Tag: Richard Burden

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicles have been reassessed by the DVLA for their historic vehicle status; and how many such vehicles have (a) retained their historic status and (b) had their historic status revoked as a result of the reassessment.

Andrew Jones

The DVLA is carrying out a targeted exercise involving a small number of historic vehicles. So far, 30 of these vehicles have retained their historic vehicle status. No vehicles have yet had their historic vehicle status removed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the Government’s policy is on the proposed EU Port Services Regulations; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill

While the Government does not believe that the Proposal is necessary in respect of the UK’s proven competitive market based port sector, we achieved numerous significant improvements in the Council General Approach text agreed on 8 October 2014. The Regulation is now under active consideration by the European Parliament, and the Government will seek to defend those improvements against any amendments that would by comparison tend to increase the regulatory impact on UK ports.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on the DVLA’s investigation into the proper registration of historic vehicles in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is currently carrying out a targeted exercise involving a small number of historic vehicles. This is in response to concerns expressed to the DVLA that a number of newly built replica vehicles had been incorrectly registered as historic vehicles.

The DVLA has advised 30 vehicle keepers that, following consideration of the evidence provided, their registrations are correct. A number of keepers have advised the DVLA that they are in the process of gathering the required information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for (a) Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and (b) Defence on supporting international efforts to protect UK ships against pirates.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Secretary of State for Transport has not had direct discussions recently with either the Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or the Secretary of State for Defence on the subject of piracy.

The UK’s response to piracy involves many Government departments and the different teams working within them. Officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department for Business Innovation & Skills, Home Office, Department for Transport and Ministry of Defence work closely together in supporting international efforts to protect UK ships against pirates.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office lead the UK’s policy on piracy whilst my Department is responsible for the UK’s policy on maritime armed security guards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support her Department has given to recycling initiatives of spoil wastes from harbour dredging.

George Eustice

There are a number of good examples where support has been provided to the successful, beneficial re-use and recycling of dredged materials, including land formation at Allfleet’s Marsh on Wallasea Island, beach replenishment in Poole Bay and land claim undertaken to construct the London Gateway Port in the Thames Estuary. In addition, in 2014 the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) published research on the potential to improve the co-ordination of such projects in the future.

The UK Marine Policy Statement (2011) states that applications to dispose of wastes must demonstrate that appropriate consideration has been given to the internationally agreed hierarchy of waste management options for sea disposal, which includes recycling.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with the International Maritime Organisation on (a) disposal and (b) recycling of spoil waste from the dredging of harbours.

George Eustice

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) provides the secretariat for the London Protocol, to which the UK is party.

Under this global instrument (and the OSPAR Convention) that aims to protect the marine environment from pollution caused by dumping at sea, the UK has agreed guidelines on the management of dredged materials and the encouragement of its re-use and recycling. Moreover, we provide data on the disposal of dredged materials to the IMO (and the OSPAR Convention).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made by the taskforce reporting to his Department on tackling nuisance telephone calls.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The taskforce published its report on consent and lead generation issues within the marketing industry on 8 December 2014, making fifteen recommendations for business, industry, regulators and Government. We are carefully considering its six recommendations for Government and will respond to these shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Leader of the House, what assessment he has made of the implications for the Government’s policies of the report from the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy entitled Open Up, published in January 2015; and which recommendations of that report he plans to implement.

Mr William Hague

The majority of the recommendations in the report from the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy are for the House itself to consider and respond to.

In relation to the recommendations regarding the legislative process, the Government is committed to ensuring that the legislation it puts before Parliament is of a high standard and to ensuring that Parliament has the necessary means by which to perform its scrutiny function.

In April 2013, the Government launched the Good Law initiative, designed to promote law which is effective, clear and accessible. Various initiatives have been introduced this Parliament designed to improve the legislative process, including the use of explanatory statements on amendments, improved explanatory notes and piloting public reading stages of Bills. The Government has also given sufficient time to allow proper scrutiny in public bill committees and provided additional days at Commons report stages where necessary.

The Speaker’s Commission also recommended that secure online voting should be an option for all voters by 2020. To make online voting available for UK elections could be attractive in light of current advances in IT. However, there are concerns that e-voting is not sufficiently transparent or secure.

The major issue raised by those opposed to the introduction of e-voting is that it is not sufficiently robust or trusted. In addition, the cost of introducing such a system would be substantial. Public support for such measures is still far from universal and traditional means of voting (such as polling stations and postal voting) remain popular with the electorate. Therefore, any means of e-voting would have to be introduced as an additional voting channel. Whilst e-voting may be something for the Government to consider in the future, it is not an immediate priority. The experience of the referendum on Scottish independence shows us that if people are engaged in the democratic process they will turn out to vote using the existing mechanism.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 1 of Road Investment Strategy – Key Facts and Figures, how much of the £500 million allocated for the period 2015 to 2021 to address emerging priorities in period and fund staff to design, manage and deliver schemes will be spent on (a) addressing emerging priorities and (b) funding staff; what criteria will be used to select the emerging priorities; and what the cost will be of staff allocated to that task.

Mr John Hayes

The £0.5bn figure cited refers to the expected costs of developing proposals ahead of the next Road Investment Strategy. This includes the development of 14 major schemes to start work early in the next road period, as well as work to develop proposals from the next round of route strategies and strategic studies and any actions to take forward priorities emerging in the next parliament.

The proportion of costs allocated to staff will depend on the precise nature of what is recommended and committed through this process. Given the nature of the design process, it is likely that a high proportion of the money allocated will be spent on engineers, designers, modellers and others involved in the early stages of development.

Any decisions around specific commitments for the next road period, including the criteria by which they will be made, will be made in the next parliament. More detail on this process has been set out in part 6 of the draft licence for Highways England, which has been laid in the Library of the House and is available on gov.uk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that UK-based private security companies operating in (a) Israel and (b) the Occupied Palestinian Territories adhere to the International Code of Conduct for private security service providers; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Government continues to play a leading role in the International Code of Conduct Association, and has a seat on the Association’s Board. We encourage all private security companies (PSCs) working in complex environments overseas to join the Association, which oversees the Code and can monitor that PSCs are adhering to the Code. We are also encouraging all states, companies and Non-Governmental Organisations that contract private security companies to recognise Association membership and accredited certification to relevant standards in their contracting processes. The Government will do likewise.