Category: Speeches

Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what changes in personnel there have been on the Civil Service Board since May 2010.

Matthew Hancock

The composition of the most senior collective leadership body (now Civil Service Board) has changed markedly since 2010 and its membership is reviewed on an ongoing basis. The Board has existed in its current guise, under the Chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary, since September 2014. During the past year six new Board members have been appointed, replacing those who have left the Civil Service. The current membership can be found here (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/civil-service/about/our-governance).

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01/01/2023
Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which overseas trips by Ministers of the Scottish Government were supported by (a) his Department and (b) British embassies and consulates in each year since 2014.

Mr David Lidington

The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023
Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to impose conditions on the airport which is awarded an additional runway when making a decision on the expansion of airport capacity.

Mr John Hayes

The Government remains fully committed to delivering the important infrastructure projects it has set out, including delivering runway capacity on the timetable set out by Sir Howard Davies.

The Government believes it is essential that expansion via any of the shortlisted schemes is accompanied by a strong package of measures to mitigate the impacts on communities and the environment, and will set out any requirements in this area on a preferred scheme promoter in due course.

01/01/2023
Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the criteria set by the UN General Assembly for election to the UN Human Rights Council in Resolution 60/251 in relation to the candidacies of China, Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK carefully considers its votes against the criteria set out by the UN General Assembly; that members uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights and fully cooperate with the Council. It is the UK’s longstanding policy not to publicise how it votes.

01/01/2023
Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-29.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will ensure that save-as-you-earn and share incentive plan savings limits are increased in line with inflation on an annual basis.

Mr David Gauke

The tax-advantaged Save As You Earn (SAYE) and Share Incentive Plan (SIP) limits were significantly increased from April 2014. The increases the Government have made are reasonable, given the average monthly SAYE savings and the value of awards currently made to employees under SIP, and they represent the best use of resources. The Government will continue to keep the SAYE and SIP limits under review.

In addition to increasing the SAYE and SIP limits, the rules of the schemes were substantially reviewed and simplified following the recommendations made by the Office of Tax Simplification in March 2012. Last year, the requirement that these schemes must be approved by HM Revenue and Customs to qualify for favourable tax treatment was replaced by self-certification. Coupled with other changes to simplify some technical aspects of the rules, this will make these schemes more attractive to businesses and employees.

No data is collected and no estimates are made of the income levels of the participants in SAYE schemes.

Permitting private equity backed companies to offer all-employee tax advantaged schemes would be likely to involve significant changes to the rules of the schemes, and there would be a number of other factors to consider carefully, including the increased cost and complexity of any extension.

01/01/2023

Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Information Commissioner’s Office has spent on processing assessments pursuant to section 42 of the Data Protection Act 1998 in each of the last five financial years; how many such requests that Office has received in each of the those years; and what the recorded outcomes were of those requests.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Under section 42 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), any person who is, or believes that he is, directly affected by the processing of personal data, can ask the Information Commissioner to consider whether the processing is likely to comply with the law. On receiving such a request, the Commissioner is obliged to consider the concern and make an assessment. Any such request, and cases taken forward are dealt with by the ICO’s customer contact and performance improvement business areas. The ICO does not cost up S42 assessments separately from other data protection casework, but the total staffing costs for these two business areas for the last five financial years are set out below:

2015/16 (April-Nov)	£2,883,256.14
2014/15	£3,879,782.83
2013/14	£3,969,104.17
2012/13	£3,581,161.82
2011/12	£3,389,336.87

Numbers of assessments received and concluded for each of the past 5 years are set out below:

Financial years
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Number of assessments received under s42 DPA	13034	12980	13760	14738	14268
Number of assessments completed under s42 DPA	14276	12725	14280	15492	15052

The recorded outcomes of those assessments are set out below:

	Financial years
Outcome of s42 assessment	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Not progressed	14%	11%	13%	14%
Compliance likely	22%	21%	22%	19%
Compliance unlikely	33%	31%	35%	34%
Ineligible/Made too early	27%	36%	30%	33%
Reopened – pending final outcome	4%	1%
No Action for Data Controller					35%
Data Controller Action required					22%
Concern to be raised with Data Controller					17%
compliance advice given to Data Controller					10%
Response needed from Data Controller					7%
Complaint not applicable under DPA					4%
General advice given to Data Controller					4%
Data Controller outside UK					1%
Improvement action plan agreed with Data Controller					1%

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01/01/2023

Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Saudi Arabian authorities on the cases of (a) Raif Badaw, (b) Waleed Abu al-Khair and (c) Ashraf Fayadh.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We are aware of, and concerned by, the cases of Raif Badawi, Waleed Abu al-Khair, and Ashraf Fayadh. We have raised the cases of Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu al-Khair with the Saudi Arabian authorities and we continue to use suitable opportunities to raise our concerns over all these cases. We do not expect Mr Badawi to receive the lashes he has been sentenced to receive. We strongly support freedom of expression in every country and regularly make the Saudi Arabian authorities aware of our views.

01/01/2023
Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2016 to Question 23474, when the detailed criteria for the Life Chances Fund will be published.

Mr Rob Wilson

The Life Chances Fund is being designed and delivered by the Cabinet Office. More detailed guidance about how the fund will work will be published before the House rises for summer recess in 2016.

01/01/2023
Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the UK paid to the EU for agricultural levies in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

George Eustice

UK Contributions to the EU budget are set out in Table C3 of HM Treasury publication “European Union Finances 2015: statement on the 2015 EU Budget and measures to counter fraud and financial mismanagement” in December 2015.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/483344/EU_finances_2015_final_web_09122015.pdf

The contribution from sugar levies for the previous 5 years were:

2010: £8m

2011: £8m

2012: £10m

2013: £9m

2014: £2m

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01/01/2023
Damian Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Damian Green on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy and timeliness of information given to women born in the 1950s of changes to the age at which they become eligible for the state pension; and if he will make a statement.

Justin Tomlinson

Following the Pensions Act 1995, which set out the timetable for women’s State Pension age to rise from 60 to 65, changes to State Pension age were communicated in State Pension estimates issued to individuals on request. These estimates provided individuals with their most up-to-date date of reaching State Pension age. Since April 2000, the Department has issued more than 11.5 million personalised State Pension statements to people who requested them.

Independent evidence submitted to the Work and Pensions Select Committee demonstrates that there were several mentions of State Pension age equalisation in the national broadsheet and tabloid press between 1993 and 2006.

The Department also ran a pensions education campaign in 2004, which included informing people of the future equalisation of State Pension age. A 2007 DWP report, Attitudes to pensions: The 2006 survey, reported that 86 per cent of women aged 55-64 and 90 per cent aged 45-54 were aware that the State Pension age will increase in future.

The Government sent letters to women affected by changes in the 1995 Act between April 2009 and March 2011 using the address details held by HMRC at that time.

The timetable for equalising State Pension age at 65 for women and men and for the increase to 66 was accelerated by the Pensions Act 2011 following sharp increases in life expectancy projections. A concession worth £1.1 billion was made prior to the passing of the 2011 Act which capped the maximum delay that anyone would face in claiming their State Pension to 18 months rather than two years, relative to the previous timetable. The Government sent letters between January 2012 and November 2013 to all those directly affected to inform them of the changes to their State Pension age.

01/01/2023