Asked by: John Grogan (Labour - Keighley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to encourage the development of the sport of canoeing.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government’s sport strategy, Sporting Future, encourages and promotes outdoor recreation. Use of our waterways by all can be a creative and fun way to engage with the natural world and to stay healthy.
Sport England is actively engaged with British Canoeing and the Canal and River Trust to get more people from all backgrounds active. In addition Sport England is providing £6.85m to British Canoeing for the period between 2017 to 2021.
The ‘public rights of navigation’ issue around access to waterways is dealt with by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and they are currently working with British Canoeing to consider solutions to access disputes.
Asked by: John Grogan (Labour - Keighley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applicants for universal credit were subject to the habitual residency test in 2018; what proportion of those applications passed that test; and what the average time taken was to make a determination.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Grogan (Labour - Keighley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to strengthen the powers the environment agency has to determine whether a person or a company is fit and proper to be granted a licence regarding the disposal or incineration of waste.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Last year the Government committed to implementing measures to raise the standard of operator competence at permitted waste sites by strengthening the Environment Agency’s assessment and enforcement powers.
We are now delivering on these published commitments. In January we passed legislation requiring all waste facilities to have a written management plan to minimise the risks of pollution to the environment.
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/1227/part/3/made
In March we widened the scope of past offences the Environment Agency can consider when assessing competence for applications for waste facility permits:
In the coming months we will update Core Guidance to strengthen the Environment Agency’s enforcement capabilities when considering operators’ past performance. Further measures to tackle crime and low levels of performance in the waste industry are set out in our Resources and Waste Strategy.
Asked by: John Grogan (Labour - Keighley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what voluntary access arrangements to inland waterways for recreational purposes have been negotiated in the last 10 years; and how many additional miles of waterway have been made available to canoeists through this mechanism.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Information of this nature is not held by the department.
Asked by: John Grogan (Labour - Keighley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the total length of unmanaged waterways in England to which canoeists have an undisputed right of navigation.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Mid Derbyshire, Pauline Latham, on 19 February 2019 to PQ 220196.
Asked by: John Grogan (Labour - Keighley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of waste incineration capacity.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
An assessment of England’s municipal waste treatment capacity – including incineration with energy recovery – was set out in the Resources and Waste Strategy and the associated Evidence Annex published in December 2018. Existing operational capacity is sufficient to treat around 36% of municipal residual waste at current levels. While energy from waste plays an important role in diverting waste from landfill, our emphasis is on greater waste prevention, re-use or recycling.
Asked by: John Grogan (Labour - Keighley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what criteria the proposals for One Yorkshire devolution failed to meet.
Answered by Jake Berry
I refer the Hon Member to my answers of 19 February 2019 and 20 February 2019 in response to Question UIN 221735 and Question UIN 222008 from the Hon Member for Barnsley Central, which set out our criteria for devolution and how the One Yorkshire proposal did not meet these.
Asked by: John Grogan (Labour - Keighley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on (a) scoping and (b) commissioning further feasibility work on whether the restoration of the Skipton to Colne link would generate enough freight and passenger traffic to be affordable.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Work is currently progressing and we expect to receive the results later this year to inform a decision as to whether the scheme should go to the next stage ‘develop’ of the Government’s Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline.
We are working closely with Transport for the North to assess the proposed scheme and to ensure that it can be affordable, will attract sufficient traffic, and is part of the right long-term solution for the cross Transpennine rail traffic.
This is part of our new approach to rail enhancements to ensure we address the needs of passengers and freight, and that funding commitments appropriately reflect the stage of development of schemes.
Asked by: John Grogan (Labour - Keighley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish his Department's analysis of the case presented to Ministers for One Yorkshire devolution by local authority leaders.
Answered by Jake Berry
In reaching his decision on the One Yorkshire proposal the Secretary of State had regard to the evidence and analysis supplied by the Yorkshire leaders, which are available at https://www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/economy/devolution/ . It was on this basis that the Secretary of State concluded that the One Yorkshire proposal met neither the criterion on functional economic area nor on there being strong and accountable governance. The proposal focuses on an area that is far greater than any of today’s functional economic city regions, and does not show how a single accountable mayor would be empowered to take tough decisions across a single area.
Asked by: John Grogan (Labour - Keighley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2019 to Question 213222, whether dual Irish/EU nationals who are also British citizens are eligible to apply under the EU Settlement Scheme.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
British citizens, including those with dual British/Irish or British/EU citizenship, are not eligible to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme. This is because, under Section 1(1) of the Immigration Act 1971, those with a right of abode in the UK (including all British citizens) cannot be granted immigration status.