First elected: 11th June 1987
Left House: 3rd May 2017 (General Election)
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Andrew Smith, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Andrew Smith has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Andrew Smith has not been granted any Adjournment Debates
Andrew Smith has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Andrew Smith has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The Climate Change Levy (CCL) renewables exemption offered poor value for money, as it provided indirect support to renewable generators, and a third of its value went to supporting overseas renewable generation projects, which did not contribute to the UK’s climate change or renewables targets and often received subsidies from home Governments. The rise in UK renewable electricity generation and imports led to a decline in CCL revenue. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility published forecasts showing that this decline would have continued to 2020 if the exemption remained in place and that virtually no CCL tax would have been paid on electricity by 2020, which would have undermined the energy efficiency objectives of the CCL.
The amount of centrally-provided capital funding provided to each further education college in each of the last five years is shown in the attached table.
Advice and guidance on business risk is provided via the online Overseas Business Risks guides.
These are a joint UK Trade & Investment and FCO resource and provide information for businesses on the potential risks of trading in specific countries. Guides cover political and economic risks, human rights issues, bribery, terrorism, criminal activity, and intellectual property.
The information for the Occupied Palestinian Territories can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-business-risk-palestinian-territories
No export licences have been suspended, revoked or refused in relation to Saudi Arabia in 2015.
However, Saudi Arabia was “Rejected” on 3 multiple destination Open Individual Export licences (OIELs), with a recommendation in each case for the exporter to submit an application for a Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) for consideration on its own merits on a case by case basis.
Licensing data shows 67 licences were granted to Saudi Arabia.
Please note that data from licensing decisions made between 1 April and 30 June 2015 is scheduled to be published as Official Statistics at 9.30am on Tuesday 20 October 2015; and data from licensing decisions made between 1 July and 30 September 2015 is scheduled to be published as Official Statistics at 9.30am on 19 January 2016.
The potential carbon emissions impacts of individual policy changes on renewable incentives have been set out in the accompanying Impact Assessments.
Even with the proposed changes, we are still on track to deliver at least 30% of the UK’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020 so our overall carbon savings will remain in line with our original projections.
The Governments annual publication of the UK’s greenhouse gas inventory (ref) reports that emissions from management and use of lowland and horticultural soils such as peat was 2.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide [1]. This contributes less than 1% to the estimated 359 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted in England in 20131. We do not currently estimate emissions from upland peat due to a lack of suitable input data.
In 2014 DECC commissioned the Natural Environment Research Council’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology to propose approaches for the incorporation of emissions from wetland rewetting and drainage from both lowland and upland peatlands in the greenhouse gas emissions inventory. They will report their recommendations by 2017, which will improve our understanding of emissions in this sector.
[1] Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2013, Salisbury, G. Thistlethwaite, K. Young, L. Cardenas, A. Thomson., Ricardo-AEA/R/3452, (2015). http://naei.defra.gov.uk/reports/reports?report_id=810
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is used to support projects that bear a higher risk than most of the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) lending activities. The EIB is working directly with applicants and will be assessing project proposals through its normal processes, to establish which projects are most appropriate for support under EFSI. EFSI does not require applicants to submit proposals through Government Departments.
As the minister with responsibility for whistleblowing legislation, the Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs has replied to this letter.
The public consultation on the proposed postgraduate loan schemes will be launched shortly.
The employment effects of each Regional Growth Fund project and programme are spread across many local authorities. The tables attached show the number of bids to the Regional Growth Fund, and the number approved, for each region of England in bidding rounds 1-6.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 14 October 2014 to Question UIN 206062, which provides a breakdown of the value of bids received by region for Rounds 1-5.
BIS monitors and reviews activity against the Service Level Agreement with HM Revenue and Customs throughout the year, and is considering what further targeted enforcement action might be appropriate to inform the next Service Level Agreement, which will commence in April 2015. I therefore do not plan to publish a more detailed timetable.
As set out in my response to the Hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield), parliamentary question 213960, on 5 November 2014, action by HMRC continues to follow up on the previous targeted enforcement in the care sector, in addition to responding to every complaint made to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. Any worker who believes that they are being paid below the minimum wage should call the Helpline on 0800 917 2368.
UK businesses exposure to sanctions has been relatively limited so far, although it is too early to be able to estimate the full impact of sanctions on UK businesses. UK businesses involved in the finance, energy and defence sectors in particular are facing various export restrictions, whilst some agricultural and food producers have been affected by Russia’s retaliatory measures. The Government is maintaining a close dialogue with affected companies and industry bodies.
The information for Oxbridge is not held centrally.
