Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what contingency plans his Department has put in place to mitigate disruption to air travel in the event of a large Icelandic volcanic eruption.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The department prepares for a wide range of incidents that have the potential to disrupt air operations in the UK.
Details on the risk to aviation from an Icelandic Volcanic event are set out in “UK National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies 2017.” This document includes details on the actions taken by government and industry since the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010, as well as an assessment of the likelihood and impact of a future eruption. This covers both the risk of disruption from an ash rich eruption, as well as air pollution risks posed by a prolonged gas rich eruption, generating large amounts of sulphur dioxide and sulphate aerosol.
We are confident that contingency plans developed by the government and the aviation industry, alongside actions taken by the Icelandic authorities, will reduce significantly the level of disruption arising from a similar eruption to that in 2010. Volcanic activity across Iceland is kept under constant scrutiny and the contingency plans can be deployed quickly if required.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the level of disruption to air travel as a result of the potential for an Icelandic volcanic eruption.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The department prepares for a wide range of incidents that have the potential to disrupt air operations in the UK.
Details on the risk to aviation from an Icelandic Volcanic event are set out in “UK National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies 2017.” This document includes details on the actions taken by government and industry since the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010, as well as an assessment of the likelihood and impact of a future eruption. This covers both the risk of disruption from an ash rich eruption, as well as air pollution risks posed by a prolonged gas rich eruption, generating large amounts of sulphur dioxide and sulphate aerosol.
We are confident that contingency plans developed by the government and the aviation industry, alongside actions taken by the Icelandic authorities, will reduce significantly the level of disruption arising from a similar eruption to that in 2010. Volcanic activity across Iceland is kept under constant scrutiny and the contingency plans can be deployed quickly if required.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to reduce the level of disruption to air travel since the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The department prepares for a wide range of incidents that have the potential to disrupt air operations in the UK.
Details on the risk to aviation from an Icelandic Volcanic event are set out in “UK National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies 2017.” This document includes details on the actions taken by government and industry since the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010, as well as an assessment of the likelihood and impact of a future eruption. This covers both the risk of disruption from an ash rich eruption, as well as air pollution risks posed by a prolonged gas rich eruption, generating large amounts of sulphur dioxide and sulphate aerosol.
We are confident that contingency plans developed by the government and the aviation industry, alongside actions taken by the Icelandic authorities, will reduce significantly the level of disruption arising from a similar eruption to that in 2010. Volcanic activity across Iceland is kept under constant scrutiny and the contingency plans can be deployed quickly if required.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with his Icelandic counterpart on the risk of a volcanic eruption in that region.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The department prepares for a wide range of incidents that have the potential to disrupt air operations in the UK.
Details on the risk to aviation from an Icelandic Volcanic event are set out in “UK National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies 2017.” This document includes details on the actions taken by government and industry since the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010, as well as an assessment of the likelihood and impact of a future eruption. This covers both the risk of disruption from an ash rich eruption, as well as air pollution risks posed by a prolonged gas rich eruption, generating large amounts of sulphur dioxide and sulphate aerosol.
We are confident that contingency plans developed by the government and the aviation industry, alongside actions taken by the Icelandic authorities, will reduce significantly the level of disruption arising from a similar eruption to that in 2010. Volcanic activity across Iceland is kept under constant scrutiny and the contingency plans can be deployed quickly if required.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the environment in the UK of a large volcanic eruption in Iceland.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The department prepares for a wide range of incidents that have the potential to disrupt air operations in the UK.
Details on the risk to aviation from an Icelandic Volcanic event are set out in “UK National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies 2017.” This document includes details on the actions taken by government and industry since the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010, as well as an assessment of the likelihood and impact of a future eruption. This covers both the risk of disruption from an ash rich eruption, as well as air pollution risks posed by a prolonged gas rich eruption, generating large amounts of sulphur dioxide and sulphate aerosol.
We are confident that contingency plans developed by the government and the aviation industry, alongside actions taken by the Icelandic authorities, will reduce significantly the level of disruption arising from a similar eruption to that in 2010. Volcanic activity across Iceland is kept under constant scrutiny and the contingency plans can be deployed quickly if required.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what research his Department has reviewed on potential Icelandic volcanic activity and the effect of such activity on the UK.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The department prepares for a wide range of incidents that have the potential to disrupt air operations in the UK.
Details on the risk to aviation from an Icelandic Volcanic event are set out in “UK National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies 2017.” This document includes details on the actions taken by government and industry since the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010, as well as an assessment of the likelihood and impact of a future eruption. This covers both the risk of disruption from an ash rich eruption, as well as air pollution risks posed by a prolonged gas rich eruption, generating large amounts of sulphur dioxide and sulphate aerosol.
We are confident that contingency plans developed by the government and the aviation industry, alongside actions taken by the Icelandic authorities, will reduce significantly the level of disruption arising from a similar eruption to that in 2010. Volcanic activity across Iceland is kept under constant scrutiny and the contingency plans can be deployed quickly if required.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of his Department’s cloud hosting contracts have been awarded to (a) hyperscale cloud providers and (b) UK SMEs in each of the last three years; and what the value was of those contracts.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Department has a number of cloud hosting contracts, which are typically with large scale vendors via framework resellers.
7 contracts have been awarded to (a), comprising 50% of the total such contracts awarded, and with an overall value of £13,770,480.6
9 contracts have been awarded to (b), comprising 64% of the total such contracts awarded, and with an overall value of £7,575,356.06
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the volume of UK citizens’ data held by companies (a) supplying cloud services to his Department and (b) contracted to deliver cloud services on behalf of his Department that is subject to information requests from US Government bodies.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
My department does not centrally collect the specific data requested.
Information regarding contracts above the value of £10,000 is published on Contracts Finder on GOV.UK, available at https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.
The Interception of Communications Commissioner and the Information Commissioner’s Office also have responsibilities in this area.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what security measures his Department has in place relating to the receipt by his Department of incoming post and parcels; and what discussions he has had with the British Forces Postal Office on providing such services.
Answered by John Hayes
The Department has protective measures in place to receive packages into the Department safely and securely. We have not had discussions with the British Forces Postal Office regarding such services.