Asked by: Chris Davies (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of closing the barracks at Brecon before the assessment which led to the decision announced on 7 November 2016 during the last 10 years.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
"A Better Defence Estate" is a military led review that has been under formulation since the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). The strategy has been has been developed with military advice from the Front Line Commands to enable infrastructure that is affordable and optimised to support capabilities, outputs and communities both now and in the future. There has been no previous assessment of Brecon Barracks.
Asked by: Chris Davies (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of Government investment in the road network.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Government is investing £15.1 billion England’s motorways and major ‘A’ roads, £6.1 billion for local highways maintenance, and £1.5 billion for small scale improvements in England from 2015/16 to 2020/21.
Investment in the road networks of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are the responsibility of the respective devolved administrations.
Asked by: Chris Davies (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what measures his Department is putting in place to make government more cost-effective.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Improving the efficiency and productivity of the public sector is central to the work of the Cabinet Office and other government Departments. By 2014/15 the Government had saved £18.6 billion through efficiency and reform.
The government is continuing this work. For example, we are working to improve how the government operates across functional areas such as commercial, property, infrastructure and projects, and by tackling fraud, error and debt. We will continue to make government more effective throughout this parliament.
Asked by: Chris Davies (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support policing in rural areas.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
It is an operational decision for individual Chief Constables to determine how their resources are deployed and it is for Police and Crime Commissioners to hold their forces to account, including on how they tackle the crimes that matter most to residents and businesses in rural and urban areas alike.
Asked by: Chris Davies (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent support her Department has given to lamb farmers.
Answered by George Eustice
We have introduced a new system of extended tax averaging, allowing farmers to choose whether to spread their tax over a two or five-year period.
We are working on opening up new export markets for lamb. The Secretary of State had discussions on opening access for British lamb to the American market on her recent US trip.
We are supporting the sector’s efforts to improve its efficiency and competitiveness through co-funded Agri-Tech projects.
Asked by: Chris Davies (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how his Department determined the bands for the soft drinks industry levy; and what scientific studies were used in reaching that decision.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The new levy will be charged on producers and importers of drinks with added sugar. There will be one rate for drinks with total sugar content above 5g/100ml and a higher charge for drinks with more than 8g/100ml of sugar.
This structure is clear, simple and transparent. It is designed to encourage producers to reformulate their product mix by removing the added sugar content from drinks and helping consumers choose lower and no sugar brands.
The bands have been set to give producers certainty over the next two years before implementation so they can gradually reformulate their products. Companies have until April 2018 before the levy comes into force to reformulate and if they do, they can pay less.
Asked by: Chris Davies (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on allegations that the Palestinian Authority has given financial rewards to terrorists who have carried out attacks against Israelis.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Payments to Palestinian prisoners and their families are no longer made by the Palestinian Authority (PA), but by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. We have repeatedly raised our concerns about prisoner payments at the highest levels with the Palestinian authorities and continue to press for greater transparency in the payments. UK direct financial assistance to the PA is used to pay the salaries of civil servants and pensioners only. Our support is provided through a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank, which carries out close monitoring of PA expenditure. Only named civil servants from a pre-approved EU list are eligible, and the vetting process ensures that our funds do not benefit terrorist groups. The process is subject to independent auditing.
Asked by: Chris Davies (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to promote trade and diplomatic connections between the UK and other Commonwealth countries.
Answered by Lord Swire
The UK is committed to strengthening its engagement with the Commonwealth. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) led a strong delegation to the Commonwealth summit in November, where the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, my noble Friend, the right hon. Lord Maude and I promoted trade opportunities within the Commonwealth.
Asked by: Chris Davies (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost was of guidance published on the gov.uk website in each of the last five years; what the mean and range costs are of producing each piece of advice; and how many pieces of guidance were produced in each of the last five years.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The costs for GOV.UK are accounted for with other costs for the Government Digital Service and published in the Cabinet Office Report and Accounts as part of the Efficiency and Reform Group.
Departments also produce and publish their own material onto GOV.UK so some costs will rest with them.
Asked by: Chris Davies (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to prevent local high street bank branches from closing.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave on 25 June 2015 in response to PQ 3380. The answer can be accessed using the following link:
www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=QuestionsWithAnswersOnly&house=commons%2clords&use-dates=True&answered-from=2015-06-25&answered-to=2015-06-26&member=4107.