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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 66 of his Department’s Road Investment Strategy Investment Plan, how much of the five ring-fenced investment funds totalling £675 million has been allocated to cycling and walking infrastructure projects.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Highways England has committed to provide a safer, integrated and more accessible strategic road network for cyclists and other vulnerable road users such as pedestrians. Through the first Road Investment Strategy for Highways England, £175 million has been made available between 2015 and 2020 to improve the safety of the Strategic Road Network and improve conditions for cyclists and other road users.

    The Highways England delivery plan states that £78 million will be used to improve conditions for those cycling alongside and crossing the Strategic Road Network.

    The remaining £97 million will be used to enhance the safety of our network, with £20 million of this specifically targeted at improving facilities to provide a more accessible and integrated network, which will also benefit pedestrians.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to ensure the resilience of agriculture businesses in (a) Copeland and (b) Allerdale to respond to the effects of (i) Storm Desmond and (ii) future severe weather events.

    George Eustice

    We have been working closely with the NFU and other industry bodies to identify major problems, not only in Copeland and Allerdale, but across Cumbria, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Durham where exceptional rainfall added to ground which was already saturated. In response, we have provided grants and other support to help farmers restore their land through the Farming Recovery Fund. Farmers affected by flooding will be able to claim grants of between £500 and £20,000 to cover the cost of restoring their farmland.

    In restoring damaged features such as bridges, fences or cross drains, we are encouraging farmers to protect against the future by considering building in protection against future flood damage. They can do this by locating these in a position where they are less likely to be damaged in the future or can be (for example, in the case of bridges) raised to reduce the risk of water damage. If farmers consider relocating features within their field, they could save replacement costs in the future.

    We have also put in place in Cumbria a new partnership, which includes representatives of agriculture businesses, to develop an action plan to be published this summer. The action plan will cover a range of issues, such as what improvements may be needed to flood defences in the region; upstream options for slowing key rivers to reduce peak water flows, and ways of building stronger links between local residents, businesses, community groups and flood defence planning.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to make available to the Northern Ireland Executive funds received from the Government’s application to the EU Solidarity Fund to help flood affected areas.

    James Wharton

    The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February and we continue to refine our cost estimations.

    At the date the application was made, the Government had not been approached on this matter by the Northern Ireland Executive.

  • David Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Jones on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of microbeads on marine ecosystems.

    George Eustice

    Defra has funded a project, undertaken by the University of Plymouth, to study the effects of microplastics in the marine environment. The project studied whether chemical pollutants stick to plastic particles, whether marine organisms ingest plastic particles and pass them along the food chain, and whether the plastics themselves, or associated chemical pollutants, could cause harm to those organisms. The final report for this project is expected to be published shortly.

  • Baroness Featherstone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Featherstone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Featherstone on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the carbon savings that could result from increasing the use of biofuels in UK aviation.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Government believes sustainable aviation fuels are of strategic importance, both in reducing carbon emissions and to drive the development of an advanced biofuels industry in the UK.

    Those developing sustainable aviation biofuels were eligible to apply for funding under the Department’s Advanced Biofuel Demonstration Competition, the winners of which were announced last September.

    In early 2015 a Transport Energy Taskforce including aviation industry experts considered, amongst other things, the potential for sustainable aviation fuels to contribute to our climate change commitments to 2030 and beyond. Further to that work we are planning to consult on potential changes to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation later this year, including to make renewable fuels used in aviation eligible for reward under the scheme.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding from the (a) European Regional Development Fund and (b) European Social Fund was spent in (i) Liverpool, Wavertree constituency and (ii) each borough of the Liverpool City Region in each year since 2010.

    Margot James

    Information is not held for individual constituencies or boroughs. Figures are recorded for Merseyside and are from the 2007-13 programming period where projects could spend money up to the end of 2015, with some reimbursements taking place in 2016.

    The figures for the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) are:

    Year

    £m Merseyside

    2009

    £77.30

    2010

    £25.00

    2011

    £28.80

    2012

    £27.00

    2013

    £29.70

    2014

    £21.60

    2015

    £33.50

    2016

    £20.75

    Total

    £263.65

    For the European Social Fund (ESF) figures as follows:

    Year

    £m Merseyside

    2010

    £44.04

    2011

    £20.58

    2012

    £11.61

    2013

    £8.75

    2014

    £7.70

    2015

    £9.93

    2016

    £0.29

    Total

    £102.90
  • Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Allen on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the case of the Syrian journalist, Zaina Erhaim.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    My officials have been in contact with the UK Border Force about this case. We are aware that the passport presented by Zaina Erhaim has been retained by UK Border Force officials. The passport was listed on an international database as lost or stolen. In such circumstances the Border Force will confiscate the document. Since the passport is listed as lost or stolen, it is no longer valid for travel to the UK or elsewhere and as such the Border Force is not able to return the passport to Ms Erhaim. The passport is therefore being retained by the British authorities.

  • Lord Harrison – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Harrison – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase the number of people living with diabetes who receive structured education courses to help them self-manage their diabetes, in the light of recommendations by NICE.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Quality Standard for diabetes, attached, sets out that people with diabetes should receive a structured educational programme. NHS England is statutorily required to have regard to this.

    There are a number of national and locally developed patient education programmes available including Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating (DAFNE) for Type 1 diabetes, and Diabetes Education and Self-management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed (DESMOND) for Type 2 diabetes.

    While there is still much room for improvement, the proportion of people with diabetes being offered structured education is improving. 16% of people newly diagnosed with diabetes were offered structured education in 2012/13 compared to 8.4% of those diagnosed in 2009. In the same period the number of people newly diagnosed with diabetes offered or attending structured education rose from 11% to 18.4%.

    No estimate has been made of the cost over a five-year period of providing group based education courses for all people living with diabetes.

    The Department is developing plans to improve outcomes for those with diabetes. This will be announced in due course.

  • Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of meningococcal disease there have been in (a) Brigg and Goole constituency and (b) England since 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    National and regional data on the number of cases of invasive meningococcal disease in England are published by Public Health England based on the number of laboratory confirmed cases. There are no published figures by constituency, data are not reported against these boundaries because of the risk of deductive disclosure.

    Number of laboratory confirmed cases of invasive meningococcal disease, Yorkshire and Humber and England: 2009/10 to 2014/15

    2009/10

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    Yorkshire and Humber

    82

    105

    69

    95

    67

    England

    858

    1009

    730

    769

    636

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to prevent hostels requiring asylum seekers to wear red wristbands before providing food and to stop property companies singling out the accommodation used by asylum seekers by having their doors painted red.

    Lord Bates

    On 20 January my Rt. Hon. Friend the Immigration Minister (James Brokenshire), in response to the articles in the press regarding asylum seeker accommodation in Middlesbrough, announced an audit of asylum accommodation as a result of the allegations made (regarding the use of a single paint colour on asylum seeker properties).

    The Home Office has asked for assurance from all accommodation providers that there are no further policies or practices that allow asylum seekers to be identified as such by the public.