Category: Speeches

Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the inclusion of renewable energy in the Climate Change Levy on incentives for businesses to operate in a more environmentally friendly way.

Andrea Leadsom

The Climate Change Levy (CCL) renewables exemption offered poor value for money, as it provided indirect support to renewable generators, and a third of its value went to supporting overseas renewable generation projects, which did not contribute to the UK’s climate change or renewables targets and often received subsidies from home Governments. The rise in UK renewable electricity generation and imports led to a decline in CCL revenue. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility published forecasts showing that this decline would have continued to 2020 if the exemption remained in place and that virtually no CCL tax would have been paid on electricity by 2020, which would have undermined the energy efficiency objectives of the CCL.

01/01/2023

Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) his Department, (b) the Defence Electronics and Components Agency, (c) the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, (d) the UK Hydrographic Office, (e) the National Army Museum, (f) the National Museum of the Royal Navy, (g) the Royal Air Force Museum, (h) the Single Source Regulations Office and (i) the Oil and Pipelines Agency; how many of these employees earn more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Mark Lancaster

The following table outlines the number of civilian and military press and public relations staff posts in Defence (including vacant posts) and press and public relations expenditure in the financial year 2014-15. This expenditure includes £30 million for Armed Forces advertising and marketing – the vast majority of which is advertising and marketing in direct support of Armed Forces recruitment campaigns. It also includes £12 million for staff costs.

Annual salaries are dependent upon grade/rank. Of those in press and public relations staff posts, there are:

No civil servants or military personnel with salaries of more than £100,000.

10 civil servants with salaries of more than £50,000.

24 military personnel with salaries of more than £50,000.

Department/Agency	Press and Public Relations Staff Posts	Salary £50,000 and above	Salary £100,000 and above	Press and Public Relations Expenditure Financial Year (FY)2014-15 (£000)[1]
Ministry of Defence[2]	49	9 Civilian 3 Military	0	5,772
Armed Forces (Royal Navy, Army, RAF and Joint Forces Command)	122	0 Civilian 21 Military	0	41,437 (Including advertising and marketing for Armed Forces recruitment campaigns)
Defence Electronics and Components Agency (DECA)	0	0	0	N/A[3]
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL)	2	1 Civilian	0	76
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO)	3	0	0	1,436
National Army Museum	4	0	0	550
National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN)	1	0	0	339
Royal Air Force Museum (RAF Museum)	2	0	0	429
Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO)	0	0	0	0
The Oil and Pipelines Agency (OPA)	0	0	0	0
Total	183	34	0	50,038[4]

[1] All figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000, therefore the total may not be equal to the sum of rounded values.

[2] Including Directorate of Defence Communications, Defence Business Services, Ministry of Defence Police, Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and Defence Equipment and Support.

[3] DECA was formed on 1 April 2015 as a Trading Agency following the Sale of the Defence Support Group therefore separate communications outturn for FY2014-15 is not available.

[4] This figure includes £30million for Armed Forces advertising and marketing – the vast majority of which is advertising and marketing in direct support of Armed Forces recruitment campaigns. It also includes £12million for staff costs.

01/01/2023

Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the implications for aid of the 1955 tax treaty between the UK and Malawi.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Secretary of State for International Development has had no discussions on the 1955 tax treaty between the UK and Malawi with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Issues relating to tax treaties are a matter for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

01/01/2023
Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to data table BUS0842, published in Department for Transport Statistics, what guidance his Department gives to travel concession authorities for reporting purposes on the definition of commercial youth concessions.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport’s annual Concessionary Travel Survey asks the following question in relation to commercial concessions available to young people, of which there is specific guidance repeated below:

Question 19: Do the main bus operators in your authority / scheme offer commercial concessions to young people in 2015/16?

This question concerns commercial concessions only i.e. those controlled/managed/funded by a bus operator. We are aware that you may not know of all the youth schemes offered in your area, but any information you can supply here does offer us a useful starting point for gathering further information from operator websites.

