The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Mullin on 2016-02-01.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Barnett Formula applies to government funding of emergency flood relief.
Greg Hands
The government is investing nearly £200 million to help communities recover from Storm Desmond and Storm Eva. The Barnett Formula has been applied to this funding in the normal way.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what work Citigroup is conducting for Network Rail in relation to the ownership of railway stations; what fee has been paid to Citigroup for such work; and when the review into the ownership of railway stations is expected to report.
Claire Perry
Network Rail is exploring new models for the management and ownership of its 18 managed stations with the goal of bringing improvements for both passengers and the communities they serve. They have engaged Citigroup as advisors to consider a range of potential options. No decisions have yet been taken and no estimate of the potential value of these stations has been made as part of this work. Citigroup were appointed following a competitive tender process, and the details of their fee are commercially confidential.
Network Rail expect that this work will be presented to their Board by the end of 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the (a) establishment and (b) running costs of the Food Crime Unit have been to date; and what resources have been allocated to that Unit in each of the next five years.
Jane Ellison
The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) is initially focusing on establishing the scale and nature of food crime in the United Kingdom at a strategic level through developing intelligence sharing relationships across the law enforcement community and with the food industry. This will also enable the Unit to instigate investigative interventions by law enforcement partners and local authorities to identify and disrupt specific instances of food crime.
At the end of this year, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) will review progress on food crime, in line with Professor Elliott’s recommendations following the horsemeat incident. This review will inform decision-making about the Unit’s future form and function including the need or otherwise for the unit to establish an in-house investigative capability.
Intelligence analysts within the Unit have just completed the first ever Food Crime Annual Strategic Assessment (FCASA). The FCASA sets out the Unit’s developing understanding of food crime and will drive its work to ensure resources are focused where the threat to consumers and other interests is the greatest.
The NFCU receives reports of suspicions of food fraud from a number of sources via many different routes. The FSA website directs users to a dedicated email address and telephone number for reporting these suspicions. Information is also received through local authority and law enforcement partners. Information received is analysed and, where appropriate, entered onto the Unit’s intelligence database. Between 1 January 2015 and 18 March 2016, 793 such records were created.
Establishment costs for the NFCU were minimal as the Unit initially evolved from a small but similar capability within the FSA. Total running costs to date are in the region of £579,000. Estimated costs for the forthcoming year are £1.2 million, subject to final allocations being agreed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the risk of the Zika virus spreading to the UK.
Jane Ellison
The risk of Zika virus to the United Kingdom population remains very low and has been regularly assessed and reviewed since the first reports of cases of Zika infection from Brazil in May 2015. A pre-Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies has met to review the Zika outbreak in the Americas, the link with microcephaly and other disorders, and the risk to the UK. In addition, a qualitative assessment of the risk that Zika virus presents to the UK population was undertaken by the UK Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance group, and this was published on the gov.uk website in February 2016, which can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hairs-risk-assessment-zika-virus
All evidence is kept under constant review.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to encourage donor organisations and partner countries to include action on violence against women and girls in their sectoral programmes.
Mr Nick Hurd
DFID worked hard with others to secure Global Goal 5, which includes targets on ending all forms of violence against women and girls, FGM and CEFM. In addition DFID has been at the forefront of work with OECD-DAC to create a new reporting marker for development programmes that will more comprehensively track donor spend on violence against women and girls from 2016. These measures will ensure that action on violence against women and girls enters into the core work of donors and UN agencies. DFID is also providing funding to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which is testing and building evidence on interventions for the benefit of the whole international development community.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-07-20.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Government’s plans are for the implementation of the soft drinks industry levy; and if he will publish a timetable for the implementation of that levy.
Jane Ellison
The Soft Drinks Industry Levy consultation was launched on 18th August 2016. At the Budget in March, the Government announced that it would consult on the Levy during the summer and legislate in Finance Bill 2017, for implementation from April 2018. This timetable remains in place.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-10-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they intend to take in response to plans by the government of Israel to establish a new settlement deep in the West Bank.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We have raised our concerns over this issue with the Israeli authorities. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), issued a statement on 5 October condemning the announcement by Israel of plans to construct a new settlement near Shilo. The increased pace of settlement advancement, including moves to approve retroactively unauthorised settlement units and outposts, fundamentally calls into question Israel’s commitment to the two state solution.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the productivity of UK farmland; and if she will make a statement.
George Eustice
Defra produces a number of statistics on UK agricultural productivity and these are published on the GOV.UK website.
The land productivity index (calculated as total agricultural output divided by the amount of land in agricultural production) shows:
|
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
|
Productivity by land |
98.1 |
100.0 |
103.8 |
99.2 |
100.7 |
107.7 |
Index base year = 2010
Care needs to be taken in interpreting this measure, as agricultural output is determined by a number of inputs, both within farmers’ control (eg. labour) and outside their control (eg. weather).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many North Korean owned or financed businesses operate in the UK.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his Written Statement of 16 July 2015, HCWS114, what progress he has made on consulting on the removal of local clinical excellence awards and proposals for a reformed National Clinical Excellence Award Scheme and determining the priority that will be given to recognising service-based consultants within any new scheme and monitoring the recognition that they receive.
Alistair Burt
In September 2015 the British Medical Association (BMA) and NHS Employers agreed to recommence negotiations on reforming the National Health Service consultant contract, using observations from the independent Review Body on Doctors and Dentists Remuneration (DDRB) as a starting point.
The negotiations, which concluded in December, included considering the replacement of Local Clinical Excellence awards with contractual performance payments. We expect an amended contract offer will be put to BMA members in the coming weeks.
We also expect to consult on proposals for a reformed national scheme early this year. This will be informed by developments on consultant contract reform, as well as recommendations previously made by the DDRB in 2012. The consultation will be mindful of the importance of recognising the contributions of all consultants including service based consultants.