Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has he made of the impact of the use of peat to support the growth of plants in amateur and professional horticulture in England and Wales on the environment.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for Cambridge on 21 March 2022, PQs 138305, 138306 and 138307.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the amount of peat being used in England and Wales in the (a) retail and (b) professional horticulture sector.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for Cambridge on 21 March 2022, PQs 138305, 138306 and 138307.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of use of the Smiths Detection System at Heathrow Airport Terminal 2 on (a) safety at airports and (b) national security.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Department for Transport is in regular contact with all security regulated airports about upgrading their security checkpoints over the next few years. This includes Heathrow Airport. Decisions on the type of equipment that airports want to use at security checkpoints is between the airport and manufacturers.
Any equipment in use must meet the security standards set by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and be approved for use by the Department for Transport. Approved equipment can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/aviation-security-screening-approved-equipment-list. We do not provide specific details of the security equipment in use.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with representatives of Heathrow Airport on its use of the Smiths Detection system at Terminal 2; and if his Department will make an comparative estimate of costs of (a) Smiths Detection system and (b) other standard security screening systems.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Department for Transport is in regular contact with all security regulated airports about upgrading their security checkpoints over the next few years. This includes Heathrow Airport. Decisions on the type of equipment that airports want to use at security checkpoints is between the airport and manufacturers.
Any equipment in use must meet the security standards set by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and be approved for use by the Department for Transport. Approved equipment can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/aviation-security-screening-approved-equipment-list. We do not provide specific details of the security equipment in use.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on Heathrow Airport's plans to extend use of the Smiths Detection Systems for airport security after the assessment period.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Department for Transport is in regular contact with all security regulated airports about upgrading their security checkpoints over the next few years. This includes Heathrow Airport. Decisions on the type of equipment that airports want to use at security checkpoints is between the airport and manufacturers.
Any equipment in use must meet the security standards set by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and be approved for use by the Department for Transport. Approved equipment can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/aviation-security-screening-approved-equipment-list. We do not provide specific details of the security equipment in use.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the (a) projected and (b) actual efficiency is of the Smiths Detection security screening system in Heathrow Terminal 2.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Any equipment in use must meet the security standards set by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and be approved for use by the Department for Transport. Approved equipment can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/aviation-security-screening-approved-equipment-list. We do not provide specific details of the security equipment in use for security reasons.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what training staff at Heathrow Terminal 2 have to work on the Smith detection security screening system.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The responsibility for ensuring that personnel are trained to operate any security equipment to a standard sufficient to ensure that no prohibited articles are taken beyond the search point falls to the airport.
Staff must have received appropriate training in the use of equipment before they can operate in a live environment. Staff will have to complete relevant training as outlined in the training syllabi that can be found on the CAA website at https://www.caa.co.uk/Commercial-industry/Security/Training/Syllabuses/. We do not provide details of the specific training for security reasons.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the efficiency is of the Smiths Detection security screening system at Heathrow Terminal 2; and what proportion of bags are rejected by that system.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
For national and aviation security reasons we do not comment on the detail of specific security arrangements, or on the details of the equipment in use.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the Government’s expected go through time is for security at Heathrow Terminal 2.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
To incentivise good service quality performance for consumers, the CAA sets the following security queue standards that it expects Heathrow airport to meet under its economic licence:
- Central search security queue standards
o 95% of queue times measured once every 15 minutes that are less than 5 minutes
o 99% of queue times measured once every 15 minutes that are less than 10 minutes
- Transfer search security queue standard
o 95% of queue times measured once every 15 minutes that are less than 10 minutes
- Staff search security queue standard
o 95% of queue times measured once every 15 minutes that are less than 10 minutes
Queue times which do not meet these standards can trigger a rebate payable by Heathrow airport.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if the Government will review all new security systems at airports in response to the three year trial of the Smiths Detection system at Heathrow Airport.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Department for Transport keeps security at airports under constant review and is in regular contact with airports and manufacturers. Purchasing equipment however remains the decision of airports.
Any equipment in use must meet the security standards set by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and be approved for use by the Department for Transport. Approved equipment can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/aviation-security-screening-approved-equipment-list.