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  • Angela Rayner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Angela Rayner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will provide financial assistance to councils to enable them to acquire new social housing to replace properties bought through the Right to Buy policy.

    Brandon Lewis

    The 2012 Reinvigorated Right to Buy gave councils, for the first time, the ability to use additional receipts from Right to Buy sales to provide new affordable homes. Councils have up to three years to start building and if these receipts are not used within this timeframe they must be returned to the Homes and Communities Agency (or to the Greater London Authority in London), who will issue the funding as grant to provide new affordable housing.

    We urge councils to progress their building plans in order to help provide much needed affordable housing for their local communities.

  • Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what due diligence was undertaken by his Department prior to the purchase of the Redcar coke ovens and blast furnace.

    Anna Soubry

    The purchase of the Redcar coke ovens and blast furnace was a commercial transaction between SSI and Tata Steel, both privately owned companies.

  • Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when his Department was first made aware that employer pension payments were not being made by SSI UK.

    Anna Soubry

    There is a statutory process in place for the reporting of missing pension contributions. Managers of pension schemes are required to report any material non-payment of contributions to The Pensions Regulator within 90 days of those contributions falling due. There is no role for my department in this process.

    In insolvency situations, such as SSI’s liquidation, unpaid pension contributions can be claimed from the Redundancy Payments Service within specified legal limits. If there are unpaid contributions, then the manager of the pension scheme will submit a claim to the Redundancy Payments Service on behalf of employees.

    As part of his role as liquidator of SSI UK, the Official Receiver will look into all aspects leading to the company’s failure, including the directors’ conduct.

  • Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when concerns were first raised with his Department over the financial viability of SSI in Redcar.

    Anna Soubry

    SSI UK had been in financial difficulties ever since it reopened the Redcar plant in 2012. This is a company that unfortunately made significant losses. In 2012, it lost £275million. In 2013, it lost £193.5million. In 2014, it lost £81million. And up to the end of June in 2015, it had lost £92.5m

  • Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether monitoring activity was put in place by his Department to oversee the financial viability of SSI in Redcar.

    Anna Soubry

    It is up to companies to run their own financial affairs and to submit annual returns and accounts. My Department was aware of the serious financial difficulties facing SSI UK prior to its closure and made every effort within the bounds of the law to provide assistance where we could, including ensuring workers could be paid their monthly salaries.

  • Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what action can be taken within state aid rules to secure assets of national strategic significance to the British economy.

    Anna Soubry

    A Member State may purchase or invest in an asset on purely commercial terms, as commercial investment is not subject to state aid rules. However, any subsequent injection of funds would be subject to the rules, unless it too was on commercial terms. It should be noted that the state aid rules apply equally to nationalised and privatised companies. With losses of over £600 million in just over three years and hundreds of millions in debts, commercial terms for SSI UK would have been impossible to meet.

    More generally, it is possible to give a variety of types of aid under the rules including aid for research and development, and environmental protection. Restructuring and rescue of steel however is prohibited.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to help raise awareness of diabetes in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) the UK.

    Jane Ellison

    The NHS Health Check programme is one of the mandatory public health functions of local authorities in England. It aims to prevent some of the biggest causes of premature death and disability in people aged 40-74.A routine part of NHS Health Check involves assessing a person’s risk of Type 2 diabetes and, for those at risk, a diagnostic test to confirm whether they have the condition. This then informs a discussion on, and agreement of, the lifestyle and medical approaches best suited to managing the person’s risk of developing cardiovascular diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.

    As the National Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) begins phased national roll out in 2016/17, the programme will be providing information that helps raise awareness of the risk factors associated with developing Type 2 Diabetes and the lifestyle changes that they can make to reduce their risk – including, if eligible attending the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. This activity is already underway in our seven demonstrator sites that the programme is working with. Within Yorkshire and the Humber, Bradford is one of these demonstrator sites.

    Building on the NDPP, the Department is developing its plans to improve outcomes for those with and at risk of diabetes. These will be announced in due course.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what is being done to raise awareness of diabetes and to encourage people to seek medical advice for this condition.

    Jane Ellison

    The NHS Health Check programme is one of the mandatory public health functions of local authorities in England. It aims to prevent some of the biggest causes of premature death and disability in people aged 40-74.A routine part of NHS Health Check involves assessing a person’s risk of Type 2 diabetes and, for those at risk, a diagnostic test to confirm whether they have the condition. This then informs a discussion on, and agreement of, the lifestyle and medical approaches best suited to managing the person’s risk of developing cardiovascular diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.

    As the National Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) begins phased national roll out in 2016/17, the programme will be providing information that helps raise awareness of the risk factors associated with developing Type 2 Diabetes and the lifestyle changes that they can make to reduce their risk – including, if eligible attending the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. This activity is already underway in our seven demonstrator sites that the programme is working with. Within Yorkshire and the Humber, Bradford is one of these demonstrator sites.

    Building on the NDPP, the Department is developing its plans to improve outcomes for those with and at risk of diabetes. These will be announced in due course.

  • Johnny Mercer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Johnny Mercer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Johnny Mercer on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to electrify the South Devon Banks section of the rail line between Newton Abbott and Plymouth by 2018.

    Claire Perry

    Plans to electrify the South Devon Banks section of the rail line between Newton Abbott and Plymouth are not included within the current Great Western Main Line electrification program. The Department expects that an update to the industry electrification strategy will be published by Network Rail as a draft for consultation in early 2016. This will take into account the outcome of Sir Peter Hendy’s Review of Network Rail’s 2014-2019 rail enhancements portfolio which is expected later this Autumn. The draft strategy considers potential routes for further electrification in Great Britain including those in the South West.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2015 to Question 11456, whether any additional blockbuster funding has been requested by the Serious Fraud Office for 2015-16; and what assessment he has made of the likelihood of that office making further requests for additional blockbuster funding in the remainder of this financial year.

    Robert Buckland

    As I explained in my answer on 15 October, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) receives additional funding as part of the Main and Supplementary Estimates processes. The SFO received £10m of additional funding through the 2015-16 Main Estimates process.

    The Supplementary Estimates process for 2015-16 has not concluded. The SFO does expect to request additional funding as part of this process and details will be published at the appropriate time.