The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has spent any money on advertising the Northern Powerhouse policy since May 2015.
James Wharton
There has been no advertising spend by the Department for Communities and Local Government on the Northern Powerhouse policy since May 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of plans under the Immigration Bill to introduce a charge on UK employers for employing skilled foreign workers on the number of people applying to study STEM subjects at university.
Joseph Johnson
The Government is considering carefully the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations on migration including the likely impact on different sectors. It is essential that the UK remains open for business, while migration levels are controlled.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2016 to Questions 22933, 22934 and 22935, which individual or organisation sets the rules and regulations on the recognition of honours of Commonwealth Realms and foreign states; who is responsible for the preparation and issue of his Department’s rules governing the acceptance and wearing of foreign orders, decorations and medals by citizens of the UK and her overseas territories; and if he plans to update his Department’s rules to include awards granted by Commonwealth states where the Sovereign is Head of State.
James Duddridge
The Committee on Honours, Decorations and Medals advises Her Majesty The Queen on all matters relating to honours and awards and sets the “rules” governing the acceptance and wearing of Foreign Orders, Decorations and Medals by Citizens of the United Kingdom and Her Overseas Territories. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office administers these rules. There are plans to propose updates to these rules, to the Committee on Honours, Decorations and Medals, so as to include reference to the conventions governing awards granted by Commonwealth realms. There are no plans, however, to change the conventions governing awards granted by Commonwealth realms.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department’s Level Crossing Reform Action Plan, published in December 2014, how many officials of his Department are currently working full-time or equivalent on the level crossing reform programme.
Claire Perry
The level crossing reform programme forms part of the responsibilities of the Head of Railway Safety Policy who is working closely with the Office of Rail and Road to develop proposals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-07-06.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the effect on financial markets of (a) his announcement on 15 July 2016 of plans to introduce an emergency Budget in the event of the UK voting to leave the EU and (b) his oral contribution of 4 July 2016, Official Report, column 625 announcing that there would not be an emergency Budget.
Mr David Gauke
The Chancellor of the Exchequer set out his assessment of recent developments in financial markets during his oral contributions on the 4 July.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 2016-10-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to mark the centenary of the independence of the Baltic states, and in particular the role played by the Royal Navy in protecting Estonia and its neighbours from the Soviet Navy.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Preparations are underway for the centenary celebrations in the Baltic States. The Royal Navy played a significant role in the war for independence in Estonia and Latvia and we hope the Senior Service will be able to feature in the 2018 and 2019 celebrations. The British Army and Royal Air Force will also be involved in marking these celebrations. The UK Government will be represented at centenary events in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners are serving sentences beyond the limit of the tariff for the crimes for which they were sentenced.
Andrew Selous
Prisoners serving indeterminate sentences have a minimum term, or tariff, imposed by the court for the purposes of punishment and deterrence. Once this has been served release is determined by the Parole Board on the basis of risk.
The latest figures for the indeterminate sentence prison population by tariff length and tariff expiry date can be found in table 1.9 of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly Bulletin published on 29 0ctober 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2015
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-12-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will develop a carbon capture and storage strategy for energy intensive industries.
Andrea Leadsom
The provision of ring-fenced capital support for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) was judged against other Government funding priorities as part of the Spending Review. Government has not taken the Spending Review decision lightly. The Government continues to view CCS as having a potential role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK’s power and industrial sectors. Neither CCS Competition project proposed to capture CO2 from energy intensive industries.
The detailed design and implementation of CCS policy changes have yet to be determined. The Industrial 2050 Decarbonisation and Energy Efficiency Roadmaps reports published in March 2015 identified a potential role for industrial CCS technologies in decarbonising the steel, oil refining, chemicals and cement sectors. DECC and BIS continue to engage with the energy intensive industries and academics to develop decarbonisation Action Plans by the end of 2016 as the second phase of this process.
The Government remains committed to working with energy intensive industries including those in the Northern Powerhouse area. DECC provided £1million funding to Tees Valley Unlimited as part of the 2013 City Deal agreement to undertake an Industrial CCS feasibility study based on the chemicals and steel industry in the Teesside cluster and we continue to support that work. The devolution deal for Tees Valley, published in October this year, also included a commitment to explore how it can continue to develop its industrial CCS proposals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the unallocated financial reserves level was of Kirklees Council in the most recent local authority data outtrun held by his Department.
Mr Marcus Jones
The most recent local authority data outturn held by the Department for Communities and Local Government show the position as at 31 March 2015; Kirklees Council reported unallocated reserves of £38.0 million (this excludes other reserve balances for schools, public health and other earmarked reserves).
The usual measure of reserves used is non-ringfenced revenue reserves, which comprises the sum of unallocated and other earmarked reserves: in Kirklees case £114.2 million.
Full details can be found on the Department’s webpage at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing-england-2014-to-2015-individual-local-authority-data-outturn
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will estimate the cost to the tourist industry in Calder Valley of recent flooding and severe weather in that area.
David Evennett
No assessment has been made by DCMS of the direct cost to Calder Valley’s tourism industry following the recent flooding. However, some tourism businesses in flood affected areas have reported a drop in bookings of up to 60%. We want to ensure that our tourism businesses have as much support as possible as they recover from the recent floods and that is why a new £1m PR campaign was announced by the Prime Minister in Cumbria, on the 28th January, to support businesses ready to receive visitors, and this is part of a wider package of immediate measures to help the area.