Category: Speeches

  • Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to engage with representatives from the Alevi community in Britain.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Ministers in the Department for Communities and Local Government meet members of minority communities on a regular basis. My officials are happy to meet with representatives of the British Alevi community and discuss items that have been raised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Alevis.

  • Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Saville Roberts on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Attorney General, what his policy is on offences under section 4A of the Protection from Harassment 1998 Act being referred to the Court of Appeal on the grounds of undue leniency.

    Robert Buckland

    Neither of these offences are covered under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme and therefore the Law Officers have no power to refer sentences for these offences to the Court of Appeal.

    The Government has committed to extending the scope of the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme and is carefully considering its approach.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what safeguards the Government plans to put in place to protect customers from fraud and cyber security risks if they use new products and services in an open banking environment.

    Simon Kirby

    Improving the resilience of the finance sector to risks such as cyber security is a priority for the Government. HM Treasury works closely with the financial regulators to drive this improvement; it is their responsibility to supervise banks’ operations. The Financial Conduct Authority has a specific objective on consumer protection.

    The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the final report of its market investigation into retail banking on 9 August 2016. As part of this the CMA requires the nine largest UK banks to develop and adopt an open banking standard for application programming interfaces (APIs) to allow access to customer account information, as set out in the revised Payment Services Directive (PSDII) which will come into force in January 2018. These nine banks are required to deliver open data APIs by Q1 2017, and deliver the full open API banking standard by early 2018. Data protection and cyber security are key considerations in PSDII, and the Government will be consulting on the transposition of this directive shortly.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new claims for housing benefit were made by people who lost their homes to repossession in each of the last 10 years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information requested regarding the number of new claims for housing benefit were made by people who lost their homes due to repossessions in each of the last 10 years is not available.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Charlotte Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what system of monitoring his Department has for local authorities which repeatedly commission providers rated by the Care Quality Commission as requiring improvement.

    Alistair Burt

    Commissioning social care is a matter for local authorities as they are best placed to understand the needs of local people and communities, and how best to meet them. The Care Quality Commission ratings should inform their commissioning decisions; these ratings are available to the public. Local authorities are accountable to their local population through democratically elected members.

    The Department has developed statutory guidance to support local authorities to meet their duties for market shaping set out in the Care Act 2014, including commissioning. The Department has also worked with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the Local Government Association and other partners to develop a framework of commissioning standards which will help local authorities improve their commissioning practices.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of  the human rights situation in the Maldives, and what consideration they are giving to immediate targeted sanctions by the UK and at a EU level on senior officials and key supporters of the government of the Maldives, including freezing assets and travel bans.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK is concerned about the decline in respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law in the Maldives. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), visited the Maldives on 17 and 18 January and expressed these concerns to President Yameen and other key members of the Maldivian government including Foreign Minister Dunya.

    We will continue to apply pressure through a range of bilateral and multilateral means to bring about the positive changes we all want to see in the Maldives.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the value of financial contributions to the EU in 2015 that were attributable to London and the South East of England.

    Mr David Gauke

    Contributions to the EU are paid directly from HM Government and thus are not attributable to any one part of the UK.

  • Angus Brendan MacNeil – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Angus Brendan MacNeil – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost of state pensions to the Government as a proportion of GDP was over each of the last 30 years; and what the projected cost of state pensions as a proportion of GDP is over each of the next 30 years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The requested information is available from 1991/92 to 2045/46 in the table below:

    UK expenditure on State Pension as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

    UK expenditure on State Pension as a proportion of GDP per million claimants of State Pension

