimbabwe’s political and economic future in the event of the death of President Mugabe.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Zimbabwe faces enormous political and economic challenges. A peaceful transition to a leader willing to make reforms could move Zimbabwe towards a more democratic, prosperous future. The UK does not support parties or individuals, but rather the implementation of policies that could lead to eventual normalisation of Zimbabwe’s international relations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to promote tenant management.

Brandon Lewis

We have allocated funding of £1million in 2015/16 (through the Tenant Empowerment Programme) to support social housing tenants’ involvement in their local communities. This includes support to those who wish to manage delivery of services to their homes and estates by taking up their Statutory Right To Manage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department is making on research on the production of diverse forage mixtures to optimise animal production.

George Eustice

Innovate UK, Defra and BBSRC are co-funding the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform (SAFIP), worth £90 million over five years with match funding by industry. There are a number of projects funded under SAFIP on the development of alternative and diverse forages to optimise the sustainability of animal production in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what geological assessment his Department has made to ensure the stability of (a) the sea wall at Dawlish, (b) the cliff at Teignmouth and (c) the line between Newton Abbott and Plymouth.

Claire Perry

Network Rail is carrying out a further study to look at options to increase the long term geo-environmental resilience of the existing main line from Exeter to Newton Abbot. The study looks at the coastal and sea wall elements and the cliffs. It is due to be fully complete in April 2016 with an options assessment report available by the end of 2015. There has been no geological assessment of the rail route from Newton Abbot to Plymouth.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to improve signalling on the railway between (a) Exeter and Plymouth and (b) Reading and Exeter; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect of improved signalling on those routes.

Claire Perry

Signal failures are one of the biggest causes of delays on the network. For that reason, Network Rail has an extensive programme underway to improve both the standard and reliability of signalling across the national network.

The Western Route is gradually benefitting from transfer of signalling to a single control centre in Didcot, and this process will eventually encompass the entire route, including those stretches mentioned by my Hon Friend. This will allow a faster and better coordinated response to delays across the route.

My Hon Friend will also be aware of the very large investment which is being made by Network Rail, Cornwall Council and others into the Totnes-Penzance resignalling scheme, which will radically improve the train flow and reliability. It will do this by allowing bidirectional running on the line, meaning that maintenance and disruption can be managed vastly more effectively.

Further details of Network Rail’s plans can be found at the links below. These documents also provide information on the benefits of improved signalling:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/publications/strategic-business-plan-for cp5/

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/publications/delivery-plans/control-period-5/cp5-delivery-plan/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency have been diagnosed with chest infections in 2014.

Jane Ellison

There is no national system currently for collecting data relating to diagnoses of chest infections specifically. However, we are able to provide the latest data on patients admitted to hospital with two of the infections that are relevant, namely upper respiratory tract infections and lower respiratory tract infections. These are provided in the table below. The data do not include infections treated by general practitioner practices.

In terms of information on chest infections in Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, data collections systems do not exist to provide the requested data at constituency level.

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) for England. Inpatient Statistics 2012/13 for England.

Summary code	Primary diagnosis and description	Finished consultant episodes
J00-J06	Acute upper respiratory infections	138,673
J20-J22	Other acute lower respiratory infections	192,271

Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre. HES.

Note:

A “finished consultant episode” is an inpatient or day case episode where the patient has completed a period of care under a consultant and is either transferred to another consultant or discharged.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been diagnosed with chest infections in 2014.

Jane Ellison

There is no national system currently for collecting data relating to diagnoses of chest infections specifically. However, we are able to provide the latest data on patients admitted to hospital with two of the infections that are relevant, namely upper respiratory tract infections and lower respiratory tract infections. These are provided in the table below. The data do not include infections treated by general practitioner practices.

In terms of information on chest infections in Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, data collections systems do not exist to provide the requested data at constituency level.

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) for England. Inpatient Statistics 2012/13 for England.

Summary code	Primary diagnosis and description	Finished consultant episodes
J00-J06	Acute upper respiratory infections	138,673
J20-J22	Other acute lower respiratory infections	192,271

Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre. HES.

Note:

A “finished consultant episode” is an inpatient or day case episode where the patient has completed a period of care under a consultant and is either transferred to another consultant or discharged.