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  • Lord Wills – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Wills – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in calculating the non-ring-fenced funding provided to local authorities to deliver statutory obligations, they make any assumptions about the proportions of that funding likely to be used in fulfilling each of those obligations; and if so, what assumptions they have made of the likely expenditure on electoral registration.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    The total amount of funding provided through the local government finance settlement in England is set at the time of the appropriate Spending Review. In setting this amount the Government considers the likely pressures and efficiency savings that can be made on a range of services, together with the overall fiscal environment, including the need to tackle the deficit left by the last Administration. This amount may be subsequently amended either through Budgets or Autumn Statements.

    It is up to local authorities to decide how to set their budgets, taking into account local spending priorities.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will adopt measures similar to those recently taken by the United States Food and Drugs Administration to curb the routine use of antibiotics in the food of healthy animals.

    Lord De Mauley

    Any routine use of antibiotics in the food of healthy animals as growth promoters has been banned in the EU since 2006.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the statement on 19 March by the President of Turkey that the internal peace process should be completed, by giving democratic rights and equal citizenship to the Kurdish people together with freedom for the press and other media.

    Baroness Warsi

    We welcome the comments made by President Gül regarding the Kurdish population in Turkey, which we assess as an important reaffirmation of the Turkish government’s commitment to finding a sustainable solution to the Kurdish issue.

    We have been encouraged by the efforts on both sides to reach a solution and welcome the continuing ceasefire, as well as the President Gül’s approval of the democratisation package in March.

  • Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have commissioned any investigation into, or received any report about, possible manipulation of auctions conducted by the Debt Management Office on behalf of HM Treasury or of purchases of securities under the Asset Purchase Scheme.

    Lord Newby

    Any evidence relating to the potential manipulation of financial markets received by a public or private body or member of the public should be passed to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which has a statutory responsibility for regulating conduct in financial markets.

    Any investigation into the potential manipulation of financial markets would be a matter for the FCA. As a matter of policy the FCA does not normally provide any comment about potential or actual investigations or potential enforcement so as to avoid prejudicing cases.

    The FCA announced on 20 March 2014 that it had taken enforcement action against an individual for the manipulation of a government bond in the run up to a Bank of England operation on 10 October 2011. The FCA’s investigation found this was the action of one trader on one day, and there was no evidence of collusion with traders in other banks.

  • Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the external law firm appointed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to review its handling of its announcement on closed life funds is independent of the FCA and the firms covered by the FCA investigation.

    Lord Deighton

    The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have announced that the FCA Non-Executive Directors have appointed Simon Davis, a senior commercial litigation partner at Clifford Chance, to conduct an independent inquiry into the handling of the FCA’s announcement of proposed supervisory work on the fair treatment of long standing customers in life insurance.

  • Lord Beecham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Beecham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the workforce deemed to be in employment is estimated to be on (1) full-time, (2) part-time, and (3) zero-hours, contracts.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

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

  • Lord Beecham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Beecham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many VAT inspectors, tax inspectors and senior tax inspectors were employed by HM Revenue and Customs in the financial year 2009–10; and how many will be employed in 2014–15.

    Lord Newby

    HM Revenue & Customs was formed by the merger of Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise in 2005 and the VAT Inspector and Tax Inspector are no longer roles in the organisation. There are some 17,000 tax professionals in HM Revenue & Customs carrying out a range of duties from tackling non-compliance with tax obligations to advising Ministers on changes in legislation.

    Whilst the overall numbers of tax professionals has largely been maintained from 2009/10 to the present day, and will be into 2014/15, the way in which those tax professionals have been deployed has changed to address priority areas of tax risk. This is reflected in the compliance yield, which almost doubled between 2005 and 2011 to £13.9 billion, and increased again to reach £20.7 billion in 2012/13 as key risks were addressed.

    HM Revenue & Customs continues to recruit substantial numbers of graduates and suitable internal candidates to develop as senior tax professionals, around 600 in the period 2012/13 to 2014/15, to maintain numbers and enhance capability.

  • Lord Bradley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Bradley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have been recognised as homeless in each local authority area of England and Wales as a result of mental health problems in each of the last three years.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    A table containing the requested information for England has been placed in the Library of the House; to assist public scrutiny, I have included data from 2003 to 2013. The table shows there were 4,480 homeless people due to a mental illness/disability in England in 2013, compared to 12,040 in 2003; it also shows the average level in England under this Government is far less than the average rate under the last Administration.

    This Government has invested £470 million in England to prevent and tackle all forms of homelessness over the spending review period. The homelessness legislation in England provides one of the strongest safety nets in the world. The law ensures that people who are vulnerable as a result of old age, mental illness or handicap or physical disability will have priority need for accommodation if they become homeless through no fault of their own.

    Data on homelessness outside England are a matter for the devolved Administrations

  • Lord Bradley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Bradley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have (1) applied for, and (2) been granted, help through (a) the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, and (b) the Help to Buy equity loan scheme, in each of the ten districts of Greater Manchester.

    Lord Newby

    LORD NEWBY

    a) On 23 March, the Prime Minister announced that 2,572 mortgages were supported by the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme in its first four months. 342 of these were in the North West. The Government does not generally collect data on the number of applications participating lenders receive for mortgages supported by the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme. However, as a single submission to the Government, two of the largest lenders in the Scheme, Lloyds and RBS, have said they received 9,569 applications, and one of the smallest lenders in the Scheme, Aldermore, received 2,313 applications.

    Now the Scheme is open, the Government is collecting data on mortgages covered by the guarantee, and will report in due course.

    b) The Government publishes monthly statistics on the cumulative number of homes purchased (legal completions), with the support of Help to Buy: equity loans, by local authority in England. The data can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-monthly-statistics.

    “

  • Baroness Whitaker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Whitaker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Whitaker on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Nash on 27 March (WS 53–4) on primary and 16 to 18 assessment and accountability, how the progress which is to be measured will be disaggregated into ethnic groups.

    Lord Nash

    The detail of the new accountability measures has yet to be fully developed. However, we expect to mirror current practice and to publish information on attainment and progress by ethnic group at national and local authority level rather than at school or college level.

    A new web portal, which is under development, will improve access to 16-18 performance data including the core demographic information such as ethnicity which is currently available for primary and secondary schools.