Category: Uncategorized

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the Exchequer was of statutory maternity pay in the last year for which figures are available.

    Steve Webb

    The amount of Statutory Maternity Pay in the last year for which figures are available was £2,303 million for 2012/13 (nominal terms). Figures are subject to change due to more information becoming available through employers’ returns to HM Revenue and Customs.

    The figure is for Great Britain only. Northern Ireland figures are the responsibility of the Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland.

    Source:

    Original source is expenditure data from employer returns to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and is the amount recovered by employers rather than the amount received by claimants. This information is shown in DWP’s expenditure tables found on the Gov.uk website at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-tables

    “

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Stephenson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs were injured as a result of (a) dog fighting, (b) dog baiting and (c) unprovoked attacks by other dogs in each region of the UK in each of the last five years.

    George Eustice

    The data requested is not collected or held by Defra.

  • Sarah Teather – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Sarah Teather – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Teather on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of average household earnings in 2014-15.

    Mr Nick Hurd

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

  • Miss Anne McIntosh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Miss Anne McIntosh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Miss Anne McIntosh on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent representations she has received on the issuing of passports; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    Numerous representations have been made both about the general passport issuing
    process as well as on behalf of individual applicants. They have been received
    from Members of Parliament and the public. Those with concerns about imminent
    travel plans for individuals will be prioritised. All will receive a reply. On
    12 June my Rt. Hon. Friend the Home Secretary, made a statement in the
    House where she announced the arrangements we are putting in place to
    deal with the current level of demand for passports.

  • 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.