Tag: 2014

  • 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 2014-04-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance HM Treasury has given to the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority on the use of selective press briefing of unannounced policies or position statements on matters judged to be market price-sensitive.

    Lord Newby

    The Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority are operationally independent of Government. HM Treasury does not issue them with operational guidance about how they should discharge their statutory duties.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what progress has been made in rolling out Individual Electoral Registration across the country.

    Greg Clark

    Individual Electoral Registration was launched in England and Wales, as planned, on 10 June 2014. This included the introduction of on-line registration. IER is due to be launched in Scotland on 19 September. The roll out of IER is proceeding as planned, to date.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2014-04-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Northover on 18 March (WA 16), how many programmes are already being implemented to tackle violence against women in Afghanistan; and how many programmes focussing on the other strategic priorities of the Department for International Development in Afghanistan are being implemented.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    Two programmes directly address violence: £3M towards a joint programme with Australia to improve the implementation of laws designed to protect women and girls affected by violence; and £19.9M DFID support to the Tawanmandi programme with grants to Civil Society Organisations, where at least £2M of grants from 2014 will go to organisations primarily focused on the elimination of violence against women and girls.

    Violence is also indirectly addressed through a long term approach of promoting women’s rights, empowerment and education. DFID has a wide range of programmes supporting this agenda, e.g. £4.5M nation-wide support to women’s political participation and the £47M Girls Education Challenge fund improving access to education for 250,000 marginalised girls.

  • Huw Irranca-Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Huw Irranca-Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) economic and (b) infection risks to UK and EU fruit and vegetable production arise from the importation of mangoes or other fruit infested with tephritidae.

    Dan Rogerson

    Tephritidae is listed as a ‘quarantine’ pest under European Union (EU) legislation. All quarantine pests have been assessed as presenting a significant economic or environmental risk to the EU and therefore their introduction into its territory is prohibited.

  • Andrew Bridgen – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Bridgen – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many consultation requests from local planning authorities under the safeguarding directions for Phase One have been received by HS2 Ltd since 9 July 2013; and from which local planning authorities such consultation requests have been received.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Since 9 July 2013, HS2 Ltd received 60 consultation requests from local planning authorities under the safeguarding directions for the London to West Midlands section of HS2. The requests were received from the following local planning authorities:

    Birmingham City Council,

    Hertfordshire County Council,

    London Borough of Brent,

    London Borough of Ealing,

    London Borough of Hillingdon,

    Lichfield District Council,

    London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham,

    North Warwickshire Borough Council,

    Oxfordshire County Council,

    Stratford-upon-Avon District Council,

    Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council,

    South Northamptonshire Council,

    Warwickshire County Council,

    Westminster City Council,

    Aylesbury Vale District Council,

    London Borough of Camden.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent offers of assistance his Department has made to the government of Iraq.

    Hugh Robertson

    The UK was the first to deploy a team to assess the humanitarian situation following the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant’s attack on Mosul. On 14 June the Department for International Development (DFID) announced £3 million of emergency assistance to help around 500,000 displaced Iraqis, and a further £2 million was allocated on 17 June.

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to tackle pensioner poverty; and if he will make a statement.

    Steve Webb

    This Government wants all pensioners to have a decent and secure income in retirement. We have restored the link to earnings for the Basic State Pension and also introduced the ‘triple lock’, the guarantee that the Basic State Pension will increase by the highest of the growth in average earnings, price increases or 2.5 per cent. We have protected key benefits for older people including: free eye tests; free NHS prescriptions; free bus passes; free television licences for those aged 75 and over and Winter Fuel Payments.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were infected with bacillus cereus in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The numbers of reported patient infection episodes of Bacillus cereus, isolated from blood samples from all age-groups between 2009 and 2013 in England, are shown in the following table.

    Year

    Number of patient infection episodes

    Organism name

    Specimen type

    Country

    2009

    50

    Bacillus Cereus

    Blood

    England

    2010

    46

    Bacillus Cereus

    Blood

    England

    2011

    39

    Bacillus Cereus

    Blood

    England

    2012

    37

    Bacillus Cereus

    Blood

    England

    2013

    56

    Bacillus Cereus

    Blood

    England

    These data were extracted from Public Health England’s centralised microbiology database (LabBase2), which collects voluntarily reported microbiology data from participating laboratories across England. Although only clinically significant isolates should be reported to LabBase2, some of the reports may be contaminants that occurred either during collection or during processing of samples as B. cereus is a ubiquitous environmental organism.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-04-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 18W, on employee ownership, for what reason the details of the total value of shares awarded under employee shareholder agreements since 1 September 2013 are not available.

    Mr David Gauke

    Employers are not required to provide details of any shares awarded under employee shareholder agreements to HM Revenue & Customs until they submit their annual employment-related securities return for 2013-14. No details or estimates of the total value of shares awarded under employee shareholder agreements since 1 September 2013 are currently available.

    Estimates of the Exchequer impact of the capital gains tax exemption and the income tax and national insurance treatment of shares awarded under employee shareholder agreements in tax years to 2017-18 can be found at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/tiin/emp-shareholder-status.pdf

  • Mark Hendrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Hendrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward proposals to financially assist nurses employed by the NHS to pay the increased fee for the Nursing and Midwifery Council when they come into force later in 2014.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is an independent body and it is therefore for the NMC Council to determine the level of the annual fee it charges for registration. On 26 March 2014, the NMC Council reviewed the level of this fee and agreed a proposal to increase it from £100 per annum to £120 in March 2015. The NMC is running a public consultation between 8 May and 31 July 2014, where its proposal is open to scrutiny. No decision on the proposed fee increase has been made at present.

    Ministers keep the issue of professional regulation under regular review and the Department has frequent contact with professional regulators, including the NMC. On 12 March 2014, I met with representatives of the NMC for a regular update meeting. This meeting was not specifically set up to discuss the NMC registration fee, but during this meeting the NMC provided information about its fee review process.