Figures published by UCAS in July 2013 show that, in 2010, the application rate of 18 year olds in state schools in England who had received free school meals at age 15 was 13.2%, compared to 32.2% for those who had not received them. In 2013, the rates were 14.8% and 32.9% respectively. The application rate measures the percentage of 18 year olds who apply to enter full-time undergraduate courses in the UK. UCAS is an organisation independent from Government.
The Electoral Commission informs me that the confirmation dry run involved matching all entries on the electoral registers against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Customer Information System database. Entries would be marked as green if they matched with DWP, amber if they were a partial match or red if there was no match.
The ward results for the Oxford East constituency were as follows:
Ward | Green matches | Amber matches | Red matches |
Barton & Sandhills | 75.6% | 2.1% | 22.3% |
Blackbird Leys | 77.9% | 2.2% | 19.9% |
Carfax | 17.6% | 2.1% | 80.3% |
Churchill | 54.1% | 2.4% | 43.5% |
Cowley | 70.3% | 2.5% | 27.2% |
Cowley Marsh | 55.6% | 2.5% | 41.9% |
Headington | 63.4% | 3.1% | 33.5% |
Headington Hill & Northway | 53.8% | 1.9% | 44.3% |
Hinksey Park | 60.8% | 2.7% | 36.4% |
Holywell | 7.5% | 1.2% | 91.3% |
Iffley Fields | 63.6% | 3.3% | 33.1% |
Littlemore | 72.8% | 2.2% | 25.0% |
Lye Valley | 68.6% | 2.2% | 29.1% |
Marston | 77.2% | 1.7% | 21.1% |
Northfield Brook | 79.0% | 1.7% | 19.3% |
Quarry & Risinghurst | 73.3% | 2.5% | 24.2% |
Rose Hill & Iffley | 75.4% | 2.5% | 22.1% |
St Clement's | 42.1% | 3.3% | 54.6% |
St Mary's | 36.1% | 4.0% | 59.9% |
Results for all wards are available on the Commission's website here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0003/163146/Confirmation-dry-run-2013-Results-Wards.xls
The Environment Agency has set out its regulatory controls over leakage of methane from shale gas exploration in its draft technical guidance. The Agency expects operators to aim for 100% containment of fugitive emissions of methane on shale gas exploration sites and the operator will need to provide details of how their monitoring, inspection and maintenance regime will achieve this. The Environment Agency is assessing its regulation of full production facilities and the expectation is that the requirement for 100% containment will remain in place.
As I made clear in the House on 27 April, we are continuing to consider the comments of all interested parties, ahead of the introduction into grant agreements of the clause aimed at protecting taxpayers' money from being wasted on government lobbying government. We are pausing the implementation, pending a review of the representations made, and to give further time to consider any necessary adjustments to the wording of the clause, or the policy on its implementation, to help to deliver this policy in the best possible way for all involved.
This information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Details of ministerial meetings are provided in transparency documents available on Gov.uk.
As I made clear in the House on 27 April, we are continuing to consider the comments of all interested parties, ahead of the introduction into grant agreements of the clause aimed at protecting taxpayers' money from being wasted on government lobbying government. We are pausing the implementation, pending a review of the representations made, and to give further time to consider any necessary adjustments to the wording of the clause, or the policy on its implementation, to help to deliver this policy in the best possible way for all involved.
In 2013 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that to have a 50 percent chance of limiting global average temperature rise to below 2°C, the remaining permissible carbon emissions were up to 305 billion tonnes of Carbon for the period 2011 to 2100. According to the latest estimate of cumulative emission by the Global Carbon Project in 2016, this figure has reduced to 255 billion tonnes of Carbon.
In 2011 the IPCC estimated the amount of carbon within existing proven reserves of coal, oil and gas to be 1,053 billion tonnes.
Based on these figures, between 70-75 percent of known fossil fuels would have to be left unused in order to have a 50% chance of limiting global temperature rise to below 2°C.
The Immigration Skills Charge will be paid by UK employers recruiting skilled migrant labour from outside the European Economic Area. This includes employers of nurses. The charge will apply from April 2017. There will be a flat rate of £1,000 per Tier 2 migrant sponsored per year. Some public sector employers could benefit from the small and charitable sponsors reduced rate of £364 per Tier 2 migrant sponsored per year.
As the independent Migration Advisory Committee stated in their January 2016 report on Tier 2, public sector organisations are employers like any other and should be incentivised to consider the UK labour market first, before recruiting outside Europe.
This is the first ever nationwide campaign on this issue promoted by the Government. Its aim is to raise awareness amongst the public about abuse and neglect and how to report suspected instances. This is a nationwide campaign and we have been working with all local authorities to promote it. We have provided a toolkit of materials, which can be used across the country to support the campaign locally.
