Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support new woodlands and community green spaces.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our England Trees Action Plan sets out how we will deliver our ambitious commitments to treble tree-planting rates across the country and bring trees and woodlands closer to people, backed by the £750 million Nature for Climate Fund. We are funding three new Community Forests in Cumbria, Devon and the North East, have established the Urban Tree Challenge Fund, and have created opportunities for large-scale tree planting through the Landscape Recovery Scheme with details soon to be launched. On 24 January I had the pleasure of visiting Blenheim estate, a 104-hectare woodland created under the England Woodland Creation Offer. Landowners, land managers and public bodies can apply to the England Woodland Creation Offer, which provides both greater financial incentives to plant and maintain trees and offers greater recognition of the benefits provided by woodland to people and nature.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What recent steps his Department has taken to support opportunities arising from marine energy.
Answered by George Freeman
On Monday 13 September we confirmed that wave and tidal stream projects will be eligible to compete in this year’s Contracts for Difference allocation round. We continue to assess a range of marine technologies following our Call for Evidence on marine energy.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What plans his Department has to increase access to justice.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Access to justice is a fundamental right and this government is committed to ensuring that everyone can get the timely support they need to access the justice system.
We announced our vision for resolving legal problems earlier and increasing access to justice through the Legal Support Action Plan, including the role technology can play in identifying legal problems.
Despite various real demands of Covid-19 on the MoJ, we have continued to prioritise a new £3.1m grant that will further enhance legal support for litigants in person over the next two years.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Attorney General:
What plans she has for the allocation of the additional £85 million to the CPS.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Government is investing across the justice system.The additional £85 million to the CPS will enable the CPS to respond effectively to any increase in caseload resulting from the recruitment of 20,000 new police officers; to better meet their disclosure obligations; to work with investigators to pursue all reasonable lines of inquiry; and to deliver much needed changes to external counsel fees. Investing in the CPS to meet these pressures demonstrates that this Government is commitment to ensuring that justice is served.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for renewable sources of energy.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Ministers regularly discuss issues including renewable energy, including as part of the Government’s commitment to meeting net zero by 2050.
In 2019, the Government set a legally binding-target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions from across the UK economy by 2050. We agree with the Committee on Climate Change’s view on the importance of a diverse mix of power generation sources to achieve that with renewables providing the majority of our electricity by 2050 alongside firm low carbon power from sources such as nuclear, and gas or biomass generation with carbon capture and storage. The Government has introduced many initiatives to increase the supply of renewable energy production in the UK.
We have committed up to £557m of annual support for future Contracts for Difference, providing developers with the confidence they need to invest in bringing forward new projects and we are supporting our world-leading offshore wind industry through the 2019 sector deal.
In order to support smaller scale renewable electricity generation, the Government introduced the Smart Export Guarantee on 1 January, which gives?small scale low-carbon electricity generators, such as?homes with?solar?panels,?the right to?be paid for the renewable electricity they export to the grid.
The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) supports the transition to low-carbon heating in the UK, helping generate renewable heat for schools, hospitals and more than 12,000 social housing properties. The scheme is designed to bridge the gap between the cost of fossil fuel heat sources and renewable heat alternatives through financial support for owners of participating installations. The RHI helps to sustain and build the supply-chains needed to deliver our aspirations for renewable heat in 2020 and beyond
Meeting our net zero target will require virtually all heat in buildings to be decarbonised, and heat in industry to be reduced to close to zero carbon emissions. This will involve large-scale transformation, including disruption to consumers and wide-ranging change to energy systems and markets: the way heating is supplied to over 28 million homes, businesses and industrial users will need to change.
We are working to develop a new policy framework for the long-term decarbonisation of heat. This will set out the programme of work required to enable key strategic decisions on how we achieve mass transition to low carbon heating.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what comparative assessment he has made of (a) the number of cases the CPS agreed to pursue came to court and (b) the average waiting time for those cases to be heard when the CPS was (i) based in Gloucester and (ii) based in Bristol.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The South West regional area of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) covers three police force areas: Avon & Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and Gloucestershire. The Area is based in Bristol, Exeter and Truro following the closure of the Gloucester office in April 2014. In 2013-14, prior to the closure of the Gloucester office, CPS South West prosecuted 11,826 cases where the CPS had authorised charge. In 2018-19 they prosecuted 9,279. This reduction is consistent with the falling caseload for the CPS nationally.
