The comments made by Amanda Solloway, the Science Minister, on 17 November 2020.
There are millions of hazardous pieces of space junk orbiting the Earth – if a single one collides with a satellite it could interfere with vital everyday services that we all rely on like broadband or GPS.
The first ever interstellar clean-up mission, driven by ground-breaking British scientists and researchers, is just another example of how the UK’s space sector is out of this world.
The comments made by Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, on 17 November 2020.
The Air Services Agreement will allow us to continue to travel and trade with one of our closest friends and allies, working together to mutually boost our economies, either side of the Atlantic. This is just one of many steps we’re taking as we move towards a bright new future at the end of the transition period.
The comments made by James Duddridge, the Minister for Africa, on 17 November 2020.
The UK calls for immediate de-escalation and the protection of civilians following further violence in Ethiopia and attacks on Asmara, Eritrea over the weekend.
We are working closely with humanitarian agencies to ensure that aid reaches civilians affected by the fighting.
The comments made by Ian Murray, the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, on 17 November 2020.
This confirms that Boris Johnson doesn’t believe in devolution and would put the future of the United Kingdom at risk.
His Government should have been working in partnership with the devolved governments during this crisis. Instead, people across the UK have been paying the price for his failings.
Devolution is one of Labour’s proudest achievements and we will always fight for a strong Scotland in the UK.
Scotland deserves better than two governments obsessed by division – Labour will work to bring our country together.
The comments made by Ed Miliband, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on 17 November 2020.
The UK’s homes are some of the worst insulated and least energy efficient in Europe, and improving UK housing is crucial to meeting climate objectives.
The Government must rapidly invest in wide-scale retrofitting which would support the creation of jobs, tackling rising unemployment and the climate emergency at the same time. IPPR North’s research provides yet more evidence this is the right thing to do and could create jobs right across the North of England.
Labour has called for Ministers to bring forward £30bn in capital investment in a green economic recovery to help create hundreds of thousands of low-carbon jobs in the next 18 months.
The comments made by Mike Amesbury, the Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning, on 17 November 2020.
The Government’s response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy has been slow at every stage. They were slow to re-house residents, slow to remove deadly cladding, and slow to come forward with social housing reforms.
Two years late, this white paper appears to water down previous proposals. The Government must do all it can to ensure a disaster like Grenfell can never happen again. That means tackling stigma, putting tenants’ voices centre stage, and ensuring the regulator has real teeth.
Today’s proposals contain nothing to help the thousands struggling in the private rented sector, make up for a lost decade of social housing, or tackle the housing crisis.
The comments made by Preet Gill, the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, on 17 November 2020.
During this pandemic the government have willingly handed over millions of pounds of UK tax payers money to its friends yet they are now willing to turn their backs on the world’s poorest.
By rowing back on their own manifesto commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI on aid, the government would reduce our ability to tackle global poverty and injustice and signal a retreat from Britain as a force for good in the world.
The statement made by Andrew Stephenson, the Minister of State at the Department for Transport, in the House of Commons on 12 November 2020.
I have been asked by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to make this written ministerial statement. This statement concerns two applications made under the Planning Act 2008 relating to the A303.
The first application concerns the proposed construction by Highways England of a new two-lane dual carriageway for the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down in Wiltshire (also known as the “A303 Stonehenge” application), which the Secretary of State has today approved.
The second application concerns the proposed construction by Highways England of a continuous dual carriageway on the A303 linking the Podimore roundabout and the Sparkford bypass.
Under section 107(1) of the Planning Act 2008, the Secretary of State must make his decision within three months of receipt of the examining authority’s report unless exercising the power under section 107(3) to extend the deadline and make a statement to the House of Parliament announcing the new deadline. The Secretary of State received the examining authority’s report on the A303 Sparkford to Ilchester Development Consent Order application on 12 September 2019 and the deadline for a decision was previously extended from 12 December 2019 to 17 July 2020, and then further extended until 20 November 2020 to allow for further work to be carried out.
The deadline for the decision is to be further extended to 29 January 2021 (an extension of just over two months) to enable further information to be provided by the applicant and the defence infrastructure organisation regarding outstanding concerns pertaining to the issue of bird strike.
The decision to set a new deadline is without prejudice to the decision on whether to give development consent.
The statement made by Victoria Prentis, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in the House of Commons on 12 November 2020.
High pathogenicity H5N8 avian influenza has been circulating in Europe in recent weeks. There have now been two diagnosed cases in poultry in the UK, in Cheshire and Herefordshire, as well as several findings in wild birds in south-west England. The risk of further H5N8 incursion in wild birds across the UK remains high and has recently been raised to medium for poultry. We will continue to undertake comprehensive disease surveillance over the coming weeks and months.
