Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will meet with representatives from The Royal College of Radiologists to discuss the findings and recommendations of their paediatric interventional radiology report.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I would be pleased to meet The Royal College of Radiologists to discuss their recent report into paediatric interventional radiology.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
Whether she is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to ensure the availability of synthetic and sustainable fuels for use in motorsport.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government welcomes the moves of the motorsport sector, including Formula 1, to develop, and make widely available, more advanced sustainable fuels. Formula 1 and the British motorsport industry has a great history of technological innovations which can have an enormous impact beyond the racetrack. Motorsport’s work to develop 100% sustainable fuels stands to benefit the global transport sector, and help our drive towards net zero.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will take steps to support a bid for a round of the World Rally Championship series to be hosted in Northern Ireland in 2024.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
Northern Ireland is a fantastic place to host international events, but tourism is devolved in Northern Ireland and therefore this is not something within the control of the Northern Ireland Office.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on the value of compensation awarded under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in each financial year since 2018-19.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The overall cost of compensation awarded by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for the years in question can be found in its Annual Reports and Accounts, which are published here: https://www.fscs.org.uk/industry-resources/annual-report-archive/ and https://www.fscs.org.uk/news/fscs-news/annual-report/.
In 2021/22, the last year for which numbers have been published, the cost was £584 million.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide a breakdown of the roles undertaken by the 167 FTE staff employed by HS2 Ltd in its Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Directorate.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The majority of staff are engaged on community engagement activities along the 200 mile HS2 route, and the number of staff employed in the Directorate and handling all HS2 communication and engagement activity is a very small proportion of the 30,000 people now working on the HS2 project.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the value for money of HS2 Ltd's £8,086,998 annual spend on communications and community engagement.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
An estimated 2.4 million people live within five miles of the HS2 route in rural areas, and within one mile in urban areas, across 58 local authorities and 75 parliamentary constituencies. Specialist teams in HS2 Ltd engage with communities and stakeholders across 200 miles of the proposed route to help ensure that there is a level of understanding and transparency around the impacts of construction on those affected. Similarly, HS2 Ltd’s 24-hour Helpdesk responds to around 30,000 enquiries a year, and the HS2 website (www.hs2.org.uk) received over 1.9 million visits in 2022.
The Department for Transport monitors all HS2 Ltd expenditure in order to ensure value for money for the taxpayer.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of reports that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps allegedly supplied surface-to-air missiles to the Polisario Front.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK condemns the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) destabilising activity, including its weapon proliferation to non-state actors, wherever it occurs. The UK maintains a range of sanctions that work to constrain the activities of the IRGC, which itself is sanctioned in its entirety. We strongly support the work of Staffan de Mistura as Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara and continue to urge the parties to avoid further escalation and swiftly re-engage with the UN-led political process, including a return to a ceasefire.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of reports that Ethiopia allegedly used Iranian-made armed drones in the Tigray War.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We advocate for responsible arms exports which comply with international obligations, including International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law. The US have set out that Iran supplied Mohajer-6 drones to Ethiopia in 2021. If so and in the absence of approval by the UN Security Council, such transfers by Iran violate UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2023 to Question 136754 on Packaging: Recycling, what (a) representations and (b) feedback her Department has received from (i) industry representatives and (ii) others on the work of the Business Readiness Forum.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We continually engage with industry on the EPR packaging requirements and are providing guidance and support to ensure a smooth transition. Feedback from industry has been encouraging and having dedicated forums for industry has been well received.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2023 to Question 136753 on Packaging: Recycling, how the funding model would work for obligated businesses paying into the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The funding model involves every obligated producer being billed for its share of the full net costs incurred by UK local authorities managing household packaging waste. Local authority costs will be determined by the Scheme Administrator using a model that assumes local authority packaging waste management is efficient and effective. Each producer’s share will reflect the weight of packaging associated with the products they supply in the UK. From 2025/26, fees will be adjusted (“modulated”) to reflect the recyclability of packaging materials. The scale of the adjustments will be determined by the Scheme Administrator. In addition to making payments to local authorities for the costs of managing packaging waste, each producer will contribute to the operating costs of the Scheme Administrator.