The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on options relating to the future of Channel 4.
Mr Edward Vaizey
My Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and sport on a wide variety of issues.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2016 to Question 27540, under whose jurisdiction objections citing provisions relating to the Armed Forces Covenant excluding those relating to service premium admission would fall.
Nick Gibb
The School Admissions Code contains a range of statutory provisions relating to school admission arrangements and to the wider admissions process. The code includes provisions to ensure that children of UK service personnel are not disadvantaged when applying for a school place. The role of the Schools Adjudicator is to consider objections about admission arrangements only. Some of the provisions in the code, therefore, do not fall within the adjudicator’s jurisdiction. There is no body which has jurisdiction to consider objections relating to these other provisions, but admission authorities must comply with all the statutory provisions in the code and, where they fail to do so, the Secretary of State has powers under section 496 and 497 of the Education Act 1996 to require them to comply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-03-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any plans for a database of outcomes from innovative medical treatments will be subject to the patient level extraction process of the Standardisation Committee for Care Information.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Access to Medical Treatments (Innovations) Bill, which has passed through all Parliamentary stages and is awaiting Royal Assent, provides a power to the Secretary of State for Health to direct the Health and Social Care Information Centre to; design, build and operate a database of innovative medicines which clinicians may wish to consider helping their patients gain access to, which will be implemented using internationally standardised medical coding.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Williams on 2016-04-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on how the Government plans to transpose the provisions of the EU Tobacco Products Directive on restrictions on e-cigarette advertising into UK law to take account of Public Health England’s conclusions on the level of harm e-cigarettes cause relative to smoking.
Jane Ellison
The Government recognises that electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) help smokers quit and the evidence indicates that they are considerably less harmful to health than cigarettes. At the same time, it is essential that we do not encourage smoking and that we continue to protect children from the dangers of nicotine. For this reason, the Department welcomes the new rules set out in the revised Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) which will apply in the United Kingdom from 20 May 2016.
The Government has taken a minimal approach to transposition of the TPD provisions on e-cigarette advertising into UK law, taking into account existing European case law. The Directive requires a prohibition of e-cigarette advertising in certain media such as TV and newspapers and online, but not for example on billboards. The provisions are compatible with the right to an individual’s freedom of speech and do not prevent individuals’ independent reviews on social media or internet forums. These provisions are enacted by The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016/507 and changes to the Office of Communications Broadcast Codes.
The Department will work in close partnership with the Advertising Standards Authority and Trading Standards, including on the need for further guidance for businesses, especially in the first year of implementation to build compliance with the new requirements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carol Monaghan on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of research proposals submitted through the Joint Electronic Submission System which have been judged to cross the boundary between the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the UK Space Agency have gone through to peer review.
Joseph Johnson
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) runs a remit query service which enables researchers to discuss proposals in advance with the UK Space Agency (UKSA) should they consider their research idea to fall between discipline boundaries. This enables research council staff, and those from UKSA, to agree on which agency or council is best placed to carry out peer review to assess the merits of the proposal. Where a proposal is cross-disciplinary, UKSA and EPSRC work together to agree a leading council/agency to carry out peer review functions, with reviewers selected from both organisations. There has been one project in the last three years which was submitted to EPSRC through Je-S and was assessed by programme managers as cross boundary. The proposal went through the peer review process and was funded.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2016, to Question 42888, how many clinical commissioning groups were rated as inadequate for 2015-16; and how many such inadequate ratings given in relation, at least in part, to poor IVF provision.
David Mowat
There were 26 clinical commissioning groups rated as inadequate for 2015-16. The ratings do not go into such a degree of granularity as to reference specific services or treatments (for example IVF provision).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to publish the consultation on the Government’s commitment to phase out coal-fired power stations.
Jesse Norman
Most of the UK’s existing coal fired power stations are old, relatively inefficient and require investment to reduce the level of damaging pollutants they emit. We expect to consult shortly on the closure of unabated coal stations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to control the population of grey squirrels; and if she will hold discussions with shooting organisations on their potential role in such control.
Rory Stewart
In December 2014 Defra and the Forestry Commission published an updated grey squirrel action plan for England. This reaffirms the Government’s commitment to working with land owners and other organisations as part of a reinforced package of measures to support targeted grey squirrel control. The action plan includes:
Defra is also one of 32 signatories to the UK Squirrel Accord, which aims to bring a concerted and coordinated approach to securing the future of our red squirrels and woodlands, and to controlling the introduced grey squirrel. The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) is also a signatory and a meeting of all the signatories is planned for 10 November.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the timescale is for the availability of postgraduate masters degree loans as announced in the Autumn Statement 2014; and whether he plans to extend the loans policy to postgraduate research masters and doctoral research.
Joseph Johnson
The Government is committed to enhancing its support for postgraduate study and wants more people to have the opportunity to build on their academic success through access to a higher level qualification. The Government has now announced that a Master’s loan will be available to individuals up to age 60 from 2016/17. It also set out details of the next steps to provide more support for Doctoral study.
Further information is available via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/postgraduate-study-student-loans-and-other-support
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh on 2016-01-04.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with organisations representing small businesses on plans for introducing quarterly tax returns.
Mr David Gauke
The Government has no plans to introduce quarterly tax returns for business. The Government is introducing simple, secure and personalised digital tax accounts, removing the need for annual tax returns. Updating HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) through software or apps will deliver a light-touch process, much less burdensome and time-consuming than it is today.
The Government will consult on the details of these proposals throughout 2016 and will publish a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) in the usual way. This will include an estimate of the impacts on business. The Government routinely publish TIINs for tax policy changes when the policy detail for those changes is finalised or near-finalised.
HMRC has discussed these reforms with a range of professional bodies and advisory groups representing small businesses and the self-employed. HMRC has also engaged extensively with a range of professional bodies and other stakeholders representing the accountancy profession.
On 14 December 2015, HMRC set out details of its plans at its annual stakeholder conference, which was attended by a large number of different organisations representing small businesses.