The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effect of the removal of eligibility for Renewables Obligations Certificates on businesses seeking to develop onshore wind farms.
Andrea Leadsom
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Northfield to Question 22287 on Wind Power, on 18 January 2016:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests were made by his Department’s Child Maintenance Group to HM Revenue and Customs for information relating to a non-resident parent’s unearned income in each year since the commencement of the 2012 statutory child maintenance scheme.
Priti Patel
The Information requested is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
CMS has direct access to income information held by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) which allows the Child Maintenance Service to capture a much wider range of income types received by non-resident parents. Therefore the definition of income within variations under the 2012 scheme of maintenance has been opened to deal with almost all additional sources of income captured by self-assessment. This is referred to as “unearned income” and captures income derived from property, savings and investments (including dividends), and other miscellaneous incomes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Marcus Fysh on 2016-03-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the contribution of farmers and landowners to supporting bees and pollinators.
George Eustice
Farmers and other land managers make a vital contribution to supporting pollinators through management and creation of beneficial habitat features. This is reflected in Defra’s National Pollinator Strategy implementation plan.
Well over one thousand applications for the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme, which funds environmentally beneficial land management, contained the Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package. As part of our monitoring and evaluation programme, we will assess the effectiveness of the Scheme in supporting bees and other pollinators.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of adequacy of the level of transparency in the recruitment process for Chief Fire Officers.
Mike Penning
Matters of recruitment are for individual fire and rescue authorities as employers. However, Ministers have been clear that payments for senior fire officers who return to employment immediately after retirement are an unacceptable use of taxpayers’ money, especially when fire authorities need to be making sensible savings.
That is why this Government has issued explicit guidance on the re-employment of senior staff who have previously been in receipt of a redundancy or severance payment, or who are in receipt of a local government or fire service pension. Fire and rescue authorities have the ability to deal with this problem and should do so. The public have a right to know when, and on what basis, these decisions have been made, and we have made provision for this.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-19.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of hotel bookings his Department made for (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials in each of the last five years.
Matthew Hancock
Details of Ministerial overseas travel, and senior officials’ business expenses are published on a quarterly basis. The remaining information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to improve public trust and confidence in charities.
Mr Rob Wilson
The Government has taken a number of steps to improve public trust and confidence in charities in England and Wales
The Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 gives the Charity Commission new and enhanced powers to tackle serious abuses of charitable status. The Charity Commission is already taking a more robust approach to tackling abuse and mismanagement and has also simplified and updated guidance for trustees to remind them of their duties.
Following scandals in 2015 that highlighted unacceptable charitable fundraising practices, a new Fundraising Regulator has been established. Chaired by Lord Grade of Yarmouth, this independent regulator is tasked to set high standards of fundraising practice and to deal with public complaints when these have been breached. It has a range of sanctions and can refer serious noncompliance or abuse to the relevant statutory regulator.The Fundraising Regulator will also develop a Fundraising Preference Service to enable people who feel inundated with targeted fundraising requests to put a stop to them if they wish.
The Office for Civil Society and Innovation is further working with charities to explore the challenges facing the leadership of the voluntary and community sector. One of the four themes that has been identified as part of this work is ‘responding to decline in trust and confidence’. A dedicated working group has been convened to explore this issue and identify potential solutions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will assess the potential merits of introducing more incentives to encourage motorists to use cleaner fuels and public transport.
Mr John Hayes
The Department for Transport assesses a number of different fuels in terms of a range of environmental impacts including air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. A number of initiatives are underway to encourage cleaner, lower carbon fuels.
This Government is investing over £600 million in this Parliament in addition, to a more favorable tax regime towards less polluting vehicles to ensure that almost all cars and vans are zero emission vehicles by 2050.
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) has supported a market for low carbon fuels and delivered significant greenhouse gas emissions savings. In 2014/15 these savings were equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the road. We have been working with industry and others on proposals to increase the supply of low carbon fuels in line with our UK carbon budget targets. We plan to consult on proposed changes to the RTFO scheme later this year.
The Government will continue to promote public transport choices, supporting the market for innovative forms of transport and encourage a move to cleaner and lower carbon vehicles.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the effect that the offshore wind industry has on stimulating investment in the north of England.
Andrea Leadsom
Recent major investments in the north of England include Siemens and APB’s investment in Hull, Offshore Structure Britain in Teesside and JDR Cables in Hartlepool. There has also been significant investment in operations and maintenance facilities. These investments are helping to deliver high quality and long term jobs to the region.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2015-12-16.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of people, including children, who continue to suffer the consequences of predictable and preventable disasters globally, and what assessment they have made of the case for Disaster Risk Reduction being included in all development assistance programmes in high-risk countries.
Baroness Verma
DFID uses the global assessment undertaken by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology for Disasters (CRED). CRED estimates that in 2014 107.3 million people were affected by disasters caused by natural hazards such as drought, earthquakes and floods. A DFID funded report recognises that, although there is limited available data, women and children are disproportionately affected by disasters.
In 2012 DFID undertook a study which highlighted the case to invest in measures to build resilience to natural hazards, including Disaster Risk Reduction. The study proved that investing in disaster resilience in advance of shocks or in the early stages of a crisis saves lives and is more cost-effective than humanitarian aid provided after a disaster strikes. It found that, for instance, in Kenya, over a 20 year period, every $1 spent on disaster resilience resulted in $2.90 saved in the form of reduced humanitarian aid, avoided losses and development gains. Since 2011 DFID has undertaken a process to embed disaster resilience in all our country programmes, resulting in the inclusion of disaster risk reduction when appropriate. The Political Champions for Resilience Group has ensured building resilience has been institutionalised in donors, aid agencies and national governments. Strengthening resilience and response to crises is one of the four priorities of the 2015 UK Aid Strategy, Tackling Global Challenges in the National Interest.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farmers who were on the Higher Level Scheme and Entry Level Scheme have joined the Countryside Stewardship Scheme; and if she will make a statement.
George Eustice
Natural England is currently processing 2,848 applications for the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme. 1,526 agreements have been offered so far and 859 have been accepted. All agreements will have a start date of 1 January 2016.
The number of farmers applying who were formerly in Entry Level Stewardship is not yet known. Natural England is, however, currently working on applications from at least 159 farmers whose Higher Level Stewardship agreements are due to end in 2016.