Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the time required for all train stations in England and Wales to have step free access at the current pace of works funded by the Access for All funding scheme.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
It is this Government which is giving funding to continue the Access for All programme into the 2019 to 2024 period. Around 75% of rail journeys in the UK now have step free access to and between every platform, which compares with only 50% of journeys in 2005.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the timescale for implementing step-free access at all train stations through the Access for All funding scheme.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
We are committed to improving accessibility at railway stations. However, many stations date from a time when the needs of disabled passengers were simply not considered.
Therefore whenever infrastructure work is carried out at a station by the industry, it must comply with the relevant EU and UK accessibility standards. This includes major projects such as Crossrail, but also Network Rail’s ongoing renewals programme. However, in recognition of the scale of the problem, and to increase the pace of delivery, the Access for All programme was launched to provide access improvements over and above those required to be delivered by the rail industry, targeting stations not due to have their access improved as part of other projects.
We plan to announce the next tranche of Access for All projects in April and the Stations will all be completed by 2024 at the latest.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions has he had with representatives of Lima Group countries on the political and economic situation in Venezuela.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The political and economic crisis in Venezuela continues to raise concern. On 18 October, I met representatives of the Lima group - the Ambassadors of Peru, Chile, Colombia, Argentina and Paraguay, and the Canadian High Commissioner - to discuss the situation before my speech on Venezuela at Chatham House on 25 October.
I also discussed the situation in Venezuela with the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez, on 12 November.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the sale value of NHS property has been since Sir Robert Naylor's review of NHS Property and estates; and what recent estimate he has made of the sale value of NHS property due to be sold.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The latest published data shows that National Health Service trusts, foundation trusts and the Department, including its arm’s-length bodies and wholly owned property companies, disposed of 301 surplus sites between April 2015 and March 2017, generating £439 million in receipts from unconditional sales. This data is available online, as part of Cabinet Office’s ‘Transparency Report: Government’s land and property disposals in 2015-16 and 2016-17’, published in April 2018 at the following link:
Similar data relating to the 2017-18 financial year will be published in due course.
The Department annually collects data on properties owned by NHS trusts and foundation trusts which has been declared surplus and planned for future disposal. This collection does not include properties owned by the Department, its arm’s-length bodies and wholly owned property companies. Information reported directly by trusts show that as at 31 March 2018 the total declared market value of surplus and potentially surplus land was £260 million; however, many organisations were not able to provide figures due to data limitations, including commercial confidentiality. This data is available at the following link:
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to ensure the safety of HGV drivers using (a) lay-bys and (b) overnight parking places.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Enforcement against criminal activity against HGV drivers and their vehicles is a matter for the police. The Department will continue to engage with stakeholders to encourage the development of more safe, secure and high-quality lorry parking facilities. In particular, Highways England is developing its role as statutory planning consultee for such developments on the strategic road network, and this will include consideration of desirable criteria for lorry parking such as security features. In addition, the Department will consider how best to promote the uptake in the UK of the forthcoming EU-wide classifications for safe and secure lorry parking sites.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 190861 on Religious Buildings: VAT, whether his Department has plans to remove VAT on the repair and maintenance of places of worship after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The UK will leave the EU at the end of March next year. The UK and EU negotiating teams have already reached agreement on the terms of an implementation period that will start on 30 March 2019 and last until 31 December 2020. During the implementation period, the UK will no longer be a Member State of the European Union, but market access will continue on current terms. We therefore will not remove VAT on repair and maintenance of places of worship during the implementation period.Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Governor of the Bank of England on the Venezuelan Government's request to withdraw their deposited gold from its reserves.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Chancellor has not had a discussion with the Governor regarding the Venezuelan government’s request to withdraw gold deposits from the Bank of England.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to remove VAT from services and items included for the repair and maintenance of (a) churches and (b) other religious buildings.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Under the current EU rules, the government cannot remove VAT on the repair and maintenance of places of worship.
The government recognises the importance of places of worship in our communities and provides funding to cover the cost of repairs and maintenance of listed places of worship through The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, managed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 November 2018 to Question 185569 on Wembley Stadium, if he will publish the minutes of the meeting between the Minister for Sport and Civil Society and the Chief Executive of the Football Association.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Details about such meetings, including discussion and schedules, are kept confidential - to allow full and frank discussions between Ministers and agencies.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to maintain a central record of the number of people who use foodbanks in the UK.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We have no current plans to develop official national statistics on food bank use. However, the Office for National Statistics is leading a project to improve statistics on household food insecurity by reviewing all existing official and non-official sources of data and looking at options to fill data gaps in partnership with government departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions.