Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an estimate of the average cost to farmers of switching agricultural machinery from using existing plant plugs to non-peat alternatives.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Officials are currently updating our economic Impact Assessment which examines the cost differences in moving away from peat. This includes inputs such as water and fertiliser as well as the capital costs of altering machinery.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
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 potential cost of the proposed ban on the use of peat by 2030 on the professional horticulture sector.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Officials are currently updating our economic Impact Assessment which examines the cost differences in moving away from peat. This includes inputs such as water and fertiliser as well as the capital costs of altering machinery.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of (a) water and (b) fertiliser usage for (i) peat and (ii) coir in the growing of plants.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Officials are currently updating our economic Impact Assessment which examines the cost differences in moving away from peat. This includes inputs such as water and fertiliser as well as the capital costs of altering machinery.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many officers from Norfolk Constabulary have provided mutual aid to the Metropolitan Police for policing protests since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Home Office does not record this information. However, we know that mutual aid has been provided to the Metropolitan Police from all other forces to support the policing efforts linked to wider protest activity since October 2023.
Mutual aid is a daily occurrence across UK policing and operates at regional and national level.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the exemptions granted by the Office of Rail and Road under Section 5 of the Railway Safety Regulations 1999 on central door locking by the date they (a) were issued and (b) expire.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The Office of Rail and Road publishes a list of exemptions granted under Regulation 6 of the Railway Safety Regulations 1999 on their website. This list of exemptions includes the date they were issued and their expiration dates.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in what specialisms the Armed Forces are providing training to Iraqi Security Forces in Iraq.
Answered by James Heappey
UK training is focused on enhancing the capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces in order to ensure the enduring defeat of Daesh. This includes training on policy and strategy, planning, cyber security, human rights and women's empowerment.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the armed forces are deployed in Iraq as of 29 January 2024.
Answered by James Heappey
Approximately 200 UK Service personnel were deployed on operations in Iraq as of Monday 29 January 2024.
On any given day figures can vary due to routine force rebalancing, rest and recuperation periods and relief in place.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Fujitsu has brought a legal claim against his Department since 2016.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Fujitsu has not brought a legal claim against the Cabinet Office since 2016.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress his Department has made on clearing the backlog of local audits in England since the 2015-16 financial year.
Answered by Simon Hoare
The Department working with system partners has developed proposals to tackle the exceptional circumstance of the current backlog and ensure a return to timely delivery of high-quality financial reporting and external audit in local bodies.
This has been detailed work, balancing various imperatives across the system. Having thoroughly tested the options, I recently wrote to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee and confirmed that the Department, supported by the Financial Reporting Council, and alongside the National Audit Office, will launch consultations on these proposals in the coming weeks. The solution on the table has the agreement of all system partners and is the best proposal to clear the backlog and over time, return to high quality assurance.
Our proposals will include an initial statutory backstop date of 30 September 2024 for local authorities and auditors to publish their audited financial accounts for all outstanding local audits in England up to and including the financial year 2022-23. While these consultations take place, preparers and auditors should continue undertaking existing work to produce and audit local authority financial statements to ensure the system is in the best place possible to implement any final package of measures.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) diplomatic and (b) military contribution the UK is making to the Global Coalition Against Daesh.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK remains committed to the Global Coalition Against Daesh and is the second largest contributor to Operation INHERENT RESOLVE.
As part of this military contribution, the UK provides support and funding for a range of initiatives across the region, including providing training, mentoring and professional military education to the Iraqi Security Forces. The UK has trained over 111,000 members of Iraqi Security forces, including over 21,000 of the Kurdish Peshmerga.
The UK also leads the Coalition’s counter-Daesh communications activity, working with Government and civil society partners.