Category: Speeches

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff in his Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

    Joseph Johnson

    If staff are on a detached duty or overseas postings they can claim for certain travel expenses. Out of 2514 employees in BIS HQ, fewer than 20 employees are paid reasonable extra travel costs. These are paid for a limited period.

    There are no BIS policies that allow the payments of car allowances or subsidised health insurance to employees. However BIS has a legal obligation to honour contractual arrangements when staff join through a TUPE transfer including car allowances and subsidised health cover. Due to TUPE transfers, there are fewer than 20 employees paid car allowances or subsidised health cover. These benefits would not be renewed for new employees.

    As the number of payments are so low, exact numbers have not been provided to ensure that individual employees are not identifiable.

    The requested information is not held by BIS in respect of non-Departmental Public Bodies.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2016 to Question 28993, whether he plans to give Ministerial approval to relax the restrictions of the public sector exit cap on employees of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

    Greg Hands

    The power to relax restrictions on exit payments imposed by the cap will enable decisions to be taken on individual or collective cases where there may be exceptional circumstances that justify the cap being relaxed. This would be subject to scrutiny and approval by the relevant Minister in accordance with directions issued by the Treasury. The relevant Minister for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority would be the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

    The Government can confirm that the regulations detailing the relaxation provisions will not come into force before 1 October 2016 and therefore all exits before that date will not be within the scope of the public sector exit payment cap.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the (a) overall and (b) contingency for High Speed 2 (HS2) (i) Phase 1, (ii) Phase 2a, (iii) Phase 2b and (iv) rolling stock in 2015 prices; and what the overall expenditure has been on HS2 on the most recent date for which figures are available.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The 2015 Spending Review reconfirmed the Government’s commitment to the programme providing a long-term funding envelope of £55.7bn in 2015 prices. A breakdown of this envelope with and without contingency has been provided below:

    £’bn, 2015 Prices

    Phase One

    Phase 2a

    Phase 2b

    Rolling Stock

    Total

    Without Contingency

    18.0

    2.7

    14.7

    5.4

    40.8

    With Contingency

    24.3

    3.7

    20.7

    7

    55.7

    To date (2009/10 – 2015/16) the government has spent £1.5bn on the HS2 programme. Please note that actual expenditure data for 2015/16 is pre-audit.

  • Ann Coffey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ann Coffey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Coffey on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were placed in regulated children’s homes within each local authority boundary in the year ending 31 March 2015; and how many and what proportion of children in regulated children’s homes within each local authority boundary were the responsibility of that local authority in that year.

    Edward Timpson

    The information requested is attached.

  • Chris Elmore – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Chris Elmore – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Elmore on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department has taken to support agriculture in South Wales since May 2015.

    George Eustice

    Agricultural policy is devolved. Support for agriculture in South Wales is the responsibility of the Welsh Government.

  • Nigel Adams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Nigel Adams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he will allow combined heat and power biomass plants pre-accredited under the Renewable Heat Incentive that are in-build but not yet in receipt of full accreditation to remain eligible under the rules of the scheme which prevailed at the time of the initial investment.

    Jesse Norman

    The Government has made changes to the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Scheme Regulations 2011, and these amendments came into force on 1 August 2016.

    The changes therefore apply to all new biomass-Combined Heat and Power plant with an accreditation date on or after 1 August 2016.

  • Christina Rees – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Christina Rees – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many times he has (a) met and (b) corresponded with a minister of the Welsh Government on the draft Wales Bill in the last 12 months.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Wales Office is the lead Government department on the draft Wales Bill, and is the primary point of contact with the Welsh Government on matters related to the draft Bill.

  • Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will provide statistics detailing civil legal aid claims and grants by sector broken down by protected characteristics since January 2010.

    Lord Faulks

    Legal aid is a vital part of our justice system, but we cannot escape the continuing need to reduce the deficit. The Coalition Government reformed legal aid to reduce its cost and ensure the system commands the confidence of the public. As part of our public sector equality duty, the Legal Aid Agency has made it a contractual requirement that providers have an Equality and Diversity policy in place.

    The number of civil claims by sector broken down for protected characteristics are shown in the tables below for the period 2010-11 to 2014-15. Figures for grants or applications at this level of detail are not held for the Legal Help and Controlled Legal Representation categories of civil legal aid and so figures for grants have not been provided.

    The not for profit sector providers are shown based on the administrative system classification and all other providers are classified as solicitor firms. Where values for the protected characteristics are not held, unknown or the claimant has preferred not to state their answer, they are included within the unknown category.

    The MoJ routinely publishes statistics on client characteristics for each area of legal aid on an annual basis on the government website.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effect equipment gifted to the Lebanese armed forces between 2012 and 2015 on that country’s ability to secure its border with Syria against (a) the spread of the Syrian conflict, (b) the movement of Hezbollah fighters supporting the Assad Regime and (c) the movement of Daesh fighters.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The UK is committed to the security of Lebanon, including helping the Lebanese state secure its borders. From 2012-2015 we used over £30 million to help the Lebanese army raise and equip three Land Border Regiments (LBRs) deployed along the border with Syria. The project provides the LBRs with border towers, non-lethal equipment, mentoring and training. This has had a direct effect in mitigating contagion from the war in Syria. The border regiments successfully repel frequent attacks by Daesh on Lebanese territory. 75% of the Syria-Lebanon border will be under state control by March 2016, and the rest will be further secured with the establishment of a fourth LBR in financial year 2016-17.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the procedures set out in the procurement policy note, Measures to promote tax compliance published in February 2014.

    Matthew Hancock

    These new measures on tax compliance, introduced in 2013, enable government departments to exercise their power to exclude firms bidding for government contracts where they have been non-compliant in meeting their legal tax obligations.

    The policy is compatible with the existing procurement process and is being updated to clarify the use of mandatory and discretionary exclusion criteria, contained in the new Public Contracts Regulations 2015, concerning tax compliance.