Category: Speeches

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-04-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value of guarantee was of his Department’s largest 200 infrastructure projects in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2013-14.

    Danny Alexander

    The UK Guarantees scheme did not exist in 2010-11. Following its introduction in 2012, Drax Power, the Northern Line Extension and Mersey Gateway Bridge are the projects in the National Infrastructure Plan that have benefited from the scheme. The total value of those three guarantees is £1,082,000,000

    The infrastructure pipeline published alongside the National Infrastructure Plan 2013 provides a forward looking, bottom-up assessment of overall planned and potential infrastructure investment in the UK to 2020 and beyond, and includes details of the projected value of individual investments. It includes large public and private infrastructure projects and capital programmes (generally worth £50 million or over) and can be found here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-plan-2013

    The pipeline has been published annually since it was first published in 2011.

    “

  • Gavin Williamson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gavin Williamson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Williamson on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward proposals to amend regulations governing the change of use of residential homes to care homes to promote enforcement of the classification of care homes as C2 residential institutions.

    Nick Boles

    The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended) provides a C2 use class for residential institutions and a C3 (b) use class for houses occupied by up to six people living together as a single household and receiving care. This allows for a mix of types of care homes to meet local needs. Where a change of use has taken place without the necessary planning permission it is for the local planning authority to determine whether it would be appropriate to take enforcement action.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Caroline Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, if he will make an assessment of the feasibility of granting people the right to vote in General Elections based on residency rather than nationality; and if he will make a statement.

    Greg Clark

    The Government has no plans to link the right to vote in General elections to residency rather than nationality.

  • Dominic Raab – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Dominic Raab – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dominic Raab on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer of 10 January 2013, Official Report, column 424W, on fossil fuels: imports, how much (a) oil and (b) gas was imported into the UK from (i) Russia, (ii) Norway, (iii) the Middle East and (iv) Latin America in each of the last two years.

    Michael Fallon

    Oil imported into the UK from Russia, Norway, the Middle East and Latin America in each of the last two years:

    Crude Oil Imports (thousand tonnes)

    2012

    2013 (provisional)

    Russia

    6,583

    3,831

    Norway

    24,555

    19,789

    Middle East

    7,786

    11,326

    Latin America

    1,186

    778

    Gas imported into the UK from Russia, Norway, the Middle East and Latin America in each of the last two years:

    Gas Imports (GWh)

    2012

    2013 (provisional)

    Russia

    0

    0

    Norwegian pipeline

    294,586

    305,516

    Norwegian LNG

    1,709

    1,052

    Middle East LNG

    145,702

    98,966

    Latin America

    0

    0
  • Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what account his Department takes of previous performance on government contracts when assessing bids for new contracts.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The Department has implemented the Government’s best practice for assessing past performance in its contracts and takes past performance into account as part of a legal and commercial compliance test for any contracts which are greater than £20 million in value. This is in line with the Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Note, Action Note 09/12, issued on 8 November 2012.

  • David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost is of keeping a foreign national offender classified by her Department as individual non-compliant in detention for one day.

    James Brokenshire

    The estimated average direct daily cost of holding a person in our immigration
    detention facilities is £100. It should be noted that this is an average and it
    will vary marginally depending upon the mix of facilities in use at a given
    point.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for receiving each type of illicit or unauthorised items into prison through the post in each of the last four years.

    Jeremy Wright

    Prisons employ a range of measures to detect, disrupt and deter the trafficking of illicit items into prisons. Any contraband detected coming into the prison will be recorded on a central incident reporting system. However, to identify the manner in which the contraband entered the prison and any subsequent referral to the police would require a manual interrogation of incident reports. This could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

    Information on prosecutions and convictions for these offences is not held centrally and could only be obtained by asking each prison to source information locally. This, again, could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

  • Pamela Nash – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Pamela Nash – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pamela Nash on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who have received a benefit sanction have appealed this decision and won sanction in (a) Scotland, (b) Airdrie and Shotts constituency and (c) North Lanarkshire in each of the last four years up to the most recent period for which figures are available.

    Esther McVey

    The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Julian Brazier – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Julian Brazier – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Brazier on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what audit he has made of the performance of the Student Loans Company.

    Mr David Willetts

    Each year the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Devolved Administrations set Student Loans Company (SLC) stretching performance measures which are confirmed in an Annual Performance and Resource Agreement (APRA) letter. BIS closely monitors SLC’s performance against these measures throughout the year. Monitoring arrangements include formal quarterly reviews of SLC’s performance which are conducted by Ministers and senior officials.

    Each year the SLC publishes externally audited information on its performance in its Annual Report and Accounts. The APRA letter and SLC’s Annual Report and Accounts are available on SLC’s website: http://www.slc.co.uk/

    “

  • Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to disabled students’ allowances on the number of disabled students completing higher or further education.

    Mr David Willetts

    The announced changes to Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) will be subject to a full equality analysis to determine the impact of these changes on students with protected characteristics. The equality analysis will be given full consideration before regulations are laid before the House.

    These changes will apply to all full-time, full-time distance learning, part-time and postgraduate students in higher education applying for DSA for the first time from the 2015/16 academic year. DSAs are not available to further education students, as the Government provides Learning Support funding to further education colleges and providers to help meet the additional needs of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.