The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Kerevan on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to secure a fair contribution from offshore digital betting operators to the 55th levy scheme.
Tracey Crouch
The statutory Horserace BettingLevy Scheme does not cover offshore digital betting operators, although some operators supplement the statutory scheme with voluntarycontributions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the UK’s policy is on requiring that Greece obtain debt relief before supporting future IMF lending to that country.
Mr David Gauke
Greece’s euro area support programme is a matter for Greece and the euro area. But it is strongly in our interest to see a stable euro area and a sustainable solution to these issues. For the IMF to grant a new programme to Greece, a proposal must be approved by the IMF Board. For a proposal to be put to the IMF Board, conditions under the Exceptional Access policy must be met. As part of these conditions, debt must be considered sustainable with high probability under the IMF programme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on seating capacity of the Great Western Main Line electrification project.
Claire Perry
The electrification programme will help dramatically increase seating capacity on the Great Western Main Line, with the Intercity Express Programme providing up to 40% more seats in the morning peak (compared to the HST fleet it replaces) in to Paddington and the new AT300s increasing seating capacity on Newbury to London services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the third progress report on the promotion and use of energy from renewable sources for the UK, when his Department plans to consult on the future shape of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation scheme.
Andrew Jones
We expect to consult later this year on amendments to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation scheme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much central government funding has been allocated to (a) the London Local Enterprise Partnership and (b) all Local Enterprise Partnerships to support the creative industries in each year since 2011-12.
Mr Edward Vaizey
All Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), including the London LEP, have access to funding through programmes such as Growth Deals. However, decisions on what to prioritise rightly rest with the LEPs themselves, ensuring a strong business voice to maximise local growth. In London, for example, the LEP is investing £5m in a Digital Skills Programme to ensure young Londoners have the skills they need to access jobs in the capital’s thriving tech sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the contribution of the UK’s membership of the EU to the UK’s work in (a) preventing and (b) identifying and detaining terrorists.
James Brokenshire
Terrorism and serious organised crime are global threats that cross national borders. Our unique relationship with the EU gives UK law enforcement access to EU tools and instruments that help keep people safe and tackle serious and organised crime, but also mean we are not obliged to participate in new measures when we do not judge them to be in the national interest.
The tools and instruments that the UK participates in include Europol, an EU agency which supports cross-border police operations and intelligence sharing, and can assist in the identification of terrorist threats; the European Arrest Warrant, which allows swift extradition between EU countries of individuals accused or convicted of a criminal offence; and the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), which enables law enforcement agencies around the EU to share live alerts, for example, for missing people and stolen vehicles. The UK is also in the process of implementing Prum, which will give us access to fingerprint and DNA data from other member states.
Since 2004, using the European Arrest Warrant, over 1,000 individuals accused or convicted of a criminal offence have faced justice in UK courts and over 7,000 have been extradited from the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-04-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the last three years, how many households containing children had an underpayment or non-payment of benefit as a result of official error.
Lord Freud
DWP is unable to provide a breakdown of the number of official errors at the Local Authority level. This is because the estimation of the rate and monetary value of official errors in a particular benefit is based on a sample of cases rather than the entire caseload for that benefit, and this sample is not large enough to split at the Local Authority level.
DWP does not gather information on the number of children in a household when evaluating the rate of fraud and error in any particular benefit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National pupil projections statistics release, published on 22 July 2015, if she will publish the (a) assumptions and (b) estimated total migration figures that were used in the calculation of the (i) migrant component of the principal population projection and (ii) high migrant variant in Table 3a of that data release.
Nick Gibb
The national pupil projections are only produced for the whole of England and do not break down projected pupil numbers by local education authority or region. They are derived from the 2012-based national population projections for England produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)[1] who used assumptions which were considered to best reflect demographic patterns at that time.
The ONS uses assumptions on the levels of future fertility, net migration and life expectancy in the production of their population projections. They use central assumptions for the principal projections and alternative high and low assumptions to produce variant projections.
New national pupil projections, based on the ONS’s mid-2014 national population projections[2], are scheduled to be published on 14 July 2016. The timing and content of National Statistics releases are a matter for the Head of Profession for statistics. The month of publication was pre-announced in 2015 and the specific date of publication was pre-announced on 26 February 2016.
[1] Mid-2012 ONS national population projections available at http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationprojections/bulletins/nationalpopulationprojections/2013-11-06
[2] Mid-2014 ONS national population projections available at http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationprojections/bulletins/nationalpopulationprojections/2015-10-29
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of drugs in prisons.
Mr Sam Gyimah
The Justice Secretary is clear that safety is fundamental to the proper functioning of our justice system and a vital part of our reform plans. There are a number of factors, including the availability of drugs in prisons, which must be tackled in order to make our prisons safe and places of rehabilitation.
We have introduced tough new laws which will see those who smuggle packages over prison walls, including new psychoactive substances, face up to two years in prison. Those who involve themselves in the distribution of drugs in our prisons should know that they could face prosecution and extra time behind bars. We have a range of security measures and searching techniques in place to detect drugs, and to prevent smuggling into prisons.
I am looking closely at this important issue, and will be setting our further plans in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-10-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of support services for people with complex needs when entering the labour market; and what steps they are taking to make recruitment processes accessible for all.
Lord Freud
We have been engaging with a variety of stakeholders and partners, including those with an interest in people with complex needs, to understand their view of current employment support. We will soon publish a Green Paper to explore a range of options for long-term reform across different sectors enabling everyone to realise their aspirations, regardless of their health condition or disability.
The Government is committed to enabling all disabled people to fulfil their potential. Work is an important part of this, and the Government wants all disabled people and people with a long term health condition to go as far as their talents will take them.
We are supporting this through Access to Work, which has specialist teams to provide a dedicated service to particular groups of people including those with complex needs.
Our new Disability Confident employer scheme went live on 14 July 2016. When employers sign up as Disability Confident they are asked to make specific meaningful offers of opportunities for disabled people such as jobs, apprenticeships, internships, and work experience opportunities.