Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will hold discussions with banks and other ATM providers to ensure customers may continue to access cash free of charge.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The Government believes that widespread free access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers in the UK.
To this end, the Government is engaging with LINK and its members, including banks and Independent ATM Deployers, to ensure that widespread free access to cash is maintained, and is encouraged to hear that LINK’s members have committed to further work to find a solution to the dispute.
The Government is also working closely on the issue with the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), which was established in 2015 to promote competition, innovation, and the needs of end users within payment systems. The PSR is in regular contact with LINK, and is monitoring the situation closely, including assessing the potential effect of any development on the provision of ATMs in the UK.
The PSR has the power to act should LINK or any of its members behave in a way that conflicts with any of its statutory objectives.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to establish a contingency bond to cover the costs of environmental clean up in the event of a shale oil or gas company going into administration.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Government has been clear that shale development must be safe and environmentally sound. In the UK, we have been regulating for gas and oil drilling, both onshore and offshore, for over 50 years and have tough regulations in place to ensure on-site safety, prevent water contamination, and mitigate seismic activity and air pollution.
Projects must be approved by the environmental regulator (in Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency) and the Health and Safety Executive. Approval must also be sought from the relevant Mineral Planning Authority (MPA) through the planning system. MPAs are able to set the planning conditions they consider necessary, and some have already chosen to do so for site restoration.
In England, as part of the petroleum licensing process, and prior to awarding a licence, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) assesses whether a company has adequate financial capacity for its planned operations. The OGA also checks at the drilling and, where relevant, production stage that the company has sufficient funding and appropriate insurance. The licensing of oil and gas development is devolved to Northern Ireland.
BEIS officials are working with the industry’s trade body UK Onshore Oil and Gas to ensure that liabilities for shale wells are addressed in the rare circumstance where all of the companies on a licence became insolvent, and where no rescue mechanism for those companies could be found.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the stability of the official Government in Libya; and what recent progress he has made on developing Government relations with Government leaders in Libya.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Despite the signing of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) in December 2015, the political and security situation in Libya remains fragile. A number of players continue to obstruct full implementation of the LPA. The UK remains committed to the LPA and is supportive of current efforts to amend it in order to secure support from those Libyans who have hitherto opposed it. An inclusive government which brings together Libyans from across the country is the best way to restore unity, rebuild the economy and tackle the threats posed by Daesh and illegal migration. The Government of National Accord (GNA) has made some progress, such as agreeing emergency budget measures with the Central Bank and completing operations against Daesh in Sirte. The UK and US co-hosted a meeting on Libya in London on 31 October 2016, where the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson), met with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Serraj. Whilst our Embassy has yet to reopen, our Ambassador to Libya is now making regular visits to Libya to engage the GNA and political leaders from across the country.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to reform bereavement benefits.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
For those whose spouse or civil partner dies on or after 6 April 2017 we are replacing the current suite of bereavement benefits with a single benefit known as Bereavement Support Payment. The Regulations setting out the details of Bereavement Support Payment were debated in the House of Lords on 21 February 2017 and in the House of Commons on 27 February 2017.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the Northern Ireland Executive's ability to meet the requirements set out in the Fresh Start document to release the £5 million Government funding in 2016-17 to tackle paramilitary activity.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Northern Ireland Executive has established a Strategic Programme Board and a Cross Departmental Advisory Group to manage funding agreed under the Fresh Start agreement to tackle paramilitary activity. The Programme Board has allocated £3.898 million in 2016/17 to law enforcement activities and other initiatives to tackle ongoing paramilitary activity and criminality, including £1.949 million of UK Government funding.
The Executive’s programme management structure will drive the next phase of implementation, which will include actions to support local communities to reject paramilitary activity and to develop mechanisms to support those individuals or groups who want to transition away from paramilitarism.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much (a) income tax and (b) VAT was accrued to the public purse from activities related to flight training schools in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs are not able to disaggregate statistics on tax accruals down to lower level trade sector such as flight schools.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to bring forward legislative proposals to give the Government power to ring-fence landing slots at Heathrow Airport to protect connections to regional airports as was proposed in the Airports (Amendment) Bill [HL] 2010-12.
Answered by John Hayes
Under European Union regulations airport slot allocation in the UK is managed by a designated co-ordinator which is independent of the Government, the Civil Aviation Authority and other interested parties.
The Government will consider how all UK airports, including those in the South East, can best utilise their existing runways to allow the growth of both domestic and international connectivity as part of the new Aviation Strategy. This will be an ambitious programme of work, and we will be consulting widely throughout 2017, leading to publication of an Aviation Strategy White Paper at the end of 2018.
The draft Airports National Policy Statement, currently out for consultation, sets out that expansion at Heathrow would be an opportunity to not only strengthen the frequency of existing domestic routes, but also to develop new domestic connections, including to regions currently unserved. Government would expect Heathrow to add at least six more domestic routes by 2030 bringing the total to 14.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his most recent estimate is of UK gas reserves; and what independent sources his Department uses to validate those estimates.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
BEIS is guided by the Oil and Gas Authority’s (OGA) estimate of UK gas reserves. The 2016 range of estimates of UK gas reserves is from 207 billion cubic metres (bcm) to 446 bcm with a central estimate of 333 bcm. In addition, there are contingent resources in significant discoveries where development plans are under discussion. These are estimated to range between 26 bcm and 89 bcm. The OGA collects data directly from operators and also has access to proprietary estimates of remaining commercial reserves from specialist energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Accessible Information Standard.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England is conducting a post-implementation consultation on the Accessible Information Standard, which all organisations that provide National Health Service care or publically funded social care have been required to follow since 1 August 2016. The consultation will enable NHS England to assess the impact of the Standard and to ensure that it is, and will be, fit for purpose.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much of the £2.5 billion commercial investment in broadband planned by BT has been delivered to date.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Department does not hold information on the funding invested by BT in its commercial activities.