Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his counterpart in Israel to reverse demolition orders relating to the village of Khan Al Ahmar in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson), raised the UK’s concerns about demolitions, including the village of Khan Al Ahmar, with Prime Minister Netanyahu during his visit to Israel on 8 March. The Israeli High Court has approved a temporary injunction extending the deadline for the demolition order against the structures in Khan Al Ahmar to March 30.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if her Department will take steps to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians displaced by the expected demolition of Khan Al Ahmar in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The UK provides emergency response to communities facing demolition and displacement in Area C and East Jerusalem through core funding to the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, who aid partner reference GB-1-205059 is whom her Department funds to provide food and winter items in Syria.
Answered by Rory Stewart
In 2016/17 DFID is funding 17 organisations delivering life-saving humanitarian support in Syria. These include UN agencies, international non-governmental organisations and the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement. We have agreed with the specified partner not to disclose publicly their identity because doing so could put their staff at risk.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many mobile telephone masts are planned to be built in Salisbury constituency under the Emergency Services Network Mobile Services contract.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
In delivering the Emergency Services Network (ESN), the mobile network operator EE will deliver up to 291 new mast sites. Government will deliver approximately 230 further sites (known as the “Extended Area Services” (EAS) sites) in the most remote and rural areas of Great Britain.
EE has indicated that for the sites they are building for ESN, they will provide detailed information to the mobile network operators on the locations once sites for new masts are legally acquired and planning permission has been granted.
For EAS sites, proposed locations have been shared with the Scottish and Welsh Governments. Planning applications due to be submitted during 2017 will confirm and make public the precise locations of these sites.
There are currently no new sites proposed in the constituency of Salisbury as part of ESN.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether data held by her Department on the geographic location of mobile telephone masts constructed under the Emergency Services Network Mobile Services contract will be released.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
In delivering the Emergency Services Network (ESN), the mobile network operator EE will deliver up to 291 new mast sites. Government will deliver approximately 230 further sites (known as the “Extended Area Services” (EAS) sites) in the most remote and rural areas of Great Britain.
EE has indicated that for the sites they are building for ESN, they will provide detailed information to the mobile network operators on the locations once sites for new masts are legally acquired and planning permission has been granted.
For EAS sites, proposed locations have been shared with the Scottish and Welsh Governments. Planning applications due to be submitted during 2017 will confirm and make public the precise locations of these sites.
There are currently no new sites proposed in the constituency of Salisbury as part of ESN.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his US counterparts on the security situation in the South China Sea.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Boris Johnson), most recently discussed the security situation in the South China Sea with his US counterpart at a G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting in September. A joint statement at this meeting underlined G7 opposition to unilateral actions that raise tensions in the South China Sea, and urged all parties to comply with their obligations under international law and refrain from such actions. The UK has a clear interest in regional peace and stability and respect for freedom of navigation and overflight.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans the Government has to support the US administration in promoting regional security in (a) the South China Sea and (b) other parts of Asia.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We continue to work closely with the US in promoting regional security across Asia. In line with our Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 commitments to the Asia Pacific region more broadly, we are active with a range of like-minded security partners in the region. For example, in November 2016 Exercise Eastern Vortex saw the Royal Air Force participate in a military exercise with Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand; in joint exercises with Japan; and in a trilateral exercise with the US and the Republic of Korea.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure timely payments from the Rural Payments Agency.
Answered by George Eustice
The RPA has improved the Rural Payments service for 2016 and over 80% of BPS claims were submitted online this year.
This means the RPA has been able to focus on processing claims as quickly as possible in order to make payments to claimants from the opening of the payment window next month. They are aiming to pay 90% of claimants their BPS 2016 payment by the end of the year.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will take steps to roll out the yellow card scheme for benefit sanctions.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
A decision on whether to extend the Jobseeker’s Allowance Sanctions Early Warning Trial process in Scotland to England and Wales will be taken next year in light of findings from that trial.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to report on the pilot of the yellow card scheme for benefit sanctions.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We plan to publish an interim report on the Jobseeker’s Allowance Sanctions Early Warning Trial in Scotland by the end of the year, with the final report due to be published around April 2017.