Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Environment Agency is monitoring the untreated sewage being discharged into Esthwaite Water by United Utilities; if not, why; if so, how often United Utilities is discharging untreated sewage into Esthwaite Water; and why these discharges are permitted in a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is important to highlight that no storm overflows currently discharge into Esthwaite Water, and the only source of sewage pollution is likely to come from Emergency overflows.
Emergency overflows are only permitted to operate in exceptional circumstances to prevent environmental damage or harm to the public, such as due to electrical power failure or mechanical failure.
The Environment Agency is ensuring there is monitoring on all emergency overflows from 2025. This includes at Esthwaite Lodge Pumping Station. The Environment Agency already require water companies to report any discharge of sewage in emergency overflows as pollution incidents. The Environment Agency has not had any reports from United Utilities of emergency overflow discharges from Esthwaite Lodge Pumping Station. The Environment Agency investigate any instances where permits are not being followed and will always take enforcement action if necessary. The permit for Esthwaite Lodge Pumping Station is in place to protect Esthwaite Water SSSI and that the emergency overflow provision is part of that permit.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of, and what action they are taking to reduce, overcrowding in prisons in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In prisons where we have crowding in place, a rigorous cell certification process is undertaken that ensures the use of cells is subject to formal assessment of safety and decency.
We continue to pursue the package of longer-term measures the Lord Chancellor announced on 16 October 2023 to reform the justice system and continue to address the prison capacity challenges. The measures include: the extension of the Early Removal Scheme, introducing a presumption to suspend sentences of 12 months or less, curtailing the licence period for IPP sentences and extending the use of Home Detention Curfew. On 11 March, the Lord Chancellor announced the next steps in our plan, to allow us to go further and faster in removing foreign national offenders (FNOs). This includes expediting prisoner transfers with our priority partners such as Albania, and the creation of a new taskforce across the Home Office and Ministry of Justice to change the way we process FNO cases radically.
To meet pressing demand, we are building c.20,000 modern, rehabilitative prison places – the biggest prison build programme since the Victorian era. We have already delivered c.5,900 of these, including through our two new 1,700 places prisons, HMP Five Wells and HMP Fosse Way, and c.590 Rapid Deployment Cells across 11 sites. By the end of 2025, we are on track to have delivered around 10,000 places in total.
The Government will continue to monitor the evolving situation with demand for prison places carefully, so that we can make sure we have the right approaches in place to maintain the capacity required for a safe and effective criminal justice system.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many trains per day have been cancelled so far in 2024; how this compares to the daily figure for 2023; and what action they are taking to work with the operating companies to reduce the number of cancellations.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department recognises that cancellations can be very inconvenient for passengers and prevents them from travelling with confidence. That is why the Department holds train operators to account for cancellations. The type of scrutiny depends on the reasons for these cancellations and the inconvenience to passengers.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes official cancellation statistics on its online Data Portal, which show that the number of services planned to run in Great Britain between 8 January 2023 and 6 January 2024 was 7,012,172. Of these, 336,289 were either fully or partially cancelled. Between 7 January 2024 and 2 March 2024, the number of services planned to run were 1,106,087, of which 47,904 services have been either fully or partially cancelled.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the scale of the threat to the earth’s climate posed by shrinking Arctic sea ice, in the light of a study by the University of Colorado Boulder, published in Nature on 4 March, which found that the Arctic’s first ice-free period could happen within a decade.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not assessed this review, however, its findings are consistent with the existing scientific literature and conclusions of the Sixth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This stated that the Arctic will likely be practically ice-free at least once before 2050 with more frequent occurrences under higher warming scenarios. The IPCC concluded that it is virtually certain the Arctic will continue to warm at least two times faster than the rest of the globe. Arctic sea ice retreat has and will lead to a range of impacts, including loss in biodiversity and coastal erosion.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking in the case of the Palestinian academic Bassem Abudagga, currently studying for his PhD at York St John University, to expedite the visa application process so that his wife and two young children can come from Gaza to the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We strive to conclude cases within the published guidance and information on study processing times and service standards can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/visa-decision-waiting-times-applications-outside-the-uk#faster.
