The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she expects work on a long-term strategy for UK food and farming to conclude; and if she will make a statement.
George Eustice
We are due to publish our 25 year plan for British food and farming early in 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of his Department’s running costs for the Command Support Air Transport fleet in each year from 2015 to 2020.
Mr Philip Dunne
It is estimated that the running costs for the Command Support Air Transport Fleet would be some £19 million – £20 million per annum, in each year from 2015-2020.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the Government measures the number of incidents of harassment, threatening and abusive behaviour which occur online.
Mike Penning
As part of the arrangements for the collection of police recorded crime data the Home Office has introduced an ‘online flag’ allowing police forces to record online instances of crimes such as stalking and harassment. These data are still being developed but will be published once the data are considered to be of sufficient quality. In October 2015, the Office for National Statistics introduced new fraud and cyber questions to the Crime Survey for England and Wales. These new questions mean that we will be able to identify those crimes that had an online component and hence be able to provide estimates of cyber crime. This data will be published in due course.
Legislation is in place to deal with internet trolls, cyber-stalking and harassment, and perpetrators of grossly offensive, obscene or menacing behaviour. Through the Criminal Justice Act 2015, we improved two communications offences which can be used to prosecute misuse of social media: section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988, and section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, giving the police longer to investigate either offence, and increasing the maximum penalty for the former to two years imprisonment.
Engagement with the industry is essential, and the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) brings together industry, law enforcement, academia, charities, parenting groups, and government departments (Home Office, Department for Culture, Media & Sport, and Department for Education), to work in partnership to help to keep children and young people safe online. As part of this work, the UK’s Communications regulator, Ofcom, recently led a working group to develop good practice guidance for providers of social media and interactive services. Its purpose is to encourage businesses to think about “safety by design” to help make their platforms safer for children and young people under 18. This guidance was published in December 2015. A wide range of partners contributed to this project, including Twitter, Facebook, Google, Ask.FM, MindCandy and Microsoft.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-01-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2016 to Question 23428, whether the prognosis statements issued after assessments for employment and support allowance are an indication of an assessment of the likelihood of improvement in the claimant’s medical condition.
Priti Patel
Section 3.10 of the Revised WCA Handbook for healthcare professionals states that prognosis advice "refers to the time frame for when the claimant could be considered fit for work or fit for work-related activity."
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence Review 2015, when he expects to announce further details of the Government’s proposed armed forces families strategy.
Mark Lancaster
The UK Armed Forces Families’ Strategy 2016-2020 was published on 14 January 2016 and is available at the following website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-armed-forces-families-strategy
The Strategy will be supported by an action plan which we plan to publish in spring 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the money allocated to northern road infrastructure in Budget 2016, is in addition to £800 million allocated to the North West Road Infrastructure Programme.
Andrew Jones
At the budget £161m was announced for the acceleration of smart motorway upgrades to the M62 between junctions 10-12 and 20-25. A further £75m from the Transport Development Fund was committed to developing the recommendations of the government’s strategic studies on Northern Trans-Pennine routes, Manchester’s North West Quadrant and the Trans-Pennine Tunnel. Both of these commitments are in addition to the £1.5bn being spent in the North West between 2015 and 2021 to deliver schemes committed under the first Road Investment Strategy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Whitaker on 2016-04-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, where a dog or horse is being micro-chipped and its owner is of no fixed abode, such as in the case of Gypsies and Travellers, whether they have considered allowing a mobile phone number or address of a friend or relation of the owner to be recorded rather than the owner’s address.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Owners of horses and dogs without a fixed address should provide the address of a family member or close friend with whom they keep in contact. Defra have worked with the veterinary representative organisations on their guidance for vets on microchipping of dogs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many foreign military sales contracts there have been since 2010; and what the value was of those contracts.
Mr Philip Dunne
The proportion of the defence procurement budget, and the defence budget spent on foreign military sales in each financial year cannot be provided. Under the Foreign Military Sales Agreement (FMS), Her Majesty’s Government commits to FMS cases with the US Government which then places contracts with industry to deliver our requirements. Additionally, FMS cases typically cover differing periods of performance, thereby making estimation of the commitment that would fall within each financial year unreliable.
The number of new cases, together with their values, committed to under FMS for each financial year is given in the table below. They do not equate to actual expenditure, accruals or contractual commitments and include contingency provisions.
|
Financial Year |
No. of new cases |
Value of new cases ($millions) |
|
2009-10 |
22 |
995 |
|
2010-11 |
30 |
111 |
|
2011-12 |
33 |
284 |
|
2012-13 |
23 |
137 |
|
2013-14 |
25 |
301 |
|
2014-15 |
26 |
328 |
|
2015-16 |
32 |
245 |
|
2016-17 to date |
6 |
13 |
|
Totals |
197 |
2,414 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department plans to take to (a) track and (b) report progress made against the Sustainable Development Goals by applying the Food Insecurity Experience Scale.
James Wharton
DFID helped to establish the use of the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. This is the method the UN’s Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators has recommended for tracking and reporting on the prevalence of food insecurity for Global Goal 2.
DFID is in the process of reviewing its results framework and is also considering ways to apply the Food Insecurity Experience Scale in relevant programmes. For example, this year DFID supported the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme to agree a new Monitoring and Evaluation framework which will use the Food Insecurity Experience Scale to track progress on food security for households supported by the programme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-10-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential merits of requiring the use of sealed tamper-proof bags for duty-free alcohol sales at airports to prevent excessive drinking on board aircraft.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government welcomes industry’s commitment to tackling the issue of excessive alcohol consumption in airports and on-board aircraft. The use of tamper-proof bags for duty-free purchases is currently being trialled at a number of UK airports and as part of that trial industry will reach a view on the potential merits of this approach.