13.01.10 HAITI my PQ to the Minister for International Development
Will the Royal Navy be galvanised as part of this important aid an
d rebuilding programme? Will my right hon. Friend contact the United States to ensure that it uses its extensive naval resources to get important aid, including medical supplies, into Haiti?
click here to see Douglas Alexanders' reply
11.01.10 my question to Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for food wastage; what his estimate is of the amount and proportion of food which was wasted in the latest period for which information is available; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce such waste.
Dan Norris: The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) published the findings of new research into the quantity of household food and drink waste in November 2009 which revealed that 8.3 million tonnes of food and drink are thrown away by households each year, most of which (5.3 million tonnes) could have been consumed. This avoidable food and drink waste is worth £12 billion, on average costing around £480 for every household a year, increasing to £680 a year for households with children. click here to read more
More cold weather payments for my elderly constiuents
The cold weather payment to vulnerable elderly and others, for a week of constant zero or sub-zero temperatures, is £25 thanks to a Commons motion I tabled at the beginning of this winter.
please click here to read the EDM
13.01.10 Prime Ministers Questions
The Prime Minister: I can say from the work that has been done that if we had pursued the same policies as in the 1980s and the 1990s, 1.7 million fewer people would be employed today. It is because we took action to help young people into work and to help small businesses that the unemployment claimant count, which was 10 per cent. or higher in some of the recessions of '80s and '90s, has remained half that today, and we are determined to do still more to help young people into work and those adults who are looking for work. The difference is this: when it came to the recession, other parties were prepared to walk by on the other side, but we decided to act.
New Early Day Motions:
EDM 575 ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL IN UGANDA
That this House calls on the British Government and the European Union to press the government of Uganda not to proceed with the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which violates the equality and non-discrimination provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter of Human and People's Rights; click here to read full text
EDM 546 FOOD AID TO SOMALIA
That this House expresses alarm at the suspension of the UN World Food Programme to Somalia following threats and attempted extortion by al-Shabaab militia extremists; notes that this could result in up to one million people facing starvation; click here to read full text



