Tag: The Marquess of Lothian

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-06-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Border Force vessels patrol UK territorial waters at any one time; and how many are needed to ensure the required levels of surveillance and security of the UK’s coastline.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Border Force is committed to operating three cutters in UK waters at any given time. We currently have a total of four available for use in UK waters, with one rotated into use where required. These figures only include the number of cutters currently deployed in UK territorial waters and do not include the additional military and law enforcement vessels available. Border Force takes a multi-layered approach to maritime security; using a combination of cutters, radar and aerial surveillance to detect efforts to smuggle guns and drugs or facilitate illegal entry into the country. They also work closely with domestic and international partners on an intelligence-led approach, allowing us to tackle the criminals involved before they leave for the UK. Border Force is also investing in a new fleet of rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBS) as part of a new maritime security strategy. The vessels will patrol the UK coast, helping to intercept attempts to smuggle migrants, drugs and dangerous weapons into the country.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what contact, if any, they have had with the Assad regime in Syria over the last two months.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Since the closure of the Syrian Embassy in London in August 2012, the British Government has had only limited contact with the Assad regime in relation to consular matters. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), last wrote to the Syrian Foreign Minister in August 2015 about a consular case.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the condition and capacity of naturally occurring underground aquifers in the light of the high levels of rainfall in the UK over the last six weeks.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Environment Agency routinely monitors groundwater levels in England’s principal aquifers and publishes these monthly in a national water situation report.

Rainfall totals for December were above average across England at 165% of the long term average. For a second consecutive month north-east and north-west England had exceptionally high rainfall totals for the time of year. Groundwater levels increased at approximately two-thirds of indicator sites during December and two thirds of sites were classed as normal or higher for the time of year.

The Environment Agency undertakes monitoring and assessment of different aquifers locally, based upon the potential risk of groundwater flooding. A system of groundwater flood alerts and warnings is provided through our incident response procedures for those communities most vulnerable to potential groundwater flooding.

The groundwater situation currently varies widely across the country, with higher than average and exceptionally high groundwater levels in parts of Cumbria, Yorkshire, Wessex, East Hampshire and Sussex whilst across the rest of southern England groundwater levels are around average or below average for the time of year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they last raised the issue of human rights with the governments of (1) Saudi Arabia, and (2) Iran.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We regularly raise our concerns over human rights in Saudi Arabia with the Saudi Arabian government, and did so most recently on 22 February. We repeatedly call on the Iranian government to guarantee the human rights of all Iranians and will continue to do so. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), most recently raised the issue with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif when he visited the UK on 5 February.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to address the rise in levels of homelessness and rough sleeping in England.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Government is committed to preventing and reducing homelessness. One person without a home is one too many. That is why we have increased central investment to tackle homelessness over the next four years to £139 million. This includes a new national £10 million programme to support innovative ways to prevent and reduce rough sleeping, building on the success of our No Second Night Out initiative. We are also developing a new national £10 million Social Impact Bond fund to help to help homeless people with the most complex needs such as mental health difficulties or addiction.

At Budget we went one step further and announced we will launch a new £100 million programme for low-cost move on accommodation, including for rough sleepers leaving hostels. We have also protected homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, totalling £315 million by 2019-20.

We are working with local authorities, homelessness charities and across departments to consider options, including legislation, to prevent more people from becoming homeless.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-06-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many illegal maritime arrivals have reached the UK in each year since 2010.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Specific details on numbers or locations of suspected illegal maritime arrivals are not disclosed for security reasons.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken, and what action they plan to take, to put pressure on Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to cut off financing for terrorist organisations.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We work with regional and international partners, including all Gulf States, to tackle the threat posed by terrorist organisations, including by working to counter terrorist financing. We urge all international partners to implement UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2161 (on Al Qaida sanctions), UNSCR 2199 (on countering Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) finance) and UNSCR 1373 (on threats to international peace and security), and work to further combat the financing of ISIL through the Counter-ISIL Finance Working Group (Saudi Arabia is the Chair, Kuwait and Qatar are active members).

The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) is the global standard setter for anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing. Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia are members of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (the regional grouping of FATF) which conducts mutual evaluations of its members to assess compliance with the international standard. A FATF report on terrorist financing published on 16 November 2015 noted that since 2010, Saudi Arabia had achieved the highest number of terrorist financing convictions out of the 33 jurisdictions who had achieved a conviction.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimates, if any, they have made of the changes to the water table in Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire as a result of rainfall over the last six weeks.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Environment Agency’s water situation report for the north west of England (which is published on the Gov.UK website) reports the situation for observation boreholes in the main bedrock aquifer in Cumbria and Lancashire, the Sherwood Sandstone. The Sherwood Sandstone is moderately unresponsive to rainfall events and this is partly because of the high storage characteristics of the sandstone and also because much of it is covered by low permeability glacial clays.

Hydrographs for Skirwith (Cumbria) and Yew Tree Farm (West Lancashire) are thought to be representative of this aquifer, although this monitoring is undertaken for water resources purposes not groundwater flooding purposes.

• The Skirwith hydrograph shows that the groundwater level has risen quite dramatically since mid-November in response to recent rainfall..
• The hydrograph for Yew Tree Farm shows a similar but less dramatic rise, with levels close to record highs (the site has been monitored since 1971 but with groundwater levels rising steadily since the late 1990s due to reduction in nearby abstraction).
• The sudden rise in levels was from quite a low point due to a relatively dry year and especially early autumn. Both of the examples show a steady reduction in levels up to the rainfall starting in November.

The Environment Agency routinely monitors groundwater throughout Yorkshire. Water levels in November 2015 were:

• on the low side of average in the Chalk Principal Aquifer and the Corallian Limestone Principal Aquifer
• just above average in the Magnesian Limestone Principal Aquifer
• well above average in the Sherwood Sandstone Principal Aquifer

Levels in all the aquifers in Yorkshire have responded to the rainfall in late December 2015 and early January 2016:

• Levels in the Chalk have responded strongly to the recent rainfall.
• Groundwater levels in the Corallian Limestone near Malton are now at record highs and the result is ongoing groundwater flooding in Malton. North Yorkshire County Council are coordinating a multi-agency response including pumping to minimise the impact on local communities.
• Levels in the Magnesian Limestone and the Sherwood Sandstone have also responded to the rainfall and are now at maximum levels for the time of year.

The Environment Agency undertakes monitoring and assessment of different aquifers locally, based upon the potential risk of groundwater flooding. A system of groundwater flood alerts and warnings is provided through our incident response procedures for those communities most vulnerable to potential groundwater flooding.

Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs)(Local Councils) have responsibility for local flood risk including groundwater under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. This Act gives LLFAs duties to prepare local flood risk management strategies and to co-operate with other risk management authorities, and powers to carry out local flood risk management.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to publish their strategy to tackle obesity in the UK.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Childhood Obesity Strategy will be a key step forward in helping our children live healthier lives. There is still work across Government to be done to get it right, so the strategy will be published in the summer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children and teenagers in the UK were referred to NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in each of the last five years; how many children and teenagers in each of those years received treatment; and how many did not.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Health is a devolved service and this answer relates only to England.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) advises that it does not currently hold data to answer the questions asked. However, it has been capturing child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) data since January 2016 within the new Mental Health Services Data Set. On 20 April 2016 it published the first month (January 2016) of data from this new data source on a select number of measures it developed and quality assured to a certain level with the help of stakeholders, although these data remain experimental and could be subject to change.

As at 31 January 2016, there were 104,480 people in contact with CAMHS. HSCIC is currently unable to identify those who are already receiving treatment and those who are awaiting assessment.