Tag: Stewart Malcolm McDonald

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assistance the Government has offered to the Canadian government to help tackle the wildfire emergency in Alberta.

Mr Hugo Swire

On 7 May, The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) wrote to his Canadian counterpart, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to offer support to the Canadian efforts to tackle the fires. The British Army Training Unit at Suffield, Alberta, has offered assistance to the Alberta Provincial Government. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) and I have repeated these messages to the Canadian Foreign Minister and the Canadian High Commissioner in London.

On 5 May the UK Space Agency was notified of a request by Canadian Authorities for imagery of the wildfires. This request was authorised and satellite imagery of the affected areas was released.

The Canadians have so far not requested any further assistance from the British Government, though the messages of support have been warmly received.

We will continue to liaise closely with our Canadian colleagues and stand ready to assist should they request our help.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will bring forward proposals for secondary legislation to revise the list of medical conditions covered by the industrial injuries disablement benefit.

Penny Mordaunt

Any suggestion to add diseases to the prescribed list is first considered by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council. The Secretary of State then considers this advice, taking into account potential impacts and any other relevant considerations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information he holds on how many Volkswagen vehicles have been re-tested for emissions since September 2015.

Andrew Jones

The Department has retested three of the VW Group vehicles for which the UK provided type approval. These tests have confirmed that the extended test programme announced by the Secretary of State on 10 November can identify defeat device strategies. The testing of vehicles is underway and a report of the findings will be published in the spring.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will direct Vauxhall to extend the vehicle safety recall of Zafira B models to include those equipped with automatic climate control.

Andrew Jones

There are no plans to tell Vauxhall to extend the vehicle safety recall of Zafira B models to include those equipped with automatic climate control.

The secondary safety recall (R/2016/104) affects only Vauxhall Zafira B vehicles equipped with a manual control heating and ventilation system.

Vauxhall Zafiras fitted with automatic climate control use a different resistor pack that is not affected by manipulation or degradation, so their inclusion in the safety recall is unnecessary.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-10-19.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the economy of changes in the timetable to make a decision on airport expansion in the South East.

Mr David Gauke

There has been no change to the timetable for a decision.

The government has taken a decision on its preferred scheme – this will be announced shortly.

Following this a draft National Policy Statement for airports will be published for public consultation, and there will be a vote on the final NPS, which we expect in winter 2017.

The Davies Commission recommended additional south east airport capacity by 2030, and Government still plans to deliver that.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if the Government will issue issuing an apology to the indigenous people of Australia for British nuclear tests carried out on their land in the 1950s and 1960s.

Mark Lancaster

In 1968, Australia signed an agreement with the UK confirming that the clean-up of all test sites had been completed satisfactorily. As announced to the House on 10 December 1993,(Official Report, column 421), the Government agreed to make an ex gratia payment of £20 million to the Federal Government of Australia as a contribution to the cost of the further clean-up of the Maralinga site. A copy of the note giving effect to this agreement was placed in the Library of the House. The note also records that the Government of Australia indemnified the Government of the UK against claims from Australian nationals or residents. The Government now regards the matter as closed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the vehicle safety recalls of Vauxhall Zafira B models, what assurances he has received from Vauxhall that all blower motors will be replaced in every vehicle that has been recalled.

Andrew Jones

Under the secondary safety recall (R/2016/104) all affected Vauxhall Zafira B vehicles equipped with manual control heating and ventilation systems produced between 10/02/2005 and 24/10/2014 will be recalled to receive a new heater blower motor as part of the safety recall.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has received assurances from Volkswagen that fixes made in response to problems with emissions testing will be completed in 2016.

Mr John Hayes

The Government continues to take the unacceptable actions of the Volkswagen Group extremely seriously and I have pressed the company to ensure that they are implementing the technical solutions as quickly as possible for UK consumers.

I recently summoned Volkswagen UK to a meeting where they set out their intention to have “fixed” 90% of affected UK vehicles by June 2017. To date, of the 1.2 million affected vehicles in the UK, 479,000 have had a technical solution approved and approximately 180,000 have been “fixed”.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the charity Broken Rainbow on renewing funding from her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley

The Government is committed to tackling domestic violence and abuse. Broken Rainbow plays an important role in supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender victims of domestic abuse, and the Home Office provided £120,000 to support the Broken Rainbow helpline for the 2015/16 financial year.

We are carefully considering ongoing funding of national helplines, in close consultation with helpline providers, and decisions on renewing funding will be announced shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-05-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations his Department have received from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on the list of addresses of British entities registered with the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama published by the ICIJ on their website on 9 May 2016.

Mr David Gauke

We welcome the statement from the source of the Panama Papers that they are willing to speak to law enforcement bodies. Tax evasion and money laundering are global issues, which is why the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and National Crime Agency (NCA) taskforce is working with international tax and law enforcement partners to take up this offer, and develop as many leads as possible from the data that is currently available.

HMRC has been in regular contact with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), who have refused to share their full data with HMRC, stating that their policy is not to hand over such material. While we welcome the steps the ICIJ has taken in exposing this issue, its decision not to release the full set of information is disappointing.

HMRC has begun analytical work on all the data published by the ICIJ, in addition to a wide range of other intelligence. As a result of this, the HMRC and NCA taskforce has opened a number of detailed and forensic enquiries.