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  • Lord Condon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Condon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Condon on 2016-06-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which police forces in areas with North Sea coastlines or English Channel coastlines from Norfolk south and west to Devon and Cornwall have marine or boat units capable of patrolling estuaries or inshore sea waters; and what is the maximum range in which those police forces’ units are licensed to operate.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Home Office does not collect this information. Decisions on the local deployment of assets and resources, including marine units, are for individual chief constables working with their police and crime commissioner.

  • Lord Donoughue – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Donoughue – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Donoughue on 2016-06-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of world atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions China and India contributed in the latest period for which records are available.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    There are no official emissions estimates available for recent years for many developing countries, including India and China. One widely used 3rd party estimate is however available from the World Resources Institute CAIT dataset.

    This data suggests that in 2012, the latest available year, China’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions (including land use, land use change and forestry, but excluding international aviation and shipping ) accounted for around 22% of the global total (25% for CO2 only).

    India’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions (including land use, land use change and forestry, but excluding international aviation and shipping) accounted for around 6% of the global total (5% for CO2 only).

  • Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-06-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the current borrowing limits imposed on (1) the Scottish Parliament, (2) the National Assembly for Wales, and (3) the Northern Ireland Assembly.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Scotland Act 2014 permits the Scottish Government to borrow up to £2.2 billion for capital purposes and £0.5 billion to cover shortfalls in cash receipts. The Scotland Act 2016 provides for these to be revised in due course to £3bn and £1.75bn respectively.

    The Welsh Government may borrow up to £500 million to cover shortfalls in the Welsh Consolidated Fund as set out in the Government of Wales Act 2006. The Wales Act 2014 confers aggregate capital borrowing powers of up to £500 million on the Welsh Government. In response to a specific request from the Welsh Government, the Government has also provided early access to these capital borrowing powers in order to support the delivery of the M4 relief road.

    The Northern Ireland Executive has a statutory borrowing limit of £3 billion for capital purposes as set out in the Northern Ireland (Loans) Act 1975 as amended by the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006. The Northern Ireland Executive may borrow up to £250 million to cover shortfalls in the Northern Ireland Consolidated Fund as set out in the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Local Government Association on the effect of charges on local authorities of changes to funding over the next five years announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The 2015 Spending Review confirmed a historic four year settlement for local government, including making councils responsible to local people for their financing, rather than central government. It delivers a long-held ambition for councils to be financed from locally raised resources. And it means that by the end of this Parliament, councils will benefit from 100 per cent business rates retention – something they have been calling for, for over a quarter of a century.

    It is a settlement which has been subject to extensive consultation, including with the Local Government Association, which welcomed the offer of a four year planning horizon. A range of additional funding flexibilities were sought during the consultation, especially on fees for planning and licensing.

    In February 2016, proposals were outlined to link future increases in councils’ fees for processing planning applications to performance in terms of speed and quality of decisions.

    By the end of this Parliament, local government will be able to retain 100 per cent of local taxes, including up to £13 billion of revenue from business rates, to spend on local government services. In order to ensure that the reforms are fiscally neutral, these new powers must come with new responsibilities, as well as phasing out grants from Whitehall. The government is working closely with the Local Government Association to design the reforms.

  • Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-06-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any requests have been received from the devolved administrations to raise their borrowing limits; and if so, what increases were requested, when such requests were made, and whether any have been agreed to.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Treasury Ministers are in regular contact with Devolved Administration Ministers on a variety of matters.

    Each of the Devolved Administrations has a range of capital and resource borrowing powers set out in legislation.

    In addition to these, the Stormont House Agreement provided flexibility to use £700m of capital borrowing to fund a voluntary exit scheme over a period of 4 years with £200m in 2015-16, £200m in 2016-17, £200m in 2017-18 and £100m in 2018-19 as well as up to an additional £350m borrowing for infrastructure projects with a profile over four years with £100m in 2015-16, £100m in 2016-17, £100m in 2017-18 and £50m in 2018-19.

    The Fresh Start Agreement and Implementation Plan provided assurances that the NI Executive could access the full amount of additional borrowing provided by the Stormont House Agreement even if it is able to realise agreed efficiency savings from Voluntary Exit Scheme without switching the full amount of existing borrowing for that purpose.

    The Government is working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive to implement the Fresh Start Agreement.

    In response to a specific request from the Welsh Government, the Government has provided early access to the capital borrowing powers in the Wales Act 2014 in order to support the delivery of the M4 relief road.

    Again, the Government is working closely with the Welsh Government on this matter.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive on steps to support first-time buyers.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Secretary of State has had no formal meetings with his counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive.

    However, the Department is actively involved with the British Irish Council, who meet frequently to discuss cross-cutting housing issues and share expertise.

  • Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-06-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they permit the devolved administrations in the UK to borrow money for resource budget purposes.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Scotland Act 2014 permits the Scottish Government to borrow up to £2.2 billion for capital purposes and £0.5 billion to cover shortfalls in cash receipts. The Scotland Act 2016 provides for these to be revised in due course to £3bn and £1.75bn respectively.

    The Welsh Government may borrow up to £500 million to cover shortfalls in the Welsh Consolidated Fund as set out in the Government of Wales Act 2006. The Wales Act 2014 confers aggregate capital borrowing powers of up to £500 million on the Welsh Government. In response to a specific request from the Welsh Government, the Government has also provided early access to these capital borrowing powers in order to support the delivery of the M4 relief road.

    The Northern Ireland Executive has a statutory borrowing limit of £3 billion for capital purposes as set out in the Northern Ireland (Loans) Act 1975 as amended by the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006. The Northern Ireland Executive may borrow up to £250 million to cover shortfalls in the Northern Ireland Consolidated Fund as set out in the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive on reducing the number of people sleeping rough in the UK.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    One person without a home is one too many. That is why we have increased central investment to tackle homelessness over the next four years to £139 million. This includes a new national £10 million programme to support innovative ways to prevent and reduce rough sleeping, building on the success of our No Second Night Out initiative.

    Homelessness is a devolved matter. I have not had any conversations with my counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive but would be happy to do so.

  • Lord Grocott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Grocott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Grocott on 2016-06-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action, if any, they have taken during the last 12 months in relation to the fraud allegations at the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation academy chain.

    Lord Nash

    During the last 12 months, the fraud allegations at the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation academy trust chain have been reviewed as a criminal investigation since first reported to the police in October 2012 by this multi-academy trust. The criminal case against the perpetrator of the fraud began week commencing 6 June at Woolwich Crown Court.

    The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has engaged with the Trust from the outset and immediately requested that the Trust assess financial systems and risks. The Trust carried out an independent and thorough review of its internal control procedures and reported on this to the EFA. The Trust has taken all the appropriate action since the issue was first identified and the remaining key actions now rest with the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

    Academies and free schools face tighter financial scrutiny than local authority maintained schools. They must publish annual, independently-audited accounts, of which there is no equivalent requirement on maintained schools. We take swift action whenever we identify financial irregularities.

  • Lord Lexden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Lexden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lexden on 2016-06-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to continue the Official History Programme; and if so, how.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    I refer the Noble Lord to the statement given by my Noble Friend Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 10 December 2015.