The Environment Agency does not have navigation responsibility for any of the rivers or canals in Lancashire and has no plans to invest in those waterways.

The Environment Agency does not have navigation responsibility for any of the rivers or canals in Lancashire and has no plans to invest in those waterways.

The Lancashire PCC has submitted an application for Special Grant funding for the costs of policing the anti-fracking protests in Lancashire. This is currently being reviewed by HMICFRS and a decision will be made in due course.

During the last two months the Environment Agency has stocked a number of Lancashire rivers with 19,000 coarse fish from the Environment Agency’s fish farm at Calverton, as follows:

• River Lostock: 1,000 Chub and 1,000 Dace

• River Ribble: 2,000 Chub and 1,500 Bream

• River Wyre: 2,000 Chub, 2,500 Dace, 1,500 Roach and 1,000 Bream

• River Lune: 2,500 Dace, 3,000 Roach and 1,000 Bream

The Environment Agency (EA) is responsible for the health of England’s rivers, including the monitoring of the river network for the quality of the water chemistry and ecology. 54% of Lancashire’s rivers are now of good status or higher with 143km of rivers enhanced since January 2016. The EA is investing a total of £801,000 this year in projects across Lancashire which directly or indirectly relate to water quality improvement in rivers and estuaries.

The Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) for the period 2015–2020 includes a number of requirements for the water company to improve sewage discharges so that the water quality in Lancashire’s rivers is improved.

The EA is working with Natural England to support farmers in protecting and improving watercourses through the Catchment Sensitive Farming scheme. The EA is also contributing to river enhancements through catchment partnerships, such as the Ribble Rivers Trust.

Recently improved water quality has meant salmon and sea trout are now reaching the upper reaches of the River Calder in east Lancashire, where they were previously absent due to poor water quality and in-river barriers. Improved river water quality is also a significant factor in the improvement of the coastal bathing waters, with all ten designated beaches in Lancashire now of good or excellent status.

Between April 2015 and March 2021, the Government plans to invest approximately £120 million on coast protection schemes in Lancashire. The Environment Agency is currently working in close partnership with a number of the Lancashire Coast Protection Authorities in delivering this ambitious capital investment programme to better protect 26,000 properties. This includes:

• Anchorsholme Coast Protection Scheme, which was completed in November 2017 at a cost of £27.1 million and will better protect 4,800 properties.
• Rossall Coast Protection Scheme, which is expected to be completed at a cost of £63 million by summer 2018 and will better protect 7,500 properties.
• Morecambe Wave Reflection Wall, which is expected to be completed at a cost of £10.5 million by winter 2018 and will better protect 11,400 properties.
• Fairhaven to Church Scar Coast Protection Scheme, which is expected to be completed at a cost of £19.8 million by spring 2020 and will better protect 2,300 properties.

The Environment Agency, Coast Protection Authorities and third party owners also carry out ongoing routine annual revenue maintenance works for their respective assets.

The Environment Agency also issues flood warnings to vulnerable communities on the coast when weather and tidal conditions have the potential to cause flooding.

The Environment Agency’s Fisheries Operations Team uses an intelligence based approach as part of its enforcement plan to target fisheries for rod-licence enforcement. They target waters which have known high evasion rates and busy waters where lots of anglers will see officers enforcing rod-licence compliance. 1,535 rod-licences have been checked this year in Lancashire and 56 anglers have been reported for offences. The detected evasion rate is 3.52%.

Officers regularly meet with the Police to discuss rod-licence and other fisheries offences, as well as providing training for their officers. They also work with the Angling Trust Voluntary Bailiffs to target rod-licence evasion and other fisheries offences, through provision of information to us. This year the Environment Agency worked in partnership with the Angling Trust and Lancashire and Cumbria Police on Operation Clampdown which targeted illegal close season fishing.

The Environment Agency also checks for byelaw compliance to ensure that other elements are correct, such as fishing methods and close seasons. This year they were pleased to find only two offences during the coarse fish close season from 23 patrols undertaken.

The Environment Agency assesses that to date Cuadrilla have been in general compliant with their permit conditions.

The Environment Agency expects full compliance against Environmental Permits but it is not uncommon for industrial sites to have minor non compliances after site inspections and audits.

The Environment Agency has raised concerns over the management of surface water on site and has asked the operator to address this as a matter of priority.

The table below provides details of Full time equivalent (FTE) employee numbers in the Cumbria and Lancashire Area of the Environment Agency for each financial year from 2011/12 to 2016/17.

The Environment Agency does not maintain separate records of employees in Cumbria and employees in Lancashire as they operate as one combined Area.

The police have statutory and common law powers and duties in relation to public order policing which must be used in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The police have a responsibility to facilitate peaceful protest and provide a lawful and proportionate policing response. This should balance the needs and rights of protesters with those affected by the protest, whilst ensuring they preserve the peace, uphold the law and prevent the commission of offences. Police tactics and decisions on how to achieve these objectives are a matter for the independent operational judgement of chief officers of police.

NHS England has made £1 million available to the NHS North Region to support the mental health care and treatment required for people affected by the Manchester Arena incident and to inform the response for future incidents.

We would expect PCCs and Chief Constables to regularly discuss policing within the force area and funding, however the decision on whether to police a protest is an operational one for the Chief Constable. This is set out in statute in paragraphs 30-33 of the Policing Protocol Order 2011.

It is not our policy to release details of a Special Grant funding application whilst it is under consideration.

Data for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trusts is not available as this Trust does not offer screening appointments for NHS Breast Screening Programme.

Figures for uptake and attendance for screening published by NHS Digital for the 2015/16 screening year (1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016) for each of the services are detailed in the table below:

Data on appointments missed are not available in the format requested.

The attached tables list, for each screening service, the address of the mobile or static site where screening took place during 2015/16 and the time period that screening was performed at that site.

Further information can be accessed by manipulating the tool at:

http://digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB23376

NHS England has made £1 million available to the Manchester area to help with the recovery phase. This Government is determined that those affected receive evidence based and proactive mental health care dependent upon their need.