Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with the Scottish Government on increasing step-free access at rail stations in (a) Angus and (b) Scotland.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
My officials and Transport Scotland discuss railway station accessibility at least monthly as part of the governance of the Access for All programme. We have made a further £300m available for Access for All and the Scottish Government have nominated a number of stations from across Scotland for this new funding. We intend to announce the successful stations in April next year.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will carry out a review of whether there is sufficient and quality accommodation available to service personnel on the defence estates.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The quality and quantity of all service accommodation is under continual review by the Department. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is committed to providing high quality accommodation within an appropriate locality to where Service personnel live, work and train.
For Service Family Accommodation, the MOD meets the Government Decent Homes Standard, set by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for 95% of its properties, with the overall condition of the accommodation considered as good.
The MOD has delivered more than 50,000 new or upgraded Single Living Accommodation bed-spaces, across the estate over the last 15 years and is committed to invest significant additional funding in Defence infrastructure over the next 10-15 years.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress he has made on preparations for the introduction of a new seasonal agricultural workers scheme; and what the timetable for the introduction of that scheme is.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government is determined to get the best deal for the UK in our negotiations to leave the EU, including for our world-leading food and farming industry. We have asked the Migration Advisory Committee for advice on the UK’s reliance on EU labour and they will help us shape immigration policy going forward.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been for attacks by violent dogs on Royal Mail and other delivery staff since 2015.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress he has made on preparations for the introduction of a new seasonal agricultural workers scheme; and what the timetable for the introduction of that scheme is.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government is determined to get the best deal for the UK in our negotiations to leave the EU, including for our world-leading food and farming industry. We have asked the Migration Advisory Committee for advice on the UK’s reliance on EU labour and they will help us shape immigration policy going forward.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been for attacks by violent dogs on Royal Mail and other delivery staff since 2015.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the introduction on an independent fuel price monitoring body.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Government believes that it is essential that consumers get a fair deal and that a competitive market is the best way to keep prices low.
The Office of Fair Trading last looked at fuel prices in 2013, and I expect its successor, the Competition and Markets Authority, to keep them under review.
The Department continues to monitor fuel prices and publishes weekly reports at www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/oil-and-petroleum-products-weekly-statistics. BEIS analysis is that changes in the price of crude oil are the main driver of changes in the national average retail prices of petrol and diesel and both rises and falls in crude oil price reach the pumps within 7 weeks. The Government does not believe that a monitoring body is necessary.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on introducing measures to provide tax relief for armed forces personnel stationed in Scotland who are subject to that administration's tax rates.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence announced on 19 July that financial mitigation payments will be made to those Service personnel negatively impacted for tax year 2018-19 by Scottish income tax being higher than the rest of the UK.
The payments will be made to up to 8,000 personnel and will cost in the region of £4 million.
Further details are available in the Written Ministerial Statement laid in the House on 19 July 2018.
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of UK television advertising related to junk food products in 2017.
Answered by Margot James
In the second chapter of our childhood obesity plan, launched in June 2018, we have committed to consult on introducing further advertising restrictions, including a 9pm watershed on TV advertising of HFSS products and similar protection for children viewing adverts online, with the aim of limiting children’s exposure to HFSS advertising, and incentivising sugar and calorie reduction. Further details about the consultation will be available later this year. Officials in government have regular discussions with their counterparts in the Devolved Administrations on improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people, including on tackling obesity. Discussions include domestic strategies and the delivery of UK-wide measures in our childhood obesity plan, such as advertising restrictions.
"Childhood obesity: a plan for action, chapter 2” is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-obesity-a-plan-for-action-chapter-2
Asked by: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made on the effect of junk food advertising on childhood obesity.
Answered by Steve Brine
Evidence shows that children’s exposure to high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) product advertising can affect what children want to eat and what they choose to eat. This can happen both in the short term, increasing the amount of food children eat immediately after being exposed to a HFSS advert and in the longer term by shaping children’s food preferences from a young age.
In the second chapter of our childhood obesity plan, launched in June 2018, we have committed to consult on introducing further advertising restrictions, including a 9pm watershed on TV advertising of HFSS products and similar protection for children viewing adverts online, with the aim of limiting children’s exposure to HFSS advertising, and incentivising sugar and calorie reduction. Further details about the consultation will be available later this year.
Officials in the Department have regular discussions with their counterparts in the devolved administrations on improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people, including on tackling obesity. Discussions include domestic strategies and the delivery of United Kingdom-wide measures in our childhood obesity plan, such as advertising restrictions.
‘Childhood obesity: a plan for action, chapter 2’ is available at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-obesity-a-plan-for-action-chapter-2