UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2015-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, as a contribution to establishing future targets and implementation plans for the reduction of carbon emissions at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015, what policies are being proposed by the United Kingdom delegations to the United Nations specialised agencies responsible for climate change mitigation, including United Nations Habitat, the United Nations Environmental Programme, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Maritime Organisation and the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

    Baroness Verma

    We recognise the UNFCCC as the only place where a legally binding international agreement could be delivered at the scale necessary to meet the challenge of climate change, given its universal coverage and legitimacy. As such, we are working with countries to intensify domestic preparations for the new deal and want as many as possible to put forward contributions to the UNFCCC by the first quarter of 2015, which set out how they are going to achieve their commitments on post-2020 mitigation. Alongside this we are working closely with UN institutions and relevant international agencies to assess how different international actors can best support an ambitious deal in Paris.

  • Gerry Sutcliffe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gerry Sutcliffe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerry Sutcliffe on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of community schools in England have made their sports facilities available to members of the public outside school hours in each of the last five years.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    The Department for Education does not collect data on the number of community schools that have made their sports facilities available to members of the public outside of school hours. Schools are not required to report to the Department on how they use their sports facilities.

  • Anne McIntosh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Anne McIntosh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne McIntosh on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how strict the standard of independent monitoring of shale gas fracking will be; and who will undertake that monitoring.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Environment Agency (EA) is the regulator for onshore gas operations in England. It requires operators to obtain environmental permits which contain conditions that ensure risks are properly managed and will not allow companies to start work unless they can demonstrate how they will provide a high level of protection for people and the environment. The EA will monitor compliance with permits and take enforcement action if it believes permit conditions have been breached.

    The EA undertakes inspections based on its assessment of the risks presented by a particular site. Often the site operator is responsible for environmental monitoring, which the EA then examines to ensure that they are abiding by their permit conditions. In some cases, depending on the risks presented by a site, the EA may undertake extra monitoring itself.

    The environmental permits require operators to monitor the emissions from their activities and assess their environmental impact. They do this in order to demonstrate to the EA that pollution is minimised and to comply with the limits specified in their permit. The monitoring must be carried out to recognised standards by competent personnel. The EA recommends that operators do this through its Monitoring Certification Scheme (MCERTS). Operators can choose to use an alternative certified monitoring standard, as long as it is equivalent to the MCERTS standard.

    MCERTS is the Environment Agency’s Monitoring Certification Scheme. It provides the framework for businesses to meet EA’s quality requirements. If operators comply with MCERTS, the EA can have confidence in the monitoring of emissions to the environment.

    The EA will adopt a compliance assessment plan for each site that sets out how it will measure the operator’s compliance and ensure that environmental risks are properly managed. This may include a variety of methods such as audit, site inspections, check monitoring, sampling, and reviewing operator records and procedures.

    In addition, DECC officials are currently developing further measures to provide independent evidence directly to the public about the robustness of the existing regulatory regime, as announced in the Autumn Statement.

  • Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of progress in the demilitarisation of Gaza.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We have not made a formal assessment of demilitarisation of Gaza.

    We have been clear that we believe that a durable ceasefire agreement should ensure that: Hamas and other militant groups permanently end rocket fire and other attacks against Israel and that all terrorist groups in Gaza should disarm.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis.

    Norman Lamb

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance Multiple sclerosis: management of multiple sclerosis in primary and secondary care, updated in October 2014, states that around 100,000 people in the United Kingdom have multiple sclerosis (MS). Estimates from studies on annual incidence are more uncertain, and vary between 2,500 and 6,000 newly diagnosed cases each year. About 85 out of 100 people with MS have relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) where periods of stability (remission) are followed by episodes when there are exacerbations of symptoms (relapses). About 10 to 15 out of 100 people with MS have primary progressive MS where symptoms gradually develop and worsen over time from the start, without ever experiencing relapses and remissions.

    The guidance sets out a range of initial assessments a clinician should make including testing of vision and blood tests before referral to a consultant neurologist who can confirm or exclude a diagnosis of MS, subject to investigation. The guidance makes a range of recommendations on the pharmacological and non-pharmacological management of MS. NICE has recommended a number of drugs for the treatment of MS and is currently appraising Nerventra (laquinimod) for RRMS and ilenya (fingolimod) for primary-progressive MS. In addition over 18,000 patients have benefitted from disease-modifying treatments through the MS risk sharing scheme, established by the Department in 2002.

  • Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the dates are of the oldest applications currently being processed by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service is currently processing 36 applications that were received more than 12 months ago. No case is older than 19 months.

    There are a number of reasons why some cases may take longer than others to process.

  • Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of existing arrangements for grandparents to have access to their grandchildren following the divorce of the parents of those children.

    Simon Hughes

    When making any decision about a child’s upbringing the court’s paramount consideration will be the welfare of the child.

    The Government believes that the existing arrangements for grandparents to spend time with their grandchildren in cases of parental dispute are effective and do not unfairly disadvantage grandparents.

    Child arrangements orders are able to deal with all the arrangements needed for a child in a single order, and that could include arrangements for spending time with grandparents where the court is considering this as an issue.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the value was of support provided by (a) his Department and (b) Network Rail to the Technical Strategy Leadership Group in each year from 2010-11 to date.

    Claire Perry

    The Government, and Network Rail, to further their objective of supporting a safe, reliable and efficient rail network, engage with and support a broad range of stakeholders and initiatives across Government. These include the Technical Strategy Leadership Group; Rail Delivery Group Limited; the Planning Oversight Group; and the National Task Force.

    The Department provided the following funding towards the Technical Strategy Leadership Group’s strategic research programme through a grant to RSSB which facilitates the group:

    Year

    DfT grant towards TSLG’s research programme (£m)

    2010/11

    1.25

    2011/12

    1.75

    2012/13

    3

    2013/14

    3.5

    Network Rail does not provide direct financial support to the Technical Strategy Leadership Group.

    Network Rail, between 10th August 2012 and 31st March 2014, paid £240,000 to Rail Delivery Group Limited in membership fees. For the year April 2014 – March 2015, Network Rail has paid or is due to pay £1,568,509 in membership fees. The increased fees paid by Network Rail in the most recent year are as a result of the Group assuming responsibility for policy formulation and communications on behalf of the rail industry. Network Rail provides staff to Rail Delivery Group Limited, for which it is due to charge the group £261,312.

    The Planning Oversight Group is funded and supported by Rail Delivery Group Limited and does not receive direct financial support from the Department or Network Rail. The National Task Force does not have a budget, but those who attend are drawn from the various industry members.

  • Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken from an application for reconsideration of an employment and support allowance decision to a decision being made on that case was in each month since October 2013.

    Mr Mark Harper

    The latest information available is provided in Table 2.1 in the link below:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mandatory-reconsiderations-of-dwp-benefit-decisions-data-to-october-2014

    “

  • Jim McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McGovern on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to (a) encourage firms to pay a fair wage to workers in their overseas supply chains and (b) stop other forms of exploitation of those workers.

    Jo Swinson

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has introduced a requirement for large listed companies to include in their Strategic Report information on human rights issues. This requirement will be further enhanced by the Non-Financial Reporting Directive, due to come into force by 2017, which specifically includes human rights due diligence and supply chains.

    In December last year, I announced support from BIS for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, which will assess and rank the human rights performance of 500 companies worldwide. The combination of enhanced disclosure and published assessments of company performance will provide a powerful incentive to businesses to ensure that workers in their overseas supply chains are free from exploitation and are paid fair wages.