The CPS does not hold any records relating to the average waiting time at court. However, data is available showing the average time (in calendar days) from the date the decision to charge a suspect was made to the date the prosecution case was finalised. In 2013-14 this was 140.3 days for CPS South West and 139.2 days in 2018-19. For cases referred by Gloucestershire Police the average time taken between decision to charge and finalised prosecution has dropped from 176.5 days in 2013-14 to 142.5 days in 2018-19.
The average timeliness of a prosecution case is measured from the date charges are authorised by the CPS to finalisation. The average time includes the period between the date the CPS authorise the charge, to the date the suspect was charged by the police, to date of the first listed hearing and subsequent finalisation of the defendant’s case. It is not possible to disaggregate the average timeliness between these stages. The data includes cases which are completed in magistrates’ courts and, more serious and complex, cases which proceed to the Crown Court. The precise time to charge a defendant is a matter for the police and similarly the time to list a case in court is a matter for HM Courts and Tribunals Service. The length of time cases take in court depends on the nature and complexity of the matters in question and whether matters are admitted or contested by the defendant.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) Gloucester constituency and (b) the UK (i) applied for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) (ii) had their Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claim rejected and (ii) successfully contended a rejected Personal Independence payment (PIP) claim at appeal in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The table below provides the information requested for initial decisions following a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment for the Gloucester Parliamentary constituency and Great Britain in 2018-19:
Initial decisions in 2018-19 | Gloucester | Great Britain |
PIP initial decisions following a PIP assessment | 1,320 | 630,260 |
Of which, disallowed | 430 | 222,930 |
|
|
|
Of those disallowed at initial decision |
|
|
Award changed at Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) | 40 | 15,940 |
Award unchanged at MR and decision overturned at a tribunal hearing | 20 | 14,510 |
Award unchanged at MR and appeal lapsed | 10 | 6,140 |
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
Claimants who have received benefit decisions more recently may not yet have had time to complete the claimant journey and progress to appeal.
A lapsed appeal is where DWP changed the decision in the customer’s favour after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at tribunal.
The Northern Irish Assembly has devolved responsibility for social security benefits. The responsibility for statistics in Northern Ireland lies with the Department for Communities:
https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/articles/personal-independence-payment-statistics
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
What diplomatic steps he is taking to strengthen UK relations with ASEAN member states.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
It is undoubtable that the ASEAN region’s political, economic and security importance is growing. As we leave the EU we are excited about deepening our relationship with all countries in Southeast Asia.
The importance we place on this region is demonstrated by the fact that the Foreign Secretary’s first overseas trip was to attend ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ 31 July - 1 August, where he met all of his ASEAN counterparts, and my first overseas trip was to Cambodia, Laos and Thailand in September. We are committed to strengthening our relationship with the region in all areas.
The first dedicated UK Ambassador to ASEAN was announced in October and our UK Mission to ASEAN will open in November.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
What steps he is taking to increase rail capacity in Gloucester.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In the new timetable starting on 15 December Great Western Railway increases the frequency of through train services between London Paddington and Gloucester from every two hours to hourly. There will also be earlier first and last trains.
The new through trains will be operated by new Intercity Express Trains, providing far more capacity than the shorter local diesel trains they replace.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the female offender strategy.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Female Offender Strategy set out our vision to see fewer women coming into the criminal justice system and in custody, and better conditions for those women who need to be in custody. The strategy launched an ambitious programme of work which will take will take several years to deliver. We are committed to monitoring progress over time and taking action to deliver the outcomes we set out to achieve.
We have taken stock of progress in the first year and published an update on our progress in a Written Ministerial Statement on 27 June 2019: https://www.parliament.uk/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-06-27/HCWS1662 . A number of key achievements are set out below:
• In December 2018, we published a new Women’s Policy Framework to replace Prison Order 4800. It sets out the duties, rules and general guidance for prison and probation staff who work with women
We continue to monitor the impact of the strategy and be scrutinised on progress in its delivery through the Advisory Board on Female Offenders, a minister-led board of external stakeholders.