Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will request that Shell publishes its environmental impact assessments in respect of the areas of the Niger Delta where SPDC currently operates.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Environmental Impact Assessments for Shell’s activities in Nigeria since 2014 are published on the company’s website. Please see https://www.shell.com.ng/sustainability/environment/environment-impact-assessments.html
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to help ensure that Shell has in place plans for the safe decommissioning of its infrastructure in Nigeria prior to selling its Nigerian operation SPDC.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
SPDC is a Nigerian registered subsidiary of Shell whose operations in the Niger Delta are as a member of a Joint Venture in which it has a minority stake (the majority - 55% - stake is held by Nigerian state-owned company NNPC Ltd). This Joint Venture operates under a regulatory regime set and enforced by the Government of Nigeria. It would not be appropriate for His Majesty's Government, as a foreign government, to seek to influence the regulatory process.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what organisations have made representations to his Department requesting that the leasehold system is maintained.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Ministers and officials meet regularly with, and have received correspondence from, a range of stakeholders with different perspectives on Government’s reforms to the leasehold system.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 February 2024 to Question 13588, on Academies, how her Department monitors whether capital receipts from the disposal of publicly funded playing fields by an academy trust are reinvested in improving sports provision at (a) the affected school and (b) local schools.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Consent to the freehold sale of publicly funded playing field land by an academy trust will usually be subject to a condition specifying how the capital receipt should be reinvested.
The department requires the trust’s Accounting Officer to sign and return an acknowledgement letter attached to the consent letter confirming that the trust will comply with all conditions of consent. Failure to comply with any conditions will mean that the trust may be in breach of its funding agreement.
Departmental officials will only mark a case closed once the signed acknowledgement letter is received by the department.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 1 February 2023 to Question 133573 on Income Support, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of the minimum income guarantee on the (a) living standards and (b) quality of life of disabled people.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The minimum income guarantee (MIG) will increase in line with inflation, by 6.7%, from 6 April 2024. The revised rates were published in the 2024 Local Authority Circular on 9 February. The MIG rates are reviewed annually. No specific assessment has been made, nor is there one planned, on the impact of the level of the MIG on the quality of life of disabled people and local authority budgets.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the level of the minimum income guarantee on (a) the quality of life of disabled people and (b) local authority budgets.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The minimum income guarantee (MIG) will increase in line with inflation, by 6.7%, from 6 April 2024. The revised rates were published in the 2024 Local Authority Circular on 9 February. The MIG rates are reviewed annually. No specific assessment has been made, nor is there one planned, on the impact of the level of the MIG on the quality of life of disabled people and local authority budgets.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the policy paper entitled UK National Action Plan on implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: progress update, published in May 2020, whether he has had recent discussions with Shell on (a) tackling legacy oil pollution in the Niger Delta and (b) its adherence to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in Nigeria.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government has consistently supported the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and is clear that we expect UK businesses to comply with all applicable laws; identify and prevent human rights risks; and behave in line with the UNGPs. The UK Government regularly discusses with Shell the importance of action to address the risks of pollution from oil production in the Niger Delta. We continue to support initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of oil and gas production in Nigeria, including encouraging the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project to meet the needs of the communities affected by pollution.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to introduce new measures to help reduce emissions from surface transport by 2030.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In March 2023, the Government published an internationally unprecedented level of detail on its plans to meet emission reduction commitments, including those from surface transport. The Carbon Budget Delivery Plan sets out the policies and quantified carbon reductions needed to meet carbon budgets 4 and 5, and the vast majority of reductions needed to meet our commitments into the 2030s. The Department regularly reviews transport’s decarbonisation policies to ensure we are on track, and are committed to publishing our progress and reviewing our net zero pathway at least every five years.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications by academy trusts in Norwich to her Department to sell school grounds have been successful.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Departmental officials have checked records from 1 January 2020 to 12 February 2024, and the total number of successful applications from academy trusts for the freehold sale of school land is 49.
The department’s policy is that capital receipts from the disposal of publicly funded playing field land should ordinarily be reinvested in improving sports provision at the affected school or local schools. Capital receipts from the disposal of publicly funded non-playing field land should be reinvested in capital projects at the affected school or local schools. Playing field land is defined widely as: land in the open air which is provided for the purposes of physical education or recreation.
Departmental officials have checked the records from 1 January 2020 to 12 February 2024, and the department has not received any applications from academy trusts in Norwich to sell school land.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications by academy trusts to her Department to sell school grounds have been successful.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Departmental officials have checked records from 1 January 2020 to 12 February 2024, and the total number of successful applications from academy trusts for the freehold sale of school land is 49.
The department’s policy is that capital receipts from the disposal of publicly funded playing field land should ordinarily be reinvested in improving sports provision at the affected school or local schools. Capital receipts from the disposal of publicly funded non-playing field land should be reinvested in capital projects at the affected school or local schools. Playing field land is defined widely as: land in the open air which is provided for the purposes of physical education or recreation.
Departmental officials have checked the records from 1 January 2020 to 12 February 2024, and the department has not received any applications from academy trusts in Norwich to sell school land.