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757865

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2017
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Industry
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress is being made on creating sector deals as part of the industrial strategy.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	8628
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/10/2017 answer text <p>There is good progress being made on a number of early sector deals, including the life sciences sector, which published a report to Government last week and intent to have reached agreement on six sector deals for the white paper later this year. The early sector deals will serve as an example of how Government can work with sectors of the economy to enhance their earning power. We are prepared to work with any sector which can organise strong leadership to address shared challenges and opportunities to grow the earning potential and engagement in their sector.</p><p> </p><p>.</p> answering member constituency Devizes answering member printed Claire Perry question first answered 10/10/2017 14:39:07 answering member 3974 label Biography information for Claire Perry
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

791091

	registered interest
	date	16/11/2017
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Local Government: Aberdeen
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with (a) the Scottish Government and (b) Scottish local authorities on maximising the value of the 2015 Aberdeen city deal for the local and regional economy.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	113490
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2017 answer text <p>UK Government, Scottish Government and Aberdeen City Region agreed the full Aberdeen City Region Deal in November 2016. The Government continues to work closely with all partners to ensure the deal drives growth and builds economic resilience, helping to diversify the wider economy of the North East of Scotland. The Deal provides £250 million for the City Region including investment in the establishment of the new Oil and Gas Technology Centre to exploit remaining oil and gas reserves and drive innovation in decommissioning technology.</p> answering member constituency Stourbridge answering member printed Margot James question first answered 21/11/2017 14:50:06 answering member 4115 label Biography information for Margot James
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

838923

	registered interest
	date	08/02/2018
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Offshore Fixed Structures: Scotland
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the decommissioning of oil platforms on the economy in north east of Scotland.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	127485
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2018 answer text <p>With increasing numbers of offshore oil and gas fields reaching the end of their economic life, forecasts from industry estimate that the annual expenditure for decommissioning over the next 5 years will be in the region of £1.7 to £2 billion. While decommissioning is a major cost for industry, and the taxpayer, it offers significant opportunities for the supply chain that will deliver the constituent elements of decommissioning activity. This encompasses a wide range of activities, covering a broad range of skills and expertise.</p><p>With recent estimates from industry suggesting that decommissioning will represent around 11 per cent of total expenditure on oil and gas for 2017, decommissioning is already benefitting the north east of Scotland and the rest of the UK’s economy. Whilst we don’t have specific figures around the economic impact of the increase in decommissioning of offshore oil and gas installations, we expect to see an increasing proportion of the offshore oil and gas industry focussing on decommissioning activities in the coming years.</p> answering member constituency Devizes answering member printed Claire Perry question first answered 22/02/2018 13:59:41 answering member 3974 label Biography information for Claire Perry
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

832906

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Seas and Oceans: Environment Protection
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to raise awareness of the Blue Belt programme during the International Year of the Reef.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	125222
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/02/2018 answer text <p>The Blue Belt Programme supports the delivery of the UK Government’s manifesto commitment to provide long-term protection to the waters around the UK and its Overseas Territories. We are currently on course to deliver over four million square kilometres of marine protection by 2020.</p><p> </p><p>As the waters around the UK Overseas Territories hold substantial tropical reefs, the UK Government has re-engaged with the International Coral Reef Initiative as a founding member. This re-engagement has been welcomed by all parties. In addition, the UK Government has highlighted the importance of coral reefs in its 25 Year Environmental Plan where its ambition is to champion and support coral reef conservation and biodiversity in the UK and its Overseas Territories.</p><p> </p><p>This year is the Third International Year of the Reef. We are seeking ways to promote the importance of coral reef conservation, together with the Blue Belt programme, through the course of the year as well as during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 01/02/2018 14:20:12 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

838926

	registered interest
	date	08/02/2018
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	hansard heading	Yemen: International Assistance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure access for humanitarian aid to Yemen.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	127488
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2018 answer text <p>As the Prime Minister set out in her November visit to Riyadh, the UK continues to call for complete and unhindered access for commercial and humanitarian imports of food, fuel and medical supplies particularly through the ports of Hodeidah and Saleef. Following the Secretary of State’s visit to Riyadh in December we were pleased to see the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia lift all access restrictions. To encourage commercial imports which provide over 80% of Yemen’s food and fuel, we are providing £1.3 million to the UN’s Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) this financial year (2017/18) and have provided UK experts on the ground in Djibouti to increase the number of UNVIM inspections of commercial vessels entering Yemen.</p><p> </p><p>The UK will continue to play a leading role in the humanitarian response and efforts to find a political solution to the conflict in Yemen. Our funding of £205 million to Yemen for 2017/18 makes us the third-largest humanitarian donor to Yemen overall, and the second-largest to the UN Humanitarian Appeal.</p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 20/02/2018 13:45:31 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

838927

	registered interest
	date	08/02/2018
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	hansard heading	Developing Countries: Slavery
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to help tackle modern slavery in developing countries.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	127489
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2018 answer text <p>Tackling modern slavery is a cross-government priority, and DFID is committed to driving change through the UN and other multilateral channels. At last year’s UN General Assembly, our Prime Minister launched the “Call to Action to end Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking”, which has been endorsed by 43 countries from all regions of the world. We will continue to push for more country endorsements and ensure that it delivers action on the ground.</p><p>We are also expanding our work in developing countries to tackle the root causes of slavery and support victims, whilst addressing the factors that enable the criminality of modern slavery to thrive. As part of the Prime Minister’s commitment to double ODA spend on modern slavery to £150 million, DFID is developing £40 million of new programming which will help over 500,000 vulnerable men, women and children.</p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 20/02/2018 13:45:55 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