If possible please specify the name of the operator, the age group (e.g. 16-18) covered, the fare charged (free, half, flat), time period (term-time only/all year, 8.30-10.30) and any other relevant information. You will have an opportunity in Q21 to tell us about any youth schemes that your Travel Concession Authority (TCA) controls/manages/funds.

01/01/2023
Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what total amount has been received by (a) his Department and (b) HS2 Ltd under the Connecting Europe Facility 2015 Multi-Annual Work Programme; and what estimate he has made of the amount that will be received under that programme by each body in the next three years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department for Transport was awarded Connecting Europe Facility funding for the following projects in 2015:
- South-Wales railway electrification study (Network Rail). €4.1 million
- Arc Atlantique Corridor Phase II. A UK led ITS traffic management deployment project involving Ireland, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Netherlands. The UK partners (Highways England, Transport Scotland, Department for Regional Development Northern Ireland, and the Welsh Government share amounts to around €9 million).
- European ITS Platform – Italian project coordinating standards for deployment of ITS traffic management systems across Europe. The UK partners (Highways England, Transport Scotland, Department for Regional Development Northern Ireland, and the Welsh Government) amounts to around €0.5 million)
- High Speed 2 (HS2 Ltd) €39.2 million
It is not possible to estimate how much additional funding may be available in the next three years. Funding for projects is awarded through a competitive bidding process with projects having to meet specific criteria set by the European Commission. The second call for funding closed in February 2016 and the results will be announced later this year.
01/01/2023
Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the vacancy rate is for spinal surgery specialists in England.

Ben Gummer

The vacancy rate for spinal surgery specialists in England is not collected.

01/01/2023
Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust’s proposal for collaboration between the NHS and Vertex to widen access to the treatment Orkambi on the treatment of the patients with that disease.

George Freeman

The Department has received the Cystic Fibrosis Trust’s proposals for an arrangement that would potentially allow access to Orkambi (lumacaftor in combination with ivacaftor) as part of a Managed Access Scheme in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) appraisal of Orkambi.

I have encouraged the Trust and the manufacturer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, to engage with NICE to consider whether there remains scope for this, or any other, proposal to be taken into account in its appraisal and the Department is also engaging with the manufacturer directly on this matter.

01/01/2023
Lord Steel of Aikwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Steel of Aikwood on 2016-07-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will support the resolution from Mauritius at the forthcoming UN General Assembly calling for the matter of the resettlement of Chagos islanders to be referred to the International Court of Justice.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are not aware of any plans by Mauritius for a resolution at the next UN General Assembly regarding the resettlement of Chagos islanders to be referred to the International Court of Justice (ICC). On 17 May the Prime Minister of Mauritius expressed to the Mauritian Parliament his intention to seek a referral by the UN General Assembly to the ICC this autumn, in order to obtain an advisory opinion in relation to sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). We would not support any such resolution as we are in no doubt about British sovereignty over BIOT.

01/01/2023
Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of proposals set out in January 2016 by Lord Justice Jackson to set fixed costs on all personal injury claims valued up to £250,000; and what steps the Government is taking to control costs and promote access to justice in this area.

Sir Oliver Heald

On 15 September, the Government announced that it is keen to extend fixed recoverable costs to as many civil cases as possible. The senior judiciary will be developing proposals and the Government will consult in due course.

In addition, the Department of Health is currently considering the introduction of fixed recoverable costs in lower value clinical negligence claims, on which it expects to consult as soon as practicable; and the Ministry of Justice has asked the Civil Justice Council to consider and make recommendations on the possible introduction of fixed recoverable costs in noise induced hearing loss cases.

01/01/2023
Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the evidential basis is for the proposition that freezing the repayment threshold for plan 2 student loans is likely to result in student loans being repaid to a greater extent than under the current terms.

Joseph Johnson

Estimates of the impact of freezing the repayment thresholds for borrowers are illustrated in the consultation document, which has been published here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/freezing-the-student-loan-repayment-threshold

These are based on analysis using the Department’s Student Loan Repayment Model: further details on the model are available at the Department’s website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/simplified-student-loan-repayment-model

“

01/01/2023