Author: admin

  • Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the amount of local government procurement that has been spent on small and medium-sized businesses in each of the last five years.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Government is committed to ensuring there is a simple and consistent approach to procurement across the public sector so that small businesses can gain better and more access to public sector contracts – either directly or as sub-contractors.

    The Government produced guidance as part of the reforms included in the Public Contract Regulations 2015 which aim to make public contracts more accessible to businesses and in particular to small and medium enterprises. The reforms included the abolition of pre-qualification questionnaire for low value tenders; simplification of the pre-qualification questionnaire for high value tenders; advertising all local authority contracts of £25,000 or over (or the authority’s standing order limit if higher) on Contracts Finder; and paying down the supplier chain in 30 days.

    The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires all local authorities to publish details of contracts exceeding £5,000 including information on whether or not the supplier is a small or medium sized enterprise and/or a voluntary or community sector organisation.

    However, the Department has made no assessment of the amount or proportion of local government procurement spend going to small and medium sized businesses.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made on the implementation of the Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy, published in April 2014.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Government has invested heavily in basic digital skills. For example, BIS continues to fund a programme to help people gain the skills needed to access employment, education and wider opportunities. The Future Digital Inclusion programme aims to support 1 million people, including those with low skills, the unemployed and people with disabilities and learning difficulties. It indirectly supports SMEs and sole traders. Since September 2014 it has supported 482,000 individuals. Last year, Arts Council England oversaw government investment of £2.7m for more than 1,000 libraries to ensure that free WiFi is now available in over 99% of libraries in England.

    Increasing the level of digital engagement in the UK requires commitment from all sectors. To date, 93 organisations have signed up to collaborate with government departments to increase digital engagement in the UK. This commits them to working together to join up their efforts where relevant, to scale up good ideas and to devise new and innovative solutions. A wide range of activities and programmes have been delivered by partners across the UK.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding his Department has allocated to (a) the digital inclusion strategy and (b) other digital inclusion measures in each year since 2011.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The 2014 Digital Inclusion Strategy, created under the last Government, is a multi sector strategy setting out a series of collective commitments for government and the private and voluntary sectors.

    Increasing the level of digital engagement in the UK requires commitment from all sectors. To date, 93 organisations have signed up to collaborate with government departments and each other to increase digital engagement in the UK. A wide range of activities and programmes have been delivered by partners across the UK.

    Government has invested heavily in basic digital skills; for example, BIS funds a programme to help people gain the skills needed to access employment, education and wider opportunities. In addition, last year Arts Council England oversaw government investment of £2.7m in free WiFi in libraries in England.

    The Digital Engagement team moved to DCMS from the Cabinet Office in November 2015. Historically the team has been funded by different Departments. We anticipate DCMS’s contribution to staff costs during the last financial year to be approximately £200,000. The Digital Engagement team did not fund any specific digital inclusion measures between November 2015 and March 2016.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will place in the Library copies of all correspondence between Ministers in his Department and newspaper editors, executives and proprietors about press regulation policy and Leveson Part 2 since May 2015.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The department does not publish as standard confidential correspondence between individuals or organisations and ministers. A list of ministerial meetings is published in the department’s quarterly returns.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of (a) the Cyber Streetwise campaign and (b) her Department’s policies on reducing the level of cyber crime.

    Mr John Hayes

    Cyber Streetwise is a cross Government campaign, developed by private and public stakeholder partners and coordinated by the Home Office’s Research, Information and Communications Unit. It is designed to measurably make the UK a safer place to interact and do business online by increasing individual and SME adoption of safe online behaviours. Since its launch in January 2014, it is estimated that 2 million adults have adopted safer online behaviours that will better protect them.

    The quarterly crime statistics bulletin published on 21 April , set out a 6% decrease in computer misuse crime (from 15,322 offences to 14,347 offences), during the year ending December 2014 to December 2015.

    Cyber Security, including cyber crime, is a top priority threat to national security. The Government are continuing to invest in law enforcement capabilities at the national, regional and local levels to ensure delivery agencies have the capacity to deal with the increasing volume and sophistication of cyber crime.

    Through the National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP), we invested over £90 million under the last Parliament to bolster the law enforcement response. My Rt.Hon. Friend, the Chancellor announced in November that this Government has committed to spending £1.9 billion on cyber security over the next five years, including for tackling cyber crime. We will also publish a second five-year National Cyber Security Strategy this year.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to make announcements on progress on his plans for the next BBC Charter.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government will set out its plans for the future of the BBC in a White Paper in May.

  • Jason McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jason McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jason McCartney on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the estimated cost is of introducing a National Defence medal; and what plans his Department has to reconsider the award of a National Defence medal.

    Matthew Hancock

    An independent review undertaken by Sir John Holmes estimated the costs of producing a national defence medal to be £475million. This was based on an approximate figure of 7 million recipients who had completed four years of regular or Reserve Service, or completed national service (back to 9 September 1945), and 100% take up. There are no current plans to reconsider the award of the National Defence Medal.

  • Crispin Blunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Crispin Blunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Crispin Blunt on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made since the publication of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 on the Trident renewal programme in November 2015; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Further to the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, we are investing an additional £642 million in the design of the Successor submarine and ordering additional long-lead items, including for the fourth submarine. Negotiations with industry remain on-going on options for the subsequent investment stages and their scope, time and cost. The 2016 Annual Update to Parliament, which sets out progress on the Successor submarine programme, is planned for later this year.

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 14 April 2016 to Question 33374, what the conviction rate was for each offence in each year since 2009.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Service Prosecuting Authority is responsible for prosecutions for the offences of rape, sexual assault and domestic violence when reported and referred to the Royal Military Police. Information on conviction rates for the last three years has been published and can be found at the following link:

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2016-04-11/33351/

    For information for each year since 2009, I will write to the hon. Member shortly.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) serving military personnel and (b) civilian staff were seconded to (i) the Joint Intelligence Organisation’s Assessments Staff and (ii) the National Security Secretariat within the Cabinet Office during 2015.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence is able to confirm that one member of civilian staff was seconded to the Joint Intelligence Organisation’s Assessments Staff and two members of civilian staff were seconded to the National Security Secretariat within the Cabinet Office during 2015. For information on Service personnel seconded to these bodies, I will write to the hon. Member shortly.