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  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential cost to her Department of including mothers’ names on marriage certificates.

    Karen Bradley

    The marriage certificate is an exact copy of the marriage entry which is in a
    form prescribed in the Regulation of Marriage Regulations 1986. We are
    currently considering how the information captured in the marriage entry can be
    updated to reflect changes since 1986, as well as including the names of
    mothers; the costs of doing so and the most suitable opportunity for doing so.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Andrew Stephenson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of how many adults in (a) Pendle constituency, (b) East Lancashire and (c) the North West have taken part in at least one sporting activity each week in each of the last five years.

    Mrs Helen Grant

    2009 (APS3)

    2010 (APS4)

    2011 (APS5)

    2012 (APS6)

    2013 (APS7)

    Pendle (LA)

    20,600

    23,100

    21,400

    22,600

    24,200

    Lancashire

    410,000

    405,300

    409,500

    415,000

    420,600

    North West

    2,007,800

    1,996,700

    1,986,000

    2,066,500

    2,055,800

    Participation data is from the Active People Survey which measures the number of people aged 16 and above taking part in sport in England.

  • Peter Luff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Peter Luff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Luff on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what account he plans to take of (a) design and (b) technical knowledge in the review of the GCSE/GCE examination course in design and technology.

    Elizabeth Truss

    The GCSE and GCE Awarding Organisations are leading on developing subject content for reformed design and technology qualifications. In carrying out this work, they are drawing closely on advice from subject organisations with design and technical expertise. The draft criteria that are developed will be formally consulted on and the evidence gathered will be used to review and finalise the content for the new design and technology qualifications.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what fee Wates will receive for the construction contract for a Secure College; and what proportion of the overall budget for a Secure College this fee will represent.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Ministry of Justice will work with Wates to develop a design for the Secure College pathfinder over the coming months, and will agree a maximum price for the construction once the detailed project proposals have been agreed.

  • Michael Dugher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Michael Dugher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Prime Minister, how many members of staff of his Office worked on the review by the Cabinet Secretary of the release of correspondence between Ministers relating to prevention of extremism.

    Mr David Cameron

    The Cabinet Secretary will respond to the hon. Member on this matter shortly. I will place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.

  • 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 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport examining officers were employed by HM Passport Office in each year since 2010.

    James Brokenshire

    The table below shows the number of Her Majesty’s Passport Office full-time
    equivalents working within the passport operational Directorates.
    The formal record for workforce data is made on the last day of each calendar
    month. We have therefore provided the data as of 31 March of each year.
    (a) 2011- 2,586
    (b) 2012- 2,216
    (c) 2013- 2,389
    (d) 2014-2,593

    Due to the limitations of the HR management system used prior to Dec 2010, it
    is not possible to provide reliable management information below top level for
    any periods prior to that date.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to improve the habitat and increase the number of (a) hedgehogs and (b) owls.

    George Eustice

    Agri-environment schemes, such as Environmental Stewardship, are the principal means of improving habitats and the wider environment on farmland in England. Farmers receive funding to manage the cropped environment and provide additional habitats on their farms for birds and other wildlife. Under work to develop the implementation plan for Biodiversity 2020 (the Government’s strategy for England’s wildlife and ecosystem services) Natural England has commissioned work to review all Section 41 species. This is to identify priorities for action and to determine what those actions should be. The hedgehog is being considered within this context by the Mammal Taxon Group, which comprises specialist organisations, led by Natural England.

    Activities of benefit to owls, currently funded by Environmental Stewardship, include the establishment of grassy margins and buffer strips, and the management of field corners. These can provide additional habitat for prey species such as small mammals. The restoration of traditional farm buildings can also provide both shelter and nesting sites along with the provision of nest boxes.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 8 April 2014, Official Report, column 178W, from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health, on air pollution, for what reasons an assessment has not been made of the deaths caused by short-term exposures to elevated levels of air pollutants in the years since 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    Estimates of deaths attributable to long-term exposure to particulate air pollution in United Kingdom local authorities in 2010 were published by Public Health England in April 2014. The mortality burden for the UK was estimated as an effect equivalent to nearly 29,000 deaths.

    Public Health England does not routinely estimate the deaths associated with short-term exposure to elevated levels of air pollutants, as these effects are thought to overlap with the mortality effects of long-term exposure to air pollution. Long-term exposure to air pollution is understood to be a contributory factor to deaths from respiratory and, particularly, cardiovascular disease, for example, unlikely to be the sole cause of deaths of individuals. This means that it is likely that air pollution contributes a smaller amount to the deaths of a larger number of exposed individuals rather than being solely responsible for a number of deaths equivalent to the calculated figure of ‘attributable deaths’.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many homicide prosecutions the Crown Prosecution Service undertook in 2013 where there were (a) three defendants, (b) four defendants, (c) five defendants and (d) six or more defendants.

    Oliver Heald

    The Crown Prosecution Service does not maintain a central record of the number of defendants in its prosecutions. This information could only be obtained by examining all homicide files, which would incur a disproportionate cost.

  • Dame Tessa Jowell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Dame Tessa Jowell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dame Tessa Jowell on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the revenue that would be generated from additional council tax bands on higher value homes, broken down by (a) the total revenue generated UK wide, (b) the total generated in the Greater London region and (c) a breakdown for each threshold and band value (i) UK wide and (ii) in the Greater London region.

    Brandon Lewis

    No assessment has been made as we have no intention of introducing higher council tax bands.

    Council tax re-banding would require a wholesale council tax revaluation, hitting ordinary home owners with higher taxes, especially those who have undertaken home improvements. Fundamentally, council tax is not a wealth tax; it is a local charge for the use of local services. The current banded system is intentionally designed to avoid the flaws and inequities of both the poll tax and of domestic rates, the former which taxed multiple-adult homes too much, and the latter which taxed both family homes and pensioner households too much.

    I would note that the last Labour Government and Welsh Assembly Government jointly undertook a council tax revaluation and re-banding exercise in Wales in 2005. Four times as many homes moved up one or more bands than moved down. Two-thirds of the net rises were amongst homes (originally) in Bands A to C, meaning that those on more modest incomes were hardest hit.

    Labour Ministers originally claimed that revaluation was revenue-neutral, but this was not the case. In the first year of the revaluation, council tax income rose by 10 per cent, of which 4 per cent was due to that year’s increase in Band D rates, and 6 per cent due to more properties in higher bands due to the revaluation (Welsh Assembly Government, Submission to the Lyons Inquiry into Local Government, Annex B: Council Tax Revaluation and Rebanding 2005 Chronology and Facts, March 2006). To place that in context, a 6 per cent rise in council tax receipts in England would today represent a sustained tax increase on hard-working people of £1.4 billion a year, every year.

    As the then Chairman of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, Phyllis Starkey (then the hon. Member for Milton Keynes South West), observed: “The Welsh Assembly – I believe it was my party, but I am not making an excuse for it – took advantage of the revaluation hugely to increase the total [tax] take” (3 February 2010, Official Report, Column 383).

    Instead of finding new ways to tax people, this Government has given extra funding to town halls to help freeze council tax. We cancelled any plans for a council tax revaluation. We have handed local residents new rights to veto big local tax hikes, so local people have the final say on the amount they pay. Council tax in England more than doubled under the Labour Government; under this Government, bills have fallen by 11 per cent in real terms, giving families financial security and helping hard-working people with the cost of living.