Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what mechanisms are, or will be, in place to enforce their proposed new powers for the Small Business Commissioner to tackle late payments through fines, announced on 19 June.
Answered by Lord Henley
We will be consulting on the provision of new powers, given the Commissioner’s powers are underpinned by Primary Legislation. Following the consultation, we will consider representations made to Government carefully – any new powers will require further work post-consultation on the best way to implement.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the average volume of storm sewage discharge has reduced since the completion of the scheme at the Whitburn long sea outfall in December 2017 compared to the average volume when using the previous system.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Based on the current available data there has been an approximate 37% reduction in spill numbers and a 43% reduction in spill volume since the completion of the enhancement works, against the average for the previous ten year period.
Prior to the completion of the enhancement works at Whitburn long sea outfall, records showed an average of 27 storm sewage discharge ‘spills’ totalling around 660,000 cubic metres each year for the ten year period from 2008 to 2017.
In 2018, the first year of operation for the enhanced system, records show 17 storm sewage discharge ‘spills’ totalling around 380,000 cubic metres.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs next plans to hold discussions with (1) Northumbrian Water, (2) Sunderland City Council, and (3) South Tyneside Council, on further reducing the impact of sewage discharges on beaches at (a) Sunderland, and (b) Whitburn.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The bathing beaches at Sunderland and Whitburn consistently achieve ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ quality under the Bathing Waters Directive. As required environmental standards are being met, the Environment Agency, which acts on behalf of the Government on local environmental planning matters, has no immediate plans to meet with Northumbrian Water or the local authorities about reducing the impact of sewage discharges.
The Environment Agency will continue to monitor bathing water quality and meet regularly with Northumbrian Water to discuss any improvements when they are required. It also gives planning advice to local authorities such as Sunderland City Council and South Tyneside Council on any matters that concern bathing water quality.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what the volume of storm sewage discharge has been since the completion of the scheme at the Whitburn long sea outfall in each month since December 2017 for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Verified data is provided for the total volume of discharge for each month between January 2018 and December 2019 when discharge events occurred.
Date | Volume of storm sewage discharged (m3 ) |
January 2018 | 10387.50 m3 |
March 2018 | 95323.50 m3 |
April 2018 | 114946.50 m3 |
July 2018 | 46641.00 m3 |
August 2018 | 55095.00 m3 |
September 2018 | 37882.50 m3 |
October 2018 | 16317.00 m3 |
November 2018 | 0 m3 |
December 2018 | 0 m3 |
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent the leaking of sewage onto beaches at (1) Sunderland, and (2) Whitburn.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Continuous improvements have been made to the sewerage system in the area, with the latest being the completion of a scheme to reduce storm sewage discharges from the Whitburn long sea outfall in December 2017. This has reduced the frequency in discharges from the system by around 40% compared to the average from the old system.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the total cost of the scheme to improve the A303 Sparkford to Ilchester and the A358 Southfields to the M5 is allocated to enable Highways England to obtain the necessary Development Consent Order.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The A303 Sparkford to Ilchester scheme announced its preferred route in October 2017. Based on current estimates, the scheme has allocated seven percent (£12 million) of its total scheme cost of £179 million to progress up to obtaining the relevant Development Consent Order.
The A358 Taunton to Southfields scheme is at an earlier stage of development and a preferred route announcement is planned for later this year. Depending on which route option is chosen, the scheme estimates that four percent to five percent of its total scheme cost (ranging from £365 million - £450 million) will be allocated to progress the scheme up to obtaining the relevant Development Consent Order.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are in a position to announce the mechanism for distributing the second year of funding from the Community House Fund.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The annual £60 million Community Housing Fund was launched on 23 December 2016 to put local groups who know their area’s needs best in the driving seat and help them deliver housing that is affordable to the local community. For the 2016/17 financial year, grants were awarded to 148 local authorities which were particularly affected by local affordability issues or high rates of second home ownership. My officials have been working up proposals for the delivery of the Fund from 2017/18 and an announcement will be made in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
Her Majesty's Government when they will announce the mechanism for distributing the second year of funding from the Community House Fund; and when they expect the number of houses built by Community Land Trusts and others to increase as a result of that funding.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Community Housing Fund was launched on 23 December 2016 to put local groups who know their area’s needs best in the driving seat and help them deliver housing that is affordable to the local community. My officials are working up proposals and a decision on how the Fund will be delivered from 2017/18 will be made in due course.
In 2016/17, over 140 local authorities received grants under the Fund for a wide variety of purposes relating to increasing the capacity of the community-led housing sector in their areas as well as directly supporting the delivery of specific community-led housebuilding projects. We anticipate the first completions from schemes supported in this way to come through early next year.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions the Department for Work and Pensions has had with disability charities ahead of the recently announced changes to mobility activity 1 and 3 of the Personal Independence Payment assessment.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Department for Work and Pensions has regular and ongoing discussions with disability organisations on a range of issues related to Personal Independence Payment. As part of this on-going engagement Ministers have been in contact with a number of stakeholders, including disability charities, to discuss and explain the changes that we have introduced.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the percentage of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) recipients who have received a reduced award as a result of recently announced changes to mobility activity 3 of the PIP assessment.
Answered by Lord Henley
The recently announced changes refer to daily living activity 3 and mobility activity 1 of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment. No recipients of PIP awarded by the Department for Work and Pensions have received a reduced award as a result of recently announced changes to these activities.