Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Charnwood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress the Government has made on building more homes.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are committed to building 1 million homes by 2020, and 1.5 million by 2022. We have made good progress with nearly 190,000 new homes delivered in 2015/16. We have got the country building again with nearly 900,000 homes delivered since 2010 and housing supply reaching its highest level in eight years.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Charnwood)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to provide humanitarian support to (a) all the inhabitants and (b) the children in Mosul once the city has been liberated from Da'esh.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK is providing lifesaving assistance to those who have fled fighting in Mosul and we will continue to do so once Mosul is liberated. We are supporting UNICEF to provide water supply facilities in 12 camps for 166,000 displaced people, about half of whom are children. We are funding UNHCR to provide cash assistance for vulnerable displaced Iraqis, allowing them to prioritise what they need most such as food or household items. The UK is also funding the International Organisation for Migration to provide healthcare for Mosul’s citizens, including upgrading four surgical and medical emergency units and supporting ten health facilities in liberated areas of Mosul. The UK is the largest donor to the Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund which funds projects across Iraq including protection services for children in and around Mosul.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Charnwood)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the level for humanitarian support from the international community required for the people of Mosul following that city's recapture from Da'esh.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UN has just completed an updated assessment of the humanitarian needs in and around Mosul. The UN estimates that the cost of humanitarian assistance, which includes funding to meet basic needs such as shelter, healthcare, education and water facilities, could be up to $450 million. This has been factored into the UN’s 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), which puts funding requirements for the whole of Iraq for 2017 at $984.6 million. The UK continues to work with the UN and lobby the international community to ensure that humanitarian partners have sufficient funding to meet the needs of vulnerable Iraqis.
The Department for International Development is monitoring the situation on a daily basis.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Charnwood)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what meetings he or Ministers of his Department have had with the National Farmers Union to discuss the UK's farming sector and international trade since 1 January 2017.
Answered by Mark Garnier
My noble Friend the Minister of State for Trade Policy (Lord Price) met the National Farmers’ Union in February, along with other representatives from the agriculture, food and drink sector, to discuss a range of issues on the sector and international trade.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Charnwood)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of the UK's energy was generated by (a) tidal and (b) solar power in each year from 2005.
Answered by Jesse Norman
a) Tidal power includes tidal stream and tidal range devices (i.e. barrages or lagoons). Due to the very small scale nature of tidal stream deployments (all of which were limited-period tests of innovative devices) a negligible portion of the UK’s energy was generated by tidal stream devices. No energy was generated by tidal range devices.
b) The proportion of the UK’s indigenous energy production generated by solar sources (photovoltaics and solar heating) before 2010 was negligible. Figures for 2010 to 2015 are presented below.
Proportion of UK electricity and UK energy production generated from solar, 2010-15(1)
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
% of electricity generation | 0.01 | 0.07 | 0.38 | 0.57 | 1.21 | 2.25 |
% of energy production | 0.03 | 0.05 | 0.13 | 0.19 | 0.34 | 0.56 |
(1) Energy and electricity generated from solar sources before 2010 was negligible, less than 0.05% of UK production.
Source: DUKES table 6.6, table 5.1 and table 1.1 available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/digest-of-uk-energy-statistics-dukes.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Charnwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants for (a) the state pension, (b) jobseeker's allowance, (c) personal independence payment and (d) employment and support allowance there have been for Charnwood constituency for each year they have been in place since 2010.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Please see the table below for the number of claimants who have been in receipt of payment for State Pension (SP), Jobseekers Allowance (JSA), Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for the Charnwood constituency since 2010.
Claims in payment are in the table below:
Claimants for the Charnwood constituency
Benefit | Aug-2010 | Aug-2011 | Aug-2012 | Aug-2013 | Aug-2014 | Aug-2015 | Aug-2016 |
SP | 20,910 | 21,110 | 21,480 | 21,640 | 21,890 | 21,960 | 22,020 |
JSA | 1,170 | 1,300 | 1,210 | 960 | 550 | 430 | 230 |
ESA | 520 | 580 | 960 | 1,520 | 1,830 | 1,990 | 2,160 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Benefit |
|
|
| Oct-2013 | Oct-2014 | Oct-2015 | Oct-2016 |
PIP |
|
|
| 13 | 258 | 765 | 1,027 |
Notes:
Sources:
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Charnwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when a Minister of his Department last undertook an official visit to Cyprus.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The most recent official visit by a Foreign Office Minister to Cyprus was by the Foreign Secretary on 30 November last year. I also visited Cyprus on 6-8 September. The Secretary of State for Defence made an official visit to Cyprus earlier this month, on 10 February.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Charnwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the talks on a Cyprus settlement are scheduled to reconvene.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The leaders of the two Cypriot communities are continuing to hold talks on-island, facilitated by the UN. No date has yet been set for the continuation at political level of the Conference on Cyprus, convened in Geneva on 12 January under the auspices of the UN Secretary General, with the participation of the two leaders and representatives of Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom (as Guarantor Powers). It is for the two leaders to decide when to reconvene the Conference, in consultation with the UN and the Guarantor Powers. The UK stands ready to participate at the appropriate level.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Charnwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with East Midlands Ambulance Service on its response times to calls.
Answered by Philip Dunne
There have been no such discussions.
East Midlands Ambulance Service is participating in the Dispatch on Disposition pilot of NHS England’s Ambulance Response Programme (ARP). The ARP is part of NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care Review, which will transform ambulance services from a service based on a model of transportation to one of clinical assessment and treatment. We expect NHS England will make recommendations in Spring 2017.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Charnwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Government of Algeria on the political and security situation in that country.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
British Government ministers and officials discuss regularly with Algerian counterparts the political and security situation in Algeria, including through twice yearly bilateral security talks. The last security talks took place in London in December 2016, during which I also had a meeting with the Algerian Deputy Foreign Minister.