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  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any of the costs associated with events that he spoke at on 7 January 2016 at (a) St David’s Hotel and (b) Salt Bar were met from the public purse.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Consistent with all official events, the Chancellor was supported by a small number of officials from his private office and the Treasury press office when speaking at the St David’s hotel and at the two associated visits.

    Costs associated with the major economy speech at the St David’s hotel in Cardiff were met within the existing events budget at HM Treasury. Invitations were not issued by the department.

    The event at the Salt Bar was not a Government event and so no costs were met by the Treasury and no civil servants attended.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of flood defence spending in Leeds.

    Rory Stewart

    A proposal for a £188 million flood alleviation scheme for central Leeds was submitted to Defra in January 2010. The proposal was analysed and a number of concerns were identified. As a result of that analysis the Environment Agency agreed to work with Leeds City Council to consider alternatives. The City Council subsequently submitted a bid for the first phase of a phased scheme. We have committed £33 million to better protect Leeds City Centre, benefitting thousands of homes and businesses. No bid has yet been made for further phases.

    Whenever an exceptional event happens it is important to review what happened and how to prepare for the future, and the Environment Agency will be doing this following the recent flooding incident. The flood response in Yorkshire will be overseen by Transport Minister Robert Goodwill, who has been appointed as Flooding Envoy to the county and will track progress on recovery and identify lessons learnt.

    Work has also already started on the National Resilience Review, which is considering forecasting and modelling, resilience of key infrastructure and the way we make decisions on flood expenditure. The Review is being delivered by a cross-Government team and will be published in the summer.

    In response to the flooding, £40 million of funding has been committed to repair flood defences. Construction of the new flood defences is already underway. The Secretary of State will be discussing this issue and the future resilience of the city with Leeds MPs shortly.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the evidential basis that underpinned the decision on the allocation of funding to Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Leeds flood defence scheme in 2011.

    Rory Stewart

    A proposal for a £188 million flood alleviation scheme for central Leeds was submitted to Defra in January 2010. The proposal was analysed and a number of concerns were identified. As a result of that analysis the Environment Agency agreed to work with Leeds City Council to consider alternatives. The City Council subsequently submitted a bid for the first phase of a phased scheme. We have committed £33 million to better protect Leeds City Centre, benefitting thousands of homes and businesses. No bid has yet been made for further phases.

    Whenever an exceptional event happens it is important to review what happened and how to prepare for the future, and the Environment Agency will be doing this following the recent flooding incident. The flood response in Yorkshire will be overseen by Transport Minister Robert Goodwill, who has been appointed as Flooding Envoy to the county and will track progress on recovery and identify lessons learnt.

    Work has also already started on the National Resilience Review, which is considering forecasting and modelling, resilience of key infrastructure and the way we make decisions on flood expenditure. The Review is being delivered by a cross-Government team and will be published in the summer.

    In response to the flooding, £40 million of funding has been committed to repair flood defences. Construction of the new flood defences is already underway. The Secretary of State will be discussing this issue and the future resilience of the city with Leeds MPs shortly.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people have been employed on a zero-hours contract in (a) Mid Sussex constituency, (b) West Sussex, (c) the South East and (d) the UK in each year since 2008.

    Mr Rob Wilson

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

  • Liam Fox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Liam Fox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Fox on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if her Department will liaise with Ofgem in taking steps to ensure that savings accrued to suppliers are returned to consumers in lower prices.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The government expects suppliers to pass through to consumers any reductions in the costs of supplying energy.

    Strong competition is key to ensuring that prices are kept as low as possible and reductions in the costs of supplying energy are passed through to consumers. There are now 34 companies supplying gas and electricity to households, compared to 13 in 2010.

    The Government has worked with the industry to cut the time it takes to switch from 5 weeks to 17 days. We are now working with Ofgem to deliver reliable next day switching by 2018.

    Smart meters will make the energy market more accessible, and energy consumers will feel more in control. This increased engagement will drive a more vibrant and competitive market.

    Ofgem has referred the energy markets to the Competition and Markets Authority for investigation. The Government has committed to acting on the Competition and Market Authority’s recommendations which are due to be published by June this year.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2015 to Question 902116, how much additional financial support in winter resilience money the NHS received in each year from 2009-10 to 2014-15; and on what dates in those years that additional support was allocated.

    Alistair Burt

    The following table shows funding given to the National Health Service for winter resilience each year:

    Year

    Winter Financial Support

    Date

    2009-10

    No figures available

    Not applicable

    2010-11

    No figures available

    Not applicable

    2011-12

    £300 million

    January 2012

    2012-13

    £330 million

    September 2012

    2013-14

    £400 million

    November 2013

    2014-15

    £400 million

    October 2014

    The figures for 2009-10 and 2010-11 are not available as funding was not recorded in this way prior to 2011.

    The figures for 2011-12 and 2012-13 represent additional non-recurrent funding provided to strategic health authorities and primary care trusts.

    The figures for 2013-14 and 2014-15 represent additional non-recurrent funding added to NHS England Mandate.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the Skills Funding Agency has provided for ESOL Plus Mandation courses in each year since 2009-10.

    Nick Boles

    ESOL Plus (Mandation) funding was introduced in 2014 in order to support the English Language Requirement policy to mandate new Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants with poor spoken English to ESOL training. ESOL Plus (Mandation) funding was additional to the Adult Skills Budget, which providers use to fund ESOL.

    The Skills Funding Agency provided £30m in 2014-15 and £10m in 2015-16 of ESOL Plus (Mandation) funding.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many requests for arms export licences to Saudi Arabia (a) have been made, (b) were rejected by the Export Control Organisation (ECO), (c) were granted by the ECO and (d) were revoked after being granted in each year since 2009-10.

    Anna Soubry

    a) The number of Saudi Arabian arms export licences submitted for processing, per calendar year since 2009, is as follows:

    Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

    Number of Applications 118 148 143 158 161 167 203

    b-d) Information on arms export licences are published as Official Statistics in the quarterly and annual reports on Strategic Export Controls. These reports contain detailed information on export licences issued, refused or revoked, by destination, including the overall value, type (e.g. Military, Other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. They are available to view at GOV.UK.

    The most recently published information covers the period until 30 June 2015. Information covering 1 July to 30 September 2015 will be published on 19 January 2016 and information covering 1 October to 31 December 2015 will be published on 19 April 2016.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to the public purse has been of housing and supporting migrants who arrived (a) in October 1998 and (b) on 21 October 2015 in the RAF Dhekelia and RAF Akrotiri Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus.

    Penny Mordaunt

    It is not possible to provide an exact sum spent in total on the migrants who arrived in 1998. The costs of the provision of welfare and education, based on recent data, is around €165,000 per year.

    The total recorded cost to date to the public purse for housing and supporting the migrants who arrived onto Sovereign Base Areas Administrationland on 21 October 2015 is £1,122,972. This includes the initial emergency response, security costs, construction of the Transit Facility and ongoing support costs. Those costs which relate to the support and welfare of the migrants will be counted against the Government’s targets for overseas aid.

    An element of this total includes estimated costs that are to be paid in arrears.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the £290 million that the Prime Minister announced on 11 January 2016 to help new and expectant mothers combat poor mental health is additional funding, over and above existing budgets.

    Alistair Burt

    The £290 million investment in perinatal mental health services announced by the Prime Minister is funded from within the Department’ overall Spending Review Settlement.This builds on the initial investment announced at the Spring 2015 Budget, making a total investment from 2016/17 to 2020/21 of £350 million.