Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Stephenson and Chris Bryant

Tuesday 5th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sir Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

How many people were treated for acquired brain injury last year?

[Andrew Stephenson]

The hon. Gentleman has caught me off guard—I will write to him. I am keen to continue working with him on that issue. As he knows, we have already shared draft details of the acquired brain injury strategy with him and members of the all-party parliamentary group, and I am very keen to continue working collaboratively on that issue with him.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Stephenson and Chris Bryant

Thursday 17th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Andrew Stephenson)]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. The Government are committed to ensuring that our rail network is more accessible. We are in the process of making 16 stations in Wales more accessible as part of our £350-million Access for All programme. My hon. Friend the Rail Minister would be happy to meet him to discuss Ruabon station.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab) [V]]

One thing that makes the British countryside unique, special and loved by everybody around the world is that, since the 1940s, it has been illegal to put up great big advertising hoardings outside towns and cities. That means that our motorways should be free of advertising, and people should just be able to appreciate the countryside. Unfortunately, on my journey back from London last night, I saw 23 such hoardings that have been plonked in fields by farmers and others. What is the Government going to do to return the British countryside to the way it should be without constant advertising along the motorway?

[Andrew Stephenson]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. I can confirm that no one puts illegal hoardings on land controlled by the Department for Transport or Highways England. Much of this illegal signage is put up on land located next to motorways, so this becomes a planning matter. I will therefore raise his concerns, if he is happy for me to do so, with Housing, Communities and Local Government Ministers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Stephenson and Chris Bryant

Wednesday 29th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson]

The UK is a global leader. Not only are we the fastest remover of our own carbon emissions in the G7; we are also making ground-breaking commitments such as the Prime Minister’s commitment at the UN General Assembly to double our international climate finance spending. I think that we have a proud record to tell, but we are going to work even harder to ensure that COP26 in Glasgow in November is a huge success.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

International agribusiness in Colombia regularly steals land from campesino and indigenous peoples to cut down trees and plant acre after acre of palm oil crops, which is unsustainable for the future and bad for the environment. What are the Government saying to the Colombian Government to bring the peace process back on track so that indigenous people can have their land back?

[Andrew Stephenson]

DFID supports the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020, a public-private initiative with 90 member organisations that is focused on realising private sector commitments to eliminate deforestation in the supply chains for palm oil, beef, soya and paper. This is one of our many initiatives to address the consequences of palm oil production.