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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many taxi journeys were made by (a) ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials of his Department for official purposes during the negotiation processes for local authority devolution deals in each of the last three years.

    Mr Mark Francois

    Ministers, special advisers and civil servants in this department undertake a variety of visits to support the delivery of Government’s devolution and local growth objectives and other departmental business. We do not hold figures for the number of taxi journeys undertaken specifically to support the negotiation of devolution deals.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the provision of video on demand access services.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Ofcom, the regulator for video on demand services, is reviewing how to improve the provision of access services on video on demand services.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage wider participation and interest in St George’s Day; what steps his Department is planning to take to further increase participation and interest in such events in 2017; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Department supports a number of Arm’s Length bodies that run events across the country on St George’s day.

    English Heritage hold an annual programme – which includes one of its biggest events of the year, the St George’s Day Festival at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire. English Heritage also organise St George’s Day pageant events (living history shows) at other sites including Dover Castle in Kent, Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire and Warkworth Castle in Northumberland.

    In addition to English Heritage events, The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded ‘Derby Live’ £35,300 for a three-year community project called ‘Maypoles, Mummers and Merry England.’ The project, designed for school children explored English folk traditions through workshops, activities and folk dances at the Derby St George’s Day celebrations.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will discuss with telephone providers reasons to make it easier for people to identify direct marketing calls and choose whether to accept them.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    This Government is taking forward a range of measures to tackle nuisance calls, which will increase consumer protection and choice by strengthening the Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) ability to take enforcement action against organisations that break the law. This includes lowering the threshold under the the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulation 2003 (PECR) to make it easier for the ICO to take action against organisations that break the law, resulting in £3,420,000 worth of fines issued.

    The Government also recently made an amendment to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), requiring direct marketing companies registered in the UK, to display Calling Line Identification. This new measure will both improve consumer choice, by making it easier for people to refuse and report unwanted marketing calls; and make it easier for the Information Commissioner’s Office to investigate and take enforcement action against organisations who breach the rules.

    The Department has held conversations with telephone providers on the identification of direct marketing callers and will continue do so as part of its strategy to tackle nuisance calls.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will discuss with the Information Commissioner’s Office reasons to refer consumer complaints to equivalent bodies overseas in addressing nuisance telephone calls from abroad.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    This Government recently made an amendment to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), requiring direct marketing companies registered in the UK and those making calls on behalf of UK companies from outside the UK, to display Calling Line Identification. This measure will make it easier for the ICO to investigate and take enforcement action against callers who persistently and deliberately flout the rules.

    In addtion, both the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Ofcom engage with the Do Not Call Forum of the London Action Plan, which includes overseas regulators with responsibility for tackling nuisance calls. The ICO is joint secretariat and works with other members, including the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, to target organisations, share investigation methods and drive forward coordinated actions. The group are drafting an operational plan to strengthen cooperation at international level

  • Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to promote an international antiquities code of conduct to prevent the illegal trade in such objects.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The UK welcomes steps towards developing a collaborative approach to tackling the illicit trade in antiquities and plays a key role in supporting international initiatives on this matter.

    The Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003 makes it a criminal offence to deal dishonestly in tainted cultural property from anywhere in the world. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has issued guidelines to the relevant UK sectors.

    In addition, in the UK, trade associations for dealers in antiquities have codes of conduct for their members. For example, the Antiquities Dealers Association’s Code of Conduct obliges its members to ensure to the best of their knowledge and belief that all objects sold are genuine and as described and legal.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will give Ofcom the power to set or cap access charges with regard to 084 and 087 numbers.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Under the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom already has the power to impose tariff principles and maximum prices for the purpose of protecting consumers. Ofcom made changes in July 2015 to simplify non-geographic numbers and make call pricing clearer for consumers. This included making Freephone 080 and 116 numbers free from all telephones; and imposing a common simplified structure on revenue generating numbers – 084, 087, 090, 091 and 118 – which splits the price of the call between the phone company and the call service. Ofcom will be reviewing the effectiveness of these new regulations after their first year of operation and will consider whether further regulation should be imposed.

  • Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Will Quince on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 34465, if his Department will take steps to allow web-users to include honours when completing government online forms.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Department has no plans to include space for people to include their honours in Government online forms.

    Space to include honours in online forms produced by the Department’s arm’s length bodies, executive agencies, non-ministerial departments, advisory bodies and other accountable statutory bodies is a matter for those bodies.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the press notice, entitled Nuisance calls: funding available for innovative solutions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Small Business Research Initiatives competition for generating solutions to address the problem of nuisance calls.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition has resulted in six successful feasibility studies for innovative call blocking technology to tackle nuisance calls. Further funding is required to test and develop these products before they can be launched on the open market. We will work with our delivery partners to consider how best we can support the next phase of this work.

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to procure ships under the Military Afloat Reach Sustainability programme; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) programme covers the four Tide Class Tankers which were ordered in 2012 and are currently under construction, and the Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ships. As stated in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, we plan to procure three Fleet Solid Support logistic ships