Author: admin

  • Baroness Tonge – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Tonge – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2014-03-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government in what areas they operate drones; and for what use.

    Baroness Kramer

    The Ministry of Defence operates Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) globally for operational surveillance, precision attack and for training purposes.　 Reaper RPAS is the only armed system.　 It operates only in Afghanistan, and professional, qualified pilots follow the exact same Rules of Engagement as pilots of other aircraft types.

    Whilst the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not used any RPAS, its Centre for Environment Fisheries & Aquaculture Science, Food & Environment Research Agency, Environment Agency, Natural England and Royal Botanic Gardens have used small RPAS to support work on flood defence and coastal erosion, and the monitoring of crops, plants and nature reserves.　 All flights were carried out within the UK except for an aerial plant survey in Peru carried out by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

    The Home Office does not itself operate RPAS and the only police force operationally using a system (albeit very occasionally) is Staffordshire. This system is mostly used for patrol sweeps of car park and camping areas at V Festival, security sweeps for VIP events at the National Arboretum, they have also carried out some missing person, search and rescue, and counter-poaching tasks.

    Sussex Police have completed formal training and are now in the process of gathering experience with their own RPAS system – although if an important operational task came up RPAS would be deployed. The formal start date for the trial is in the near future.

    Kent Police, as part of the 2 Seas project, have hosted some RPAS trial flights to assess the performance of the system. They are planning to host an event about the project in July.

    　

  • Lord Wills – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Wills – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2014-03-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when Lord Wills will receive a response to his email to the Cabinet Office of 6 November 2013 (Cabinet Office reference IR317467) about Freedom of Information requests.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    I apologise for the delay. The Noble Lord has received a reply.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Chi Onwurah – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to publish the report of the independent project review of the Counter Fraud Checking Service once it is completed.

    Francis Maude

    Prior to the last General Election, there was no-cross Government work to tackle the billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money lost to fraud.

    We are currently reviewing the business case for a Counter Fraud Checking Service.

  • Mr Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Mr Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Gregory Campbell on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the change in numbers of civil servants working less than 20 hours per week was between January 2010 and January 2014.

    Nick Hurd

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlie Elphicke on 2014-03-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department made before the 2012 Budget of the number of properties valued at more than (a) £2 million and (b) £5 million.

    David Gauke

    The number of residential properties in the UK valued at more than £2 million was estimated before Budget 2012 to be around 55,000.

    Before Budget 2012, an assessment of the average annual payment required from each property above £2 million in order to raise a net sum of £2 billion per annum was not made.

    On 1 July 2013, during Report stage of the Finance Bill, I referred to “a simple calculation arrived at by dividing £2 billion by 55,000 (an internal HMRC estimate of the number of properties valued at over £2 million) to give a ‘mean’ average of £36,000.”

    A so-called mansion tax would depress stamp duty land tax and inheritance tax yields. The exact impact would be dependent on the rates and bands chosen.

  • Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlie Elphicke on 2014-03-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department made before the 2012 Budget of the average annual payment required from each property valued above £2 million in order to raise a net sum of £2 billion per annum.

    David Gauke

    The number of residential properties in the UK valued at more than £2 million was estimated before Budget 2012 to be around 55,000.

    Before Budget 2012, an assessment of the average annual payment required from each property above £2 million in order to raise a net sum of £2 billion per annum was not made.

    On 1 July 2013, during Report stage of the Finance Bill, I referred to “a simple calculation arrived at by dividing £2 billion by 55,000 (an internal HMRC estimate of the number of properties valued at over £2 million) to give a ‘mean’ average of £36,000.”

    A so-called mansion tax would depress stamp duty land tax and inheritance tax yields. The exact impact would be dependent on the rates and bands chosen.

  • Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlie Elphicke on 2014-03-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department made before the 2012 Budget of the effect on stamp duty land tax and inheritance tax receipts of the introduction of a so-called mansion tax designed to raise a net sum of £2 billion per annum.

    David Gauke

    The number of residential properties in the UK valued at more than £2 million was estimated before Budget 2012 to be around 55,000.

    Before Budget 2012, an assessment of the average annual payment required from each property above £2 million in order to raise a net sum of £2 billion per annum was not made.

    On 1 July 2013, during Report stage of the Finance Bill, I referred to “a simple calculation arrived at by dividing £2 billion by 55,000 (an internal HMRC estimate of the number of properties valued at over £2 million) to give a ‘mean’ average of £36,000.”

    A so-called mansion tax would depress stamp duty land tax and inheritance tax yields. The exact impact would be dependent on the rates and bands chosen.

  • Ms Karen Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Ms Karen Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ms Karen Buck on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of London households in temporary accommodation were in (a) private sector leased properties, (b) hotels, (c) bed and breakfast, (d) local authority registered social landlord property and (e) other accommodation (i) at the most recent date for which figures are available and (ii) at 31 March 2010.

    Kris Hopkins

    [Holding Reply: Monday 17 March 2014]

    To assist public scrutiny, I have placed in the Library of the House, a table which provides quarterly figures for the last ten years.

    Over that period, the numbers of households in temporary accommodation in London in this Government is far lower than averaged under the last Administration. The peak of 63,800 households in December 2005 compares to 42,430 in December 2013.

    Councils have a responsibility to move homeless households into settled accommodation as quickly as possible and we made common sense changes to the law to enable them to use suitable private rented homes. The average stay in temporary accommodation in England has been reduced from 20 months at the beginning of 2010 to 14 months now, which means that people on average are spending far less time in such temporary accommodation.

    We have also seen a 42% reduction in the numbers of families with children in Bed and Breakfast for more than six weeks on this time last year across the country. The seven local authorities that my Department has funded to tackle families in Bed and Breakfast have made significant progress, achieving an overall reduction of 96% since the funding began.

  • Ms Karen Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Ms Karen Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ms Karen Buck on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the (a) change and (b) percentage change was in the number of homelessness acceptances arising from the end of a private sector tenancy in each (i) London local authority and (ii) English region between March 2010 and December 2013.

    Kris Hopkins

    To assist public scrutiny, I have placed in the Library of the House, a table showing homelessness acceptances due to loss of private sector tenancy, by local authority, in each year from 2003 to 2013.

    Data is not collected by Parliamentary constituency. My Department does not publish statistics by the former government office regions.

    The dataset shows that under the last Administration, the average numbers were higher than under this Administration, especially when taking account the changes in the overall size to the private rented sector.

    I would note that the rental sector policies of HM Opposition would make the problem worse, by reducing the availability of private rented accommodation, forcing up rents and discouraging investment in the private rented sector. By contrast, this Government is increasing house building, delivering £19.5 billion of investment in affordable housing, supporting billions of private investment in new private rented accommodation, providing £470 million to prevent and tackle all forms of homelessness, and avoiding the excessive regulation which would harm the interests of tenants.

  • Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to answer Named Day written question 185520 tabled on 28 January 2014 for answer on 3 February 2014; and what the reasons are for the delay in answering this question.

    James Brokenshire

    I replied to the hon. Member on 13 March 2014, Official Report, column 533W.