The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will estimate the proportion of funding for extended school activities in primary schools in 2015-16 which came from parental contributions in (a) England, (b) the North East and (c) Sunderland.
Nick Gibb
The Department does not collect the information requested.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations the Government has made to the Indian government on re-opening border crossings to Nepal.
Mr Hugo Swire
Our Acting Ambassador in Nepal, and many other Heads of Mission, has discussed the blockage at the border with the Indian Ambassador to Nepal, most recently on 30 October. The British High Commissioner to India, Sir James Bevan, called on Indian Foreign Secretary Jaishankar on 7 October to raise the situation in Nepal with him; and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Director for South Asia and Afghanistan also raised it with Mr Jaishankar during his visit to India from 12-13 October. We continue to engage with India and seek to work with them to help resolve the crisis in Nepal.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-11-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many families with household incomes (1) over £50,000, and (2) over £100,000, per annum they estimate will benefit from free childcare and at what cost.
Lord Nash
The Spending Review announced the largest ever investment in free childcare which will give working families the help they need. From September 2017 we are introducing 30 hours of free childcare a week for the working parents of three- and four-year olds, alongside the existing universal early education entitlement.
We have introduced an income cap so that, when at least one parent has an income of £100,000 or more, that family will not be eligible to take up the extra free 15 hours. This means that the extra 15 hours of childcare are therefore focused on those working families that most need help with their childcare costs.
We do not hold information on the household income of the families entitled to free childcare.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department has spent on flood defences in the Leeds city region in each year since 2010; and how much she plans to spend on such defences in each year until 2020.
Rory Stewart
Between 2010-2011 and 2014-2015,£57.2m was allocated for flood defences in Leeds City Region. From 2015-2016 to 2019-2020, a further £50.2m has been allocated for further flood protection measures.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what change there was in the number of (a) mortgage and (b) landlord possession orders in each local authority between 2010 and 2015.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The data is published quarterly at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-statistics under ‘Mortgage and landlord possession statistical data (zip file).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in her Department.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
I refer the hon Gentleman to the answer given by my hon Friend, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, on 29 February 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to implement the University College London RSCoin proposal.
Harriett Baldwin
Digital currencies, and the distributed ledger technology that underpins them, have the potential to bring innovative services and products to UK customers and firms – particularly in areas like international transfers.
The Chancellor announced in March 2015 that the Government will bring digital currency exchange firms into regulation in the UK to help the legitimate industry flourish, and to create a hostile environment for illicit actors. We will publish proposals on this regulatory regime in due course.
As outlined in Deputy Governor, Ben Broadbent’s recent speech, the Bank of England is also exploring this emerging sector and the implications it could have for monetary and financial stability as part of its broader research agenda.
Separately, academics at University College London’s (UCL) digital currency research centre have also been looking at how the distributed ledger technology that underpins digital currencies could be harnessed by central banks. The Government is encouraged to see this research from one of the UK’s world-leading universities. However, this a theoretical paper by an independent institution, separate from the Bank of England’s work and from Government policy.
It is the Government’s ambition to foster the growth of legitimate digital currency firms as part of the wider FinTech ecosystem here in the UK. As part of this, the Government will consider the wider implications of a growing digital currencies sector for the financial services sector and the economy as a whole. Some parts of Government are also looking at how the benefits of distributed ledger technology can be harnessed to deliver greater innovation. However, the Government and the Bank of England do not currently have any plans to introduce a centrally issued digital currency.
The UK has been rated as having the world’s leading FinTech ecosystem in a recent global benchmarking exercise and attracted c. £524mn in investment in 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the total amount of compensation payments agreed for residents along the route of the High Speed 2 line to date.
Mr Robert Goodwill
As of 30 March 2016 £280,573,795 has been paid to residents under the statutory blight regime and the HS2 discretionary schemes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the level of access to credit for businesses in Stafford constituency in the last 12 months.
Anna Soubry
The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 contained two specific policies to support Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in accessing finance.
The first requires major banks to refer SMEs they reject for finance to designated ‘finance platforms’ that can help match SMEs with alternative finance providers. This will ensure that viable SMEs, including businesses in Stafford, that may not fit the major banks’ risk appetite can still get the finance they need to grow and expand. Three platforms have recently been designated by HM Treasury on the advice of the British Business Bank and are expected to come into operation later this year.
The second requires the major banks to share information on their SME customers, with the SME’s permission, with other lenders through designated Credit Reference Agencies. This will improve the ability of challenger banks and alternative finance providers to conduct accurate risk assessments and level the playing field between providers and make it easier for SMEs to get finance from providers other than their bank.
The Government is supporting the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and Crowdfunding sectors, which provide alternative sources of finance for both businesses and individuals. The British Business Bank, for example, has invested £100m in SMEs via five P2P platforms.
In addition, the British Business Bank’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme has facilitated over £2.6 billion of bank lending and other finance to over 25,000 SMEs. Since the start of the scheme, 45 EFG loans have been drawn down in Stafford worth over £5 million. Government has also provided loans through the Start Up Loans Company to help new businesses in Stafford. 42 start up businesses in Stafford have secured a loan from the Start Up Loans Company, with a total value of over £218, 000.
More widely, credit conditions for business continue to improve with net lending to SMEs in 2015 positive across the complete year, the first time this has happened since the financial crisis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to Written Statement HCW588 on Infected Blood Payment Scheme, whether entitlement to the new annual payments for people infected with hepatitis C via infected blood and blood products will continue for the lifetime of the individual even if they are successfully treated for their hepatitis C.
Nicola Blackwood
The reformed scheme will provide a payment to all those with hepatitis C, even if they have been treated, for the current spending review period. A review of the scheme will take place towards the end of this spending review period.
All those who are currently bereaved partners/spouses and all those who will be bereaved partner/spouses in future will receive a £10,000 lump sum payment and will have continued access to discretionary support. Discretionary support will continue to be available to the bereaved, as well as to infected individuals.
All infected individuals who are registered with Skipton as having hepatitis C stage 1 (nearly 2,500 people) will be eligible for the new stage 1 annual payment.