The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-03-02.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure full transparency of all charges relating to personal private pensions.
Harriett Baldwin
This question has been passed on to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA will reply to directly to the Honourable member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken to prevent the importation to the UK of illegally-mined gold and other mineral products from Brazil.
Anna Soubry
My Department does not have any restrictions in place on the import of alleged illegally-mined gold and mineral products from Brazil.
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 19 April 2016 to Questions 33571 and 33572, how many tax auditors HM Revenue and Customs provided to Tax Inspectors Without Borders in each year since 2009-10.
Mr David Gauke
The UK’s first Tax Inspectors Without Borders Agreement was signed in December 2015. A partnership agreement was signed with Lesotho committing the UK to a two and a half year programme of assistance. Two HMRC tax experts will be providing support under this Agreement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that armed forces recruits aged between 16 and 19 without a GCSE in mathematics or English are prepared for later life outside the armed forces.
Mark Lancaster
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) provides Service personnel with a range of educational, learning and development opportunities with our Learning Centres employing English and mathematics tutors who are employed to teach in numeracy and literacy. Over 95% of recruits are enrolled into an Apprenticeship Programme each year, regardless of their age, which ensures that Service personnel gain a Level 2 in numeracy and literacy. This is the equivalent of a GCSE.
It is an Ofsted goal that we encourage our people to achieve maths and English GCSE. The Ministry of Defence does actively encourage our Personnel to gain GCSE maths and English, and provides many opportunities for them to do this in their career with classes run in learning and development centres using part time Service instructors; or using distance learning programmes for exams sat on operational units and in shore bases.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-09-12.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he intends to publish legislation to create the National Infrastructure Commission as a statutory body.
Mr David Gauke
The National Infrastructure Commission has a crucial role to play in setting out the country’s infrastructure priorities and it has already made an important contribution through its first three reports.
The Commission is an important part of the government’s overall approach on infrastructure, and we remain fully committed to it. We are considering how it can best support the government’s new industrial strategy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-10-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Financial Conduct Authority on the alleged misselling of financial products by high street banks.
Simon Kirby
The Chancellor has meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many nationals aged (a) between 15 and 64 and (b) over 65 from each EEA country were granted permanent residence in each year from 1997-98 to 2014-15.
James Brokenshire
Under the EU law, EEA nationals (and their family members) have an initial right to reside in the UK for three months without conditions. To have a right to reside in the country longer than this the EEA national must be exercising a Treaty Right, described in the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2006 as being a qualified person. To be considered a quali-fied person, they must be a jobseeker, worker, self-employed person, self-sufficient or a student. After living in the UK for a continuous period of five years in accordance with the conditions set out in the EEA Regulations, an EEA national and any family member will acquire the right of permanent residence in the UK and apply for documentation confirming this right.
The total numbers of documents certifying permanent residence by country of nationality are published in table ee_02 ‘Immigration Statistics, April-June 2015’ table ee_02 for 2004 to 2014, available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics . Corresponding data for 2015 will be published on 26 May 2016. A breakdown by age grouping is not published.
The issuing of permanent residence documents to EEA nationals commenced in April 2006 and therefore there are no statistics relating to EEA nationals available prior to that date.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from Pakistan applied for asylum and requested certification under section (a) 94(1) and (b) 94(2) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 in each of the last three years.
James Brokenshire
The basis of an individual’s asylum claim is not recorded on Home Office systems. It is not therefore possible to differentiate Pakistani applicants claiming for reasons of religious persecution and discrimination from Pakistani applicants claiming for one or more other reasons in the Detained Fast Track (DFT) or the non-detained process.
Certification under section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 is not requested by an applicant. It is applied by the Secretary of State in circumstances where the applicant’s claim is refused and considered to be so lacking in merit as to be clearly unfounded.
The number of initial certified refusals for Pakistan main asylum applicants, from year ending September 2013 to year ending September 2015, was 604. The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications and decisions on a quarterly and annual basis. The information supplied on certified refusals is based on initial decisions which do not necessarily relate to applications made in the same period.
No assessment has been made of any difference that might exist between grant rates in respect of Pakistani applicants in the DFT process when it operated, and cases entering the non-detained process at the same time. However, as the DFT process avoided claims involving particular complexity and/or vulnerability, and prioritised cases which appeared to be late or opportunistic, it is to be expected that the DFT would have fewer grants than the non-detained process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Sharp of Guildford on 2016-01-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the resource cost charge in England of (1) full-time fee loans in higher education, (2) full-time maintenance loans in higher education, (3) part-time fee loans in higher education, and (4) adult further education fee loans, for those aged 24 and over who are studying on Level 3 and 4 courses.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
We estimate that the Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) charge for full time tuition fee and maintenance loans, and part time fee loans, is between 20% and 25%.
We estimate that the Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) charge for Advanced Learner Loans is around 40%. BIS is collecting data on learners as it emerges and based on this data we regularly review and update the RAB charge estimate for Advanced Learner Loans.
These estimates take into account the changes to student finance and the new HM Treasury discount rate used to value the student loan book announced at Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015. We will update our estimates in summer 2016 and publish these at the same time as BIS accounts.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to make a decision on whether to formally apply for EU Solidarity Funding to support communities affected by flooding in Cumbria.
James Wharton
The Government has not ruled out applying to the EU Solidarity Fund. We are assessing the case for an application and will make a decision by the end of February. The European Union Solidarity Fund does not provide additional funding to local areas, but simply reimburses emergency costs that the Government would have incurred anyway. For this reason, the Government’s immediate priority remains dealing with the urgent needs of those affected, which is why we have provided over £200 million to help those affected by the floods to support recovery and repair.