The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what evidence the Government holds of terrorists linked to Daesh or Al Qaeda crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We are aware of reports in the public domain that terrorist groups, including Daesh, have an ambition to infiltrate migration routes from Libya. We continue to monitor the situation closely.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2016-03-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the National Flood Resilience Review team has made on assessing the damage that extreme rainfall could cause across England.
Rory Stewart
The National Flood Resilience Review led by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is making good progress with gathering evidence and stress-testing our resilience to flood risk. Our call for evidence closed on 4 March and we are now reviewing the 66 responses received.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse has been of travel overseas by the Government’s Anti-Corruption Champion during the course of his duties.
Matthew Hancock
Overseas travel costs for the Anti-Corruption Champion will be included in the next Cabinet Office annual report and accounts, which will be published on GOV.UK in due course.
There were no costs incurred by the Cabinet Office for the Anti-Corruption Champion in the latest annual report and accounts published. Any costs covered by the Cabinet Office for the Anti-Corruption Champion will be included in the next report which will be published on GOV.UK in due course.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel following reports from Physicians for Human Rights in Israel that wounded Palestinians have been deliberately left untreated by Israeli medical orderlies for as long as two hours.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
While we have not made representations to the Government of Israel about this particular issue, we have concerns about treatment of Palestinian detainees. We have raised these concerns with the Israeli authorities on many occasions, including at Foreign Minister, Attorney General and National Security Adviser levels. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv regularly monitors this issue and meets with Physicians for Human Rights in Israel (PHRI). Our Ambassador in Tel Aviv met a group of Israeli civil society organisations, including PHRI, on 3 February.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sheikh on 2016-07-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the ceasefire declarations by the government of Sudan and the rebel movements in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We welcome the Sudanese Government’s announcement of a cessation of hostilities for the Two Areas last month, and the opposition’s announcement in April. We are aware of recent allegations of breaches and our Ambassador in Khartoum raised this issue with the Chief of Staff for the Sudanese Armed Forces on 18 July who reiterated the government’s commitment to upholding the cessation of hostilities. We continue to call on all sides to ensure the declarations are respected and allow full humanitarian access.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to take steps to bring about an international commission into the killings in Rabaa in June 2013.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The Egyptian Government under Interim President Adly Mansour established a National Fact Finding Committee in 2013 to investigate the events following President Morsi’s removal. Their mandate was to examine these events and their implications, issue recommendations, review existing legal cases, and on the basis of evidence collected, establish whether additional legal action was warranted.
A 57-page executive summary of its conclusions was released in December 2014. The conclusions included recommendations for the police, educational institutions, the legislature, investigative authorities and the media. Since the publication of the summary of the Fact-Finding Committee’s report, the UK has encouraged the Egyptian Government to release the report in full, and has stressed the importance of accountability for the deaths that took place during the clearances. This remains our policy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the change in the number of firefighter posts was in Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service in 2013-14.
Greg Clark
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 6 November 2015, PQ 13946.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Teverson on 2015-12-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they afforded community energy schemes less than one month’s notice for the implementation of changes to the tax rules, but allowed a phasing out of Enterprise Investment Scheme relief for all generation projects over a longer period.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The purpose of the tax-advantaged venture capital schemes is to encourage investment into smaller, higher risk companies that would otherwise struggle to access the funding they need to develop and grow.
Changes have been made to the schemes over time to ensure that asset-backed activities, as well as those that benefit from predictable and reliable income streams, do not qualify, since these often represent lower-risk investments that should be able to secure finance without the need for tax relief. For example, different types of energy generation were excluded from the schemes in 2012, 2014 and 2015, due to clear evidence that such investments were particularly low-risk products offering return of capital, and were being explicitly marketed as such.
Community energy projects in receipt of other government support were not excluded at the time of these previous changes. However, since then the government has become aware of significantly increased interest in the use of community energy for low-risk tax planning purposes. The number of community energy schemes registered as community interest companies (CICs) or community benefit societies has increased from about 5 in 2014 to about 200 by October 2015. The marketing material of these investments suggests that the level of investment risk for community energy, including solar, is comparable to that of activities that were previously excluded.
The government announced at the Summer Budget 2015 that it would monitor the use of the venture capital schemes by community energy organisations to ensure that there was continued value for money for the taxpayer and that they were not the subject of misuse. The government subsequently announced the exclusion of subsidised renewable energy generation by community energy organisations on 26 October 2015, taking effect for investments made on or after 30 November 2015, providing a notice period of five weeks. At the same time, the government announced the exclusion of activities making reserve energy generating capacity available, also with effect for investments made on or after 30 November 2015.
The government believes that the notice period given provided a good balance between the provision of notice to potential investors who might wish to take advantage of the tax reliefs provided through the schemes and the financial risk to the Exchequer that a longer notice period would carry.
To further ensure the venture capital schemes remain well-targeted and deliver value for money, the government announced at Autumn Statement 2015 the exclusion of all remaining energy generation activities from the schemes with effect for investments made on or after 6 April 2016. The new exclusions will apply to both non-renewable and renewable sources of energy generation and apply irrespective of whether a subsidy is received or of the nature of the company carrying on the activities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Harriet Harman on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on (a) the nature of the Government’s consultation on the proposed Bill of Rights and associated measures and (b) ensuring that that timing does not overlap with the period of the purdah of the Scottish Government or the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament.
David Mundell
I meet with Cabinet colleagues and other ministers regularly to discuss a wide range of matters. We are committed to consulting fully on our proposals prior to the introduction of any legislation and we will announce further details in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Saudi Arabian government on tackling the spread of Daesh in the Middle East.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We regularly hold discussions with Saudi Arabia about the threat from Daesh. Saudi Arabia has been at the forefront of international efforts to defeat Daesh and was one of the first countries to participate in air strikes against Daesh in Syria. The King and the religious establishment continue clearly and publicly to condemn Daesh and its poisonous ideology, and to emphasise that Daesh do not in any way represent the teachings of Islamic faith.
The Saudi Arabian Government is working to reduce the threat that religious extremists pose in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. It has a comprehensive set of laws in place to prevent terrorist financing, which it enforces vigorously. We welcome the recent announcement of the creation of the Islamic Military Coalition which, among other things, aims to help Islamic countries to counter the threat from terrorism. Regional and Arab countries are best placed to tackle extremism and confront Daesh on the ground.