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  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will discuss with the BBC Parliament channel improving the provision of (a) subtitles and (b) an in-vision interpreter for hearing impaired people.

    Tom Brake

    The audience share for BBC Parliament is below the Ofcom threshold for Access Service provision. However, we have committed to subtitling 100% of live Commons on the channel by 2019. We will reach this figure by increasing the amount of subtitling by 5% each year and this year will subtitle 85% of live Commons sittings.

    The year to date figure for the total provision of subtitling on BBC Parliament against the total broadcast hours of the channel is 12.05%.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure that local fire authorities install deaf awareness alternative smoke alarms in homes which make use of warning lights rather than sound as a warning system when requested.

    Mike Penning

    We expect local fire and rescue authorities to determine how to allocate their resources to best protect their communities from the risks from fire. Although each authority delivers a range of community fire safety interventions designed to prevent and reduce the risk from accidental dwelling fires, all also carry out a programme of home fire safety visits. In some cases, these visits, which offered tailored fire safety advice in the home, are focussed specifically on those who may be particularly vulnerable, including older people and those with disabilities. Fire and rescue authorities will, in certain circumstances, offer to provide and install free smoke alarms to households without them. This will include alarms designed specifically for those who may be deaf or have other hearing difficulties. How fire and rescue authorities decide where best to target their home fire safety visits and what fire safety equipment, if any, would reduce most effectively the risk to the household is a local matter based on a local assessment of risk.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that councils do not discriminate against people for whom British Sign Language is their first language in the provision of council services.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The responsibility for providing appropriate support to enable meaningful communication with deaf people by local authorities lies with the local authorities themselves.

    All local authorities have a legal responsibility under sections 20 and 29 of the Equality Act 2010 not to discriminate against disabled people in the provision of services and to make ‘reasonable adjustments’, which means for example providing information in an accessible format to allow deaf people to have equal access to their services.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will provide support to local councils to ensure they protect deaf clubs for people seeking support and help in getting back to work.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Government recognises the important role that councils play in supporting those who need additional help when seeking to get back into the workplace. However, as democratically elected organisations, local authorities are independent from central Government and are responsible for managing their budgets in line with local priorities.

    This year’s Local Government Financial Settlement does provide a reasonable offer to local government, with a settlement which is essentially flat in cash terms, moving from £44.5 billion in 2015-16 to £44.3 billion in 2019-20. By 2020, when councils will be 100% funded by council tax, business rates and other local revenues, they will finally be fully accountable to their electorate for their financing, decisions and actions.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24092, whether the transport grant his Department provides for Transport for London (TfL) is included within, or is separate from, the general grant paid to TfL and the Greater London Authority.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    They are one and the same thing. Under section 101 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999, the Department for Transport provides an annual grant to the Greater London Authority, known as the GLA transport grant, for the purposes of Transport for London. In recent years the grant has had both a capital and a resource element to it, sometimes referred to informally as TfL’s “investment” and “general” grants. In 2015/16 the GLA transport grant amounted to a little over £1.5 billion in total, split between some £925 million of capital funding (TfL’s “investment grant”), and some £659 million of resource funding (TfL’s “general grant”).

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department plans to provide Transport for London (TfL) with Bus Service Operators Grant funding when the general grant paid to TfL is removed from 2018.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department has no intention of doing this. In addition to the grants provided by the Department for Transport, TfL receives around £800 million a year of funding through the Business Rate Retention Scheme, in which the Greater London Authority passes TfL an agreed share of locally retained business rates. This funding stream has, since 2013, included an amount to reflect the changes to the payment of Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) that were introduced in that year. TfL will continue to receive this funding from 2018 onwards, alongside the investment grant provided by the Department.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the Care Quality Commission on proposed changes to the contracts of Experts by Experience.

    Ben Gummer

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator for health and adult social care. The CQC is responsible for its own staffing requirements, including any decisions on contracts around the supplying of experts by experience for its inspections of providers.

    In line with Cabinet Office approvals processes, the Department:

    • gave approval for the CQC to invite tenders for the Experts by Experience programme; and
    • having sought and received clarification of the business case from CQC, approved the business case, to enable the CQC to proceed with finalising new contracts for Experts by Experience.
  • Caroline Flint – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Caroline Flint – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there are any circumstances in which Ministers are entitled to access corporate tax returns submitted to HM Revenue and Customs.

    Mr David Gauke

    No.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what incentives are in place to encourage major infrastructure projects to use steel manufactured in the UK.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Government is committed to addressing any barriers that prevent UK steel suppliers from competing effectively for public sector contracts.

    The Government adopted new rules on public procurement last year to offer greater flexibility around social and economic considerations, alongside best value for money, in Government procurement activities.

    In line with this, all departments are required to implement new guidelines, which we published on 30 October, on how government buyers should source steel for major projects so that the true value of UK steel is taken into account in major procurement decisions.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the financial health of the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Company and its potential effect on the MARS programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) continues to progress the build of all four ships under the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability Tanker contract. The Ministry of Defence is aware of reports in the specialist press regarding financial losses reported in the shipbuilding industry, including DSME. We continue to closely monitor this situation with DSME, noting that this is primarily a matter for the company.