Tag: Paul Flynn

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what benefits he expects to accrue to the UK economy from the agreement signed in China on 26 May 2014 between the Building Research Establishment and the Shenzhen Municipal Government to set up a training and research and development centre on sustainable building construction in China.

    Michael Fallon

    On 26 May 2014, the Building Research Establishment (BRE) signed an agreement with the Shenzhen Municipal Government to set up a training and R&D centre in China’s fastest growing city.

    The centre in Shenzhen will deliver training on a national scale to other cities and promote its services including certifying buildings to green construction standards.

    BRE aims to certify over 1,000 buildings across China to its standards which will generate £10 million income and could create up to £200 million of work for UK supply chain companies.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what steps he has taken to restrict access to departmental meetings by lobbyists since 2011.

    Greg Clark

    Details of meetings held by Ministers and Permanent Secretaries with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK. That transparency will be further extended by the recently enacted Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act, Part 1 of which will require consultant lobbyists that meet with Ministers and senior officials to declare their clients on a publicly available register.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has assessed the comparative sustainability of sourced materials and manufacture of smart phones from (a) Apple, (b) Fairphone, (c) Huawei, (d) Lenovo, (e) LG Electornics, (f) Nokia and (g) Samsung in its role in promoting sustainable procurement policies across Government.

    Dan Rogerson

    Defra has not undertaken a comparative assessment of mobile phones from these manufacturers, and does not provide procurement standards across Government or guidance specific to mobile phones.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much (a) military and (b) humanitarian aid the UK provided to the Libyan government in (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013.

    Hugh Robertson

    Due to our accounting structures we are only able to provide exact spending figures for financial years rather than calendar years. In this time, the UK has provided military aid to Libya in the form of the defence portion of the tri-Departmental (MOD, FCO, DfID) Conflict Pool, and core defence funding for Defence Engagement activity. This has been:

    • 2010/11 – £3000
    • 2011/12 – £200,000
    • 2012/13 – £2,173,000
    • 2013/14 – £3,521,000

    This has formed part of a total of over £25m stabilisation assistance to the Libyan government through the Arab Partnership and Conflict Pool programme during the period 2011-2013.

    During the period 2011-13 the UK provided humanitarian aid to Libya for protection of civilians, assistance for survival and effective international humanitarian coordination, especially through the UN, broken down as follows:

    • 2011/12 – £7,843,227.40
    • 2012/13 – £304,100.37
    • 2013/14 – £0

    The UK no longer provides this type of humanitarian aid to Libya but instead is providing technical support for security, justice and rule of law capacity building, through the Arab partnership and Conflict Pool.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Prime Minister, whether the possibility of Israel (a) disarming its nuclear weapons capability and (b) joining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was discussed with (i) his Israeli counterpart, (ii) other Israeli ministers and (iii) members of the Knesset during his visit to Israel on 12 and 13 March 2014.

    David Cameron

    I did not discuss this issue during my recent visit to Israel.

    The Government consistently call on Israel to join the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state and to agree a full scope Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency. We continue to support the objective of a Middle East free from Weapons of Mass Destruction and continue to encourage Israel to participate in discussions to that end.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what active steps his (a) Department has taken and plans to take to facilitate the convening of a conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons.

    Hugh Robertson

    The UK is fully committed to convening a Conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction as soon as possible, in line with the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference Action Plan. The Foreign Secretary, Ministers and officials have discussed the Conference with their counterparts from the region, and will continue to do so. Officials have attended, and supported, recent informal consultations between the Facilitator and states of the region at Glion in Switzerland, and will engage in future informal consultations to build agreement. The UK continues to provide financial support for the work of the Facilitator, Finnish Under Secretary of State Jaakko Laajava.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of MINURSO in implementing its role in Western Sahara.

    Hugh Robertson

    MINURSO is effective in implementing its role in Western Sahara. MINURSO is mandated to monitor the ceasefire between Morocco and the POLISARIO: the situation in Western Sahara is generally calm and the ceasefire continues to hold.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps the Government plans to take to deliver the commitments on nuclear security contained in paragraph 27 of the Hague Nuclear Security Summit Communiqué held in the Hague on 24 and 25 March 2014.

    Michael Fallon

    Safety and security are top priorities for the Government and there is a robust security framework in place for the civil nuclear industry. We seek continuous improvement in line with internationally established principles. The UK has a strong and effective independent regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), which ensures compliance with the requirements placed on duty holders by the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003 (as amended) and the performance-based National Objectives, Requirements and Model Standards (NORMS). There is extensive engagement between the Government, ONR and duty holders. The full set of UK commitments made at the Nuclear Security Summit which go towards meeting paragraph 27 of the Summit’s Communiquécan be found at the following link:

    https://www.nss2014.com/sites/default/files/documents/140321_uk_national_statement_on_commitments.pdf

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential contribution of sustainable lighting systems to development in Africa; and if her Department will collaborate with Solar Aid to provide such systems to communities in Africa.

    Lynne Featherstone

    The UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative estimated that in 2010 only 32% of people in sub-Saharan Africa had access to electricity. There is high potential for household scale systems using sustainable and renewable energy such as solar power to increase access to electricity.

    DFID will match funding for Solar Aid’s SunnyMoney appeal in the Guardian Newspaper. This will fund the distribution of portable solar lights through Solar Aid’s social enterprise ‘SunnyMoney Way,’ in Zambia, Malawi, Kenya and Uganda. Through this project, Solar Aid expect to distribute some 76,400 solar lights benefiting over 400,000 people.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received of changes in the number of Moroccan troops along the Berm in Western Sahara from the levels specified in the 1991 agreement.

    Hugh Robertson

    In its 2014 report to the UN Security Council, the UN peacekeeping operation in Western Sahara (MINURSO) recorded that the estimated number of troops along the Berm has not recently changed. It also states that this number is believed to exceed the provisions of the 1991 agreement.