Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, in which court the commitment in point 7 of Section A of the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council on 18 and 19 February 2016, to incorporate the substance of the section into the EU Treaties is enforceable.
Answered by David Lidington
The decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, concerning a new settlement for the United Kingdom within the European Union, is legally binding. The Government is confident that all the commitments in the Decision will be implemented by the Member States and EU Institutions.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016 will be added to his Department's Treaty Series 2016.
Answered by David Lidington
The Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, concerning a new settlement for the United Kingdom within the European Union, will be published in the Department’s Treaty Series.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the commitments by the UK not to create obstacles to, but facilitate such deepening of the Eurozone, to sincere cooperation with the Eurozone, not to impede the implementation of legal acts directly linked to the functioning of the euro area to refrain from measures which could jeopardise the attainment of the objectives of economic and monetary union contained in the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016 are legally binding; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Lidington
The Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, concerning a new settlement for the United Kingdom within the European Union, is legally binding. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has been clear that this deal protects the UK’s rights as a country outside the Eurozone, and from any future integration.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016, is an international Treaty to which the procedures of sections 20 and 25 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 will apply.
Answered by David Lidington
The Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016 is a treaty as defined in section 25(1) of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Given that no ratification procedures apply to the Decision, the obligations in section 20 of the Act do not apply.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the (a) time taken to introduce and (b) cost of introduction of a system of in-work benefits for newly-arrived EU nationals as envisaged in Section D of the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016.
Answered by Priti Patel
These are issues to be answered as part of the implementation process.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to safeguard water supplies in the event of a terrorist attack.
Answered by Rory Stewart
In accordance with the Security and Emergency Measures (Water and Sewerage Undertakers) Direction 1998, issued under the provisions of section 208 of the Water Industry Act 1991, water companies are required to produce plans to deal with all types of emergency situations. This includes ensuring appropriate preventative measures are in place to secure the water supply from deliberate harm, as well as plans to deal with a situation if it were to arise. These plans are regularly tested and updated where necessary and are subject to an independent check every year.
Providing expert security advice is integral to the function of protecting national security against threats. Defra and the water industry work closely with the Centre for the Protection for National Infrastructure on the protection of water supply and on the reduction of its vulnerability to terrorism and other threats.
As I am sure you will understand, details of the specific arrangements or any procedures related to national security are highly sensitive and cannot be disclosed.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to safeguard gas and electricity supplies in the event of a terrorist attack.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government takes the security of the energy sector very seriously and DECC works closely with industry and the relevant agencies in order to ensure a robust and proportionate security regime.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many items of correspondence his Department has received from (a) the Chair and (b) other members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department would incur a disproportionate cost in calculating how many items of correspondence have been received from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health (APPG) in each of the last five years.
592 letters from the APPG have been recorded as received by the Department’s Ministers over that period. The Group may also have written to officials direct but this information is not collected centrally.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the grants awarded by the tobacco policy team in his Department are so awarded only after competitive bids have been invited.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Grants made under Section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 can be made in a number of ways. Grants awarded to Action on Smoking and Health have been assessed as most appropriate for the non-competed route.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on the removal from the UK of a jobseeker who is a citizen of another EU country who has been in the UK for more than six months and can provide evidence that they (a) are looking for employment and (b) have a genuine chance of being engaged.
Answered by James Brokenshire
We have been clear that in future EU jobseekers will not be supported by UK taxpayers and can be removed if they are not in a job within six months.
There is limited discretion to keep the status of jobseeker for longer than six months but an individual must provide compelling evidence to show they are continuing to seek employment and have a genuine chance of employment.