Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to use the Government's tree planting programme to help tackle (a) flooding and (b) upper catchment management of rivers.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra recognises the role tree planting has to support the management of England’s rivers. Defra works with the Forestry Commission, Natural England and the Environment Agency to ensure tree planting is appropriately targeted. Defra supports a number of projects and grants in this area. These include:
- The England Woodland Creation Offer supports riparian tree planting, flood management and improved water quality;
- The Woodlands for Water project works with the Riverscapes Partnership to facilitate the creation of riparian woodland corridors in six river catchment areas;
- The Environment Agency’s Water Environment Improvement Fund supports the planting of thousands of riparian trees across England;
- The introduction of a Sustainable Farming Incentive action for the management of habitat strips next to watercourses to support the planting of trees and scrub for biodiversity, flooding and water quality benefits.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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 help increase tree planting along riverbanks.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra recognises the role tree planting has to support the management of England’s rivers. Defra works with the Forestry Commission, Natural England and the Environment Agency to ensure tree planting is appropriately targeted. Defra supports a number of projects and grants in this area. These include:
- The England Woodland Creation Offer supports riparian tree planting, flood management and improved water quality;
- The Woodlands for Water project works with the Riverscapes Partnership to facilitate the creation of riparian woodland corridors in six river catchment areas;
- The Environment Agency’s Water Environment Improvement Fund supports the planting of thousands of riparian trees across England;
- The introduction of a Sustainable Farming Incentive action for the management of habitat strips next to watercourses to support the planting of trees and scrub for biodiversity, flooding and water quality benefits.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's policy is on the allocation of Government Car Service cars to senior officials; what the policy was on 24 May 2024; and which senior officials have been granted access to the service since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government Car Service (GCS) offers vehicles to government departments as a shared resource. Each department independently determines the allocation of these vehicles.
The arrangements relating to the using of vehicles in the Government Car Service is set out in the Civil Service Management Code.
There has been no change in this policy since the general election.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the condition of Bedford Hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future, and we recognise that delivering high quality NHS healthcare services requires safe, resilient, and effective infrastructure.
As part of the management of their estate, NHS trusts regularly assess the physical condition of their estate. The Estates Related Information Collection survey collects data from trusts on the quality of their estate annually, including the projected cost of bringing all the buildings on each NHS site into acceptable condition, recorded as backlog maintenance. The latest data on backlog maintenance is available at the following link:
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in European countries on mitigating the spread of the Ips typographus tree pest.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ips typographus is present in most of continental Europe, where it is not a regulated pest. In recent years, large populations have built up across western and central Europe causing extensive damage and mortality of spruce trees. Beetles routinely caught in traps in south-east England are probably a result of blow over from mainland Europe. It is not possible to prevent this natural dispersal, but the Government has robust surveillance and control measures in place nationwide to detect and eradicate outbreaks as they occur.
The Forestry Commission has visited multiple countries experiencing outbreaks of Ips typographus to discuss different approaches to outbreak management, including participating in a pan-European workshop on outbreak mitigation, and has received critical appraisal of our approach from members of the international community. Experts actively engage with European scientists to develop research projects, including research on the susceptibility of Sitka spruce in Denmark and cross-channel dispersal from Belgium.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she plans to take to help tackle congestion on roads.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to maintaining and renewing our road network so it can serve all road users, is safe, and tackles congestion. Traffic management on local roads is the responsibility of local traffic authorities who are best placed to understand local needs.
Local traffic authorities are subject to the statutory network management duty which requires them to manage their roads to secure the ‘expeditious movement’ of all traffic including pedestrians, with a view to reducing congestion, and they have a wide range of tools already available to them to enable this.
Written Evidence Oct. 17 2024
Inquiry: Interpreting and translation services in the courtsFound: We have a team specifically focused on complaints and quality management who deal with these as
Written Evidence Oct. 17 2024
Inquiry: Interpreting and translation services in the courtsFound: Compliance with the guidance is checked by the local management chain and then independently by HMCTS
Written Evidence Oct. 17 2024
Inquiry: Interpreting and translation services in the courtsFound: Human Resource Management Journal, 20(1): 3– 22. Kirton, G.; Healy, G. 2013.
Oct. 17 2024
Source Page: Decision for South Dorset Grab Services Ltd and Andrew YoungFound: Professional driving of lorries, buses and coaches Road safety, driving rules and penalties Fleet management