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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for publishing the Government’s analysis of whole system costs.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    Following peer review by experts in the field of whole system impacts, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will publish the methodology report of the Whole System Impacts of Electricity Generation Technologies project in due course.

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

    Lord Clement-Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-09-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are taking steps to close the domestic ivory market, including the market in ivory products.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    A number of proposals on elephant and ivory related issues will be discussed at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to be held in South Africa between 24 September 2016 and 5 October 2016. This will include discussions on the existing global ban on the trade in ivory, which the UK is committed to maintaining, and the role of domestic ivory markets in illegal trade. Officials have engaged in substantial discussions with counterparts from other EU Member States on these and other issues over several months in formulating the EU and Member State position at the CITES Conference. The UK will continue to play a full role in these discussions.

    The then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Affairs, Rory Stewart, discussed the issue of the closure of domestic ivory markets with the Government of the United States (US) during a trip earlier this year. In addition officials in Defra are in regular contact with their US counterparts and have discussed the US measures on a number of occasions.

    The Government has been actively exploring options with relevant parties about how to implement the UK Government’s manifesto commitment to press for a total ban on ivory sales and the steps to be taken in respect of the UK’s ivory market. On 21 September 2016 the Secretary of State announced plans for a ban on sales of items containing ivory dated between 1947 and the present day, putting UK rules on ivory sales among the world’s toughest.

    The Government will consult on plans for the ban early next year, seeking views from conservationists, traders and other relevant parties to ensure clear rules and guidance for those operating within the law, while cracking down on illegal sales. This will complement the existing UK ban on trade in raw ivory tusks. Trade in raw tusks presents the greatest risk of poached ivory entering the legal market.

    TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring organisation, has recently published its independent report – A Rapid Survey of the UK ivory market. Although not an exact comparison with a survey conducted in 2004, TRAFFIC’s survey found the number of market stalls offering ivory for sale had declined by approximately two-thirds and the number of items offered for sale had halved. No new or raw ivory was seen in any of the physical market outlets or online platforms— only one ivory item seen for sale was reportedly from after the legal cut-off (1947) for antique ivory being sold without CITES documentation within the EU. Ivory is a key UK wildlife crime priority with an enforcement action plan in place to tackle risk. For example, UK Border Force through Operation Quiver has in particular successfully targeted ivory sent through postal systems.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the effect of increased cyber-security funding on the numbers of (a) frontline police and (b) police community support officers.

    Mike Penning

    Cyber Security, including combating cyber crime, is a top priority threat to national security. That is why, through the National Cyber Security Programme, we have invested over £90 million under the last Parliament to bolster the law enforcement response, and we will continue to invest. As the Chancellor announced this week, this Government has committed to spending £1.9 billion on cyber security over the next five years, including for cyber crime.

    To date, we have funded the development of National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) and of cyber teams within the Regional Organised Crime Unit network; and invested in Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. We are clear that front line policing also needs to adapt with the changing nature of the threat. In partnership with the College of Policing, we have rolled out cyber crime training so that it is available to all police officers and staff, with over 150,000 modules completed so far. We recognise that local policing capabilities in respect of the investigation of digital crime are a particular concern – that is why we are working with the National Policing Lead for Digital Investigations to define the capabilities required to conduct effective digital investigations. This Government has also made a commitment to expand the number of volunteer ‘Cyber Specials’ across policing. This will harness expertise from other sectors to further increase police capability at all levels, including within local forces.

    This Government will continue investing at the national, regional and local levels to ensure we have the capacity to deal with the volume and sophistication of online crime. We will continue to boost the capabilities of the NCCU by increasing their ability to investigate the most serious cyber crime, both domestically and internationally. We will increase work with industry to stop cyber attacks reaching the UK, and we will work with industry and the public to help them better protect themselves.

  • Baroness Parminter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Parminter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Parminter on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review the UK’s fishing quota, in particular with regard to whether small-scale fishermen receive a fair share of that quota.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Government remains committed to fishing sustainably and supporting the UK’s inshore fleet. Defra is in the final stages of concluding a quota realignment exercise which, when complete, will represent a 14% uplift in the amount of quota the inshore fleet currently receives. Quota units which were under-utilised by Producer Organisations (POs) in 2012 were identified for re-allocation. Three quarters of the Fisheries Quota Allocations relating to underutilised quota from POs has now been permanently realigned to the inshore fleet, with the balance to be completed as soon as possible.

    The Government has also taken steps to support England’s inshore fleet under the landing obligation, or discard ban. The demersal landing obligation comes into force on 1 January 2016, following the successful introduction of a discard ban for pelagic fisheries in 2015. The introduction of the demersal landing obligation will be phased in for all quota fisheries between 2016 and 2019. The discard plans for 2016 introduce landing obligations for clearly defined fisheries, including haddock, whiting, sole, Nephrops, hake and plaice.

    As a result of vessels no longer being able to discard, an uplift in quota will be awarded to fishermen so they can land formerly discarded fish. The allocation of quota uplift is a devolved matter, and Minister Eustice announced the Government’s policy for allocating quota uplift for the English fleet in October this year.

    In 2016, the non-sector pools will receive the first 100 tonnes of any quota uplift received and then 10% of any remainder, before the rest is issued to the POs on behalf of their members. Defra consulted on the implementation of the demersal landing obligation and responses indicate that the inshore fleets have high discard rates as a result of low quotas. The Government considers this quota uplift to go some way to helping small-scale fishermen adapt to the first year of the demersal discard ban.

    As the landing obligation represents the largest change in fisheries management for a generation, it is important that we continue to support all our vessels as they adapt to this significant change. We must therefore take stock of all that is going on in fisheries management before any further decisions are made with regard to quota reallocation in the future.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the five items most commonly recorded by the Incident Report System are; and how many of each such item were recorded in the last year for which figures are available.

    Andrew Selous

    The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports his Department has received on the frequency of rocket attacks from the West Bank into Israel in the last 12 months.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We have not received reports of incidents of rocket fire from the West Bank into Israel . However, military groups in Gaza (including Hamas’ military wing), conduct test-firing of rockets into the Mediterranean on a regular basis. There have also been reports of rocket or mortar fire from Gaza towards Israel.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on treasuring commercial flights to Sharm el Sheikh.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government is continuing to work towards a resumption of direct flights as soon as possible.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic resources he is providing to the peace talks between the Houthi rebels and Saudi-led coalition in Yemen; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK is providing diplomatic and financial support to the efforts of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, in convening UN-facilitated talks between relevant Yemeni parties. We welcome the cessation of hostilities that began on 10 April and strongly encourage all parties to respect it, and engage constructively in forthcoming peace talks.

  • Glyn Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Glyn Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Glyn Davies on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of introducing a new criminal offence of failure to prevent economic crime on the number of prosecutions for such crimes.

    Jeremy Wright

    Under existing law, a company only faces criminal liability if prosecutors can prove a sufficiently senior person knew about the criminal conduct. It can be extremely hard to prove this, especially in large companies with complex management structures.

    A new failure to prevent offence could help prosecutors hold all companies to account for criminal conduct and bring some positive changes in corporate culture.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make it his policy that student maintenance loan payments are paid on a monthly basis to nursing students.

    Joseph Johnson

    Full-time students starting nursing courses from 1 August 2017 will qualify for the same loans for living costs as other new full-time undergraduate students in 2017/18. Loans for living costs are paid to students in three equal instalments at the start of each term to help meet up-front costs while studying.