Asked by: Iain Stewart (Conservative - Milton Keynes South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department provided funding to the Turner Prize (a) directly and (b) indirectly via an organisation in receipt of funding from her Department in 2023.
Answered by John Whittingdale
DCMS does not provide direct funding to the Turner Prize. The Prize is managed by Tate, which funds it via a mixture of fundraising, contributions from host venues, and from Tate’s own budgets. DCMS provides Grant in Aid funding to Tate to support the organisation's overall operational and capital requirements.
Asked by: Iain Stewart (Conservative - Milton Keynes South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if her Department will commemorate the 120th anniversary of the BSI Kitemark.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government congratulates the British Standards Institution (BSI) in reaching the 120th anniversary of their Kitemark and also commends their work as the UK’s National Standards body. However, there are no plans to commemorate the reaching of this landmark.
Asked by: Iain Stewart (Conservative - Milton Keynes South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department makes an assessment of the (a) quality and (b) durability of (i) pothole repairs, (ii) resurfacing and (c) other maintenance of local roads.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department works with both local highway authorities and National Highways to assess road surface condition across England annually. Local highway authorities undertake road condition surveys on their classified road networks, and their surveys identify road defects and provide an overall score of road condition. The latest data was published on gov.uk on 23 November 2023:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/road-conditions-in-england-to-march-2023
It is up to local highway authorities to determine how best to fulfil their statutory duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, taking into account local circumstances and priorities. This includes decisions on the equipment, techniques, and materials used as part of their maintenance activities. The Department advocates a risk-based, whole-lifecycle-asset management approach that considers all parts of the highway network, and recommends that authorities follow the best practice guidance set out in the Well-managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice which is available via the website of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation.
Asked by: Iain Stewart (Conservative - Milton Keynes South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had discussions with his Tunisian counterpart on that country's Parliamentary Committee's approval of a draft bill criminalising the normalisation of relations with Israel; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of that bill on regional relations.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Foreign Secretary has had no discussions with his Tunisian counterpart regarding the issue the Member for Milton Keynes South refers to. The UK is a firm supporter of Israel's normalisation ambitions, and of the Abraham Accords which are a historic milestone that bring us closer to the goal of shared prosperity throughout the region. We continue to encourage close regional cooperation in order to tackle regional challenges and, as we look ahead to the future, to secure a meaningful political horizon for Israelis and Palestinians.
Asked by: Iain Stewart (Conservative - Milton Keynes South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of levels of staff (a) retention and (b) morale at HMP Woodhill.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Ensuring prison officers stay and progress their careers is a priority, and we are working hard to retain and develop clear career paths for operational staff.
HMP Woodhill has implemented an action plan focused on staff retention and improvements have been seen in attrition rates this year.
We have created a retention framework which is linked to wider activities around employee experience, employee lifecycle and staff engagement at work.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Justice, will publish an initial action plan by no later than 29 September 2023, addressing immediate concerns at HMP Woodhill. The prison is already taking steps to drive improvement including:
We will be monitoring the situation at HMP Woodhill very closely to ensure there is a speedy and sustained improvement.
Asked by: Iain Stewart (Conservative - Milton Keynes South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for how long each Rural Mobility Fund demand responsive transport pilot will last; when (a) interim and (b) final findings from these pilots will be published; and what form those findings will take.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Rural Mobility Fund demand responsive transport pilots are planned to last between two and five years from the point of launch. They have all launched at different times, influenced by multiple factors such as vehicle availability and resourcing, so the end of each trial period may vary from the original timeframes envisaged.
We expect to publish interim findings in the first half of 2023, further findings in late 2023/early 2024, and the final findings in 2025 in the form of written reports. However, the exact timings and dissemination approach will be determined closer to the time.
Asked by: Iain Stewart (Conservative - Milton Keynes South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to evidence given by the Campaign for Better Transport to the Transport Committee on the National Bus Strategy: one year on, published on 20 April 2022, if he will publish the 2021 research report prepared for his Department by the Campaign for Better Transport on the capacity and capability of local transport authorities in respect of bus services planning and delivery.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The report will be published in due course.
Asked by: Iain Stewart (Conservative - Milton Keynes South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2023 to Question 122440 on Buses: Exhaust Emissions, whether he plans to publish the results from his Department's monitoring and evaluation project for the Zero Emission Bus Regional Area scheme.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
We will publish the first report from the Department’s monitoring and evaluation project for the ZEBRA scheme, covering process evaluation of the pre-implementation phase of the project in due course. We will publish a final report at the end of the project.
Asked by: Iain Stewart (Conservative - Milton Keynes South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Q417 of the oral evidence by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Roads, Buses and Places to the Transport Committee on 29 June 2022, HC 161, when his Department plans to publish a call for evidence on municipal bus companies.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department will publish a call for evidence later this year.
Asked by: Iain Stewart (Conservative - Milton Keynes South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to allocate the next tranche of funding under the Zero Emission Bus Regional Area scheme; and whether his Department is considering changes to the structure of the scheme (a) in general and (b) in order to incentivise local authorities to place bus orders more quickly once they have been allocated funding.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
We have funded an estimated 3,378 Zero Emission Buses across the UK so far. The Department will provide details on future funding for ZEBs in due course, taking into account the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.