Tag: Paul Flynn

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a ban on snares.

Rory Stewart

Policy on wildlife management issues including snares is a devolved matter so I can only speak for England.

In 2012 Defra published research on the extent of use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales. This research included an analysis of the issues covered by the code. Ministers are currently considering options.

Defra and its agencies do not use snares on their property.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the government of Saudi Arabia on the reaffirmation in UN Security Council Resolution 2199 (2015) of 12 February 2015 of its Resolution 1373 (2001) on matters including the prevention and suppression of financing of terrorist acts.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

All UN Member States, including Saudi Arabia, are subject to the terms of UN Security Council Resolutions 2199 and 1373 and the UK consistently calls on all nations to fully implement these in multilateral and bilateral meetings. Saudi Arabia is a member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force which conducts evaluations of its members to assess compliance with the international standard. A Financial Action Task Force report on terrorist financing published on 16 November 2015 noted that since 2010, Saudi Arabia had achieved the highest number of terrorist financing convictions out of the 33 jurisdictions who had achieved a conviction.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the most recent review of the emergency response arrangements for a radiation emergency involving the nuclear warhead convoy was completed.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Ministry of Defence emergency response arrangements are subject to a continuous process of review through a regular series of exercises which test the effectiveness of the response. The most recent exercise took place on 12 November 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the implications for her polices of the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Communiqué presented by the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on behalf of the Prince of Wales’ Corporate Leaders’ Group to Christina Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, at COP 21 in Paris on 30 November 2015.

Andrea Leadsom

The UK is a co-signatory to the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Communiqué. As that document covers, significant subsidy reform can help deliver major reform of global energy usage which limits global temperature rises.

The fall in the oil price over the last eighteen months creates a moment of opportunity for action around the world to reduce subsidies. The communiqué calls for clear communication and increased ambition. We support those goals. We will continue to lobby Governments overseas and support activity to make the most of this opportunity to implement meaningful reform. Doing so will enhance both UK and wider energy security, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and free up funds that Governments could use to tackle other challenges.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what special support his Department is providing to rough sleepers over the Christmas period.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government remains committed to protecting the most vulnerable in society. That is why since 2010 we have invested more than £500 million to prevent and tackle homelessness in England. But even one person without a home is one too many, which is why we have committed in the Spending Review to increase central investment over the next four years to £139 million for innovative programmes to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping. We are also maintaining and protecting homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, through the provisional local government finance settlement totalling £315 million by 2019/20.

Severe weather emergency provision for rough sleepers is of the utmost importance. Local authorities, with their voluntary sector partners, have arrangements in place to move rough sleepers indoors during periods of severe cold weather.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive 2000 on how floods have been controlled in the UK.

Rory Stewart

Implementation of the Water Framework Directive is devolved within the UK.

Implementation of the Directive promotes, through river basin planning, an integrated approach to managing water and promotes local decisions in catchments to take account of the particular circumstances. Where parts of rivers are managed for certain uses (including flood protection), they are formally designated as ‘heavily modified’ and the management of those rivers must take account of those uses. In England, 1,105 of 3,767 rivers are designated as heavily modified; 781 of them because of their important role in providing flood protection.

Many of the actions needed to protect and improve the quality of the water environment (for instance restoring peat land, wetland creation and sustainable management of soils) also help to reduce flooding. The Directive also promotes sustainable flood risk prevention and flood management schemes. Consideration of natural flood management measures to slow, store and filter flood water can deliver additional social and environmental benefits when used along with traditional hard defences, and can increase resilience of communities to extreme events, both floods and drought. The ‘Slowing the Flow’ project in Pickering is an example of this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, for what reasons two empty armed transporter ships owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and capable of carrying fissile nuclear materials departed Barrow-in-Furness on 19 January 2016; and what the destination of those ships is.

Andrea Leadsom

Two specialist nuclear cargo vessels, which are UK flagged, are currently taking part in a voyage which is approved by all relevant authorities, including the UK Government. In accordance with normal procedures, no further details of their voyage can be disclosed at this stage for security reasons.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 903457, when the Spending Review settlement to her Department will be fully allocated.

Rory Stewart

Budgets for 2016/17 to 2020/21 have not yet been finalised. Defra’s internal business planning process is still underway, and it would not, therefore, be appropriate at this time to comment on how particular policy areas may be affected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make ithis policy to assess the potential merits of the pledge by the Austrian government set out in the report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, A Pledge to Fill the Legal Gap, published in February 2015 for the work of the UN Open Ended Working Group on multilateral disarmament negotiations.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK is committed to creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons in accordance with the goals of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in a way that promotes international stability, and is based on the principle of undiminished security for all. The Austrian pledge to stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons runs counter to the step-by-step disarmament process; and it does not take into account the current global security and stability challenges. The UN Disarmament machinery and the Non-Proliferation Treaty provide the right framework for working towards a world without nuclear weapons.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Prime Minister, if he will issue guidance on whether junior government ministers who are in favour of UK membership of the EU are to be allowed full access to documents in situations where the departmental Secretary of State is in favour of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr David Cameron

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 7 March 2016, UIN 29278, and to the evidence given by the Cabinet Secretary to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on 1 March 2016, a transcript of which can be found on the Committee’s website.