The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Clegg on 2016-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information he holds on the number of community pubs with assets of community value status that have been closed or that no longer operate as a pub.
Mr Marcus Jones
The Department for Communities and Local Government does not collect this information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the additional staffing and resources required by the Student Loans Company for administration and postgraduate loan applications from October 2016.
Joseph Johnson
The Student Loans Company will open applications for the new master’s loan for postgraduate study from the end of June 2016. Around 40 additional full-time equivalent staff will support the new loan product.
The additional staff will be required to process the applications, administer the payment of student loans and deal with any enquiries from students in relation to the new product.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish a list of all secondees to her Department from (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years; and what the role was of each of those secondees.
Matt Hancock
DCMS records show that there were no secondments to the Department from (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reduce nuisance calls and (b) give advice to companies on how to contact the public appropriately on inheritance tax issues.
Matt Hancock
Companies who wish to make direct marking calls must abide by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations(PECR). The Government has already taken a number of steps to reduce the problem of nuisance calls with further measures to be implemented in the near future. In May 2016, the Government introduced a new requirement for all direct marketing callers to provide caller line identification. In September 2016 we introduced a measure in the Digital Economy Bill that in currently going through Parliament that will make it a requirement for the Information Commissioner to issue a statutory code of practice on direct marketing, which will support the ICO in taking action against those who breach PECR. More recently, we announced the Governments intention to hold company directors to account for breaches of the PECR. In addition, the Government is considering extending the Information Commissioner’s powers of compulsory audit to organisations that generate nuisance calls. This measure amongst other measures will provide better consumer protection, from unsolicited telephone calls.
The Gov.UK website, provides information about inheritance tax and the support available from the Inheritance Tax and Probate helpline. HMRC works with advisers to direct them and the public to this.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the elections to the Mexican Supreme Court.
Mr Hugo Swire
We are following developments in the appointment of new judges to the Mexican Supreme Court closely, and note the commentary on the need for well qualified, independent candidates to be put forward to the Senate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-11-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 92 of the consultation document entitled, Tackling Exploitation in the Labour Market, (a) how many prosecutions and (b) what penalties have been applied for each of the existing offences that are in the remit of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement.
Karen Bradley
The list of offences that will be in the remit of the Labour Market Enforcement Director are subject to public consultation. The following figures are available for prosecutions and penalties for offences that are being considered for inclusion in the Director’s remit.
There have been nine prosecutions relating to National Minimum Wage underpayment since the first prosecution took place in 2007. Criminal prosecution is reserved for the most serious cases. Penalties totalling over £3.9 million has been issued.
There were three prosecutions (one failed) for suspected breaches of Employment Agencies Standards (EAS) Regulations in 2013-14. Fines totalling £5,200 were issued and total compensation and costs awarded to workers was £6,041. Information on prosecutions prior to 2013/14 can be found in EAS Annual Reports online.
During 2013/14 and 2014/15, there were six and nine prosecutions respectively for offences contained within the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004. Penalties included fines and custodial sentences for these and other non labour market offences.
The Modern Slavery Act offences, which could fall within the remit of the Director, came into force on 31st July 2015. Data is not yet available for those offences.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what system of monitoring is in place to ensure that local authorities meet their duty to commission open access, confidential services for sexually transmitted infections and contraception.
Jane Ellison
The Department’s Framework for Sexual Health Promotion in England (2013) sets out our ambitions and objectives to improve sexual health for all people. It takes account of the commissioning arrangements from 2013 including the new role for local authorities (LAs) as commissioners of most sexual health services. Later this month Public Health England (PHE) will undertake a survey of local commissioning arrangements for sexual health. It has also produced sexual health and reproductive health profiles to help LAs and others monitor the sexual and reproductive health of their populations and the performance of local public health related systems.
It is for LAs to decide on what research and evidence they need to inform their tenders for sexual health and reproductive health services in line with procurement requirements and good practice. In 2014 PHE published Making it Work, a guide to commissioning for sexual health across the whole system, to improve the sexual health of both individuals and the wider public.
We have made no formal assessment of the effect on sexual health services of reductions in the Public Health Grant to LAs for 2015/16, although PHE continues to monitor relevant outcomes data for every LA in England. Decisions on local public health spending are a matter for LAs. They are mandated by legislation to commission open access sexual health services that meet the needs of their local population. Officials meet regularly with sexual health organisations who would raise any concerns if LAs were not meeting their mandatory requirements for sexual health services.
The Framework for Sexual Health Improvement includes as a priority reducing unwanted pregnancies and highlights the need to increase access to long acting reversible contraception (LARC) methods and emergency contraception for women of all ages. We have no plans to evaluate the effect on general practitioner surgeries of LA commissioning of LARCs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will rank primary schools in each London borough by the proportion of children who are eligible for the purpose of determining the pupil premium; and what type each such school is.
Mr Sam Gyimah
Information on the number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is available in the final school level pupil premium allocations, which are published on the department’s website.[1] These figures can be used with the total number of pupils in each school (information which can also be found in the same publication) to calculate the proportion eligible for the pupil premium.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2015-to-2016-allocations – please click on ‘Pupil premium final allocations 2015 to 2016 by school in England’
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 2.112 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, how much of the planned £40 million spending for services for victims of domestic abuse he plans will be spent in each of the next four years; and in each such year what programmes or policies that spending is planned to support.
Mr Marcus Jones
Details of how the £40 million fund will be used to support victims of domestic abuse will be announced shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure institutions and organisations in receipt of public funds do not express a corporate opinion on the forthcoming EU referendum.
John Penrose
The rules on campaigning at the referendum are set out in the European Union Referendum Act 2015 and the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. There is no general restriction on institutions and organisations in receipt of public funds expressing a corporate opinion on the European Union Referendum. However, there are restrictions on organisations whose expenses are met wholly or mainly from public funds publishing certain material relating to the referendum in the final 28 days.
As the independent regulator for charities in England and Wales, the Charity Commission published guidance for charities on 7 March 2016 regarding the forthcoming EU referendum. This clearly sets out the threshold necessary to justify any charitable activity on this specific issue.