Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is to make a decision on whether Planetary Technologies and South West Water will be granted permission to carry out carbon sequestration trials involving adding alkaline minerals to treated waste water being pumped into the sea.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
In March 2023, Planetary Technologies and South West Water asked the Environment Agency to authorise their carbon sequestration trial in St Ives Bay. Varying South West Water’s EPR (Environmental Permitting Regulations) permit would not have been appropriate for a short term trial (less than one month) so the approach would be to issue a Local Enforcement Position. The current EPR permit for the discharge doesn’t cover the proposed dosing activity and only considers the local environmental aspects rather than the wider policy implications and effectiveness of carbon sequestration of adding alkaline material (magnesium hydroxide) into the waste water outfall pipe.
We commissioned the Water Research Centre (WRC) to audit Planetary Technologies’ proposal and we received WRC’s report in February 2024. The report concluded the trial was low risk and made several recommendations to Planetary. Planetary Technologies have now informed us that they wish to delay their formal application for the Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement trial for a period of approximately 6 to 12 months, to allow them time to action the recommendations.
We will consider a new application as and when we receive it.
More information can be found here.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of humanitarian aid supplied to Gaza in the last six months; and what information his Department holds on the countries of origin of that aid.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We trebled our aid commitment in the last financial year and we are doing everything we can to get more aid in as quickly as possible by land, sea and air.
As of 9 May, the UK has participated in 12 airdrops into Gaza, and on 17 April we announced £3 million of additional funding for equipment to support UN and aid agencies to get more aid into Gaza, including trucks, forklifts, generators, fuel stores and lighting towers.
On 6 April, the UK announced a £9.7 million package of military and civilian support to set up a maritime aid corridor to Gaza, including the deployment of a Navy ship.
In addition, a field hospital, provided by UK Aid funding to UK-Med, is up and running in Gaza and has already treated thousands of patients, and we have funded more than 2,000 tonnes of food aid, which entered Gaza in March for distribution by the World Food Programme (WFP) on the ground.
Updates on the number of aid trucks and type of aid entering Gaza are published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) on their publicly available aid dashboard at gazadashboard.unrwa.org. Between 2 November and 2 May 24,390 trucks entered Gaza. It remains challenging to track deliveries by weight and origin.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will make representations to his counterpart in Iran on stopping the execution of Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani.
Answered by David Rutley
FCDO is aware of Mr Ghahremani's case. We continue to call on Iran to establish a moratorium on executions, including at the UN General Assembly last year. We have sanctioned 94 individuals or entities for human rights violations since September 2022, including the Prosecutor General and Deputy Prosecutor General who are responsible for Iran's application of the death penalty. We continue to call for the release of all those who are unjustly detained in Iran.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2024 to Question 7549 on Hamas: Audio Equipment, what steps his Department is taking to help support Israel to remove Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is doing all it can to reach a long-term solution to this crisis by calling for the immediate release of all hostages, the removal of Hamas' capacity to launch attacks against Israel, Hamas no-longer being in charge of Gaza, the formation of a new Palestinian Government for the West Bank and Gaza accompanied by an international support package, and a political horizon to a two-state solution.
The Prime Minister has spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu several times, most recently on 30 April. The Foreign Secretary spoke with Foreign Minister Katz on 13 May. He also visited Israel with German Foreign Minister Baerbock on 17 April, met G7 partners in Italy immediately afterwards, and has spoken with leaders and counterparts in the OPTs, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran in recent weeks.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he has taken to increase the accountability of police (a) services and (b) officers to the public.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is his policy to ensure that interim payments are made to those who have been affected by infected blood.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Victims and Prisoners Bill includes provisions which place a statutory duty on the Government to make interim payments of £100,000 to estates of the deceased infected people who were registered with existing or former support schemes before 17 April 2024 for deaths not yet recognised.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that every family who lost a relative from infected blood is compensated.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
It is important that the Scheme recognises the immense suffering endured by people whose lives and families have been impacted by infected blood. Affected persons will be eligible for compensation in their own right where their case is linked to that of a person eligible under the compensation scheme. This includes affected partners; children; parents; siblings; and other friends and family members who cared for loved ones with an infection without reward or remuneration. Where a person has multiple family members who have been infected, multiple injury awards will be made to reflect the scale of their loss.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has taken steps to ensure that before selling homes under the Right to Buy scheme between 1980 and 2022, local authorities (a) assessed those buildings for (i) cladding and (ii) building safety defects and (b) informed prospective buyers of (A) non-standard construction in and (B) the life expectancy of such homes; and if he will provide guidance to local authorities on ensuring that (1) such assessments are made for before homes are sold under the Right to Buy scheme and (2) prospective buyers are informed of (x) non-standard construction in and (y) the life expectancy of such homes.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Local authorities are responsible for conservation areas. The Manual to the Building Regulations notes that where the functional requirement of Part B Fire Safety applies to buildings of special architectural or historic interest, local authority building control and conservation officers may be able to advise on how to comply appropriately, if guidance intended for common building situations might prove too restrictive.
We are aware of the action being taken by Barnet Council and continue to engage closely with them on the steps they are taking, following the Moss Hall Grove fire in June 2023.
I would be delighted to meet my Hon Friend and I know we are trying to do so, alongside our Rt Hon Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet, as soon as diaries permit.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of restrictions in conservation areas on the safety of (a) residential cladding materials and (b) fire safety remediation and mitigation measures.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Local authorities are responsible for conservation areas. The Manual to the Building Regulations notes that where the functional requirement of Part B Fire Safety applies to buildings of special architectural or historic interest, local authority building control and conservation officers may be able to advise on how to comply appropriately, if guidance intended for common building situations might prove too restrictive.
We are aware of the action being taken by Barnet Council and continue to engage closely with them on the steps they are taking, following the Moss Hall Grove fire in June 2023.
I would be delighted to meet my Hon Friend and I know we are trying to do so, alongside our Rt Hon Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet, as soon as diaries permit.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will meet with the hon. Member for Hendon to discuss what steps his Department is taking following the meeting with Barnet Council on 3 May 2024.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Local authorities are responsible for conservation areas. The Manual to the Building Regulations notes that where the functional requirement of Part B Fire Safety applies to buildings of special architectural or historic interest, local authority building control and conservation officers may be able to advise on how to comply appropriately, if guidance intended for common building situations might prove too restrictive.
We are aware of the action being taken by Barnet Council and continue to engage closely with them on the steps they are taking, following the Moss Hall Grove fire in June 2023.
I would be delighted to meet my Hon Friend and I know we are trying to do so, alongside our Rt Hon Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet, as soon as diaries permit.