Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when work will commence on the flood alleviation and mitigation scheme in Lowdham, Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Lowdham Flood Alleviation Scheme will be submitting a planning application to the Local Planning Authority this month, October 2021. Subject to approval of that application, construction work is anticipated to start in March 2022 and is currently programmed to continue until summer 2023. The upstream reservoir will provide significant flood risk reduction to almost 200 properties in the village of Lowdham, as well as local businesses and infrastructure.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the number of services on the Castle Line from Lincoln to Nottingham through Newark Castle Station will be restored to the level of those services prior to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Along with other operators East Midlands Railway (EMR) reduced services during the height of the pandemic as demand was reduced and the ability to operate services reliably was affected by driver resource constraints and delayed arrival of rolling stock from another operator.
EMR will be operating an increased timetable from December this year as some services are re-instated, and further additions are part of consideration of plans for May 2022. It essential that these service additions are done in a measured way to provide a reliable service that appropriately meets post-COVID levels of demand.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he and National Highways plan to announce the preferred route for the A46 Newark northern by-pass.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Following consultations early this year where stakeholders were presented with the potential options to improve the A46 Newark Bypass, National Highways has been considering the feedback received to help develop the best option. National Highways anticipate a decision on the preferred route to be made later this year or early next year.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to ensure that national collections and other recipients of public funding make digital images of works of art held in public collections and which are outside of copyright, free of charge to non-commercial causes and for educational purposes.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As arm’s length bodies of government, national museums determine their own operational matters, including the decision to charge fees for images and reproductions. National museums provide free entry for all to their permanent collections as a condition of government Grant-in-aid funding, a policy that has been hugely successful in boosting museum visits.
In addition, Museums invest significant amounts in maintaining comprehensive online collections portals displaying a wealth of free to access images and information about their collections. This particularly benefits audiences unable to visit museums in person, further extending the reach of our national museums. Museums may also licence their collections and images they produce for a variety of uses. Museums routinely supply images free of charge on request for a variety of educational and non-commercial purposes, but have the right to charge fees for certain re-uses of images they have produced. The fees are an important revenue source, allowing museums to recover costs associated with providing this comprehensive service and where applicable make a return on their investment.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the Government's policy is on the conclusions of the Report of the Commission on Human Medicines’ Expert Working Group on Hormone Pregnancy Tests, published in November 2017.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Commission on Human Medicines published the report of its Expert Working Group on Hormone Pregnancy Tests on 15 November 2017. This was the culmination of an extensive and thorough review of all the available relevant evidence on a possible association between Hormone Pregnancy Tests and adverse outcomes of pregnancy by a panel comprising independent experts of international standing in relevant scientific and medical specialisms.
The Expert Working Group’s overall finding, endorsed by the Commission on Human Medicines, was that the available scientific evidence, taking all aspects into consideration, did not support a causal association between the use of Hormone Pregnancy Tests, such as Primodos, during early pregnancy and adverse outcomes of pregnancy, including miscarriage, stillbirth or congenital anomalies. The Expert Working Group also made a number of important, forward-looking recommendations to further strengthen the systems in place for detecting, evaluating, managing and communicating safety concerns associated with use of medicines in early pregnancy.
Departmental ministers have accepted the report’s conclusions and recommendations. The focus is now on implementing these recommendations.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
What plans he has to maintain British Army training in Kenya.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
There are no plans to stop British Army training in Kenya, and we will be discussing the location of future training with the Kenyan Government.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to limit the use of glyphosate by farmers.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government has no plans to limit the currently authorised uses of glyphosate. Like all pesticides, glyphosate is subject to restrictions to ensure that its use will not harm people or have unacceptable effects on the environment. UK experts agree with the recent assessment of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that the use of glyphosate does not raise safety concerns.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department has taken to work with the art and antiques industries to address the sale of ivory in the UK.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
My immediate predecessor met, and officials have had a number of discussions with, representatives of the arts and antique sectors over the past 18 months to discuss issues surrounding the sale of ivory in the UK. This included exploring issues that informed our announcement, made on 21 September, of plans for a ban on the sale of ivory items produced from 1947 to the present day.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he has had discussions with university vice chancellors on the reported anti-Semitic incident at King's College London on 19 January 2016; and whether any people have been prosecuted for their connection with that incident.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
There is no place in our society, including higher education, for bigotry, hatred and any form of racism such as anti-Semitism. We expect universities to act swiftly to investigate and address any anti-Semitic incidents reported to them. Responsibility for ensuring students do not face harassment, abuse or violence rests with individual institutions, as a clear part of their duties under the 2010 Equality Act.
In November I asked Universities UK to set up a task force to consider what more can be done to address harassment on campus, including on the basis of religion and belief. The Union of Jewish Students are part of the advisory group.
In relation to the event organised by the Kings College Israel Society, officials in my Department and in the Higher Education Funding Council for England asked Kings College what action they had taken in response, and I have met with the Principal to discuss this incident. It is completely unacceptable for legitimate free speech to be shut down on our universities campuses through intimidation and harassment and we will continue to fully support university leaders who take a strong stance on this.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what weight she has given to the list of people allegedly implicated in the murder of Mr Alexander Litvinenko provided to her by Mrs Marina Litvenenko; and whether her Department has taken any action against those people.
Answered by John Hayes
The Home Secretary has responded in writing to Mrs Litvinenko on 8 March 2016. Whilst this was private correspondence, it reflected the Home Secretary’s oral statement to Parliament on 21 January 2016 setting out the Government’s response to Mr Litvinenko’s death.
For security reasons the Government does not routinely comment on action taken in relation to specific individuals. A number of those listed are subject to some form of overt action, for example, the EU sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, on which the UK has led the way.