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  • Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has established that there is a basis to permit fishing at levels higher than the limits set by the Common Fisheries Policy.

    George Eustice

    Defra’s view is that fishing limits, in the form of Total Allowable Catches, need to be set in accordance with the objective of achieving the maximum sustainable yield exploitation rate by 2015, where possible, and 2020 at the latest.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to promote EU member states only sending animals to slaughterhouses which meet the standards set by the World Organisation for Animal Health.

    George Eustice

    The Government is committed to pressing for all EU Member States to ensure that animals are only sent to slaughterhouses that meet high welfare standards. To this end, we will continue working with the European Commission to build on the success of their workshop in the Lebanon in March, in raising awareness of the requisite slaughter standards within the region and further afield. We will also continue to make a significant contribution to the work of OIE and development of global standards on animal welfare at slaughter.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the cost to the public purse was of the solar industry feed-in tariff in (a) the UK and (b) London in each year from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Feed-in-Tariff is not financed through the public purse. The cost of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme is paid for through a levy on consumer electricity bills and managed within the Levy Control Framework (LCF).

    The table below shows total payments for all technologies under the FITs scheme as reported by Ofgem. Payments made under the FIT scheme are not available by technology, but the majority of deployment is solar photovoltaic. We do not hold this data by region.

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    FIT Total Expenditure

    £14,526,123

    £151,147,686

    £511,137,737

    £690,991,283

    Below you can find a link to Ofgem’s webpage of Annual Reports:

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/feed-tariff-fit-scheme/feed-tariff-reports-and-statistics/annual-reports

    Ofgem’s Annual Report reporting generation payments for 2014/15 will be released in the next few months.

    “

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials of her Department in each of the last three years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department uses performance related pay to help drive high performance and to recognise exceptional contributions and achievements over and above what is expected of people in fulfilling their employment contracts.

    These payments, which are in-line with HMT Pay Guidance, are cost effective as they are not consolidated into basic pay and have to be re-earned every year.

    Since 2010-11 the Government has restricted awards for senior civil servants to the top 25% of performers.

    In-year performance related awards are used to recognise and incentivise corporate behaviours and values which might not be fully reflected in annual performance appraisal reports. These are also used to reward staff for exceptional pieces of work or for taking on additional responsibilities.

    End-year non-consolidated performance awards are used to reward the department’s highest performers as assessed in their end of year appraisal reports.

    A breakdown of the In-Year and the End-Year awards is given in the table below:

    Table 1

    Financial Year

    In-Year Performance Awards

    End-Year Performance Awards

    2014-2015

    £247,606

    £996,901

    2013-2014

    £377,617

    £882,521

    2012-2013

    £372,315

    £869,665

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials of her Department in each of the last three years.

    Nick Gibb

    The department uses a non-consolidated and non-pensionable part of the pay bill to reward exceptional performance. The amounts paid in end-year awards are set out in Table 1.

    Table 1: Total amounts paid in end year non-consolidated performance awards. The amounts paid relate to performance in the previous year.

    Financial Year

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    £1.5m

    £1.65m

    £1.76m

    The department made no in year performance awards in the years in question.

  • Chris Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Chris Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Green on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to promote STEM subjects and STEM career opportunities in schools.

    Nick Gibb

    The government has taken action by introducing a more engaging and knowledge rich curriculum, and by improving the quality of STEM teaching though a number of measures such as offering incentives to attract top graduates into teaching. We are also funding high quality professional development opportunities for STEM teachers including industrial placements.

    The statutory guidance underpinning a school’s duty to secure independent careers guidance is clear about the importance of STEM subjects. It states that schools should ensure that, as early as possible, pupils understand that a wide range of career choices require good knowledge of maths and the sciences.

    The Careers & Enterprise Company will strengthen links between employers, schools and colleges and careers and enterprise organisations. The “Your Life” campaign, launched by the government last year, aims to change the perceptions of science and mathematics among all young people.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Ministers in his Department were made aware of the Mott Macdonald report 2012 submitted to his Department.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Defence Ministers were aware of this report, which was completed as part of a wider study looking into a range of options for the potential future use of RAF Northolt. The conclusion of the study was to keep RAF Northolt as a Government airfield.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will undertake a feasibility study on establishing a credit union open to British military personnel; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    On 8 December 2014, the then Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans (Anna Soubry) fully endorsed the expansion of existing, strong Credit Unions to the Armed Forces community and stated that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) was working to bring this about. The Minister also advised that the MOD’s payroll provider was working with officials to scope and cost payroll deductions for a Credit Union.

    The work on scoping payroll deductions has now been concluded successfully and we have now established a facility where Credit Union services are available to Armed Forces personnel via payroll deductions; the formal launch of this service took place on 15 October 2015.

    The three chosen Credit Unions are PlaneSaver Credit Union, London Mutual Credit Union and Police Credit Union trading as Serve and Protect. This facility will provide UK Armed Forces personnel with access to dependable savings facilities and safe affordable loans.

    An internal communication has been issued across the Department to alert Service personnel of this new facility.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Army (a) officers and (b) regular soldiers are recruited from (i) Scotland, (ii) England and Wales and (iii) Northern Ireland.

    Mark Lancaster

    The proportion of regular Army officers and soldiers recruited from each country of the United Kingdom for 2014-15 is shown below:

    Regular

    Officer

    Soldier

    England

    88.4%

    80.6%

    Scotland

    4.7%

    8.9%

    Wales

    4.7%

    6.3%

    N Ireland

    1.4%

    2.5%

    Other

    0.8%

    1.7%

    The locations shown reflect the contact addresses recorded and may not be the home address. ‘Other’ refers to non-UK contact addresses, or those not identifiable, but does not include Gurkhas.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the total additional cost was of the net 52-month deferment of the final stage of the Core Production Capability Project.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    As stated in the National Audit Office (NAO) Major Projects Report (MPR) 2015, the Core Production Capability project was deferred for 52 months due to the decision to refuel HMS Vanguard and keep the option open to refuel HMS Victorious. As a result of this new requirement that was unforeseen, an additional £196 million was approved for this project of which £17.6 million represents the cost of deferment.