This year, we ran a pilot, paid-for campaign in 33 local authorities in the West Midlands and Outer London where we have paid for out-of-home, digital and radio advertising. These areas were chosen because of their dense and diverse populations. The overall cost of the campaign has been up to £1m.
This is the first ever nationwide campaign on this issue promoted by the Government. Its aim is to raise awareness amongst the public about abuse and neglect and how to report suspected instances. This is a nationwide campaign and we have been working with all local authorities to promote it. We have provided a toolkit of materials, which can be used across the country to support the campaign locally.
This year, we ran a pilot, paid-for campaign in 33 local authorities in the West Midlands and Outer London where we have paid for out-of-home, digital and radio advertising. These areas were chosen because of their dense and diverse populations. The overall cost of the campaign has been up to £1m.
Information on children supported under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 is published in the annual Children in Need Census statistical first release. This data collection does not identify the number of children supported where their parents have no recourse to public funds.
Information in the form requested is therefore not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
We value the services provided by children’s centres. We intend to consult to see what role children’s centres should play to ensure they are able to have the most impact as part of integrated local services for families. An independent survey carried out by the national children’s charity, 4Children (published October 2015) estimated more than a million children and families are now using children’s centres.
The consultation will offer parents, carers, local authorities and key stakeholders the opportunity to influence and drive what we expect from children’s centre services and where we see them having the greatest impact. We plan to launch the consultation shortly.
On 3 March, the Minister for Crime and Prevention, the Health Minister and I wrote to the chair of Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board, welcoming the publication of the Serious Case Review and outlining our response. The government has looked carefully at recent cases of child sexual exploitation with many similarities to the accounts of abuse in Oxfordshire. Our response is set out in ‘Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation’, which we published on 3 March. The government will continue to develop and deliver our responses to these serious and devastating crimes, and will consider carefully the lessons from cases as they emerge.
Information on children supported under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 is published in the annual Children in Need Census statistical first release. This data collection does not identify the number of children supported where their parents have no recourse to public funds.
Information in the form requested is therefore not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
There are two EU regulatory regimes which have a particular bearing on plant breeding in the UK. These are the controls on the marketing of new plant varieties, and the controls on the release of genetically modified organisms. The Government wants to ensure that we have science and evidence-based legislation in place which allows our plant science and breeding sector to thrive in the post-EU environment.
We recognise the significance of peat as a natural carbon store and are undertaking a series of measures to reduce carbon emissions from peatlands. These include: the pilot Peatland Code, negotiating the implementation of management objectives in designated areas for peatland restoration through agri-environment schemes, and targets for the reduction of peat use in horticulture. Between 2003 and 2013 the number of peatland Sites of Special Scientific Interest in “unfavourable but recovering” condition, increased from 16% to 85%, illustrating a major step forward in the restoration of degraded peat habitats.
The UK has chosen to report and account for the carbon emissions from wetland drainage and rewetting, including peatlands, as part of our international climate change commitments. To inform this reporting, Government is funding research on the carbon mitigation potential of improved peatland management. This will help to identify how resources might best be targeted to reduce carbon emissions from both upland and lowland peat soils.
As set out in Defra’s business plan, we will be publishing revised Air Quality Action Plans by December 2015. These will set out actions at all levels, including national and local, to improve air quality.
The Government has funded a number of local authorities outside London to investigate the feasibility of low emission zones (LEZs) within their areas, through the annual Air Quality Grant Scheme targeted at reducing levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and accelerating compliance with EU limit values.
This ongoing support is focused on addressing barriers and looking for practical options for putting in place NO2-related LEZs and similar measures.
In March this year, Defra sent letters to all local authorities in England to inform them of the Commission's decision to commence infraction procedures against the UK for non-compliance with NO2 limit values, what it means and the next steps that should be taken by the Government in response. As part of this, local authorities were reminded of the discretionary power in Part 2 of the Localism Act under which the Government could require responsible authorities to pay all or part of an infraction fine.
The UK has contributed £36.2 million to the Yemen Emergency Response Fund (ERF) since it was established in 2010.
In 2015 the ERF channelled funds to over 79 projects implemented by UN agencies and national and international NGOs. Through the total resources received from donors in 2015, the Fund has provided critical life-saving assistance to 3.3 million people affected by the conflict in Yemen, including through the provision of healthcare, clean water, sanitation services, food supplies or shelter materials.
DFID no longer has a bilateral poverty reduction programme in Indonesia. However, as part of UK Government action to mitigate against climate change, we work in partnership with the Indonesian national and provincial governments to help secure community access to forest land in Papua to promote a sustainable green economy, whilst supporting local livelihoods.
DFID has a significant programme of ongoing support in health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation and economic development, particularly in rural areas and with the private sector, for growth, jobs, incomes and food insecurity in Malawi. We support increasing access to justice for women and vulnerable groups, accountability and governance reforms.