Unfortunately, UKVI cannot comment on individual cases or provide information regarding UK visa applications via this channel.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to resolve the engine fault on the RAF Hawk T2 advanced jet trainers; how many Hawk T2 jets are currently unavailable for fast-jet pilot training; what delays to fast-jet pilot training have been caused by that engine fault; and what is the additional cost of training pilots overseas as a result.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Defence Equipment & Support is closely engaged with industry to increase the number of serviceable engines through the delivery of the required new component parts and engine upgrade work to address the current limitations.
As at 11 March 2024, 16 Hawk T2 aircraft were currently unavailable for fast jet pilot training.
There have been minimal delays to Fast Jet pilot training as a result of the Hawk T2 engine issue. Despite the seriousness of the engineering issue, the implementation of mitigation measures such as the international outsourcing of Fast Jet training have reduced the impact to a minimal level. Those trainees on course at the time of the engine issue being discovered were delayed by up to 2-months maximum; no other trainees in the Fast Jet pipeline were adversely impacted or delayed. There has been no impact to the number of ab-initio Fast Jet pilots delivered to the Front Line as a result of the Hawk T2 engine issue and the forecast Fast Jet training requirement for the Front Line will continue to be met.
The cost per trainee of contracts with NATO allies are already a matter of public record. The Department is unable to disclose the full value of all contracts, as doing so would prejudice international relations and compromise our friendship with partners and allies.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the deaths of people in Gaza waiting for an aid convoy on 29 February, and the public statement on 1 March by the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs calling for "an urgent investigation and accountability", how many Gazans (1) died, or (2) were injured; and whether such an investigation is under way.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the Foreign Secretary has said, the deaths of people in Gaza waiting for an aid convoy on 29 February were horrific. We have been clear that an urgent investigation and accountability are needed, and that this must not happen again.
We continue to call for International Humanitarian Law to be respected and civilians to be protected. A shocking number of civilians have been killed. The Foreign Secretary raised the above issues with Israeli Minister Benny Gantz on 6 March.
We are calling on Israel to increase access for aid through land routes and fully open Ashdod Port, scale up the Jordan corridor with a streamlined screening and delivery process, open a crossing in northern Gaza (Karni, Erez or a new crossing point), fully open Ashdod Port for aid delivery and increase screening capacity at Kerem Shalom and Nitzana to seven days a week and extended hours.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the purpose of the meeting held from 29 February to 2 March in Moscow between Palestinian organisations; and what new diplomatic initiatives they are pursuing to end the Israel/Gaza conflict.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are aware of the meeting that took place recently in Moscow between Palestinian groups.
We continue to call for an immediate pause to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.
Vital elements for a lasting peace include the release of all hostages; the formation of a new Palestinian Government for the West Bank and Gaza, accompanied by an international support package; removing Hamas's capacity to launch attacks against Israel; Hamas no longer being in charge of Gaza; and a political horizon which provides a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution.
The Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister have reiterated these messages in their contacts with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli political leaders, as well as leaders in Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon in recent weeks.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of a new construction site, which includes a high wall, on the border between Gaza and Egypt; and what discussions they have had with the government of Egypt about this construction.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have not had discussions with the Egyptian government on the subject of these reports.
Egypt is a key regional partner in supporting the Government's response to the crisis, and we welcome efforts by Egypt in getting aid into, and British Nationals out of, Gaza.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the severity of the current conflict in North Kivu between M23 rebels and Democratic Republic of the Congo forces; and what diplomatic action they are taking to support a regional peace deal.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is concerned by intensification of fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its humanitarian consequences. We continue to urge all parties to deliver on their commitments, agreed through regional peace processes. I [Lord Benyon] visited Kinshasa this week and discussed the matter with President Tshisekedi and other senior ministers in DRC. In February, the UK Great Lakes envoy joined a UN-led trip to the region, where Envoys emphasised the need for political solutions and a return peace processes. We continue, alongside partners, to promote confidence building measures and peace building activity.