Category: Speeches

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the register of persons with significant control, what proportion of returns from companies have listed another company rather than an individual as the persons with significant control.

    Margot James

    As at 10 October 2016, the number of accepted filings from companies that have listed another company, rather than an individual as the people with significant control (PSC) is 66,304, equating to 8.4% of the 785,616 total number of accepted filings from companies that have listed PSC details.

  • Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many transit visas her Department issued to Syrian nationals in each year since 2010.

    James Brokenshire

    The information requested is provided in the table below:

    Entry clearance transit visas granted to Syrian nationals

    Year

    Granted

    2010

    72

    2011

    42

    2012

    50

    2013

    41

    2014

    20

    2015 January-June

    9

    Source: Immigration Statistics April-June 2015, Home Office, tables vi_06_q_o.

    The latest quarterly Home Office immigration statistics on entry clearance visas are published in ‘Immigration Statistics, April-June 2015’, available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Attorney General, what the cost to the public purse has been since December 2014 of the Government defending cases which have been appealed to the European Court of Justice following a ruling in the Royal Courts or the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

    Robert Buckland

    Cases are not appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union from UK courts but they can ask for preliminary rulings on a point of European law from the Court of Justice of the European Union.

    The amount of disbursements paid by the Government for Counsel’s fees and for travel and accommodation costs for hearings in requests for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union from United Kingdom Courts since December 2014 was £33,288.42.

    This includes requests for preliminary rulings made by UK Tribunals, but not other legal proceedings in the CJEU in which the UK Courts and Tribunals have played no part. It does not include disbursements incurred but not yet paid, the cost of government lawyers and other staff involved in these cases within the Government, or costs incurred in relation to the domestic aspects of the proceedings, which are not centrally recorded.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-22.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential consequences of the current account deficit on the UK economy; and if he will make a statement.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Despite narrowing in Q3 2015 to -3.7 per cent of GDP, the current account deficit remains high by historical standards. The widening in the UK current account deficit in recent years has been driven by a deterioration in the UK’s net investment income from abroad, while the trade deficit has continued to improve. The Office for Budget Responsibility expect the income account to “improve gradually over the forecast period” as the factors that have temporarily depressed the returns on the UK’s net assets are expected to recede, and the current account deficit continues to narrow to -2.1 per cent by 2020. Furthermore, the government’s plan to complete the repair of the public finances will support a gradual narrowing of the current account deficit, limiting any effect on the exchange rate, though we remain vigilant to the risks.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department is working with the Department for Energy and Climate Change to ensure that official development assistance funding provided for international climate projects is prioritised in policies aimed at reducing poverty.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK’s International Climate Fund is jointly managed by DFID, DECC and Defra and has already directly supported 15 million people to cope with effects of climate change and given 2.6 million people improved access to clean energy.

    The new UK Aid Strategy brings together the Government’s poverty reduction objectives with a commitment to tackle some of today’s biggest global challenges, including climate change. Tackling climate change and promoting sustainable development are two sides of the same coin – we cannot achieve one without the other.

  • Simon Hart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Simon Hart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve safety for horses and riders on roads.

    Andrew Jones

    Rule 215 of The Highway code gives specific advice on approaching and overtaking horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles safely and with consideration. The theory test contains questions about how drivers should interact with horse riders and the hazard perception test includes a number of clips where horse riders are the hazard.

    The “Have Some Horse Sense on the road campaign was launched as part of the THINK! Road Safety Campaign and encouraged drivers to approach horses slowly and give them a wide berth when overtaking. This has been supplemented more recently by the THINK! Rural Roads campaign which reminds drivers to take particular care when driving along country roads.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-04-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to ask that unrecognised entities such as Gaza, Nagorno-Karabakh and the Cantons of Northern Syria be invited, at least as observers, to the UN World Humanitarian Summit in May.

    Baroness Verma

    The World Humanitarian Summit has been convened by the UN Secretary-General. Whilst it is for him to decide on participants, he has been clear in his intention to make the Summit an open and participative process. Over 5,000 participants are expected in Istanbul, including leaders from crisis-affected communities.

  • Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effects of childhood obesity on the development of musculoskeletal conditions.

    Jane Ellison

    Our Childhood Obesity Strategy, which will be launched in the summer, will look at everything that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how her Department plans to encourage more farmers to submit their Basic Payment Scheme payments applications online.

    George Eustice

    For the Basic Payment Scheme 2016 over 80% of farmers chose to apply online.

    For the Basic Payment Scheme 2017 the Rural Payments Agency will have a planned campaign of activity to encourage as many as possible of the remaining 20% of customers that applied on paper to apply online.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what level of funding his Department has allocated to schemes that encourage investment in wind energy in each of the last five years.

    Jesse Norman

    Over the past five years, solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, wave and tidal electricity projects have received support from either the Renewables Obligation (RO) or the Feed-in Tariff (FITs).

    Expenditure through the Renewables Obligation in 2011/12 to 2015/16 can be broken down by power generation technology shown in the table (£million in nominal prices). Solar PV and some small-scale onshore wind are also supported by the Feed In Tariff scheme, but costs are not available disaggregated by technology. Total support is shown below (£million).

    RO (£million)

    11/12

    12/13

    13/14

    14/15

    15/16

    Onshore wind

    £482.6

    £557.1

    £755.6

    £786.8

    £803.0

    Offshore wind

    £371.1

    £698.5

    £988.7

    £1,108.0

    £1,429.7

    Solar PV

    £0.1

    £0.9

    £34.9

    £133.9

    £264.8

    Wave & Tidal

    £0.1

    £0.4

    £0.4

    £0.1

    £0.2

    TOTAL RO

    £1,457.7

    £1,991.3

    £2,599.3

    £3,114.2

    £3,743.2

    TOTAL FITs

    £151

    £506

    £691

    £866

    £1,110

    Renewables Obligations: Source Ofgem:

    www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/ro/contacts-publications-and-data/publications-library-renewables-obligation

    www.ofgem.gov.uk/publication-and-updates/renewables-obligation-ro-annual-report-2014-15

    www.renewablesandchp.ofgem.gov.uk/Public/ReportManager.aspx?ReportVisibility=1&ReportCategory=0

    FITs: Source Ofgem:

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/fit/contacts-guidance-and-resources/public-reports-and-data-fit/levelisation-reports

    The Contracts for Difference Scheme opened for delivery from 2015/16 onwards. No projects started deploying in 2015/16 so no payments were made.

    “