Public Health England advises that the risk to public health is very low and the Food Standards Agency has said there is no food safety risk for UK consumers.
In response to the risk to poultry and other captive birds, the Department has put in place a statutory avian influenza prevention zone. The zone requires keepers across the country to take additional steps to introduce enhanced biosecurity measures and to protect poultry and other captive birds from contact with wild birds. Some of these measures apply to all keepers, including those with small flocks or pet birds. They include:
cleansing and disinfection of equipment, vehicles and footwear when moving between bird premises;
effective vermin control;
reducing movements of people to the essentials for the birds’ welfare, collecting eggs and feeding;
keeping records of poultry, captive birds and egg movements;
ensuring that buildings are maintained and that repairs are carried out without delay where
water or other contamination may penetrate.
The zone will remain in place indefinitely but will be kept under review and amended as necessary in the light of any changes in circumstances. We have also made changes to licensing arrangements to prohibit events such as bird shows.
Given that the disease is spreading across Europe, the introduction of this zone has been co-ordinated with the devolved Administrations and Scottish and Welsh Governments are introducing similar measures. Northern Ireland officials, who have been in the discussions, are reviewing their risk assessment which will inform their next steps.
We have tried and tested procedures for dealing with such animal disease outbreaks and a strong track record of controlling and eliminating previous outbreaks of avian flu in the UK. Our actions are in line with established practice and with the processes followed in previous years. Avian influenza prevention zones, for example, were introduced in England, Scotland and Wales in 2018. We are working closely with operational partners, devolved Administration colleagues and the industry.
The detections of H5N8 in poultry or captive birds have been dealt with effectively by the Animal and Plant Health Agency. We have taken robust action, imposing zones of up to 10 km (six miles) around infected premises to limit the risk of disease spreading, and culling birds humanely and to high biosecurity standards.
Looking forward, the Department will keep the avian influenza prevention zone under review and will consider amendments to reflect any changes to the level of risk of incursion to wild birds and poultry as well as any further scientific, veterinary and ornithological advice.
We have not yet required mandatory housing of all poultry and captive birds as part of our response to the disease risk. However, such a measure remains under active review as a potentially important step.
We continue to urge bird keepers to be vigilant for any signs of disease, ensure they are maintaining good biosecurity on their premises, seek prompt advice from their vet and report suspect disease to APHA (as they must do by law).
We strongly advise keepers to register on the poultry register so as to receive notifications and disease alerts. This is mandatory for all those with flocks of over 50 birds. Registration is easy and can be found at: www.gov.uk/ guidance/bird-gatherings-licences.
The statement made by Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence, in the House of Commons on 12 November 2020.
I am today informing the House that, after further and full consideration of an earlier decision announced in February 2020 in response to the service justice system (SJS) review, I have taken a decision to maintain jurisdictional concurrency when dealing with cases of murder, manslaughter and rape when committed by service personnel in the UK.
Currently, decisions on which jurisdiction should deal with criminal offences in the UK by service personnel are made by the SJS and civilian justice system (CJS) policing and prosecutorial authorities on a case-by-case basis. My intent is to seek views on what improvements can be made to the protocols which guide those decisions and which have developed since Parliament last expressed its view on this subject.
In considering the recommendations made by the service justice system review, I have come to the conclusion that, having agreed to take forward 79 other recommendations, including assurance around the quality of investigations, the SJS is capable of dealing with these offences when they occur in the UK, as well as overseas. The service justice system review strongly supported the continued existence of the SJS and sets out a sound roadmap for its future.
I am not, therefore, content to accept the first recommendation in the review which would undermine the principle of concurrency between the SJS and CJS which is set out in the current legislation. While there will not be a presumption that either system takes primacy over the other, I plan to retain the current role of the Director of Public Prosecutions (in relation to cases in England and Wales) of having the final say of where a case is tried in the unlikely event of disagreement about where the case should be handled.
In light of this decision, my Department will lead an exercise with SJS and CJS policing and prosecutorial authorities to revise all current guidance around jurisdiction for criminal offending by service personnel in the UK. That exercise will include public engagement on factors to be considered relevant in guiding the case-by-case allocation decisions. Parliament will have an opportunity to consider these matters when parliamentary time allows, and I intend to bring forward proposals to place the arrangements for allocating cases between the SJS and CJS on a statutory basis.
My Department will be engaging with the devolved Administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland to consider the corresponding arrangements that should exist there.