The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place in the Library a copy of email MA/DGMAA to Min(DPWV) private office 3 Dec 13 16:32.
Mark Lancaster
I have placed the requested documents in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-03-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what further measures are planned for the labelling of meat and dairy products to recognise the high standards of welfare in British products.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Consumers buying meat and dairy products produced in the UK can be reassured that we have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the European Union.
We pressed for new EU legislation extending country of origin rules from beef to fresh and frozen sheep, goat, pig and poultry meat to help consumers identify food produced in the UK. These came into force in April 2015. We are also pressing for this rule to be extended to dairy products.
To support consumers further in making an informed choice, Defra is pressing the EU to implement rules to require that where food products indicate that they are produced in a specific country they must also state if the main ingredients are from a different country.
2016 is the Year of Great British Food. Through the Great British Food campaign Defra is working in partnership with industry to champion the outstanding quality of UK produce to help fuel demand for Great British Food.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-04-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many schemes have benefited from the Business Premises Renovation Allowance in each of the last five years; and what the average value of such benefit was.
Mr David Gauke
The table below shows the number of Business Premises Renovation Allowance claims by year and the average cost in tax relief per claim for the last five years for which data is available. Some businesses may have made more than one BPRA claim for a single project and some claims may involve more than one project.
|
2009/10 |
2010/11 |
2011/12 |
2012/13 |
2013/14 |
|
|
Number of claims |
2,050 |
1,450 |
1,550 |
1,400 |
1,400 |
|
Average cost per claim |
£14,200 |
£20,500 |
£63,000 |
£27,800 |
£19,300 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals were employed at Director level in the European Commission in each year since 2010.
Mr David Lidington
Director level equivalent in the European Commission is classed as officials working at Administrator grade AD14 – AD15. According to statistics published by the European Commission, the numbers of British officials working at these levels in the European Commission since 2010 are as follows:
2010: 70
2011: 55
2012: 59
2013: 49
2014: 50
2015: 51
2016: 59
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-07-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the number of people using railway stations in West Yorkshire since 2010.
Paul Maynard
The Office of Rail and Road publish estimates of passenger demand for all railway stations in West Yorkshire since 2010. These figures can be found in their ‘Estimates of Station Usage’ publication, which can be found at the following link: http://orr.gov.uk/statistics/published-stats/station-usage-estimates.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many foreign workers her Department employs.
Caroline Dinenage
All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.
Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.
More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. However, there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on how many (a) Saturdays, (b) Sundays and (c) Bank Holidays he has attended meetings, receptions or other official functions in his capacity as Secretary of State.
Jane Ellison
My Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has overall responsibility for the National Health Service, and is on call and briefed on relevant events seven days a week, including public holidays. He routinely works on Departmental business at the weekends, which includes attending meetings, visiting frontline services and carrying out official engagements where relevant.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-01-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when work first began in his Department on consideration of the proposal to include Dupuytren’s contracture in the list of industrial injuries recognised for disablement benefits.
Justin Tomlinson
Work began in May 2014 following publication of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Committee’s report on Dupuytren’s Contracture. It is expected that a decision whether or not to add it to the list of prescribed diseases will be made early this year and will take account of the potential costs involved and other relevant factors.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to prevent the spread of the Zika virus to the UK.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England (PHE) and the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) have been carefully monitoring the Zika virus outbreak in the Americas since it was first reported in Brazil during May 2015. PHE has reviewed evidence on the transmission of Zika virus and PHE mosquito experts have provided advice to Government and the public that neither the main vector of Zika virus Aedes aegypti, nor other species of Aedes mosquitoes, including Aedes albopictus, that may have the potential to transmit this virus, are established in the United Kingdom.
The risk to the UK population is related to travel to countries where Zika virus outbreaks are currently ongoing, and NaTHNaC and PHE have published updated advice for travellers to South and Central America and the Caribbean, including specific advice for pregnant women. The risk of onward spread within the UK is very low and PHE has again provided this advice to government, and the public.
PHE has also been working with appropriate professional groups to develop information and guidance on Zika for clinicians. This advice can be accessed through the PHE website and has been cascaded by organisations such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
Together with the Royal College of General Practitioners PHE has developed guidance specifically targeted at primary care which will be available shortly. PHE has also produced regular briefing notes for local health protection teams who have been asked to share this with the local National Health Service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.46 of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence Review 2015, how much additional funding the Government plans to provide for investment in (a) equipment and (b) training for the reserves; and when he expects such funding to be provided.
Mr Julian Brazier
As a result of the Government’s response to the 2011 Commission on Reserves and the 2013 White Paper we committed an additional investment in the Reserves of £1.8 billion over 10 years, and the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 confirmed our commitment to recruit and maintain a trained Reserve force of 35,000 by 2019. Our investment in the Reserves ensures that they have the same access to equipment and technology as their regular counterparts, and receive high-quality and challenging training. This year the Army is offering 22 bespoke overseas training exercises where Reserve and Regular units are paired together to improve interoperability and cohesion.
We have been improving the offer we make to individual Reservists. They already receive pay for the days they train, an annual tax-exempt bounty for successfully completing their training commitment, along with medical assistance and access to welfare support for their families when on operation.
In addition, since 1 April 2015 Reservists have been eligible for the new Armed Forces Pension Scheme for non-mobilised service, based on paid attendance. We have also introduced in the last two years an annual paid leave entitlement, occupational health support for injuries incurred during training, accredited training and access to Standard Learning Credits.