The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-01-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which areas of the Spratly Islands archipelago the Government recognises as part of the territory of (a) the Philippines, (b) Vietnam, (c) Malaysia and (d) Brunei.
Mr Hugo Swire
The UK takes no position on the sovereignty of the Spratly Islands or other disputed features in the South China Sea.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what annual fee his Department will pay to (a) Ernst and Young in the UK, (b) Arup and (c) Interfleet for their advice to him on fulfilling his duties under Section 30 of the Railways Act 1993; and for what period those companies are contracted to provide him such advice.
Claire Perry
Following a successful procurement competition using the new STAR (Specialist Technical Advice for Rail) Framework Agreement, the Department has appointed a partnership comprising Arup, SNC-Lavalin Transport Advisory (InterFleet), and EY to provide services to support the Secretary of State in connection with his duties under Section 30 of the Railways Act.
The contract is for 2 years and commenced in November 2015. It has an optional extension of 12 months which is exercisable at the Department’s discretion. The fees payable to the partnership are capped at £616k (excluding VAT) for the two years of the contract. In addition to core contractual commitments, further fees are payable at agreed daily rates for other services which include, but are not limited to, the full mobilisation of a public sector train operator.
Following the successful award of the East Coast franchise to Virgin East Coast last year, it was not a good use of taxpayers’ money to maintain DoR’s full corporate structure on a ‘just in case’ basis. We have scaled back Directly Operated Railways operations and brought it in-house with the Department for Transport.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Attorney General, how many full-time equivalent staff his Department provided to assist with (a) Home Office immigration and asylum cases and (b) other Home Office legal cases in reach year since 2009-10; and how much was spent by his Department on such cases in each of those years.
Robert Buckland
The Government Legal Department (GLD) conducts litigation for most government departments. GLD charges its government department clients for the litigation services it provides on an hourly fee basis. The remaining Law Officers’ Departments do not have any notable involvement in Home Office litigation.
It is not possible to identify how many full time equivalent GLD staff were working on Home Office cases each year because this will inevitably change during the year and staff will also work on cases for other client departments.
Any spending incurred by GLD is recovered by charges received from the Home Office for litigation services provided.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the status is of the McKinsey report which informed the BIS 2020 departmental restructuring strategy.
Joseph Johnson
The McKinsey team validated the early work undertaken by the BIS senior team, providing a perspective on the scale of the opportunity for operating cost savings and advising on deliverability, risks and any additional benefits.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government has taken to ensure that local communities are consulted when planning applications for shale gas extraction sites are made.
James Wharton
Any local resident can make representations during a formal period of consultation before any planning application for shale exploration is determined.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-05-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel regarding the closure of all commercial crossings in the West Bank on 11 and 12 May, preventing permit holders from accessing Israel or East Jerusalem because of Israel’s Commemoration and Independence Day.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
While we are not planning to make any representations to the Israeli authorities on these specific incidents, we remain deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of movement between the West Bank and East Jerusalem. We continue to work closely with the Quartet and EU partners to call on Israel to ease access restrictions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cleverly on 2016-07-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on the sale of Knightsbridge Barracks; and when he expects the site to be put out to tender.
Harriett Baldwin
The plans to dispose of Hyde Park Barracks are in development and it is too early to say when land may be released for sale.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether all European funding for schemes to improve the employability of prisoners has been protected for the duration of their funding period.
Mr Sam Gyimah
As the Chancellor set out on 13 August, all structural and investment fund projects signed before the Autumn Statement will be fully funded, even when these projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations she has received from rural community councils on their role in sustaining rural villages and communities.
Rory Stewart
In January 2015 the Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) Network, covering the 38 Rural Community Councils in England, called on Defra not to withdraw funding. Defra provided ACRE with £2,312,000 for 2015-16 to distribute amongst Rural Community Councils, allowing them to continue their role in sustaining rural villages and communities. We continue to work closely with ACRE to make sure Defra’s funding delivers the maximum benefit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the long-term viability of the care home sector; and if he will reassess the contribution that could be made to that viability of the care practitioner role.
Alistair Burt
Through November’s comprehensive Spending Review, the Government announced that it was giving local authorities access to £3.5 billion of new support for social care by 2019/20.
Councils will be able to introduce a new Social Care Precept, allowing them to increase council tax by 2% above the existing threshold. This could raise nearly £2 billion a year for social care by 2019/20.
From April 2017, the Spending Review makes available social care funds for local government, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019/20, to be included in the Better Care Fund.
Taken together, the new precept and additional Better Care Fund contribution mean local government has access to the funding it needs to increase social care spending in real terms by the end of the Parliament.
Under the Care Act (2014), local authorities have legal duties to shape a sustainable and diverse market of care providers capable of delivering a choice of quality services to their local population. These duties apply in respect of all care services, including care home services. The Government published statutory guidance to support local authorities discharge their market shaping duties effectively, which includes guidance around adult social care commissioning.
The care practitioner scheme was withdrawn by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, a non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The Department of Health was not involved in the assessment of the contribution that the care practitioner role could make to the care home sector.