Category: Speeches

Chris Law – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what financial support the Government has provided to video games development companies in Dundee since 2010.

Mr Edward Vaizey

In 2014 Government introduced video games tax relief to support UK games development, including eligible projects in Dundee. In addition, this Autumn, a 4-year £4 million UK Games Fund was launched. This fund, administered from Dundee and London, includes grants for young games development businesses around the UK, and there has been a strong response from Dundee games developers for calls for applications.

The Fund follows our earlier successful video games prototype fund, run by Abertay University in Dundee from 2010 – 2014, and our support for expansion of the university’s games lab which benefitted a number of Dundee games developers.

Dundee games developers are also able to access a range of other schemes including the Research and Development tax credit, the Tradeshow Access Programme and Government match-funding from the Skills Investment Fund which is managed by Creative Skillset.

01/01/2023

Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2016 to Question 20599, how many (a) page views and (b) visitors the www.livingwage.gov.uk website has had in each week since its launch.

Nick Boles

Since the launch of the National Living Wage website we have achieved the following:

Week	Page views	Visitors
December 6 to 12 (launched on the 7^th)	8,667	7,789
Dec 13 to Dec 19	10,235	9,207
December 20 to 26	6,241	5,003
December 27 to January 2	7,153	5,742
January 3 to 9	17,900	13,853
January 10 to 16	22,945	17,794
January 17 to 19 (partial week as answered on Jan 20)	16,312	12,641

01/01/2023

Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) officials, (b) other staff and (c) contracted workers in his Department are working on licensing of taxi and private hire vehicles in the Buses and Taxis division.

Andrew Jones

There are currently (a) two officials, (b) one further official on secondment to the Department and (c) no contracted workers working on taxi and private hire vehicle policy in the Department for Transport. All work in the Buses and Taxis division. The subject forms one part of the officials’ roles. This level of staffing for work on taxis and private hire vehicles is essentially consistent with that going back to 2009/10.

01/01/2023
Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what checks are made to determine whether an individual who is not a British citizen has committed any crimes in the UK on a previous occasion at the time of their entry to the UK from another EU country.

James Brokenshire

We take the issue of preventing criminals entering the UK extremely seriously, and we continue to strengthen our borders so that we can prevent crime and protect the public. We carry out 100% checks at passport control to identify persons of interest entering the UK. All passengers are checked against police, security and immigration watchlists and where we are aware of individuals who pose a risk, Border Force officers can – and do – refuse them entry. Checks are also carried out against the vast majority of passengers before they arrive in the UK and, where we can, we stop them from travelling in the first place.

Those required to obtain a visa to enter the UK are also checked against a range of police, security and immigration databases for details of any UK or overseas criminal record. All applicants are required to provide details of their criminal history. Where they fail to declare relevant offences/convictions, their application will be refused and they will be subject to a ten-year ban from applying to enter the UK.

01/01/2023
Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many local authorities in each of the nations and regions of the UK have a multi-agency service dedicated to supporting members of the armed forces and former members of the armed forces and their families.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence does not hold this information.

01/01/2023
Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 8 December 2015 to Question 17583, on child maintenance, for what reason there is a difference between the estimated costs of (a) caseworker activity to review and update Child Support Agency (CSA) arrears and (b) establishing arrears on the CMS system set out in paragraph 93 of the Department’s final impact assessment on CSA case closure, dated 10 April 2013, and those supplied in that Answer.

Priti Patel

The estimates given in the answer to question 17583 differ from the figures in the Impact Assessment (£123m) because:

i. The actual caseload has been slightly smaller than was forecast at the time of the Impact Assessment and

ii. There has been improved analysis of the effort required to close cases, informed by the actual experience of closing cases.

01/01/2023
Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to (a) assess and (b) address the effect on rail services of the infrastructure bottleneck at Croydon.

Claire Perry

Network Rail’s Sussex Route Study has assessed capacity constraints on the Brighton Main Line. It is increasingly apparent the junctions around Croydon create a complex operating environment for train operators, which translates into constrained capacity and potential delays for passengers. As we develop our emerging priorities for improvements to the national network in 2017, we will give due consideration to improving these junctions.

01/01/2023
Natalie McGarry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Natalie McGarry on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which reports commissioned by his Department from external bodies between 1 January 2015 and 31 August 2016 have not yet been published; when each report was commissioned for research; what the nature of the research commissioned was; from which external body or individual person the research was commissioned; what the value was of each such piece of research commissioned; on what date each report was received by his Department; for what reasons the research has not yet been published; and when he plans to publish each report.

Mr John Hayes

The Department commissions a wide range of research to support its objectives. The general presumption is that research results used in the course of the Department’s business should be made available to broaden knowledge and better inform discussion. In a few circumstances (for instance, where the research relates to security matters or where the Department does not hold the necessary rights to publish) such information is not published; but such circumstances are exceptional. Information on publication of the outputs of this research is not collected centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to take account of the reported views of several members of the Herbal Medicines and Practitioners Working Group that weak evidence was used to support the conclusions of the March report by Professor Walker on the regulation of herbal medicines and practitioners that there is no credible evidence base for herbal medicine and no rationale for accrediting training courses in that field.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Herbal Medicines and Practitioners Working Group, Chaired by Professor Walker, was an independent Group with a clear remit. The internal workings of the Group, and the evidence it considered when carrying out the various strands of its work, was for the Group and its Chair to determine. The Government will review the recommendations of the report and provide its response in due course.

01/01/2023
Chris White – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris White on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to increase participation in part-time higher education courses in STEM subjects.

Joseph Johnson

This year we relaxed the Equivalent and Lower Qualification (ELQ) rule for part time students taking engineering, technology and computer science courses. This means that students who already hold a degree will be able to access student support. At the Autumn Statement we announced a further relaxation to the eligibility rules so that students who already hold a degree can from 2017/18 access student support for part time study of other STEM subjects. These changes do not affect those undertaking full time study.

01/01/2023