Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Benjamin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Baroness Benjamin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Benjamin on 2015-12-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the contribution of children’s media from the UK to promoting British culture and principles in the UK and abroad.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government recognises the important contribution children’s television makes to promoting British culture and the UK economy. In April, the Government introduced a new tax relief for children’s ‘live action’ television productions to attract inward investment and support our domestic market. We have noted the issues identified by Ofcom and will continue to monitor the sector and consider whether further measures are needed.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimates, if any, they have made of the changes to the water table in Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire as a result of rainfall over the last six weeks.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Environment Agency’s water situation report for the north west of England (which is published on the Gov.UK website) reports the situation for observation boreholes in the main bedrock aquifer in Cumbria and Lancashire, the Sherwood Sandstone. The Sherwood Sandstone is moderately unresponsive to rainfall events and this is partly because of the high storage characteristics of the sandstone and also because much of it is covered by low permeability glacial clays.

    Hydrographs for Skirwith (Cumbria) and Yew Tree Farm (West Lancashire) are thought to be representative of this aquifer, although this monitoring is undertaken for water resources purposes not groundwater flooding purposes.

    • The Skirwith hydrograph shows that the groundwater level has risen quite dramatically since mid-November in response to recent rainfall..
    • The hydrograph for Yew Tree Farm shows a similar but less dramatic rise, with levels close to record highs (the site has been monitored since 1971 but with groundwater levels rising steadily since the late 1990s due to reduction in nearby abstraction).
    • The sudden rise in levels was from quite a low point due to a relatively dry year and especially early autumn. Both of the examples show a steady reduction in levels up to the rainfall starting in November.

    The Environment Agency routinely monitors groundwater throughout Yorkshire. Water levels in November 2015 were:

    • on the low side of average in the Chalk Principal Aquifer and the Corallian Limestone Principal Aquifer
    • just above average in the Magnesian Limestone Principal Aquifer
    • well above average in the Sherwood Sandstone Principal Aquifer

    Levels in all the aquifers in Yorkshire have responded to the rainfall in late December 2015 and early January 2016:

    • Levels in the Chalk have responded strongly to the recent rainfall.
    • Groundwater levels in the Corallian Limestone near Malton are now at record highs and the result is ongoing groundwater flooding in Malton. North Yorkshire County Council are coordinating a multi-agency response including pumping to minimise the impact on local communities.
    • Levels in the Magnesian Limestone and the Sherwood Sandstone have also responded to the rainfall and are now at maximum levels for the time of year.

    The Environment Agency undertakes monitoring and assessment of different aquifers locally, based upon the potential risk of groundwater flooding. A system of groundwater flood alerts and warnings is provided through our incident response procedures for those communities most vulnerable to potential groundwater flooding.

    Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs)(Local Councils) have responsibility for local flood risk including groundwater under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. This Act gives LLFAs duties to prepare local flood risk management strategies and to co-operate with other risk management authorities, and powers to carry out local flood risk management.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps he has taken to reduce the incidence of death during armed forces training.

    Penny Mordaunt

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 1 February 2016 to Question 24067 to the hon. Member for Romford (Mr Rosindell).

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which (a) GPs, (b) acute trusts and (c) mental health trusts failed to submit data to the Female Genital Mutilation Enhanced Dataset via the Health and Social Care Information Centre by (i) the 31 July submission deadline for Q2 2015, (ii) the 31 October deadline for Q3 2015 and (iii) the 31 January deadline for Q3 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    The data from the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Enhanced Dataset can be found at:

    http://www.hscic.gov.uk/fgm

    It became mandatory for all acute trusts to collect and submit to the FGM Enhanced Dataset from 1 July 2015 and for all mental health trusts and general practitioner (GP) practices from 1 October 2015. Therefore GPs and mental health trusts were not under a requirement to submit information during the period for which information can be provided. The third quarterly data set has been published today.

    “

  • Crispin Blunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Crispin Blunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Crispin Blunt on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effects of expansion of Gatwick Airport on seat capacity on northbound trains into London terminals in (a) 2030 and (b) 2040 during weekday morning peak periods.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Airports Commission analysed the likely surface access impacts of a second runway at Gatwick Airport in 2030. Its analysis concluded that the second runway does increase forecast crowding on the Brighton Main Line but not to significant levels.