The UK was one of the first development partners to respond to Malawi’s international appeal for emergency aid in October 2015. The UK has now committed £14.5m through partners including the World Food Programme, UNICEF and an International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) consortium led by Save the Children. This support includes:
Each year the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) assesses food availability in Malawi and publishes the official figure for those who are likely to be food insecure over the year. This year, at over 2.8m people, the figure is the highest for a decade. The UK was one of the first development partners to respond to Malawi’s international appeal for emergency aid in October 2015. The UK has now committed £14.5m, which includes provision of food for over 800,000 people, mass screening of up to 800,000 children to identify urgent nutritional support needs and specialist nutrition supplies for over 140,000 children and others suffering from acute malnutrition.
DFID continues to monitor the situation, through formal assessments, community consultation and ongoing engagement with partners. Maize prices are high and increasing and food availability on markets is unpredictable. The Government of Malawi has released maize from its reserves and has bought additional supplies from Zambia, although there are ongoing concerns about effectiveness of its distribution. DFID continues to work with partners to help Malawi break the cycle of recurrent food insecurity crises year after year.
The UK is currently the second largest bilateral humanitarian donor to the Central African Republic. Since 2013, DFID has contributed £34 million to programmes supporting healthcare and nutrition for Central Africans and Central African refugees. In 2015, we hope to reach more than 300,000 people with health and nutritional assistance in CAR.
Food security for the people of Yemen is a growing concern. According to the UN, of the 12.9 million Yemenis classified as food insecure, 6 million are facing severe food shortages. In Hodeidah city alone, UNICEF has warned that 96,000 severely malnourished children are at risk of dying. The ongoing conflict has affected imports of essential fuel, food and medical supplies into Yemen. In addition, ongoing fighting is preventing the distribution of food to those who most need it.
The UK is one of the largest donors to the crisis in Yemen and has announced £55 million to help at least half a million Yemenis caught in this conflict. This is providing vital medical supplies, water, food and emergency shelter.
I refer the Right Hon. member to the answer given by my Right Hon. Friend Minister of State Tobias Ellwood on 16 September 2015 to Question 9701.
DFID has recently completed two project reviews for humanitarian work in the Central African Republic and with Central African Republic refugees. These reviews will shortly be available on our website ‘Development Tracker’.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that Yemen’s economy will contract by 2.2% in 2015 and that Yemen’s debt has risen to over 50% of GDP. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), average wheat flour prices in July are 34% higher than their pre-crisis levels, whilst diesel prices are up 427% over the same period.
DFID has allocated £55 million to support humanitarian response in Yemen which will provide emergency shelter, healthcare, water and food assistance, as well as supporting UN work to co-ordinate the humanitarian response.
We do not hold information on how many people have been displaced by coalition bombing of Sa’ada province. As of the 6 July, the UN estimates that there are just over 23,000 people displaced in Sa’ada Governorate and nearly 1.3 million people have been displaced within Yemen overall since the crisis began in March.
All agencies supported by the UK are humanitarian organisations which have robust systems in place, to ensure that UK aid follows humanitarian principles and reaches those in need.
DFID has allocated £55 million for humanitarian response in Yemen which is providing emergency shelter, healthcare, water and food assistance, as well as supporting UN work to co-ordinate the humanitarian response. Of that, DFID has allocated almost £40 million towards the UN 2015 Humanitarian Appeal.
Full details of all pledges to the UN Appeal can be found on the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Financial Tracking Service website (https://fts.unocha.org/pageloader.aspx?page=emerg-emergencyDetails&appealID=1087).
As a result of the crisis, the UN estimate that 21 million Yemenis (more than 80% of the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance. Of those, over 6 million people are facing severe shortages of food and 1.6 million women and children are suffering from acute malnutrition.
DFID has allocated £55 million to support humanitarian response in Yemen which will provide emergency shelter, healthcare, water and food assistance, as well as supporting UN work to co-ordinate the humanitarian response.
DFID officials have conducted quarterly visits to the Central African Republic throughout 2014 and 2015 to assess the impact of our programmes. Annual Reviews of progress are available on DFID’s Development Tracker at http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-204426/documents.
DFID is committed to supporting economic recovery initiatives in CAR. The conflict that has affected CAR since 2013 has had a severe impact on agriculture, which represents almost 60% of the country’s economy. The UK has provided £27million since 2013 to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Common Humanitarian Fund and NGOs to provide urgent humanitarian aid as well as agricultural inputs and technical training to CAR farmers, and to facilitate cattle vaccination campaigns to support traditional herders. In 2015, UK funding will support the livelihoods of more than 170,000 people in CAR.