The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheila Gilmore on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the (a) 20 highest and (b) 20 lowest value contracts awarded by his Department were in each financial year since 2009-10.
Stephen Hammond
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given by the Right Honourable Friend, the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Francis Maude) on 2 April 2014, Official Report, Column 721W.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2014-06-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cancer patients aged between 13 and 24 have (a) accessed treatments through the already approved Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) list, (b) applied for individual CDF requests, (c) had individual CDF requests put forward for consideration by the CDF panel, (d) had individual CDF requests approved by the CDF panel and (e) had individual CDF requests refused by the CDF panel in each of the last three years.
Norman Lamb
Prior to April 2013, information on the Cancer Drugs Fund was administered through clinical panels based in each strategic health authority and information on the age of patients who received cancer drugs was not collected.
NHS England has had oversight of the Fund since April 2013 and advises that it does not analyse Cancer Drugs Fund data by age ranges.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Stornaway, was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in March 2014.
Stephen Hammond
During March 2014 Stornoway Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed below risk assessed levels on 6 occasions out of 62 shifts.
Where there are specific issues at a MRCC Her Majesty’s Coastguard is using the current long established pairing arrangements between MRCCs. This enables each MRCC to be connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2014-06-11.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what checks are in place to ensure that multiple property owners do not vote twice in European or general elections on the same date as local or council elections; how many people have been charged with attempting to vote twice in the last three such elections; and how many fines have been issued as a result of those charges.
Greg Clark
It is illegal for an individual who is registered in more than one local authority area to vote more than once at a European Parliamentary or general election; however electors are not prevented from voting in local government elections in those areas.
The presiding officer at a polling station may ask any elector if they have already voted at an election, and may withhold a ballot paper from an elector if they do not answer the question satisfactorily. The electoral register is marked to record the issuing of ballot papers to individuals at polling stations, and similarly a list is maintained of returned postal votes. These records can assist with an investigation should any voting irregularities be suspected.
The Government does not collect or hold data on electoral fraud.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Halfon on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the number of people who run a small or medium-sized enterprise as a secondary form of income alongside another job.
Matthew Hancock
Information is not available to answer this question. However, data from the Office for National Statistics estimate that around 400,000 people describe themselves as self employed in their second jobs between October 2012 and September 2013.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Scott of Needham Market on 2014-06-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made on reaching a decision over proposals to increase rent arrear deductions from 5 per cent to 40 per cent under Universal Credit.
Lord Freud
We recently consulted on the proposal to increase the rate of rent arrears deductions in Universal Credit. We are currently considering the consultation responses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2014-04-03.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government has taken to extend the tax warehousing system to inland road fuel terminals throughout the UK.
Nicky Morgan
This information is held on a HMRC database and includes excise identification and approval numbers unique to the traders listed. For taxpayer confidentiality reasons this information is not publically available, and there is no intention to publish it.
Eligibility criteria for a duty deferment guarantee waiver under the Excise Payment Security System do not apply to or exclude particular sectors. These criteria are published by HMRC, and apply to all applicants.
HMRC is considering the future of the vapour recovery scheme as part of the wider work programme to determine the appropriate course of action in respect of all their extra-statutory concessions.
The Government’s policy is not to allow duty suspended movements within the UK, this is both for administrative simplicity and to reduce the opportunities for criminal activity and fraud.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2014-06-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the new President of Egypt concerning the opening of Rafah crossing to Gaza, in order to facilitate travel and the transfer of medical supplies.
Baroness Northover
We continue to urge the Egyptian authorities to ease the movement of bona fide travellers and humanitarian aid through Rafah. We call on Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority to work together to enable a sustained increase in the legal flow of goods and persons from and to the Gaza Strip.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of his proposed changes to energy company obligation funding on families in fuel poverty who were in flood risk areas.
Gregory Barker
The impact of the proposed changes to the Energy Company Obligation was estimated in the Assessment of Impacts published alongside the consultation document on 5th March:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-of-the-energy-company-obligation
No specific estimate was made for those fuel poor families specifically living areas of flood risk.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change intends to complete a full Impact Assessment as part of the Government’s response to the consultation later in the year.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Sharp of Guildford on 2014-06-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the Student Loans Company does not provide up-to-date online information about the state of an account, detailing all repayments made into the account via the PAYE system since the last statement was issued.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
HMRC collates employer information on student loan deductions at the end of each tax year and provides this information in P14 “end of year summaries” to the SLC. The SLC calculate interest and statements are issued to borrowers, advising them of their deductions, interest and outstanding balance at the end of the tax year. This process is repeated annually until all student loan repayments are collected.
The repayment information held by the SLC will, as a result of this system, be accurate to the April of the previous tax year. The SLC is not in a position to provide an accurate settlement of a borrower’s balance more recently than the previous April. However, the borrower can track and monitor their own settlement balance online if they retain a note of all their repayment deductions made over the tax year.
HMRC, BIS and SLC are currently discussing arrangements to share student loan repayment information more quickly, but there is no mechanism to do so in the current tax system and necessary changes will take some time to implement.