Tag: Rachael Maskell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support households which are in water poverty.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

Water companies already offer a wide range of support to around 760,000 customers that struggle to pay their water bills. By 2020, they have committed to help an additional one million customers. The support they offer includes the nationally mandated WaterSure Scheme, voluntary social tariffs, charitable trusts, debt advice, payment plans and water efficiency advice.

The Government is committed to supporting a water industry built around transparency, resilience and affordability. We will continue to work with the Consumer Council for Water, Ofwat and the industry to ensure they continue to provide a fair deal for all customers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of police funding after service reorganisation.

Mike Penning

The Government has protected overall police spending for the coming Spending Review period, once police precept is taken into account. The public can be confident that over the next four years the police will have the resources they need to carry on cutting crime, fighting terrorism and keeping the people of this country safe.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will extend the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator to include primary producers’ relationships with their suppliers.

Margot James

We will shortly be commencing a review of the Groceries Code Adjudicator and as part of that we will take account of the recent calls for its remit to be extended.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that regional museums and galleries are adequately funded.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Councils have almost £200 billion to spend on local services, over the lifetime of this parliament. It is for each local authority who know their area best to decide how to allocate its budget to provide museum services to its communities.

In addition, through the Arts Council England, DCMS has increased funding for 21 Major Partner Museums Networks (130 Museums in total) from £20.3m to £22.6 million over 2015-2018. Regional museums can bid for funds from ACE’s £10 million per year Resilience Fund, and for lottery funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. We are also investing millions of pounds to boost local and regional museums, for example, £5 million towards a new South Asia Gallery at Manchester Museum and £2.5 million to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.

As announced in our Culture White Paper, we will conduct a wide-ranging review into the museums sector that will examine local and regional museums, as well as Government-sponsored museums and the museums infrastructure nationally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the insurance industry on the development of a Flood Re scheme for businesses.

Rory Stewart

I am aware that some small businesses exposed to high flood risk may be experiencing challenges in finding affordable insurance. My predecessor has met with representatives from the Association of British Insurers, Federation of Small Businesses and the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) among others to discuss the extent of this problem.

BIBA is developing a commercial insurance product that is intended to help businesses in flood risk areas access appropriate cover. Government officials are in regular contact with BIBA to monitor how that product is developing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made with the insurance industry on the development of a Flood Re scheme for small businesses.

Rory Stewart

We are aware that some small businesses exposed to high flood risk may experience challenges in finding affordable insurance. We are therefore working with BIS, local authorities, the insurance industry and other business representatives to further understand what problems the business sector may be experiencing in this area and to discuss the options available for taking action.

Ministers have recently held meetings with representatives from the Association of British Insurers (ABI), Federation of Small Businesses and the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) among others to discuss these issues. Following this BIBA is developing a commercial insurance product that is intended to help businesses in flood risk areas to access appropriate cover.

In the meantime the ABI have assured Government that the industry will continue to provide insurance to small businesses on a competitive basis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that government offices and departments procure local food.

George Eustice

The Government is committed to do all it can to ensure that UK suppliers are able to compete effectively for public sector contracts in line with our current international obligations and guidance issued by the Crown Commercial Service.

In 2014 the Government introduced the Plan for the Public Procurement of Food and Catering Services and from 2017 central government will commit to buying fresh, locally sourced, seasonal food, so that all food that can be bought locally will be bought locally. This will include use of a Balanced Scorecard approach to sourcing food which recognises factors such as health and nutrition, resource efficiency, and local and cultural engagement. As contracts are renewed central Departments will adopt this approach.

These arrangements will simplify the public procurement process, and should help open up the opportunity to compete to more small and medium sized businesses and local producers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on conscientious objection for midwives asked to (a) advise on and (b) participate in abortions.

Jane Ellison

Section 4 of the Abortion Act provides that “no person shall be under any duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment authorised by this Act to which he has a conscientious objection”. In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that this is limited to those staff who actually take part in treatment administered in a hospital or other approved place and does not include ancillary, administrative and managerial tasks that might be associated with treatment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the breeding and selling of pet animals.

George Eustice

Defra is currently reviewing the laws on the breeding and selling of pet animals. Earlier this year we held a consultation on a number of proposals for improving the legislation in this area. Later this year we will be publishing a summary of the responses and will then work towards drafting regulations to replace the existing laws.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to review the current time limits for abortion.

Jane Ellison

The Abortion Act 1967 sets out that an abortion may be carried out after 24 weeks gestation only where:

― the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman Section 1(1)(b); or

― the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated Section 1(1)(c); or

― there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped Section 1(1)(d).

In England and Wales it is accepted Parliamentary practice that proposals for changes to the Abortion Act come from backbench members and that decisions are made on the basis of free votes. The Government has no plans to review this legislation.