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Tag: 2014

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2014 to Question 219579, if he will make it his policy to direct energy suppliers to withdraw charges imposed on customers solely for the purpose of covering the cost of gas metering and billing where a customer does not use that service.

    Matthew Hancock

    The standing charge element of the bill is commonly associated with covering the costs of, amongst other things, metering and billing as these are costs which the supplier will incur regardless of if any gas is consumed. These costs include the administrative costs of maintaining a customer account and providing bills and the cost of reading the meter and undertaking a periodic safety check. A supplier will also still be required to pay charges to the local gas network company for maintaining the connection and the distribution network which enables supply.

    If a customer does not wish to pay a standing charge they can switch to a supplier with a tariff which features a standing charge set at zero.

    Ofgem has been clear that consumers in vulnerable situations should not have to pay a standing charge if they are not consuming gas at all and should not have to pay for the removal of their meter, should this be appropriate, and has written to suppliers confirming this.

  • Robert Flello – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Robert Flello – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2015-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will commission work to compare the cost and success of hard shoulder running on smart motorways with the Siemens eHighway.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Highways Agency is not considering undertaking work to compare the cost and success of hard-shoulder running on smart motorways with the Siemens eHighway. Smart motorways provide primarily congestion management for all vehicles whereas the Siemens eHighway focuses on freight traffic and the associated environmental benefits in terms of Nitrous Oxide and Carbon Dioxide reduction. Whilst costs could be compared the two approaches have significantly different objectives and outcomes.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Emma Reynolds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many bids under the Community Right to Challenge have been assessed by local authorities.

    Stephen Williams

    The Department does not collect or collate administrative data from local authorities on the number of Expressions of Interest they receive under the Community Right to Challenge. We do however carry out follow up surveys with community groups and parish councils that have used the Community Right to Challenge support service. The Department also collates intelligence from local authorities, where they speak to us about an Expression of Interest.

    From this, we are aware of 51 Expressions of Interest submissions to councils, but this is not a comprehensive figure. Of these, we know of seven completed procurement exercises, four of which have resulted in the organisation that submitted the Expressions of Interest winning a contract. We know of two other cases where an Expression of Interest has been accepted and a procurement triggered, but not completed.

    We know that voluntary groups remain interested in the Community Right to Challenge. The most recent follow up survey of organisations using the Community Right to Challenge support service showed that a further 43 groups, out of 105 respondents, were intending to submit an Expression of Interest in the next 12 months.

    We do know that Challenge is recognised by the voluntary and community and parish sectors as being helpful in opening up relationships with lcoal authorities. In a recent survey of 188 enquirers to the advice service, 25% were in negotiation with their council on potential commissioning and said negotiation had come about as a direct result of the Challenge legislation. Almost half (48%) felt that their local authority was more open to contracting with eligible bodies than before the legislation came into force and 25% were working with ttheir authorities on commissioning as a result of the legislation. 70% felt the support they received had improved their contrct readiness and 82% were expecting to bid for the delivery of public services. Timescales for procurement exercises are sdignificant but we are working with support providers to monitor the number of organisations that succeed in winning contracts.

    This information is informing our future programme of work especially around commissioning processes. Community groups advise us that they are encouraged by the shift in culture and the changing mind-sets of procurement and commissioning officiers in councils across England as a result of the Localism Act 2011. They tell us the community rights have prompted many councils to examine how local public services are commissioned in their area.

    Through our support programme we have supported 376 groups with specialist referrals and provided 216 groups with financial assistance to develop their capacity to bid for and deliver services.

  • Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of sites where planning permission for housing development has been granted but where construction has been stalled for more than five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 30 October 2014, to Question, UIN 207630.

    We do not hold the requested figures on planning permission and the length of time.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to ensure that consumers are fully informed of the manner in which rabbit meat on sale in England was raised.

    George Eustice

    Food labelling rules are set at EU level and require that food information must be accurate and must not mislead. This Government has pressed for better information for consumers during negotiations relating to food labelling in Europe.

    The European Commission has no plans to introduce further production method labelling for rabbit or any other farmed game. However, the Commission is due to produce a report on country of origin labelling for meats such as rabbit in the first half of this year.

  • Tim Farron – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tim Farron – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Egyptian government on freedom of speech in that country.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    I regularly raise the importance of freedom of speech with members of the Egyptian government, including most recently during my visit to Cairo on January 12 – 16. The UK Government also raised concerns about restrictions on freedom of speech in Egypt during the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of Egypt’s human rights situation on 5 November.

