Tag: Rushanara Ali

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees from Syrian have been accepted into the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme to date.

Richard Harrington

The Government has committed to resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the lifetime of this Parliament. The Prime Minister has said that we want to see 1,000 refugees brought to the UK by Christmas.

The first charter flights arrived earlier this month and represent a significant upscaling of the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme. We will not be giving a running commentary on numbers. Details are published in the regular quarterly immigration statistics. The statistics published on 26 November include the number of arrivals from July to the end of September 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 4 May 2016 to Question 33503, in what locations his Department plans to deliver the 400,000 affordable homes referred to in that Answer; and at what level a home will be defined as affordable in (a) London and (b) England.

Brandon Lewis

The 400,000 affordable homes will include:

• 200,000 Starter Homes
• 135,000 Help to Buy: Shared Ownership homes
• 10,000 homes which allow tenants to save for a deposit while they rent
• 8,000 specialist homes for older people and people with disabilities.

We do not pre-determine how much affordable housing funding is allocated to different areas. Local Authorities will set out their affordable housing requirements as part of the planning process.

The definition of affordable housing is set out in Annex 2 of the National Planning Policy Framework, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077/2116950.pdf.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff of her Department work on Local Air Quality Management support matters.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

As of 13 September this year there were five staff working on local air quality management in Defra. The Environment Agency also has a team of two people in its Local Authority Unit who provide technical advice to local authority environmental regulators and an environmental permitting Helpdesk service for local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much funding her Department received from the International Climate Fund in (a) 2012, (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department of Energy and Climate Change was allocated the following annual budgets as its share of the International Climate Fund:

2011/12 = £140m

2012/13 = £240m

2013/14 = £400m

2014/15 = £220m

2015/16 = £329m

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 12 May 2016 to Question 36790, what plans his Department has to review progress under its voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation and housing associations on replacing homes sold under right-to-buy with new affordable homes.

Brandon Lewis

The Government is working with the National Housing Federation and housing associations on the detailed design of the scheme, including data collection necessary for reviewing progress.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to replace existing clean air EU directives with equivalent UK legislation.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Edinburgh North and Leith on 8 September 2016 to Question 44855.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many projects her Department is currently managing that have been developed with funding from the International Climate Fund.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department of Energy and Climate Change is currently supporting 21 projects through the International Climate Fund. The majority of these projects are managed by delivery partners such as multilateral development banks and involve donors additional to the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, in how many local authority areas in (a) London and (b) England broadband speeds are below the recommended speed as advised by Ofcom.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Superfast broadband with speeds of at least 24Mbps is now available to 90 per cent of UK premises and this will reach 95 per cent by December 2017. The Government has also implemented a basic broadband scheme to enable all premises to gain access to speeds of at least 2Mbps. This enables residents and businesses in all parts of the UK to gain access to every government service available online.

In addition it is the Government’s intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation that will give people the legal right to request a broadband connection, no matter where they live, by the end of this Parliament. Our ambition is that this should initially be set at 10 Mbps.

There is no specific recommended speed advised by Ofcom.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding the Local Air Quality Management team in her Department awarded to local authorities for monitoring air quality in the last year.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

Defra monitors, models and reports on air quality at a national level in accordance with the requirements of EU and international legislation. There are 272 air quality monitoring stations in Defra’s UK national monitoring networks. Local authorities in England fund and operate approximately 720 monitoring stations, of which 59 are affiliated to the Defra networks.

Local authorities are responsible for reviewing and assessing local air quality, including decisions on local air quality monitoring. Their local knowledge and interaction with the communities that they serve mean that they know the issues on the ground in detail and the solutions that are best suited to local circumstances.

In 2015/16, Defra’s air quality grant scheme awarded £0.5m to eight local authorities to support a range of air quality related projects, including installation of pollutant monitoring stations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on reforming the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government strongly supports reform to strengthen the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). Ministers and officials have discussed EU ETS reform recently with counterparts in other Member States, as well as with members of the European Parliament, the European Commission and industry representatives. At the recent COP21 climate conference in Paris in December 2015 Ministers also participated in a session to promote the EU ETS and strengthen links to other national and international ETS.