    At the time its work was carried out, the Airports Commission felt it was not plausible to carry out detailed surface access analysis for 2040 and beyond because of the difficulty in making assumptions about the likely state of the transport network and background growth at that time.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of glyphosate usage in farming and crop production; and what her policy is on the European Commission’s proposals to re-approve that use for the next 15 years.

    George Eustice

    Glyphosate is an important element of effective and economic weed control in crop production. It is also of value in other sectors, such as the maintenance of roads and railways.

    The Government recognises the importance of effective pesticides and believes that they should be authorised where the scientific evidence shows they do not pose unacceptable risks to human health or the environment.

    The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that glyphosate met these standards and UK experts agree. The Government therefore considers that glyphosate should be approved.

  • Chris Elmore – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Chris Elmore – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Elmore on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits to local communities of rail electrification in South Wales.

    Claire Perry

    The Government recognises the value to the Welsh economy and local communities that improved services from rail electrification, both to and in Wales, will bring in the form of regeneration and jobs. That is why we are prioritising the Great Western Mainline electrification and providing a £125m contribution to the electrification of the Valley Lines. The Valley Lines now forms part of the wider South East Wales Metro project which will transform travel in the Cardiff capital region. This project is the responsibility of the Welsh Government, and is further supported by a wider Cardiff Capital Region Investment Fund announced as part of the March 2016 City Deal.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospital-borne infectious diseases were recorded in England in (a) 2000, (b) 2005, (c) 2010 and (d) 2015.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    In April 2013, Public Health England took over the mandatory surveillance of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs), formerly undertaken by the Health Protection Agency.

    The total number of trust apportioned cases of HCAIs can be found in Table 1. For the purposes of answering this question trust apportioned cases can be considered “hospital-borne” infections.

    Data for the years 2000 and 2005 are not available.

    Table: Counts of trust apportioned HCAIs by financial year in 2010 and 2015:

    April 2010 to March 2011

    April 2015 to March 2016

    Meticillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA)

    ND

    2,910

    E.coli

    ND

    7,692

    Clostridium difficile infection (patients aged 2 years and over)

    10,417

    5,164

    Meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

    688

    297

    Notes:

    1. ND – Not Determined
    2. Cases are deemed to be trust apportioned if the following criteria are met:-

    – The location where the specimen was taken is given as ‘acute trust’ or is not known;

    – The patient was either an ‘In-patient’, ‘Day-patient’, in ‘Emergency assessment’ or is not known.

    – Patient’s specimen date is on, or after, the third day of the admission (or admission date is null), where the day of admission is day 1 (for MSSA or E. coli bacteraemia)

    Or

    – Patient’s specimen date is on, or after, the fourth day of the admission (or admission date is null), where the day of admission is day 1 (for Clostridium difficile infection).

  • Lord Laird – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Laird – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-11-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which UK citizens’ data have been collected by the government of the United States through the PRISM programme, and whether they have taken steps to prevent such data being collected in the future.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    It is the long-standing policy of successive Governments not to comment in detail on matters of intelligence. This includes discussions with allies and liaison agencies.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-12-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 2 December (HL3987), what is the procedure for children who are dependants of British citizens and persons who are living legally in the UK, and who have had asylum claims accepted by the French authorities, to apply for entry to the UK in order to be reunited with their families.

    Lord Bates

    The UK does not hold statistical information of the number of asylum applications made in France by dependent children of British citizens or persons living legally in the UK or how many of these applications have been accepted by the French. Statistics for transfers of asylum applicants from France to the UK on the basis of family ties are not routinely recorded.

    We will consider any request made to us by the French asylum authorities to take responsibility for an asylum applicant in France because they have close family in the UK in accordance with the terms of the Dublin Regulation concerning the principle of family unity and the best interests of the child. This is subject to an applicant first claiming asylum in France. If they do not wish to claim asylum, individual migrants in France as in any other country, are entitled to apply under the Family Reunion provisions to join relatives in the UK by making the appropriate application.