The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2015-12-08.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost is of special advisers in each Department.
Matthew Hancock
Information about the number, pay bands, and cost of special advisers will be published shortly in the normal way.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the quality and nutritional value of food served to the Armed Forces.
Mr Philip Dunne
All food procured for Ministry of Defence (MOD) personnel must comply with MOD food quality standards. These standards comply with all UK and EU production standards, Farm Assurance or equivalent. The Defence Food Quality Standards (DFQS) establishes the minimum quality criteria that the Department requires a supplier to deliver. It sets the standard of what food and ingredients should be provided as part of the contracts to provide nutritious and balanced meals to Service Personnel. The DFQS publication is available online through the gov.uk website at:
(www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479299/20151006-DFQS-V12-U.pdf).
The MOD requires all of its food suppliers to comply with both EU and National legislation whilst operating to industry standards and monitors the suppliers’ compliance with the DFQS through a combination of product testing and conducting inspections of their premises/production facilities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received on reducing the number of (a) metropolitan district councils and (b) councillors in metropolitan counties with a combined authority and metro mayor.
James Wharton
The Government invited areas that wanted to negotiate a deal devolving major powers to come forward with written proposals by 4 September 2015. It is for local areas to propose governance structures that are right for them, including electoral changes that are wanted locally. Discussions continue with local areas on the precise arrangements to be put in place in areas to deliver deals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the relevance of the Final Report of the US Defense Science Board Task Force on Resilient Military Systems, published on 10 October 2012, to the security of Trident submarines.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Ministry of Defence are aware of the report in question which has not alerted us to anything new. We continue to place a high priority on assuring the effectiveness of our nuclear deterrent and managing the associated risk. We continue to monitor and evaluate capabilities and technologies that could threaten the nuclear deterrent, including from cyber-attack. It would not be appropriate to go into specific detail of the steps taken to mitigate against these threats but note that the report points out that submarine platforms have isolation "designed into how they operate and fight" and that this isolation provides nuclear armed submarines with additional resilience over other nuclear weapon systems.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Campbell of Pittenweem on 2016-04-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the cost has been to date of all Typhoon Force-related works at RAF Lossiemouth; and what is the most recent estimate of the total cost of facilitating the future operation of the Typhoon Force and the Northern Quick Reaction Alert facility at that base.
Earl Howe
£80.6 million has been committed and will be spent on Typhoon-related works at RAF Lossiemouth. The total cost of facilitating the future operation of the Typhoon Force and the Northern Quick Reaction Alert facility at that base is still being reviewed following the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 announcements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the number of job losses in the UK solar SME sector arising from the closure of the feed-in tariff scheme and its replacement with a capped scheme.
Andrea Leadsom
The projected employment impacts of the revised feed-in tariff scheme were set out in Annex C of the impact assessment published alongside the FIT Review government response. This can be found at:
This is a UK success story with 99% of solar installed since 2010 and 8GW already deployed.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions Ministers of his Department have had with their counterparts in other departments on the NHS England Five Year Forward View since the publication of that paper in February 2016.
Alistair Burt
We welcomed the recommendations of the Mental Health Five Year Forward View and are working with colleagues across Whitehall to embed these into our work programmes. We liaise regularly with other Government departments in developing our policies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Altmann on 2016-09-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why cold calls regarding mortgages can be banned but not cold calls offering free pension reviews or unregulated pension investments.
Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) prohibition on cold calling applies to financial promotion of mortgages by FCA regulated firms. Under the FCA rules, regulated entities (including mortgage providers) are not allowed to engage in real-time financial promotion of mortgages and therefore no legitimate market for telephone promotion and sales exists.
The Government tightened controls on cold calling earlier this year, when amending the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), making it a requirement for organisations making direct marketing calls to display their Calling Line Identification (CLI). These controls need time to bed in before considering whether further changes, specific to pensions, are appropriate. If there is a case for change, the Government will take the necessary action.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure companies or individuals suspected of funding ISIL through oil trades do not operate or transfer money through the UK financial system; and what steps she has taken to assess whether such steps have been effective.
Mr John Hayes
International engagement is a key part of the UK’s strategy for countering the financing of terrorism and the UK is part of the Global Coalition working together to dismantle and destroy the threat from ISIL. Denying ISIL access to revenue and funding for its ambitions of statehood is a core part of the Global Coalition’s strategy to defeat ISIL.
The Government works closely with law enforcement and industry bodies such as the British Bankers’ Association. We also work bilaterally with international partners, and with multilateral institutions such as the Financial Action Task Force, to build international capacity the financing of terrorism.
The recent Home Office and HM Treasury National Risk Assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing (published 15 October – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-national-risk-assessment-of-money-laundering-and-terrorist-financing) gave a clear and candid assessment of the current overall situation. It found that while the UK’s response to terrorist financing risks is well developed, more could be done to strengthen our regime. The Government will take forward comprehensive work to address these findings through a new cross-Government Action Plan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many inspections were carried out by the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) inspectorate into possible breaches of employment agency regulations in each of the last five years; how many breaches of regulations were identified in those inspections; how many people the EAS barred from operating employment agencies following those inspections; and how many of each of those cases related to employment agencies for supply teachers.
Nick Boles
The table below sets out the total number of cases completed by the EAS in the last five years. These figures relate to both complaints and inspections as we do not differentiate between cases which arise as a result of a complaint or an inspection.
|
Year |
Total number of cases (both complaints and inspections) |
|
2010/11 |
1,201 |
|
2011/12 |
1,050 |
|
2012/13 |
1,057 |
|
2013/14 |
760 |
|
2014/15 |
626 |
The table below sets out the total number of breaches of regulations identified by EAS in the past five years, both as a result of complaints and inspections.
|
Year |
Total number of breaches (found as a result of complaints or inspections) |
|
2010/11 |
2,065 |
|
2011/12 |
2,146 |
|
2012/13 |
1,479 |
|
2013/14 |
320 |
|
2014/15 |
186 |
The Employment Agencies Act 1973, as amended in 1994, makes provision for the Secretary of State, on application to an Employment Tribunal, to be able to seek to prohibit persons from carrying on, or being concerned with carrying on of any employment agency or employment business. The current list of prohibited persons can be found on www.gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/403653/employment-agency-standards-inspectorate_prohibited_people_list__4_.pdf
The table below sets out the number of people the EAS prohibited following inspections in the past five years:
|
Year |
Total number of prohibitions |
|
2010/11 |
8 |
|
2011/12 |
0 |
|
2012/13 |
2 |
|
2013/14 |
0 |
|
2014/15 |
1 |
One of the prohibitions above relates to a person who operated a supply teachers agency.
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