Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many callouts have been made to RAF St Mawgan for maintenance issues relating to (a) roofing, (b) loss of heating and hot water, (c) electrics, (d) pest control and (e) damp and mould since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information required to answer the hon. Member's questions is held by Ministry of Defence contractors. Defence Infrastructure Organisation officials are working with them to produce a consolidated response which will take some time. I will write to him by early June 2024, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many callouts have been made to RAF Fairford for maintenance issues relating to (a) roofing, (b) loss of heating and hot water, (c) electrics (d) pest control, and (e) damp and mould since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information required to answer the hon. Member's questions is held by Ministry of Defence contractors. Defence Infrastructure Organisation officials are working with them to produce a consolidated response which will take some time. I will write to him by early June 2024, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor and address any disruptions in the flow of essential food and agricultural products resulting from the introduction of import controls, particularly in the event of unforeseen logistical challenges.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have introduced controls which are more proportionate to risk and worked with port and airport operators, traders, Port Health Authorities (PHAs) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to make sure we have the right infrastructure, systems and resources in place.
This has culminated in recent months with an extensive period of operational testing. Collaborating with several ports, PHAs, APHA and traders, we have used these tests to ensure that stakeholders are prepared for the new controls.
Defra is confident that existing and new Border Control Posts infrastructure will have sufficient capacity and capability to handle the volume of expected checks outlined in the Border Target Operating Model, with robust, dynamic and effective operational measures ready to call upon if needed.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many callouts have been made to RAF Weston-on-the-green for maintenance issues relating to (a) roofing, (b) loss of heating and hot water, (c) electrics, (d) pest control and (e) damp and mould since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information required to answer the hon. Member's questions is held by Ministry of Defence contractors. Defence Infrastructure Organisation officials are working with them to produce a consolidated response which will take some time. I will write to him by early June 2024, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many callouts have been made to RAF Welford for maintenance issues relating to (a) roofing, (b) loss of heating and hot water, (c) electrics. (d) pest control and (e) damp and mould since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information required to answer the hon. Member's questions is held by Ministry of Defence contractors. Defence Infrastructure Organisation officials are working with them to produce a consolidated response which will take some time. I will write to him by early June 2024, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2024 to Question 21525 on Telecommunications: Infrastructure, when she plans to meet with fixed-line operators to discuss concerns.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I met fixed-line operators on 18 April to discuss the concerns around the deployment of telegraph poles, and to seek commitments from industry. I was reassured by operators that they do not wish to undermine the public confidence in the Government's programme of infrastructure rollout and that they will consider how to improve their working practices around pole placement. I am positive that revisions to the Code of Practice can be delivered by industry, and I will meet with them again in June to understand what progress has been made.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help support Great British Railways to reduce rail journey times.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government is reforming the railways to ensure they are fit for the 21st century. Central to this is the establishment of Great British Railways (GBR).
The Draft Rail Reform Bill, which is needed to establish GBR, is undergoing pre legislative scrutiny. Alongside this, we are delivering for passengers, freight customers and taxpayers now, for example simplifying ticketing and fares and introducing the Rail Freight Growth Target.
Once established, GBR will bring infrastructure, operations and strategic finance decisions together, better addressing customers’ needs whilst delivering a simpler and better railway.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to (a) improve recycling infrastructure and (b) reduce plastic waste exports.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the Resources and Waste Strategy, we have committed to taking actions which will help to stimulate private investment in reprocessing and recycling infrastructure.
We are introducing Collection and Packaging Reforms made up of Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging, Simpler Recycling and a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers. Through these reforms we want to significantly increase domestic reprocessing and recycling capacity by both increasing investors’ confidence and improving the competitiveness of UK reprocessing.
Our existing Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations have led to investment in waste infrastructure to process end of life electrical and electronic equipment.
We encourage the development of infrastructure for plastic reprocessing to ensure the UK meets its recycling targets as well as supporting these collection and packaging reforms.
Additionally, HM Treasury’s plastic packaging tax is expected to increase demand for secondary material plastic and increasing reprocessing infrastructure will help meet this demand. Reprocessing infrastructure enables the value of resource use to be maximised as well as waste arisings and its impact on the environment to be minimised.
These actions are all intended to increase the amount of plastic waste we recycle domestically so we can reduce our dependency on plastic waste exports.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the Fleet Solid Support programme manufactured by the UK workforce.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Fleet Solid Support contract will create more than 1,200 UK shipyard jobs and around 800 jobs will be sustained in the UK supply chain. There is also substantial investment being made in the UK including around £100 million into UK shipyards, including £77 million of infrastructure at Harland & Wolff’s Belfast shipyard, the agreement will see a further £21 million invested in skills and technology transfer from Navantia UK. Whilst the majority of the work will take place in the UK, companies in the supply chain are still being engaged. There is also substantial investment being made in UK shipbuilding and ship design.
As prime contractor for the Fleet Solid Support ships Navantia UK is in the process of letting a number of contracts to UK companies, including those already let with BMT and Harland & Wolff. The value of the individual contracts is commercially sensitive information. It is expected that approximately 60% of the contract value will be with UK companies.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the Fleet Solid Support programme will be manufactured using components made in the UK.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Fleet Solid Support contract will create more than 1,200 UK shipyard jobs and around 800 jobs will be sustained in the UK supply chain. There is also substantial investment being made in the UK including around £100 million into UK shipyards, including £77 million of infrastructure at Harland & Wolff’s Belfast shipyard, the agreement will see a further £21 million invested in skills and technology transfer from Navantia UK. Whilst the majority of the work will take place in the UK, companies in the supply chain are still being engaged. There is also substantial investment being made in UK shipbuilding and ship design.
As prime contractor for the Fleet Solid Support ships Navantia UK is in the process of letting a number of contracts to UK companies, including those already let with BMT and Harland & Wolff. The value of the individual contracts is commercially sensitive information. It is expected that approximately 60% of the contract value will be with UK companies.