Asked by: Lord Fearn (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which British woods are grown for timber use, if any.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Forestry is a devolved issue, so the answer relates to England only.
Many English woods are grown for timber amongst other uses, including oak and cherry. 2.6 million tonnes of English wood was delivered to primary wood processors and others in 2014. This is a 3% increase from the previous year. Active management of English woodlands at September 2015 was reported to be at 58%, up from 53% in 2013.
This is why this Government strongly supports the work of the Grown in Britain initiative. Its work in support of the woodland economy has helped to grow a £2bn a year forestry and wood processing industry, which employs over 40,000 people.
Asked by: Lord Fearn (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many onshore wind farms there are in England.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The planning status of all renewable electricity projects with an installed capacity of 1MW or more can be found within the Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD).
Currently there are 175 fully operational wind farms (sites with two turbines or more) in England. These windfarms have a total installed capacity of 2019.2MW.
Asked by: Lord Fearn (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many wind farms there are in United Kingdom waters off the coast of England, and where they are situated.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
There are a total of 23 offshore wind farms off the coast of England with a combined installed capacity of 4181MW. These wind farms are located:-
Offshore Wind Farm | MW Capacity | Region |
Inner Dowsing | 108.0 | East Midlands |
Lincs | 270.0 | East Midlands |
Lynn | 86.4 | East Midlands |
Gunfleet Sands Demo | 12.0 | East of England |
Gunfleet Sands II | 64.8 | East of England |
Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Scheme | 108.0 | East of England |
Scroby Sands | 60.0 | East of England |
Greater Gabbard Wind Farm | 504.0 | East of England |
Sheringham Shoal | 317.0 | East of England |
Teeside Offshore Wind Farm | 62.1 | North East |
Blyth Offshore | 4.0 | North East |
Burbo Bank | 90.0 | North West |
Walney 1 | 183.6 | North West |
Walney 2 | 183.6 | North West |
Barrow | 90.0 | North West |
West of Duddon Sands | 389.0 | North West |
Ormonde Offshore | 150.0 | North West |
Kentish Flats | 90.0 | South East |
Thanet | 300.0 | South East |
Kentish Flats Extension | 49.5 | South East |
London Array | 630.0 | South East |
Humber Gateway | 219.0 | Yorkshire and Humber |
Westermost Rough | 210.0 | Yorkshire and Humber |
Asked by: Lord Fearn (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what control there is over the flight of drones in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Article 166 of the UK Air Navigation order (ANO) 2009 requires operators of RPAS to maintain direct, unaided visual contact with the aircraft sufficient to monitor its flight path in relation to other aircraft, persons, vehicles, vessels and structures for the purposes of avoiding collisions. It also states that an operator may only fly the aircraft if they are reasonably satisfied that the flight can safely be made.
In addition, Article 138 of the ANO 2009, which also applies to RPAS, states that “a person must not recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property.” This includes persons within another aircraft, and of course the aircraft that those persons are within. The government expects users to understand and comply with this type of regulation which has been made in place for many years, albeit covering the flight of the more traditional model aircraft.
Safety and Security must always be the overriding priority and both commercial and leisure operators most operate drones responsibly and within the rules. I am able to confirm that with regards to the policing and monitoring of such vehicles the Police has provided initial guidance to constabularies across the UK.
Operators of RPAS that collect personal data must comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) unless a relevant exemption applies. The requirements of the DPA are regulated by the independent Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Asked by: Lord Fearn (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government who took the decision to disband the mounted section connected to Merseyside Police.
Answered by Lord Bates
The deployment and use of police animals are operational decisions for chief constables which are rightly made by local forces.
Asked by: Lord Fearn (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total number of staff of the Merseyside Police Authority.
Answered by Lord Bates
The number of police workers employed by Merseyside Police are published in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ release. The latest published figures are as at 30 September 2014 and figures broken down by police force area can be found in the data tables of the release:
There were 6,012 full-time equivalent police workers employed by Merseyside Police as at 30 September 2014, which includes police officers, police staff, police community support officers and designated officers.
Asked by: Lord Fearn (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what legislation governs the use of cannabis in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 controls the possession, possession with intent to supply, supply, production, cultivation and importation and exportation of cannabis. Cannabis is a Class B drug, and a Schedule 1 substance under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001.
The 1971 Act also makes it unlawful for an occupier or manager of a premises to permit or suffer the consumption, production and supply of cannabis.
A new offence created by the Crime and Courts Act 2013 makes it illegal to drive with one (or more) specified drugs in the body above a specified limit. The new offence came into force on 2 March 2015.
Asked by: Lord Fearn (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisation controls heath and heather areas in the north-west of England, and where those areas are.
Answered by Lord De Mauley
Management control of heathland and other habitats with heather in the North West rests with a range of public and private entities.
There are three types of priority habitat that are dominated by heather: (i) lowland heath; (ii) upland heathland; and (iii) mountain heath and willow scrub.
The distribution of these habitats across the North West is shown in the maps which have been produced by Natural England and have been placed in the Library of the House and sent to the Noble Lord.
Asked by: Lord Fearn (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures presently exist to control unmanned aerial vehicles.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
Civilian Remotely Piloted Aircraft operations are closely regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority and are treated in the same manner as that of equivalent manned aircraft. However, until such time that remotely piloted aircraft systems can demonstrate that they are both airworthy and capable of avoiding other airspace users, all operations must be contained within segregated airspace, to which access for manned aircraft is prevented or closely controlled.
The use of unmanned aircraft is specifically covered by the Air Navigation Order, which legislates for the ‘general’ flying aspects and the flight of those equipped for surveillance. As well as these specific articles, a more general article which prevents a person ‘causing or permitting an aircraft to endanger the safety of any person or property’ also remains applicable.
Asked by: Lord Fearn (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Royal Air Force Woodvale, Southport is still designated as a flying field for the Ministry of Defence.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
RAF Woodvale, Southport is designated as an airfield for the Ministry of Defence. Liverpool University Air Squadron, Manchester and Salford University Air Squadron, No 631 Volunteer Gliding Squadron and No 10 Air Experience Flight are based there.