Blog

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions he has had with (a) electricity generators and (b) representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises and consumer groups on proposals to assist small business energy consumers.

Michael Fallon

DECC Ministers and officials meet industry representatives and consumer groups on a regular basis to discuss market issues.

In July last year, No.10 and DECC set up a joint working group with industry and consumer groups to look at ways for improving the transparency and fairness of the energy market for small businesses. At the end of 2013, the working group published the Small Business Energy Communique, an agreement with industry to make it easier for small businesses to get a better deal in the energy market.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/small-business-energy-working-group-communique

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what training programmes or qualifications are available to recruits who enlist as minors which are not available to those who enlist aged 18 years or over.

Anna Soubry

Young people joining the Army attend Phase 1 training at the Army Foundation College (Harrogate) and complete different programmes depending on the part of the Army they wish to join. Full details of the training offered at Harrogate is available at this link: http://www.army.mod.uk/training_education/24420.aspx

For the Royal Navy and RAF, age at enlistment has no bearing on the training programmes or qualifications available during initial training.

Irrespective of the age that an individual joins the Armed Forces, approximately 90% of all recruits complete an apprenticeship within three years of joining.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many requests for discharge were made by soldiers aged (a) 19 and (b) 20 years who had served at least three years in the regular Army in the last five years; and what the outcome was of each such request.

Anna Soubry

Soldiers must normally serve a minimum of three years before they can voluntarily discharge with a year’s notice. Consequently, the number of applications from 19 year-olds is lower than from those aged 20 years of age. "Requests for discharge" has been interpreted as Voluntary Outflow Applications which are recorded on the Joint Personnel Administration system.

The number of applications for voluntary discharge made by trained Regular Soldiers aged 19 and 20 between 1 March 2009 and 1 March 2014 are shown in the following table

Age on Application	No of Applications
19	50
20	330
Total	380

Source: Defence Statistics (Army)

These figures include some personnel who applied for voluntary release, but who were subsequently discharged for other reasons. The actual numbers discharged between 1 March 2009 and 31 March 2014, and the reasons for the discharge are shown below:

Age on Application

19 20

Voluntary Outflow 20 240

Administrative discharge 10 30

Medical/Other – 10

Total 30 270

Source: Defence Statistics (Army). Figures have been rounded to 10; numbers ending in "5" have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.

These figures exclude requests for medical, administrative and disciplinary discharges. Some applications may have been withdrawn at a later date and that some individual soldiers may have applied for voluntary discharge more than once.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many tenants from elsewhere in the UK have taken advantage of Home Swap Direct to arrange exchanges to Scotland in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Kris Hopkins

Details of the number of moves that have taken placeunder the HomeSwap Direct Scheme from elsewhere in the United Kingdom to Scotland in each of the last three years are not held centrally.

HomeSwap Direct increases opportunities for social tenants who wish to find a new home by allowing tenants looking for a swap to see details of every possible property nationwide, no matter which mutual exchange website their landlord has chosen to subscribe to. The scheme has operated very successfully since its launch in October 2011 with tenants carrying out over 18 million searches of the property data held on HomeSwap Direct.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which cathedrals will receive funding from the new grant scheme for cathedral repairs announced in Budget 2014.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund is open to all Anglican and Catholic cathedrals in England. Applications for the first round will be considered by the expert panel later this month.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will list the mutuals which provide public services.

Mr Nick Hurd

Information on known operational public service mutuals in England is publically available on the Mutuals Information Service at:

http://www.mutuals.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/interactive-map-public-service-mutuals

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had on the development of guidance on the use of social media for promotion of financial services.

Andrea Leadsom

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is responsible for conduct supervision of regulated financial firms, including their responsible promotion of products and services.

In 2010 the then Financial Services Authority issued some high-level guidelines on use of ‘new media’ – including social media – for such promotions. Since April 2013 the FCA has been engaging with industry, looking further at how social media interacts with FCA rules, and has committed to issue further guidelines later this summer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost of administering the Potholes Challenge Fund.

Mr Robert Goodwill

In the 2014 Budget, the Government announced a £200 million pothole fund for the financial year 2014-15. Some £168 million is being made available to councils in England, including up to £10 million for London. This is enough to fix over 3 million potholes on the local road network.

The administering of the Fund falls under the current operating costs of the Department for Transport and so no additional costs have been incurred.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will commission an assessment of the amount of investment in small and medium-sized enterprises from peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding platforms.

Andrea Leadsom

Crowdfunding and peer to peer lending are innovative new forms of finance that support competition in the business lending sector. The Government has taken a number of steps to support their growth.

The Government has no current plans to commission an assessment of the amount of investment in small and medium-sized enterprises from peer to peer lending and crowdfunding platforms.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the Prudential Regulatory Authority will report on details of new bank authorisations.

Andrea Leadsom

The Prudential Regulation Authority will report on details of new bank authorisations as part of the Annual Report and Accounts.