Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help ensure that banks continue to provide banking facilities for charities and community groups without imposing unaffordable charges.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been unprecedented demand for banking services, this accompanied with working restrictions due to social distancing has meant banks have faced significant capacity pressures which has limited their ability to meet demand for bank accounts, among other things.
Banks continue to work hard to meet this demand. Ultimately, the decisions about what products are offered and to whom remain commercial decisions for banks and building societies. Similarly, decisions concerning the pricing of products, including account charges, are also commercial decisions for these institutions. While I recognise the important role of the third sector, I hope you can appreciate that it would be inappropriate for the Government to intervene in these decisions.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that (a) CrossCountry and (b) East Midlands Railway restore full rail services to (a) Congleton and (b) Alsager following recent network changes and disruption.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Train services were reduced across the country in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic with some services reintroduced since. We welcome that passengers are returning to the railway in increasing numbers this summer. As they do, it will be for operators, working together, to propose the appropriate level of station calls and train services that reflect the changed patterns of demand and reduced revenue following the pandemic, and also provides a robust and punctual timetable.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what further funding the Government can provide to help secure progress towards the opening of a new railway station for Middlewich.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
We are assessing the bid made to round three of the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund for the Middlewich Line and expect to announce the outcome later this year.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that new housing development plans do not overload with traffic existing roads that are unsuitable for heavy numbers of vehicle movements, such as Giantswood Lane in Congleton.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has set out clear policies in the National Planning Policy Framework to ensure that when assessing sites for development in plans or for specific planning applications, any implications of the development for the transport network (in terms of capacity and congestion) or on highways safety can be cost effectively mitigated to an acceptable degree. All developments that will generate significant amounts of movement should be required to provide a travel plan, and the application should be supported by a transport statement or transport assessment so that the likely effects of the proposal can be assessed. Development should only be prevented or refused on highways grounds if there would be an unacceptable effect on highway safety, or the residual cumulative effects on the road network would be severe. Ultimately, it is the local planning authority's responsibility to consider whether a scheme or allocation meets these policy tests or whether it does not.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether new guidance has been issued to local councils on establishing priority for winter gritting since winter 2020-21.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 local highway authorities, such as Cheshire East Council, have a duty to maintain the highways network in their area. This duty includes the requirement “to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice”.
Whilst Government has no powers to intervene in these matters in relation to local authority roads and winter service planning and the treatment of roads for which they are responsible, the Department works with the UK Roads Liaison Group to provide guidance to local highway authorities on a range of issues. In June 2020, the UKRLG’s National Winter Service Group published Planning for Winter Service.
This autumn, Ministers will be writing to the leaders of all local highway authorities in England, outside London, reminding them of their responsibilities with regard to winter planning and the measures they expect them to take to ensure they can provide a safe highway network during the 2021-22 winter season.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the July 2021 report of the all-party Parliamentary group on North Korea.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK government notes the report of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea Inquiry into Human Rights Violations in North Korea from 2014-2020, published on Tuesday 20 July. We will review the APPG Report's findings and recommendations and consider how the UK government can continue to address the appalling human rights situation in the DPRK.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the human rights situation in North Korea.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK remains extremely concerned by the appalling human rights situation in North Korea, as we made clear alongside G7 leaders on 13 June, and G7 Foreign Ministers on 5 May. As set out in the FCDO 2020 Annual Human Rights and Democracy Report published on 8 July, we continue to work with partners to hold the North Korean government to account and urge the DPRK to cooperate fully with relevant UN human rights mandate holders and allow them immediate and unhindered access to the country. The UK continues to press annual debate on the DPRK's human rights issues in the UN Security Council. We keep our Global Human Rights (GHR) sanctions regime under review following the designation in July 2020 of the DPRK's Ministry of State Security (Bureau 7) and the Ministry of People's Security (Correctional Bureau).
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the progress made in implementing the 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry Report on human rights abuses in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the context of the APPG on North Korea report, published on 20 July 2021.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The international community has a responsibility to respond to human rights violations in North Korea. The UK continues to press for annual debate in the UN Security Council on DPRK human rights issues. We welcome and support the annual Human Rights Council and UNGA Third Committee resolutions on human rights in North Korea which stress the importance of following up recommendations from the UN Commission of Inquiry Report on Human Rights in the DPRK and provide the basis for further work on a credible framework for accountability for human rights violations in the country.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that children and young people are able to attend youth residential activities over the forthcoming summer holiday period in the event that covid-19 restrictions are maintained beyond 19 July 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department recognises the significant benefits that summer camps and other forms of education outside the classroom can have on children’s academic development as well as their mental health and wellbeing.
Since 17 May 2021, out of school settings, including outdoor education centres, have been able to operate in groups of any size for both indoor and outdoor provision. It remains important to continue minimising mixing between children where possible.
Since 21 June, out of school settings have been able to undertake residential visits and overnight stays with groups of up to 30 children. The Department has provided updated guidance which sets out how this can be operated safely. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-holiday-and-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the Government has listened to the views of the scientific community, in particular the information from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and its sub-groups when taking decisions on the best way to tackle COVID-19.
Education and childcare settings continue to be supported with appropriate guidance on safety measures, and the Department is committed to ensuring that out of school settings are able to effectively manage risks, create an inherently safer environment and maximise face to face education wherever possible. As new evidence or data emerges, the Government will act accordingly to ensure that all out of school settings have the right safety measures in place and that measures remain proportionate to the threat posed by COVID-19. The advice on residential visits and the need for protective measures will be reviewed again in advance of Step 4.
The Department is also working closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the National Youth Agency to ensure we have full awareness of the effect the COVID-19 outbreak has had on the youth sector. In response to youth sector engagement, dedicated youth sector COVID-19 guidance has been developed by the National Youth Agency in collaboration with DCMS, the Department, youth sector organisations and public health experts.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support his Department is giving to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to help ensure that that agency's joint investigations with the Ethiopian High Commission into atrocities in Eritrea are (a) independent, (b) transparent and (c) impartial, and whether those investigations address specifically the situation of ethnic and religious groups.
Answered by James Duddridge
We are appalled by systematic killing of civilians, widespread rape, including of children, indiscriminate shelling and the forcible displacement of ethnic Tigrayans. Those responsible for such abuses and violations need to be held to account.
We welcome the joint Enquiry of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) into human rights violations and abuses in Tigray, and continue to press for unfettered access to the region and victims. Investigators must be given unhindered access to Tigray, be able to speak to the victims of the religious and ethnic groups most affected, and allowed to report their findings in full. We have lobbied in Asmara for Eritrean cooperation with the UNOHCHR Joint Investigation. The EHRC has previously shown its willingness to act independently and must continue to do so through the joint investigation, which we judge is the most credible prospect available for holding the perpetrators of atrocities in Tigray to account. The UK will therefore support the UNOHCHR to ensure that their joint investigation into atrocities in Tigray with the EHRC is independent, transparent and impartial. We will also continue to press the Eritrean government to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea to enable him to fully carry out his mandate.
The UK further welcomes the proposed African Union Commission for Human and Peoples' Rights, calls for the Government of Ethiopia to allow access to this inquiry and is in touch with the African Union on how we might support this effort.