Tag: Paul Flynn

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what her Department’s involvement was in the launch of E-Track on 18 November 2015 on the new European Commission programme on the Energy Transparency Centre of Knowledge (E-TRACK); and what the benefits are to the development of UK energy policy of E-TRACK.

Andrea Leadsom

The Energy Transparency Centre of Knowledge (E-TRACK) is a joint initiative of the European Commission’s Directorate General of Energy and Joint Research Centre. It is intended to monitor, disseminate and share information on good practices of public participation in energy policy. Given it has only just been launched and is yet to begin its work it is too early to assess whether its subsequent outputs will deliver benefits to the development of UK energy policy.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the UK sought permission from the government of Syria to deploy manned and unmanned surveillance aircraft over Syria before he made his Statement to the House on 21 October 2014.

Penny Mordaunt

No. This activity is conducted as part of the international counter-ISIL/Da’esh Coalition in the self-defence of the UK and the collective self-defence of Iraq, under article 51 of the UN Charter, against the direct threat from ISIL’s heartland in Syria.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assurances he sought from his French counterpart that, in providing British surveillance assistance to the French bombing of identified ISIS operational buildings in Raqqa following the ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks in Paris, the French military avoided any civilians being killed as collateral damage from the bombings.

Michael Fallon

France is operating alongside the UK as part of the international Coalition against Daesh. All Coalition air operations are planned in accordance with international law and every precaution is taken to minimise collateral damage and civilian casualties.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what review her Department has conducted on flood protection measures since the recent floods in Cumbria and Lancashire.

Rory Stewart

The Environment Secretary announced on Sunday 13 December a new Cumbrian Floods Partnership group that will consider what improvements to flood defences in the region may be needed, look at upstream options for slowing key rivers to reduce the intensity of water flows at peak times and build stronger links between local residents, community groups and flood defence planning.

The Environment Secretary also announced a National Flood Resilience Review will be carried out to better protect the country from future flooding and increasingly extreme weather events. This will be delivered by a new cross Government team.

I will also be taking on a special Floods Envoy role across Cumbria and Lancashire coordinating the flood recovery operation across local agencies over the coming months.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what actions have been undertaken in response to finding reference TRF0195 of the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator’s assessment of the Astral Climb 12 nuclear emergency exercise; and on what dates each such action was closed out.

Mr Philip Dunne

Finding TRF 195 from the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator’s assessment of Exercise Astral Climb 2012 called for documented arrangements to be reviewed and updated to reflect two changes in practice: the responsibility for the medical response and the monitoring instrumentation. This action was completed in August 2013. The finding also called for a review of Convoy and Station Nuclear Emergency Organisation Team response arrangements; this review was carried out in 2015.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what lessons were learned for emergency planning in the event of an accident involving the road transport of nuclear warheads from the Operation Senator emergency planning exercise held at HMS Gannet, Prestwick Airport in September 2011.

Penny Mordaunt

The Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR) assessment concluded that Exercise Senator 2011 achieved its stated objectives.

The DNSR assessment report contains five findings, four of which have been formally closed out. Work is in hand to address the remaining finding.

I shall place copies of the DNSR assessment and All Agency report in the Library of the House.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the loan guarantee facility offered by his Department to EDF Energy for construction of the twin Hinkley Point C nuclear power plants will be conditional on the prior successful operation of the same model elsewhere in the world before entering into force.

Greg Hands

The Chancellor announced in September 2015 an initial guarantee of £2 billion of bonds which must be repaid by December 2020 by the shareholders of the project company. There is no further obligation to issue guarantees after that date.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost was of maintaining the defence attaché network in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15; and what proportion of the cost of that network was attributable to support for defence and security exports.

Mr Philip Dunne

The following information shows Ministry of Defence funding for the Defence Attaché and Advisor Network for financial year (FY) 2013-14 and FY 2014-15.

Support for exports is one of the many roles carried out by Defence Attachés as part of the International Defence Engagement Strategy. The Defence Attaché network has no specific budget or post allocated to this task.

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

To ask the Prime Minister, what discussions he had with the President of the French Republic on Anglo-French co-operation on nuclear weapons during his visit to France on 3 March 2016.

Mr David Cameron

President Hollande and I discussed our shared interest in building on our strong bilateral defence co-operation, but on this occasion, did not discuss nuclear weapons issues in any detail.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to require companies registered in the British Virgin Islands to publish details of all significant and beneficial owners and to place all such information on an online searchable register.

James Duddridge

Our priority for all the Overseas Territories that function with financial centres such as the British Virgin Islands has been for them to hold accurate and current beneficial ownership information on island in central registers or the equivalent, where they do not already do so, and to allow for UK law enforcement to access that information. The arrangement signed with the British Virgin Islands achieves this and represents a significant step forward in our ability to counter criminal activity and should be welcomed.

As the Prime Minister, the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) said in the House on 11 April, only about three countries in the world, including Britain, are implementing publically accessible central registers of company beneficial ownership information. If we had tried to push that on to the British Virgin Islands and other Overseas Territories straightaway, we would not have got nearly as far as we have. The actions taken by the British Virgin Islands and the other Overseas Territories puts them well ahead of many of our international partners.