The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen McPartland on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the employment rate for disabled working people in each year from 2010 to 2016; and if he will make a statement.
Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Touhig on 2016-10-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Earl Howe on 13 September (HL Deb, col 1389), whether, and if so when, they are planning to provide an update regarding the concerns raised by Lord Boyce.
Earl Howe
I have reflected on the concerns raised by the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Boyce, regarding the sale of Royal Fleet Auxiliary Diligence.
The Royal Navy continues to work with industry and is investing to ensure that Service personnel have the required skills in diagnostics and repair to provide this future support. More widely, consideration of different and innovative ways of providing that support to deliver the best value for money for the taxpayer is an ongoing process. The Royal Navy is confident that, through a combination of the measures that I outlined in response to the oral question by Lord Boyce on 13 September 2016, the required support will be available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to take steps to ensure that water and sewerage charges for schools reflect actual costs incurred by the water company.
Rory Stewart
The amount that water and sewerage companies can charge their customers is subject to a cap set by Ofwat, the independent economic regulator. Ofwat has statutory duties to ensure that customer charges are fair and that the companies are able to finance the essential services they provide.
Working within Ofwat’s regulatory framework, water companies have choices to make about how they apportion costs for the different services they provide across different groups of customers. All water and sewerage companies have to remove and treat the rainwater that drains into public sewers, so a surface water drainage charge is included in all customers’ bills. Some companies average these costs across all their customers, while others charge their non-household customers according to the amount of water that drains from their property into the sewer. This is known as site area charging; its aim is to ensure that charges reflect the actual costs associated with providing a drainage service to that customer.
This approach to charging results in reductions to the bills of some customers. However, it can increase the bills of some organisations, such as schools, that manage larger sites. The Government is aware of concerns about the impact of surface water drainage charges on schools in the North West. In light of this we will be reviewing our Guidance to Water and Sewerage Undertakers in relation to Concessionary Schemes for Community Groups for Surface Water Drainage Charges.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ms Margaret Ritchie on 2015-11-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Barnett consequentials are for Northern Ireland of the measures announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.
Greg Hands
The Northern Ireland Executive’s block grant allocations for the Spending Review period were set out at the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015. The allocations were calculated by the application of the Barnett Formula to UK government departmental settlements in the normal way.
Further information regarding the Barnett Formula can be found in HM Treasury’s ‘Statement of Funding Policy’.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with her ministerial colleagues on securing long-term funding for domestic violence services.
Karen Bradley
The Government has already announced £40m of funding for domestic abuse services between 2016 and 2020, as well as a £2m grant to Women’s Aid and Safelives to support early intervention.
We will shortly publish a refreshed cross-Government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy setting out how we will do more still to secure long-term funding for domestic violence services and support for all victims.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Naseby on 2016-01-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each year in which a grant was provided to the group Action on Smoking and Health, how much (1) was spent against the original grant, (2) constituted underspend, and (3) was returned to the Department of Health.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The conditions applicable to grants awarded to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) are set out in the grant award letters. The Department has made clear that none of this funding is to be used for lobbying purposes.
The Section 64 grant must be spent in delivering the the agreed project outputs set out in the grant award letter and it does not fund secretariat support for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health.
ASH’s compliance with the conditions of the grant is assessed at the grant monitoring meetings held between the Deputy Director of tobacco control and representatives from ASH as well as in the final full year grant monitoring and governance reports.
The Department is required to retain information relating to Section 64 grants for six years. The full amount of the grant was spent for each year that a grant was provided to ASH in the past six years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the level of installed capacity was for (a) wind and (b) solar energy in Yorkshire and the Humber in each of the last 10 years.
Andrea Leadsom
The level of installed capacity for wind and solar PV in Yorkshire and the Humber, for the ten years to 2014, is given in the attached table. Data for 2015 will be available on 29 September, 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what date his Department met Professor Walton to discuss the findings of his interim report on the insolvency litigation landscape, published on 10 December 2015.
Dominic Raab
Ministry of Justice officials met Professor Walton and others on 12 October last year to discuss his report, but the Ministry of Justice did not agree with his conclusions. Our changes to no win no fee deals have tackled the increasing costs of litigation. We delayed bringing the law in for insolvency proceedings to allow the industry time to prepare. The no win no fee reforms in Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 will come into force for insolvency proceedings on 6 April this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-04-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the attacks on 26 April on the Christian neighbourhood of Sulaymaniyah in Aleppo, and of reports that at least eight children were among those killed.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are aware of reports of attacks on the Sulaymaniyah neighbourhood in Aleppo, and of reports that at least eight children were among those killed. We are deeply concerned about the increasing numbers of violations of the Cessation of Hostilities, especially around Aleppo. In the overwhelming majority of cases, it is the Asad regime that is responsible for the breaches, including when it has bombed schools, marketplaces, hospitals and a search and rescue centre in the last week. As the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), said in a press statement on 28 April, we call on those with influence to apply real pressure to end this spiral of violence. The UK will continue to support the Syrian people to secure their future, free from Asad, and push for progress with our international partners.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the expected Resource Accounting and Budgeting charge is for student loans paid out to EU students studying in England.
Joseph Johnson
The Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) charge, which represents the value of the part of the loan that is not expected to be repaid, is not calculated separately by the nationality of the students. We estimate that the RAB charge for full time tuition fee and maintenance loans is between 20% and 25%.
My Department publishes an updated estimate of the RAB charge each year, close to the time of the publication of BIS accounts. The most recent estimate of the RAB charge was published on 18 February 2016. The estimate, together with a simplified version of the model for calculating the RAB charge can be found here:
“