Asked by: Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve flood defences in and around Worksop to prevent a repeat of the November 2019 floods.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Worksop was significantly affected by flooding in the November 2019 floods. In total 128 residential properties and 180 businesses, a mix of small to large, including the bus depot and main Post Office were unfortunately flooded. Since then the Environment Agency has met with residents and has been working with professional partners to ensure Worksop is more resilient to any future floods.
On our ability to respond to flooding, the Environment Agency has met with Nottinghamshire County Council, Bassetlaw District Council and the Canal and Rivers Trust to review our capability within Worksop and the surrounding area. This review will ensure better coordination of all flood assets on the ground to maximise the effectiveness of our collective incident response.
To improve flood defences, since November 2019 the Environment Agency has reviewed the maintenance regime to the River Ryton at Worksop and associated flood risk assets, and undertaken routine works in the area. The Environment Agency has also undertaken enhanced maintenance in the Worksop area, including silt removal, tree maintenance and blockage removal.
The Environment Agency is also currently producing a River Ryton Catchment Flood Model that will:
The development of any capital intervention will need to demonstrate it is technically feasible, is economically viable and can be financed in line with partnership funding rules.
The Environment Agency expects the modelling to begin delivering outputs by the end of 2020 which will then be used to develop the above flood risk improvements. We will continue to work with our partners to ensure Worksop is resilient in the future.
On 14 July, the Government published a long-term Policy Statement setting out our plan to create a nation more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk. The Policy Statement outlines five ambitious policies and over 40 supporting actions?which will?accelerate progress to?better protect and better prepare the country against flooding and coastal erosion in the face of more frequent extreme weather as a result of climate change. Alongside the Policy Statement, the Secretary of State has laid before Parliament the Environment Agency’s updated National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England which will provide direction to the work of risk management authorities on the ground and includes strategic objectives to improve the resilience of the nation through to 2100. Taken together, this means that our country will be significantly more resilient to flooding and coastal erosion.
Asked by: Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria the Government uses to distinguish between the political and military wings of Hamas in relation to the proscribing of organisations.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The elements of Hamas which meet the criteria for proscription under section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000 are listed in Schedule 2 to that Act. The relevant entry proscribes “Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades (Hamas IDQ)”. Those parts of Hamas which do not fall within the Schedule 2 entry are not proscribed.
Hamas IDQ, the military wing of Hamas, was proscribed in March 2001. The political wing of Hamas is not proscribed as it is considered that there is a clear distinction between Hamas’s military and political wings.
In distinguishing between the political and military wings for the purposes of proscription, the Government's aim is to proscribe only those parts of Hamas which are directly concerned in terrorism.
Asked by: Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government Equalities Office is taking to help promote shared parental leave.
Answered by Paul Scully
In the past 2 years the Government has spent over £1.75 million on communications campaigns to promote Shared Parental Leave to parents and employers and has achieved and maintained high levels of awareness of the policy. The Government is also improving tools and guidance for parents and employers to make it easier for them to access the scheme.