Category: Speeches

  • Graham Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Graham Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    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.

    “

  • Baroness Sharp of Guildford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Sharp of Guildford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    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.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Barry Gardiner – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish a report on the implementation of the Department’s anaerobic digestion strategy and action plan for 2013-14.

    Dan Rogerson

    We intend to publish a further report on implementation of the Anaerobic Digestion Strategy and Action Plan later this year.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the ethnic breakdown of workers on zero hour contracts.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Douglas Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Douglas Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Alexander on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government’s most recent assessment is of the likelihood of President Assad complying with the agreed Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons timetable for the removal and destruction of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons.

    Mr William Hague

    Good early progress was made toward putting both Syria’s chemical weapons manufacturing facilities and the weapons themselves beyond use. However, the programme has fallen behind schedule and the regime has missed a number of interim deadlines, including the 31 December target for the removal of priority I chemicals, and the 5 February deadline for the removal of priority II material. It is the regime’s responsibility to comply with the timetable set out by the UN-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

    The UN Secretary General, the OPCW Director General and the coordinator of the OPCW-UN joint mission have assessed that Syria has all the equipment it needs to ensure the expeditious removal of the chemicals concerned. To date, approximately 54 percent of the declared chemical stockpile has been removed from Syria. The regime must significantly accelerate the movement of the chemicals to port to enable their removal if the 30 June deadline for the elimination of the chemicals is to be achieved.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of staff within his Department who have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.

    Brandon Lewis

    It is not possible to provide definitive or meaningful percentages, as (a) not all staff declare their ethnicity, (b) due to the manner in which white ethnicity data is self-reported by staff , and (c) the sample sizes are so small as to be statistically misleading when comparing years.

  • Margaret Curran – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Margaret Curran – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Curran on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many employment tribunals in Scotland have been processed by HM Courts and Tribunals Service in each year since 2010.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Government is committed to working across the employment law (including the employment dispute resolution) system to help to make it easier for companies to hire and manage staff, while protecting workers’ rights. This encourages employers to create new jobs, supporting enterprise and growth.

    Workload before the employment tribunals is affected by several factors, including underlying economic performance trends, the impacts of reforms of employment legislation and tribunals process, and the number of collective disputes (for example involving insolvencies, and equal pay complaints) that lead to large-scale multiple claims.

    The number of claims accepted by employment tribunals and processed by HMCTS in each calendar year, since 2010, is set out in the table below.

    Employment tribunal claims accepted in Scotland for Calendar years 2010 to 2013, inclusive

    Calendar Year

    No. Claims Accepted

    2010

    18,795

    2011

    16,670

    2012

    12,533

    2013

    7,506

    Source: ET Database

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much capacity funding for universal infant free school meals has been (a) requested by and (b) disbursed to schools in (i) Washington and Sunderland West constituency, (ii) the Sunderland local authority area and (iii) the North East region.

    Mr David Laws

    On 18 December 2013, the Government announced capital allocations for universal infant free school meals for the 2014-2015 financial year. This included allocations of (a) £562,850 to Sunderland City Council and (b) £6.1 million to all local authorities in the North East region. We do not allocate funding at a constituency level.

    In addition, academies have received capital funding through the Academies Capital Maintenance Fund. This includes allocations of (a) £162,380 to academies within the Sunderland local authority area and (b) £311,608 to academies within the North East region. Across the country, £2.5 million has also been made available to multi-academy trusts.

    Of the capital funding that has been allocated to Sunderland, the authority has confirmed to the Department that 75% or more has been disbursed to specific projects to support universal infant free school meals. We do not hold information on the precise amount disbursed, and nor do we hold this data at a regional level.

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the Government’s progress in encouraging exports to emerging markets; and if he will make a statement.

    Michael Fallon

    UK exports of goods and services to Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRICs) reached £34.9 billion in 2013, their highest level since records began in 1999. In the Budget, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Chancellor highlighted rising exports, with combined goods exports to Brazil, India and China rising faster than those of the UK’s competitors (France, Germany, Italy) in 2013, but said there was more to do.

    UK Trade & Investment’s Britain Open for Business: The Next Phase (January 2014) underlined that: ‘To deliver our ambitious trade and investment targets we are continuing vigorously to pursue opportunities in developed markets while strengthening our efforts in high growth markets’. The Chancellor has given UKTI additional funding to strengthen its support for high growth markets.

    Additionally, UK Export Finance (UKEF) is devoting additional resources to supporting High Value Opportunities. UKEF also has cover available for over 200 overseas markets and is increasing its product range to provide more effective support to Mid-Size Businesses (MSBs) and smaller companies.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many births, broken down by the week of pregnancy in which the birth occurred, there were in England in the last year for which figures are available.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.