The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which Minister in his Department is responsible for NHS Property Services.
Mr Philip Dunne
NHS Property Services is a limited company 100% owned by the Secretary of State for Health, to whom it is accountable. Within the Department, Ministerial responsibility for NHS Property Services is delegated to my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Lord Prior).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many level 3 apprenticeships have been available in her Department in each year since 2010; how many such apprenticeships were completed in full; and how many such apprentices subsequently progressed to level 4 or above.
Robert Halfon
The table below shows numbers of apprentices in the Department for Education in each financial year since 2009/10.
|
Financial Year |
Number of Apprentices in DfE |
Level |
|
2009/2010 |
19 |
All Level 3 |
|
2010/2011 |
12 |
all Levels 2 and 3 |
|
2011/2012 |
0 |
|
|
2012/2013 |
32 |
all Levels 2 and 3 |
|
2013/2014 |
15 |
all Level 4 |
|
2014/2015 |
34 |
20 Level 4 14 Levels 2 and 3 |
|
2015/16 |
64 |
48 Level 4 16 Levels 2 and 3 |
The Level 4 apprentices were all from the Civil Service Fast-track apprenticeship scheme, which lasts at least two years. The Level 2 and Level 3 apprentices were recruited directly by the Department.
The Department does not hold information about progression between levels or numbers completing apprenticeships.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government plans to take, other than by offering support to other countries in the region, to ensure that the UK meets its international obligations to refugees from the conflict in Syria.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The UK is at the forefront of the response to the Syrian crisis and has committed over £1.1 billion to date. This makes us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. We continue to play a leading role in encouraging the international community to contribute generously to the UN appeals. We are exploring with the UN and major donors how best to ensure that the momentum on fund-raising is maintained in the longer term, including in response to the upcoming 2016 Appeals.
The conflict raises significant protection concerns for civilians. We continue to call on all parties to the conflict to respect International Law and ensure free, unimpeded access for impartial humanitarian agencies to provide vital assistance to those in need.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clark of Windermere on 2015-11-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what restrictions there are on army officers being selected by a political party as a candidate for an elected post, such as police and crime commissioner.
Earl Howe
Members of the regular Armed Forces of the Crown are disqualified from membership of the House of Commons by the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 and from election to the European Parliament by the European Parliamentary Act 1978. Such personnel must therefore apply for permission to retire voluntarily or resign or be granted a free discharge from the Service before their formal adoption as a Parliamentary candidate or prospective candidate. Such personnel must complete their last day of service before their formal adoption as a candidate or prospective candidate.
No regular Service personnel or members of the Reserve Forces when serving on a full time Service commitment or additional duties commitment shall issue an address to electors or in any other manner publicly announce themselves or allow themselves to be publicly announced as a candidate or a prospective candidate for election to:
UK Parliament, European Parliament, Scottish Parliament or Parliament of the Irish Republic for any Parliamentary constituency;
the Northern Ireland Assembly or the National Assembly for Wales for any Assembly constituency;
any legislative assembly of the Commonwealth; or as a
Police and Crime Commissioner.
Any person to whom this applies and who desires to stand as a candidate or who seeks election as described above must make an application through normal Service channels to retire voluntarily or to resign or to be granted a free discharge. Such an application should be made as early as possible. Approval of an application will depend on the exigencies of the Service. On leaving the Service, an unsuccessful candidate will have no right to reinstatement. A candidate or prospective candidate must take all steps within his power to ensure that no public announcement of his candidature is made before he has retired, resigned or been discharged.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of flood defences in the Leeds city region.
Rory Stewart
Whenever an exceptional event happens it is important to review what happened and how to prepare for the future, and the Environment Agency will always do this after a flood incident.
The flood response in Yorkshire will be overseen by Transport Minister Robert Goodwill who has been appointed as Flooding Envoy to the county and will track progress on recovery and identify lessons learnt
Work has also already started on the National Resilience Review, which is considering forecasting and modelling, resilience of key infrastructure and the way we make decisions on flood expenditure. The Review is being delivered by a cross-Government team and will be published in the summer.
£40 million funding has been committed to repair flood defences in response to the flooding. Going forward, as part of our new flood defence programme, we have been working with Leeds City Council and we are investing £33 million in a project to better protect Leeds City Centre. Construction of the new defences is already underway.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Prime Minister, what discussions (a) he, (b) Edward Llewellyn, (c) Camilla Cavendish and (d) staff of the Number 10 Policy Unit have had with representatives of (i) the Food and Drink Federation, (ii) Coca-Cola, (iii) PepsiCo and (iv) the British Soft Drinks Association in each of the last 18 months; and what the subject was of each such meeting.
Mr David Cameron
Details of my meetings with external organisations are released on a quarterly basis and can be accessed via the gov.uk website.
My officials and special advisers have meetings with a wide range of organisations and individuals on a range of subjects.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Prime Minister, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in 10 Downing Street.
Mr David Cameron
A list of special advisers, and their pay bands, is published on an annual basis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Bank of England on utilising the University College London RSCoin proposal as an alternative to Western Union, CHAPS, BACS and the Faster Payment Service.
Harriett Baldwin
Digital currencies, and the distributed ledger technology that underpins them, have the potential to bring innovative services and products to UK customers and firms – particularly in areas like international transfers.
The Chancellor announced in March 2015 that the Government will bring digital currency exchange firms into regulation in the UK to help the legitimate industry flourish, and to create a hostile environment for illicit actors. We will publish proposals on this regulatory regime in due course.
As outlined in Deputy Governor, Ben Broadbent’s recent speech, the Bank of England is also exploring this emerging sector and the implications it could have for monetary and financial stability as part of its broader research agenda.
Separately, academics at University College London’s (UCL) digital currency research centre have also been looking at how the distributed ledger technology that underpins digital currencies could be harnessed by central banks. The Government is encouraged to see this research from one of the UK’s world-leading universities. However, this a theoretical paper by an independent institution, separate from the Bank of England’s work and from Government policy.
It is the Government’s ambition to foster the growth of legitimate digital currency firms as part of the wider FinTech ecosystem here in the UK. As part of this, the Government will consider the wider implications of a growing digital currencies sector for the financial services sector and the economy as a whole. Some parts of Government are also looking at how the benefits of distributed ledger technology can be harnessed to deliver greater innovation. However, the Government and the Bank of England do not currently have any plans to introduce a centrally issued digital currency.
The UK has been rated as having the world’s leading FinTech ecosystem in a recent global benchmarking exercise and attracted c. £524mn in investment in 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) construction of High Speed 2 through Eddisbury constituency and (b) dealing with engineering issues arising from salt mining, brine extraction or subsistence in such construction.
Mr Robert Goodwill
No specific estimates have been made for the cost of construction or dealing with engineering issues arising from salt within the Eddisbury constituency, however the cost of construction of this section of HS2 and risk provision for engineering issues arising from salt has been included in the overall funding envelope which was confirmed in November 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to protect children from in-game selling and promotions when playing games online.
Nick Boles
The Government is committed to ensuring that consumers are properly protected and that children’s vulnerability and inexperience is not exploited by aggressive commercial practices. We welcomed the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) investigation into whether children have been unfairly encouraged to spend money in online games and apps, in breach of consumer laws. The OFT’s subsequent Principles for Online and App-based Games were published in January 2014, to help ensure that online and app games publishers better understand their responsibilities and do not subject children to unfair or aggressive selling practices. The Competition and Markets Authority subsequently referred 3 games to the Advertising Standards Authority for further enforcement action.