    We will continue to urge the Government of Egypt to demonstrate its commitment to freedom of speech, including the right of journalists to operate without fear of prosecution. The UK has clearly stated that freedom of the press is fundamental to building a democratic society.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the proportion of incidents marked as domestic violence cases which related to (a) male perpetrators against female partners, (b) female perpetrators against male partners and (c) other cases of domestic violence.

    Lynne Featherstone

    The Home Office does not hold this information centrally. The Home Office receives domestic abuse incident data from the police in England and Wales but these data do not contain information on the sex of the victim or the
    perpetrator.

  • Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what types of offence resulted in confiscation orders being made in 2012-13; and how much was collected as a result of those orders.

    Mike Penning

    The table below shows the primary offence type for all confiscation orders made between 01/04/2012 and 31/03/2013 and the current amount paid against those impositions as of 16/01/2015. The ‘Amount Paid’ does not include any sums of interest that may have been collected on those orders.

    Primary Offence Type

    Amount Paid

    Arms Trafficking

    £ 2,274.00

    Bribery and Corruption

    £ 724.00

    Burglary / Theft

    £ 5,178,518.99

    Counterfeiting / Intellectual Property / Forgery

    £ 3,482,693.99

    Drug Trafficking

    £ 27,142,467.06

    Excise Duty Fraud

    £ 1,250,612.62

    Handling Stolen Goods

    £ 778,521.81

    Intellectual Property Crime

    £ 390,863.43

    Money Laundering – Drugs

    £ 8,183,885.75

    Money Laundering – Other

    £ 18,291,592.71

    Other Crime

    £ 8,045,149.97

    Other Fraud / Embezzlement / Deception / Crimes of dishonesty

    £ 22,650,449.84

    People Trafficking

    £ 281,589.31

    Pimps and Brothels / Prostitution / Pornography

    £ 965,260.92

    Robbery

    £ 167,503.53

    Tax and Benefit Fraud

    £ 9,078,615.86

    Terrorism

    £ 39,945.15

    Trading Standards Offences

    £ 435,591.73

    Unknown

    £ 125,986.91

    VAT Fraud

    £ 10,548,046.91

    Vehicle Offences

    £ 917,892.02

    Grand Total

    £ 117,958,186.51

    Confiscation orders are one of the key mechanisms available to the Government to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their crimes. They are based on the notional benefit attributed to the crime and may, therefore, exceed the value of realisable assets that are known to the Court at the time of imposition. Crucially, an order that is outstanding stops the criminal benefitting from the proceeds of crime and ensures that, if assets are discovered in the future, they can be seized.

    HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and other agencies involved in confiscation order enforcement take the recovery of criminal assets very seriously and are working to ensure that clamping down on defaulters is a continued priority.

    The amount defendants repaid from their criminal activity across all agencies has increased for the last five consecutive years and we are currently on course to have another highly effective year. £137.2million was collected in 2013/14 (which represented a 4% increase on the total recovered during 2012/13); as at the end of December 2014, £113 million had been recovered, which is an increase of 10% on the same period last year.

  • Grahame M. Morris – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Grahame M. Morris – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame M. Morris on 2015-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department or local and district management set any numerical targets, expectations, aims or benchmarks set for Labour Market Decision Makers for the number of sanction referrals that should result in a sanction being applied.

    Esther McVey

    There are no benchmarks or targets for the number of referrals resulting in a sanction being applied.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2015-01-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made any representations to the government of Ukraine about the humanitarian situation in Eastern Ukraine and the role of pro-Kiev volunteers in that region.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is regularly raised by British Ministers and officials. Our Ambassador to Ukraine wrote to Prime Minister Yatseniuk on 14 January 2015 to express the UK’s concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Ukraine following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and the subsequent unrest in the eastern regions. He underlined UK support towards mitigating the humanitarian impacts of the situation in the Donbas. We are very concerned by reports from organisations such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Amnesty International on the actions of certain pro-Kyiv battalions operating in the eastern regions, who have allegedly been involved in abuses including abductions, unlawful detention and ill-treatment. Embassy officials have raised our concerns with the Ukrainian President’s Office and we will continue to call on the Ukrainian authorities to ensure that independent investigations take place into all serious allegations of violations, whether by the pro-Kyiv forces or the separatists.