The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Freer on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department plan to attend the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS at the UN headquarters in New York in June 2016.
Jane Ellison
The United Kingdom Government will be represented at this meeting. Precise attendance has still to be finalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to promote the development of biomass technologies.
Andrea Leadsom
Support is provided for biomass under a range of renewable financial incentives: the Renewables Obligation (RO), Feed in Tariff (FIT), Contracts for Difference (CfD) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). The RO closed to co-firing and conversions last year and any future support will be via CfD.
The government announced it will hold three auctions for Contracts for Difference of up to £730 million this Parliament. Details of the future CFD allocation rounds will be published in due course.
The Government confirmed increased funding for the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme in November 2015 as part of the Spending Review, with the annual budget rising from £430m in 2015/16 to £1.15bn in 2020/21.
The Government has successfully supported innovation in biomass technologies such as through the Energy Technology Institute, the Research Councils, Innovate UK and in partnership with other European Countries through the Bioenergy Sustaining the Future (BESTF) network.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Parminter on 2016-06-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of leakage at landfill sites in Britain, and what plans they have to investigate landfill sites to identify any that are leaking.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Environment Agency is responsible for regulating landfill sites that hold an environmental permit, which includes all operational and some closed sites. Operators of landfill sites must comply with their permit conditions and these will normally include a requirement to monitor emissions or leakage. The Environment Agency assesses compliance with permit conditions on an ongoing site-specific basis.
The monitoring and management of historic landfill sites that are no longer operating under a permit is a matter for local authorities under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Government does not hold these records and has therefore not made an assessment of leakage from these sites.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-08.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2016 to Question 43066, on Cabinet Office: Ministerial policy advisers, whether his Department has now calculated the information requested in that Question on severance pay.
Ben Gummer
This information will be published in due course, as part of the full and detailed list of special advisers, salary bands and total pay bill costs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with supermarkets on reducing the amount of food that is wasted because it is not considered aesthetically appealing to customers.
Rory Stewart
The Government, through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), is working with food manufacturers and retailers, including all the major UK supermarkets, to meet targets to reduce food waste from the grocery supply chain under the Courtauld Commitment. Signatories have reported a 7.4% reduction in supply chain waste between 2009-2012, with interim results for Courtauld 3 showing a further 3.2% reduction by 2014.
WRAP has worked with supermarkets and consumers to support acceptance and use of ‘imperfect’ fruit and vegetables. Work is also in progress with signatories, trade bodies and redistribution organisations to build a better understanding of the amounts and causes of waste in the supply of food & drink. WRAP is currently brokering a new agreement, Courtauld 2025, which will build on this progress.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-12-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigration detainees were held in each prison establishment in each of the last 12 months.
James Brokenshire
The information requested is not routinely collected and could be provided only by examining individual case records, which would result in disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much the Government plans to spend from the public purse on supporting or enabling exploratory and productive fracking in the UK.
Andrea Leadsom
The Government supports the safe and sustainable development of unconventional hydrocarbons, but we will not subsidise shale gas development. Exploration and production are a commercial matter for developers.
The Office of Unconventional Gas and Oil (OUGO) has been established within DECC to lead on the policy area and co-ordinate work with other Government Departments and regulators. This is to encourage the development of the UK’s shale industry whilst ensuring that robust regulations are in place to safeguard public safety and protect the environment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park on 26 January (HL5024), what assessment they have made of whether the specialist software Turnitin is able to detect whether a whole essay was not written by the person submitting, such as if that essay had been paid for from an essay mill.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The Government has made no such assessment. The selection of particular types of software is an academic matter for individual institutions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-03-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether she has had discussions with Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive on the publication date of guidance for health professionals on abortion; and whether she plans to hold such discussions with those Ministers.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
I have had no discussions with Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive on the publication date of guidance on abortion for health professionals.
Abortion law and guidance in Northern Ireland is a transferred matter and is therefore the responsibility of Northern Ireland Executive Ministers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many adults were refused chemotherapy on the basis of their immigration status in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016.
Alistair Burt
The Department does not hold this information.
National Health Service hospital treatment is free to those people who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, or those exempt from charge under the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended. Anyone else should present a European Health Insurance Card, S1 or S2 form or pay direct for their NHS care. Those who need care and treatment urgently will still receive it even if they are chargeable and cannot pay straight away.