749570

	registered interest
	date	06/07/2017
	answering body	Department for International Trade
	answering dept id	202
	answering dept short name	International Trade
	answering dept sort name	International Trade
	hansard heading	Energy: Exports
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps his Department is taking to encourage businesses in the energy sector to take advantage of new export opportunities and international trade.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	3576
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2017 answer text <p>The Department for International Trade (DIT) promotes trade and investment across the world and champions global free trade.</p><p>This department's support is targeted where government can add most value. We prioritise our global export promotion activity by identifying the sector-market combinations that present the greatest opportunities to achieve the maximum impact and success. The Department currently has 23 High Value Campaigns across the energy sector including oil &amp; gas, civil nuclear and renewables.</p><p>UK Export Finance (UKEF) actively works with project sponsors to bring business to the UK. In the past 5 years, UKEF has provided over £2bn in support of energy exports.</p> answering member constituency Chelsea and Fulham answering member printed Greg Hands question first answered 11/07/2017 13:55:05 answering member 1526 label Biography information for Greg Hands
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

780661

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2017
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Scotland
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the economic effect on Scotland of the increase in statutory minimum employee pension contributions in 2018 and 2019; and what estimate he has made of the number of people in Scotland who will be affected by those changes.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	110359
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/11/2017 answer text <p>Automatic enrolment was designed to increase the number of people saving for their retirement, and has been a great success to date. By the end of September 2017, over 8.7 million people had been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension – this included 523,000 people in Scotland</p><p> </p><p>We do want to encourage people to save more than the minimum, but we need to balance this with the fact that many people are not saving anything and contributing to a pension will be new to them. We also recognise that employers needed time to adjust so as to implement the reforms, and to help manage their costs. As such, our focus is on increasing the number of people saving and increasing contributions gradually over the next two years. For an individual, these are currently at 1 per cent, rising to 3 per cent in April 2018 and 5 per cent in April 2019</p><p> </p><p>We are currently undertaking a review of the policy and operation of automatic enrolment. This includes looking at the existing coverage of the policy; strengthening the evidence base concerning future contributions and how to improve individuals’ engagement with workplace pension saving so as to maximise saving for their retirement. The review work is led by a DWP team and supported by an external advisory group. We will report to Parliament by the end of 2017.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 02/11/2017 12:23:48 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

832903

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Personal Independence Payment: Aberdeen South
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people had personal independence payment decisions overturned because of (a) mandatory reconsideration and (b) an appeal hearing in Aberdeen South constituency in each year since April 2013.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	125219
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/02/2018 answer text <p>The table below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) decisions and the number and proportion of mandatory reconsideration decisions and appeal decisions where the award was changed, by financial year of the initial PIP decision since the introduction of PIP in the Parliamentary Constituency of Aberdeen South.</p><p><em>Number of PIP decisions, and number and proportion of mandatory reconsiderations decisions and appeal decisions where the award changed, by financial year of initial PIP decision.</em></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial year of initial PIP decision</p></td><td><p>Number of PIP decisions</p></td><td><p>Number of awards changed at MR</p></td><td><p>Proportion of PIP decisions changed at MR</p></td><td><p>Number of awards changed at appeal</p></td><td><p>Proportion of PIP decisions where award changed at appeal</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>100</p></td><td><p>#</p></td><td><p>#</p></td><td><p>#</p></td><td><p>#</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/ 15</p></td><td><p>560</p></td><td><p>10</p></td><td><p>1%</p></td><td><p>#</p></td><td><p>#</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/ 16</p></td><td><p>680</p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>2%</p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/ 17</p></td><td><p>1,030</p></td><td><p>50</p></td><td><p>5%</p></td><td><p>40</p></td><td><p>4%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18 (April 17 to Oct 17)</p></td><td><p>580</p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>5%</p></td><td><p>10</p></td><td><p>2%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>2,950</p></td><td><p>110</p></td><td><p>4%</p></td><td><p>90</p></td><td><p>3%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Data has been rounded to the nearest 10 and nearest percent.</p><p>‘#’ means fewer than 5 in this category.</p><p>There will be some degree of retrospection in these figures over time due to changes in individual case outcomes, particularly with appeals. It is expected that there will be lower numbers of completed appeals in recent months due to the time lag in appeal completion.</p><p>Latest available data to October 2017</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 05/02/2018 14:01:27 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

773983

	registered interest
	date	19/10/2017
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Nigeria: Ethnic Groups
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has received on the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum's threat to the Igbo population of Nigeria.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	108752
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2017 answer text <p>​My department has received several letters from MP's and members of the public about threats made against the Igbo people in Nigeria.</p><p>The Governors of the Northern States of Nigeria condemned these threats, as did Vice President Osinbajo, then Acting President, who also called for unity.</p><p>We echo President Buhari's recent call for calm and reconciliation between the many ethnic groups and communities that make up and contribute to the strength and diversity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The British Government is concerned by violence in Nigeria but we do not assess that there is institutionalised persecution of the Igbo or any other peoples by the Nigerian authorities. We will continue to monitor the situation and work with Nigerian Government to help tackle threats to security and to address the underlying causes of instability.</p> answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart question first answered 25/10/2017 16:38:02 answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson