Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the (a) permitted geographic catch locations and (b) permitted species and catch volumes under licenses sold by the Saint Helena Government to the Argos Fishing Company in (i) 2016, (ii) 2017 and (iii) 2018.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The sale of commercial fishing licenses, and conditions within the licenses such as location and target species, are the responsibility of the St Helena Government.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the income from fishing vessel registration fees paid to the Saint Helena Government by the Argos Fishing Company in the years (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Any commercial agreements between Argos Fishing company and the St Helena Government are a matter for the St Helena Government.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the level of subsidy paid to the Saint Helena Fisheries Corporation from the UK public purse in the years (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Any financial support to the St Helena Fishery Corporation is determined by the St Helena Government.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the terms and conditions are under which fishing licenses are sold by the Saint Helena Government; how conditions on those licences are enforced by the Saint Helena Government; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The St Helena Government are responsible for selling and administering commercial fishing licences.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Department for Transport on the effect of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposals on older UK passenger boats on businesses and skilled maritime jobs.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State and BEIS ministers have not had any direct discussions with the Department for Transport (DfT) on the effect of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposals on older UK passenger boats on businesses and skilled maritime jobs. BEIS officials have reached out to the MCA and industry to further understand the issue raised. They also remain closely engaged with DfT on the delivery of the recently published Maritime 2050 strategy and to support growth ambitions across the maritime sector.
Should my hon. friend wish to discuss this issue, I would be happy to arrange a meeting.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he last met the (a) Royal Botanic Gardens and (b) Historic Royal Palaces to discuss the potential effect of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposals for older UK passenger boats on tourism and visitor numbers at (i) Kew Gardens and (ii) Kew Palace.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) consulted upon an Impact Assessment (IA) during a public consultation which ran from 6 November 2018 to 29 January 2019. Consultees were invited to comment on the validity of the analysis in the IA and encouraged to provide information that would help to strengthen this. The IA is now being updated to reflect the range of further information provided through consultee feedback.
This process is ongoing and policy officials in the MCA are happy to discuss impacts with any interested parties and take onboard relevant evidence for the assessment.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the potential effect of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposals for older UK passenger boats on (a) businesses (b) investment and (c) skilled engineering jobs in boatyards.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
BEIS officials remain closely engaged with DfT on the delivery of the recently published Maritime 2050 strategy and to support growth ambitions across the maritime sector. BEIS and DfT officials speak regularly about a range of topics.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the volume of consumer electronics that end up in landfill.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government has not made an estimate of the volume of consumer electronics that end up in landfill. The 2013 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations seek to reduce the amount of WEEE going to landfill by encouraging its separate collection and subsequent treatment, reuse, recovery, recycling and environmentally sound disposal.
Reports on the amount of WEEE (both household and non-household) collected in the UK under the WEEE Regulations is published by the Environment Agency here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/waste-electrical-and-electronic-equipment-weee-in-the-uk.
Last year, producers financed the collection of 493,323 tonnes of household WEEE.
Additionally, based on a study carried out by the Waste and Resources Action Programme, we estimate that between 250k and 273k tonnes of large domestic appliances (cookers, washing machines etc.) are collected with scrap metal and recycled outside the WEEE system every year.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department issues on the processing of consumer electronics in landfill after metals have been harvested from them.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Defra has not issued any guidance on the processing of consumer electronics in landfill or removal from landfill sites after metals have been harvested from them.
The 2013 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations seek to reduce the amount of WEEE going to landfill by encouraging its separate collection and subsequent treatment, re-use, recovery, recycling and environmentally sound disposal.
Defra has issued statutory guidance on the best available collection, treatment, recovery and recycling techniques (BATRRT) for WEEE at approved authorised treatment facilities. The BATRRT guidance sets out the minimum requirements which treatment facilities must comply with.
The guidance can be found here: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130403043343/http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/producer/electrical/documents/weee-batrrt-guidance.pdf.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to proposals from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on older UK passenger boats, what discussions he has had with the (a) Mayor of London and (b) Minister for London on the loss of competition and choice on the tidal River Thames.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Ministers have regular meetings with the Mayor of London and the Minister for London to discuss a range of matters.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is in communication with the Competition and Markets Authority to ensure the effect of the proposals for harmonising safety standards on older and newer passenger vessels is acceptable from the perspective of competition and choice.