Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he last reviewed the classification status of files relating to the death of PC Yvonne Fletcher in 1984; and what his planned timetable is for reviewing those files.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher was one of the most notorious crimes of the past 40 years and my thoughts remain with all who loved her.
However, as is usual in the case of records relating to security and intelligence matters, the report and the other records relating to this matter have been retained in line with the Public Records Act 1958.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the preliminary report by Sir Anthony Duff into the events outside the Libyan People’s Bureau and murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher on 17 April 1984, dated 29 April 1984.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher was one of the most notorious crimes of the past 40 years and my thoughts remain with all who loved her.
However, as is usual in the case of records relating to security and intelligence matters, the report and the other records relating to this matter have been retained in line with the Public Records Act 1958.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many files relating to the death of PC Yvonne Fletcher that are not classified have been published.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher was one of the most notorious crimes of the past 40 years and my thoughts remain with all who loved her.
However, as is usual in the case of records relating to security and intelligence matters, the report and the other records relating to this matter have been retained in line with the Public Records Act 1958.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Financial Conduct Authority on the regulation of car insurance premiums.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors, including the financial services regulators, on an ongoing basis.
Insurers make commercial decisions about the pricing of insurance based on their assessment on the likelihood and expected cost of a claim. The Government does not intervene in these commercial decisions by insurers as this could damage competition in the market.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the independent regulator and responsible for supervising the insurance industry. The FCA have introduced several reforms, including the Consumer Duty rules, to ensure consumers are treated fairly in regard to pricing.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to help monitor radioactive contamination levels from Sellafield nuclear plant; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of this work on marine life along the coastline of South West Scotland.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Safety is our overriding priority at Sellafield. The annual environmental monitoring and dose assessment reports from Sellafield Ltd and the annual Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE) reports produced by the environmental regulators (including the Scottish Environment Protection Agency) provide comprehensive assessments of the impacts of discharges from the Sellafield site to the environment.
The RIFE report for 2022 shows that total radioactive discharges from Sellafield decreased in 2022 as compared to 2021.
Their assessments are based on the extensive environmental monitoring programmes conducted by the operators and regulators and both programmes are conclusive that the environmental impacts of the Sellafield site are within legal limits. This work is subject to independent scrutiny through the Department of Health and Social Care Committee on the Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment Contaminations working group and the West Cumbria Sites Stakeholder Group.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria were used to determine where Temporary Job Centres were commissioned during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department anticipated, and then saw, an increase in demand for its services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It responded by rapidly expanding the space available, on a temporary basis, predominantly in major conurbations. The focus was on areas with good transport links and in buildings that were accessible for both colleagues and customers.
This enabled the Department to provide a workplace that was safe for claimants and colleagues and ensured we could adhere to the Government guidance in place at the time. To ensure flexibility, premises were acquired on short-term, flexible lease arrangements to ensure we could reduce the size of the estate at the appropriate time.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of international (a) cold and (b) scam callers to domestic (i) landlines and (ii) mobile telephone numbers.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
As the Government set out in the Fraud Strategy, we are taking a range of actions to tackle criminals making fraudulent calls to the UK public.
In August, we launched an eight-week consultation on proposals to ban cold calls on all financial products, in addition to a previous ban on cold calls for pensions. This will mean that anyone who receives an unsolicited call trying to sell them a product such as crypto currency or insurance, will know it’s a scam. We also support National Trading Standards in the roll out of call blocking devices to vulnerable people.
Ofcom have already strengthened activity against ‘spoofed’ calls and new rules have now come into force to ensure that operators block calls from suspicious numbers from the UK and overseas. They also continue to look at significant long-term measures that will further tackle scam calling.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to take steps to (a) monitor chemical trails discharged by aircraft and (b) analyse air quality and soil samples to identify chemicals and their potential impact on the (i) environment, (ii) food and (iii) health.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Emissions from aircraft are strictly regulated by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). ICAO sets global standards to limit emissions of oxides of nitrogen, particulates and some other air pollutants from aircraft engines.
Most recently, ICAO set particulate emissions standards for aircraft engines in 2019, which have now been adopted into UK law and came into force on 1 January 2023. These were the first scientifically based global certification standards for aircraft particulate emissions.
Defra monitors air quality and assesses its impacts on an ongoing basis. Data from our nationwide monitoring networks can be found on UK-AIR.
National soil monitoring under the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme began in 2022. NCEA will provide high quality data to assess the state and condition of natural capital assets, ecosystems, and biodiversity in terrestrial and freshwater environments. As part of this, up-to-date and comprehensive soils data is a priority of the programme and is being measured through projects such as the strategically sampled England Ecosystem Survey and the England Peat Map.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what checks his Department conducts to help prevent unauthorised third parties claiming commission on refunds from HMRC.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to maintaining trust in the tax system and protecting customers. However, the Government is aware that some taxpayers face issues and feel misled when using companies that specialise in claiming tax refunds from HMRC. This service is provided at a cost (often on a no-win, no fee commission basis) unlike claiming directly from HMRC which is free of charge.
Following a consultation last year, ‘Raising standards in tax advice: Protecting customers claiming tax repayments’, the Government is taking action to address concerns raised. This includes introducing new transparency requirements in the HMRC Standard for Agents, published in January 2023, to ensure customers are clear on the agent’s fees and charging structure.
The Government has also introduced legislation in the Finance Bill 2023 to end the use of assignments in income tax repayment claims and announced on 27th April the introduction of a requirement for repayment agents to register with HMRC.
There are many ways in which a customer can authorise a third party to act on their behalf. Following the consultation, HMRC is also undertaking further work to develop options for a more modern and secure approach to agent authorisation.
HMRC monitors agents and challenges them when there are potential concerns about their practices. HMRC will take action if a tax agent does not adhere to the HMRC Standard for Agents including suspending claim processing until any issues are resolved.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she plans to take steps to ban deep sea mining in UK waters.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
There is no deep sea mining activity underway or approved in UK territorial waters.
The UK has committed not to sponsor or support the issuing of any exploitation licences for deep sea mining projects unless and until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep sea ecosystems and strong and enforceable environmental regulations and standards are in place.
We would engage in public consultation ahead of making a decision to issue any UK-sponsored deep sea mining exploitation licence.