The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate she has made of cost to the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland of the EU referendum.
Mr Ben Wallace
The European Union Referendum (Counting Officers’ and Regional Counting Officers’ Charges) Regulations 2016 sets out a Maximum Recoverable Amount for Northern Ireland of £3,292,686. The cost of the referendum will be charged to the Consolidated Fund.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions she has had with the Police Service of Northern Ireland on financial resources and increasing levels of recruitment.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
PSNI’s main grant budget is provided through the block grant and is a matter for the Northern Ireland Department of Justice. Recruitment is an operational matter for the Chief Constable.
The UK Government has provided the resources PSNI asked for to tackle the terrorist threat: £231million in Additional Security Funding between 2011 and 2016, and £160 million over this spending round.
This is a significant funding package and is part of this Government’s commitment to tackling the terrorist threat and supporting the PSNI. As the Government’s Northern Ireland manifesto at the General Election made clear, we will always give our fullest possible support to the brave men and women of the PSNI who do such excellent work protecting the community.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with the Chief Electoral Officer on proposed industrial action by electoral office staff in Northern Ireland.
Mr Ben Wallace
I have regular discussions with the Chief Electoral Officer, including regarding the recent industrial action.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent assessment she has made of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.
Mr Ben Wallace
We strongly value the work and commitment of Electoral Office staff in managing electoral registration and elections in Northern Ireland. The introduction of digital registration to Northern Ireland later this year will bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the United Kingdom and means that now is the right time to consider how services can be delivered as effectively as possible in the future.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Prime Minister, how many meetings he had to discuss tax evasion and avoidance between (a) 5 April 2016 and 5 May 2016 and (b) 6 May 2016 and 6 June 2016.
Mr David Cameron
I have meetings with a wide range of organisations and individuals on a range of subjects.
I also hosted the Anti-Corruption Summit, the first of its kind, which discussed among other issues tax evasion and avoidance. The Summit conclusions have been published on the gov.uk website.
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone makes a fair contribution towards reducing the deficit. We have already announced, during this Parliament, that we will legislate for over 25 measures to tackle avoidance, evasion and aggressive tax planning, which are forecast to raise £16 billion by 2021.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Prime Minister, when he plans to reply to the letter of 27 April 2016 from the hon. Member for Redcar and the hon. Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland on the All Party Parliamentary Group on Steel.
Mr David Cameron
A reply has been sent.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what further steps the Government plans to take to reduce the incidence of drownings of refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean.
Mr David Lidington
The Government’s focus is on addressing the root causes of irregular migration so as to reduce the need for people to make perilous journeys to Europe. We have taken action to tackle smugglers and save lives at sea: HMS Enterprise is deployed as part of the EU’s counter migration operation, Operation Sophia. The UK has rescued almost 18,000 people, and disrupted suspected people smugglers, in the Mediterranean since 2015. At the G7 Summit in Japan on 27 May, the Prime Minister announced that the UK will work on a plan to boost the capability of the Libyan coastguard to stem the flow of illegal migration across the Mediterranean into Europe. Once a detailed plan has been agreed with the Libyan authorities, the UK will send a training team to assist in its implementation, and as soon as the relevant permissions and UN Security Council Resolution are in place, we will deploy a naval vessel to the South Central Mediterranean.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make representations to Ryanair on the cost of amending boarding passes and other travel documents.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Government and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) continue to emphasise to the airlines the importance of compliance with ticket transparency obligations, ensuring that terms and conditions (including any administration fees and charges) are clear to passengers when they choose between airlines.
To enhance consumer protection in this area, the CAA will start work on unfair contract terms with the airlines this summer, in accordance with the CAA’s Strategic Plan 2016-2021. The work will include a review of the airlines’ terms and conditions (Conditions of Carriage) with the aim of ensuring the rights and obligations of the consumers and businesses are fair and balanced and consumers are not being penalised by unfair contract terms. The administration fees the industry currently charges are part of the terms and conditions and as such, will form a part of this work. The Government supports this work and will follow the progress with interest.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of the inclusion of the Northallerton to Teesport line in the rail electrification scheme.
Andrew Jones
The Transpennine Route Upgrade is an ambitious and challenging programme which is due to be delivered by December 2022. There are currently no plans within this scope to electrify the line between Northallerton and Teesport. However, this does not preclude the thinking of future electrification as a further phase following the delivery of the current scope in 2022.
I can confirm that the current assumption for services between Manchester and Middlesbrough is that these will operated by new bi-mode trains i.e. capable of diesel and electric operation. The new bi-mode will offer significant journey time savings for passengers on this route.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the evidence given by the Minister of State for Transport to the EU Internal Market Sub-Committee on 18 April 2016, what the (a) purpose, (b) membership and (c) date of the last meeting of the new forum the Government has established is.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The purpose of the forum is to provide a means to consult, and gather external stakeholder input, in order to inform and influence the development of future unmanned aircraft systems aviation policy, regulation and legislation at a national and international level. The aim is to develop a richer and deeper interaction with external stakeholders which commences early in the regulatory development process.
The forum met on the 11th May 2016, and was attended by the Civil Aviation Authority, Frazer-Nash Consultancy, the British Model Flying Association, ADS Group, the Military Aviation Authority, the Department for Transport, Sussex Police, the Association of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, the Airport Operators Association, First Person View, the British Airline Pilots Association, BSI Group, with apologies from NATS.