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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Alan Mak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alan Mak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Mak on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of diplomatic and economic relations between China and the UK.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Our relationship with China is strong and prosperous. We are building on the global partnership established during last year’s Chinese State Visit, by cooperating on international challenges and boosting trade and investment. We also have frank discussions on difficult issues including steel over-capacity, human rights and the South China Sea.

  • Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the positive findings of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs research Digestate and Compost in Agriculture, what action they are taking to increase the volume of food waste going to anaerobic digesters rather than to incinerators.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    It is wrong for good surplus food to go to waste when it could go to people. For food waste which is unavoidable and inedible, anaerobic digestion is the most environmentally beneficial means of dealing with it.

    The Waste Framework Directive sets out a priority order for waste treatment: the waste hierarchy. We have departed from the waste hierarchy to place anaerobic digestion above – rather than on a par with – composting and other energy recovery technologies for the treatment of food and garden wastes. We explain this position in our “Guidance on applying the waste hierarchy”. While local authorities are best placed to determine local collection arrangements, they must have regard to this guidance.

    The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has recently published guidance to local authorities on how to introduce or improve the effectiveness of food waste collection systems. WRAP is also looking at whether greater consistency in how waste is collected has the potential to improve recycling rates.

    The “Food Waste Recycling Action Plan”, soon to be published by WRAP, aims to bring together industry and local authorities to increase the supply and quality of household and commercial food waste to the food waste recycling industry.

  • Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-06-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the 2013 Report of the European Court of Auditors EU Direct Financial Support to the Palestinian Authority said (1) that a number of civil servants in Gaza were being paid without going to work, and (2) that the EU was not using its leverage on the Palestinian Authority to promote reforms; and what assessment they have made of the EU allocation of 252.5 million euros to the Palestinian Authority in 2016 through PEGASE.

    Baroness Verma

    The European Court of Auditors report of the EU’s Direct Financial Support to the Palestinian Authority assessed the European External Action Service’s and the European Commission’s management of the direct financial support provided through the PEGASE mechanism to the Palestinian Authority. The report is accessible in the public domain.

    The UK is supportive of the EU’s programme of financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority, which supports delivery of essential basic services to Palestinians and helps maintain the viability of the two-state solution.

  • Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-09-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offices in Scotland the Government plans to close by 2020; and what changes there will be in the total number of HMRC employees working in Scotland.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) plans to create two new regional centres in Scotland in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 2019-20, accommodating between 5,700 and 6,300 full time equivalent posts by 2025. As work is transferred to the regional centres HMRC plans to close ten offices in Scotland by 2020. The changes are part of a ten-year transformation programme to deliver better public services at lower cost to the taxpayer. Scotland has 12 per cent of HMRC’s total workforce and that will not change with modernisation.

    HMRC believes that its responsibilities will be unaffected by the changes. Staff are receiving guidance and training to deal with any enquiries relating to the Scottish rate of income tax, as with any other tax issues.

  • James Cleverly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    James Cleverly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cleverly on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent steps his Department has taken to detect and prevent electoral fraud at polling stations.

    Chris Skidmore

    The Electoral Commission provides guidance on preventing and reporting electoral fraud sets out the role of Local Electoral Registration Officers, Returning Officers, the police and political parties in detecting and preventing fraud. This guidance can be found online.

    Moreover, the security of registration has been improved by the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration. This service checks the details provided by the applicant, including their National Insurance number, against government data before passing the application to the relevant local electoral administration team.

    For applications with no National Insurance number and other applications not verified through the digital service, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) will seek further information regarding identity. For all registration applications, online or otherwise, the ERO is also responsible for ensuring that other eligibility requirements, such as the nationality of the applicant, are satisfactorily met.

    Finally, the Government considers the integrity of the electoral system of the utmost importance and has recently welcomed the report published by Sir Eric Pickles into electoral fraud.

    The Government will closely consider the recommendations laid out in that report and issue its response shortly.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 on recoverable costs in medical negligence cases.

    Ben Gummer

    The fixed recoverable cost regime is seeking to streamline claims for clinical negligence, focusing on what is required for a fair and proportionate resolution and encouraging a process that is more resource efficient and that incentivises the right behaviours by all parties. It extends the benefits of fixed cost regimes already realised in other areas of personal injury, as recommended by Lord Justice Jackson,and is not about the number of claims being brought.

  • Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Dunlop on 9 December (HL4222, HL4272 and HL4321), which peers and MPs who are based in Northern Ireland were invited by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, to her briefing on the Northern Ireland (Welfare Reform) Bill on 23 November; at what time and where the briefing took place; and why no peer or MP from Northern Ireland appears to have received the invitation circulated electronically.

    Lord Dunlop

    An invitation to the briefing on the Northern Ireland (Welfare Reform) Bill was circulated electronically to all Peers via the Usual Channels. The briefing was held on Monday 23 November at 12 noon in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords.

  • Ian Liddell-Grainger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Ian Liddell-Grainger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Liddell-Grainger on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what research her Department has conducted or commissioned on the link between poor sanitation and associated hygiene practices and maternal and newborn health and survival.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID is providing £16 million over 8 years for SHARE (Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity), a research consortium led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. SHARE has funded five key studies which have significantly advanced our understanding of this critical issue and put water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) firmly on the global maternal & newborn health (MNH) agenda. Research includes a systematic review establishing the impact of WASH on maternal mortality and a cohort study in Odisha, India that has provided the first rigorous evidence that poor sanitation during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of preterm birth, low birthweight, spontaneous abortion and still birth

    DFID is also providing £7.2 million of funding to support the Sanitation, Hygiene Infant Nutrition Efficacy (SHINE) trial currently underway in Zimbabwe. The trial aims to prove and describe the causal relationship between sanitation and child stunting.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of Daesh fighters in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The political crisis in Yemen remains extremely concerning, particularly the risk that terrorist organisations such as Daesh-Yemen continue to exploit the deteriorating situation to consolidate their support base and capabilities in Yemen. Throughout 2015, we saw an expansion of Daesh-Yemen, albeit starting from a small base. We continue to work with regional and international partners to tackle the threat posed by terrorist organisations including Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Daesh-Yemen. For operational reasons we cannot comment in detail on this activity.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the proportion of rivers, lakes, coastal and ground waters in the UK that (a) are compliant with the EU Water Framework Directive and (b) will be so compliant by 2020; and when she expects all UK waters to achieve good status.

    Rory Stewart

    The principle environmental objective of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to protect and enhance all bodies of surface and groundwater so as to prevent deterioration, with the aim of achieving good status for all water bodies by December 2015. The WFD provides exemptions which allow the deadline to be extended to 2021 or 2027 and, in some cases, a less stringent objective to be set, for reasons of disproportionate cost or technical feasibility.

    Implementation of the WFD in the UK is a devolved matter. In England, 19% of water bodies are currently good status or better, 22% are predicted to achieve good status or better by 2021, and 75% of all water bodies have an objective of good or better status.

    The breakdown by water category is detailed in the table below.

    % water bodies at good or better now

    % water bodies predicted to be achieve good by 2021

    % water bodies with an objective of good or better

    Rivers

    17

    20

    74

    Lakes

    16

    19

    80

    Coastal

    44

    48

    71

    Transitional (estuarine)

    21

    25

    58

    Groundwater

    42

    48

    72

    All waters

    19

    22

    75

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