The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the evidential basis provided by his Department to HM Treasury was to inform the decision to cap housing benefit for people in supported housing.
Alistair Burt
The Department did not submit any evidence to HM Treasury to inform the decision to cap housing benefit for those in supported housing, announced in the Spending Review 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the implications are of her Department exceeding its Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit for the funding of other policies in her Department.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
There are no implications for the funding of other policies in my Department as a result of exceeding its Capital Departmental Expenditure limit. The Department’s operational expenditure is not included in this category of expenditure. Details of the breach were provided in the Northern Ireland Office Annual Report and Account 2014-15 which is available at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people from other EU member states were in receipt of housing benefit in each of the last 10 years; and what the total cost to the public purse was of those people claiming that benefit in each of those years.
Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will bring forward proposals to give the Oil and Gas Authority powers to regulate commercial decisions in the offshore helicopter industry.
Andrea Leadsom
The Civil Aviation Authority regulates the offshore helicopter industry.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safeguards and governance arrangements have been put in place to prevent a recurrence of the situation where (1) the Principal of North East Surrey College of Technology allegedly paid her husband over £170,000 during the course of a contract with a Saudi Arabian college, and (2) the Board of Governors were unaware for over 18 months that such payments were made.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
As an independent corporation North East Surrey College of Technology is responsible for ensuring appropriate safeguards and governance arrangements are in place in relation to the corporation including subsidiary companies. The Skills Funding Agency has received a report from NESCOT and is considering whether there is any risk to public funds and if so what action should be taken.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-09-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to prevent the continued demolition of Palestinian homes.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We continue to raise our serious concerns over this issue with the Israeli Government at all levels. On 07 September, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood) emphasised our concerns about demolitions with Israeli Defence Minister Lieberman during their meeting.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2016-10-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the need for, and benefit to be derived from, the questionnaire issued by Brighton and Hove Council requesting information about children’s self-perception of their sexual orientation.
Lord Nash
These questions refer to an answer given by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 12 October 2016, and also link to previous questions asked by Lord Macginnis, and answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford in April 2016.
As Baroness Williams set out in her previous reply, the Department for Education provides guidance on the Equality Act 2010 to schools which contains advice on the Public Sector Equality Duty and on the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.
The Department is not responsible for the decision by Brighton and Hove Council to include gender identity information on the pupil registration form it issued in April 2016. The Council has the independence to make this decision. The Department has had no involvement and has not made any assessment of the questionnaire.
The Department does not hold details of any additional information collected by local authorities outside of those required by the Department for our centrally specified, mandatory data collections. Brighton and Hove Council is responsible for securing answers and restricting access to information generated by any questionnaire it issues.
The Department has not inquired into the gender identity of children in Brighton and Hove and has no correspondence on the matter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects to publish his review of the residential conversion threshold for agricultural buildings.
Brandon Lewis
We announced in the Rural Productivity Plan that we will review the planning constraints facing rural businesses. This will include a review of the current threshold for agricultural buildings to convert to residential buildings. A Call for Evidence will be published later in the autumn.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-12-02.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many of the tax credit claims amended by Concentrix in 2014-15 resulted in a reduced tax credit award; and what the (a) smallest, (b) largest and (c) average value was of the reduction in such cases.
Mr David Gauke
5,244 tax credit claims that were investigated by Concentrix in 2014-15 resulted in the award being amended. Not all amendments changed the value of the award to the claimant. For example recording a change to the claimant’s income is an amendment to the award that does not always change the amount of the award.
There were 3,114 tax credit awards amended with a financial impact. The smallest amendment was £184, the largest amendment was £19,369 and the average reduction was £2,698.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many £500 grants were provided to help households affected by flooding in each local authority in the Greater Manchester area between 1 December 2015 and 13 January 2016; and how much funding has been received by each of those councils to provide such grants up to 13 January 2016.
James Wharton
The Department is supporting local authorities affected by Storm Desmond and Storm Eva with community recovery, business support and property resilience through the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme. It is for local authorities to determine how to use this money to best meet local need and ensure value for money.
To date the Department has paid out over £47 million under the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme, including the amounts below to local authorities in the Greater Manchester area.
|
Local authority |
Funding received (£) |
|
Bolton |
384,377 |
|
Bury |
1,495,514 |
|
City of Manchester |
129,290 |
|
Oldham |
29,910 |
|
Rochdale |
1,403,164 |
|
Salford |
1,981,754 |
|
Trafford |
3,694 |
|
Wigan |
178,009 |