    1991-92

    4.0%

    0.39%

    1992-93

    4.0%

    0.39%

    1993-94

    4.0%

    0.39%

    1994-95

    3.9%

    0.38%

    1995-96

    3.9%

    0.36%

    1996-97

    3.8%

    0.36%

    1997-98

    3.8%

    0.35%

    1998-99

    3.9%

    0.35%

    1999-00

    3.9%

    0.35%

    2000-01

    3.8%

    0.34%

    2001-02

    4.0%

    0.35%

    2002-03

    4.0%

    0.35%

    2003-04

    3.9%

    0.34%

    2004-05

    3.9%

    0.33%

    2005-06

    3.9%

    0.33%

    2006-07

    3.8%

    0.32%

    2007-08

    3.9%

    0.32%

    2008-09

    4.2%

    0.34%

    2009-10

    4.6%

    0.36%

    2010-11

    4.5%

    0.35%

    2011-12

    4.7%

    0.36%

    2012-13

    4.9%

    0.37%

    2013-14

    4.8%

    0.37%

    2014-15

    4.8%

    0.37%

    2015-16

    4.9%

    0.37%

    2016-17

    4.8%

    0.37%

    2017-18

    4.8%

    0.36%

    2018-19

    4.8%

    0.36%

    2019-20

    4.7%

    0.36%

    2020-21

    4.6%

    0.35%

    2021/22

    4.7%

    0.35%

    2022/23

    4.8%

    0.35%

    2023/24

    4.9%

    0.35%

    2024/25

    5.0%

    0.35%

    2025/26

    5.1%

    0.35%

    2026/27

    5.2%

    0.35%

    2027/28

    5.2%

    0.35%

    2028/29

    5.2%

    0.35%

    2029/30

    5.4%

    0.35%

    2030/31

    5.5%

    0.35%

    2031/32

    5.6%

    0.36%

    2032/33

    5.8%

    0.36%

    2033/34

    5.9%

    0.36%

    2034/35

    5.9%

    0.36%

    2035/36

    5.9%

    0.36%

    2036/37

    5.9%

    0.36%

    2037/38

    6.1%

    0.36%

    2038/39

    6.2%

    0.36%

    2039/40

    6.3%

    0.36%

    2040/41

    6.4%

    0.36%

    2041/42

    6.4%

    0.36%

    2042/43

    6.5%

    0.36%

    2043/44

    6.5%

    0.36%

    2044/45

    6.6%

    0.36%

    2045/46

    6.6%

    0.36%

    “

  • Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to transfer responsibility for Scottish prison officers’ pensions to the Scottish Government.

    Matthew Hancock

    Prison Officers employed in the Scottish Prison Service are members of the Civil Service. Under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998 the Civil Service is a reserved matter and legislation on pensions and compensation is a matter for Parliament at Westminster.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 32849, which 90 countries will provide automatic offshore account and trust data to the UK; which responsible authorities in the UK will be able to access that data; and whether the 90 countries referred to will also be able to access automatic offshore account and trust data held by the UK.

    Mr David Gauke

    The UK expects to receive information from the following jurisdictions under the automatic exchange of information agreements it has, or will soon have, in place.

    Albania

    Colombia

    Hong Kong

    Marshall Islands

    Seychelles

    Andorra

    Cook Islands

    Hungary

    Mauritius

    Singapore

    Anguilla

    Costa Rica

    Iceland

    Mexico

    Sint Maarten

    Antigua & Barbuda

    Croatia

    India

    Monaco

    Slovak Republic

    Argentina

    Curacao

    Indonesia

    Montserrat

    Slovenia

    Aruba

    Cyprus

    Ireland

    Netherlands

    South Africa

    Austria

    Czech Republic

    Isle of Man

    New Zealand

    Spain

    Bahamas

    Denmark

    Israel

    Niue

    Sweden

    Barbados

    Dominica

    Italy

    Norway

    Switzerland

    Belgium

    Estonia

    Japan

    Poland

    Trinidad & Tobago

    Belize

    Faroe Islands

    Jersey

    Portugal

    Turkey

    Bermuda

    Finland

    Korea

    Qatar

    Turks & Caicos Islands

    Brazil

    France

    Kuwait

    Romania

    United Arab Emirates

    British Virgin Islands

    Germany

    Latvia

    Russian Federation

    Uruguay

    Brunei Darassulam

    Ghana

    Liechtenstein

    St Kitts & Nevis

    United States*

    Bulgaria

    Gibraltar

    Lithuania

    St Lucia

    Canada

    Greece

    Luxembourg

    St Vincent & the Grenadines

    Cayman Islands

    Greenland

    Macao

    Samoa

    Chile

    Grenada

    Malaysia

    San Marino

    China

    Guernsey

    Malta

    Saudi Arabia

    *The United States has committed to move to full reciprocation of data exchange under the Inter-Governmental Agreement of 12 September 2012. The domestic legislation required in the US for this to happen has not yet been put in place and we have no indication of when this will happen. Until then the UK will continue to receive limited information collected by the Internal Revenue Service under existing regulations –this pertains to interest bearing financial accounts, but not trusts.

    The use of the information received is governed by the international agreements under which it is exchanged. As these are international agreements concerned with taxation matters, the information is restricted in its use to the administration, assessment, and collection of taxes covered by the agreement in question for each jurisdiction. As these are functions of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), only HMRC can use the information without further recourse to the sending jurisdiction and the primary use must be the functions of HMRC. Sharing the information found to be relevant to other Government Agencies with those other Agencies is only permitted where the international agreement allows it, and the sending jurisdiction gives express permission that it can be so shared by HMRC. HMRC will always seek to share the information where relevant and possible, and it is our policy to ensure that new agreements and amendments to existing agreements allow such sharing.

    The UK expects that most of the automatic exchange agreements with the jurisdictions listed above will be reciprocal. However, not all jurisdictions require information from the UK and in those cases the UK will receive information but send nothing the other way.