UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2014

  • Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 8 May 2014, Official Report, column 298W, on Highways Agency, what the (a) criteria and (b) procedures are for considering the extension of the provisions of section 41(3) of the VAT Act 1994 to a new body.

    Mr David Gauke

    Section 41(3) of the VAT Act 1994 applies to Government departments and health authorities. It is governed by a Treasury Direction. Any extension of the provisions is a matter for Treasury Ministers.

  • Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what education projects her Department is supporting in Nigeria.

    Lynne Featherstone

    DFID supports five education projects in Nigeria (Education Sector Support Programme, Girls’ Education Programme, Teacher Development Programme, Developing Effective Private Education, and Education Data, Research and Evaluation through which an additional 800,000 children will access better quality schools by 2015.

    DFID also supports two further projects through the global Girls’ Education Challenge (Discovery Girls and Educating Nigerian Girls in New Enterprises), through which 48,000 marginalised girls will be supported to access better schools.

  • Rehman Chishti – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Rehman Chishti – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many local digital service licences have been awarded in Kent and Medway.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The independent regulator Ofcom, is responsible for allocating commercial TV and radio licences. Ofcom has received two applications to operate a local TV service in the Maidstone area on the digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform and anticipates making a decision about the award of this licence in the summer.

    The licence to operate the DAB radio multiplex covering Kent was awarded in 2003. The Kent DAB multiplex currently carries the following stations: BBC Radio Kent, Capital, Heart Kent, Kmfm, Smooth Kent, Xfm and Pop Up radio.

  • David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints about (a) staff behaviour, (b) contested sanction decisions and (c) telephone line waiting times have been made against Bolton Jobcentre Plus offices in each year since 2010.

    Esther McVey

    Until July 2012, when a new process for handling and recording customer feedback was introduced, complaints were not formally categorised. It has therefore not been possible to accurately identify the requested data prior to that date. In addition, contested sanction decisions are subject to the appeals and reconsideration process and are not categorised as complaints. The information we are able to provide for Bolton Jobcentre is as follows:

    Period

    Staff behaviour

    Telephone line waiting times

    01/07/2012 – 31/12/2012

    5

    0

    01/01/2013 – 31/12/2013

    20

    0

    01/01/14 – 31/03/14

    12

    0
  • Kevan Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what planning data was used to devise his Department’s recruitment target for the Army Reserve as part of its Army 2020 reforms.

    Anna Soubry

    The term “recruitment target” has been interpreted as the 30,000 trained Army Reservists required under Army 2020.

    During the Three Month Exercise, the Ministry Of Defence examined a range of Force Structure options which were assessed as being able to deliver the policy demand specified by the new Defence Planning Assumptions laid out in Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. As a result of this, a Senior Military Judgement Panel chaired by the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff and including the Assistant Chiefs of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force concluded that the size of the Regular Army should be 82,500, and the Independent Commission to Review the United Kingdom’s Reserve Forces recommended an Army Reserve of 30,000 trained personnel. This was judged to be the optimal size and shape of the Army within available resources.

  • Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reasons details of arrangements with priority investors in respect of the privatisation of Royal Mail were not published at the time of that privatisation.

    Michael Fallon

    The Government did not enter into any direct arrangements with investors. All institutional investors entered into agreements with the underwriting banks (the syndicate) to purchase their allocated shares at the offer price. This is standard practice and applied to all investors.

    Details of individual allocations were not disclosed because all investors in Royal Mail – whether individuals or institutions – have a legitimate expectation of privacy.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the anticipated out-turn cost of ITC Catterick is for financial year 2014-15.

    Anna Soubry

    Financial data is held from financial year 2007-08 onwards. The Ministry of Defence’s budgetary structure is organised into a number of different Top Level Budget areas. This means that the cost of activities at a single location can often be split between a number of different budgets which are not managed centrally. For example infrastructure costs (including utilities) are managed by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation through contracts which do not split out the costs for individual units operating on a particular site. Similarly, equipment costs are managed across whole fleets of items by Defence Equipment and Support, and not by individual location. For this reason the full running costs of the Infantry Training Centre and the Army Foundation College cannot be provided in the format requested. However the costs attributable to the Army can be provided from financial year 2007-08 onwards.

    Unit

    2007-08

    2008-09

    2009-10

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    £million

    £million

    £million

    £million

    £million

    £million

    £million

    Army Foundation College

    54.658

    62.078

    58.435

    60.829

    62.199

    63.486

    62.232

    Infantry Training Centre

    83.172

    90.790

    104.702

    81.471

    103.196

    105.274

    93.046

    The Army’s anticipated outturn for the Army Foundation College Harrogate in 2014-15 is £66.204 million, and for Infantry Training Centre Catterick is £90.793 million.

  • Andrew Percy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Andrew Percy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in Brigg and Goole constituency are registered self-employed.

    Mr Nick Hurd

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

  • Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Lister of Burtersett on 2014-06-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the recent report by Church Action on Poverty, Oxfam GB and The Trussell Trust Below the Breadline: The relentless rise of food poverty in Britain.

    Lord De Mauley

    The Government noted the recent Below the Breadline report. The factors that impact on household food security are complex and include economic, social and environmental influences. There is no official definition of “food poverty”. A single measure would not be able to reflect the multi-faceted aspects of this issue. Year on year food prices have fallen for the first time since 2006 with an annual rate of inflation of -0.6 per cent in the year to May 2014. This is down from 0.5 per cent inflation in April.

    We recognise the extremely valuable work of civil society groups in supporting local communities. There has long been a tradition in this country of voluntary and charity organisations providing support to people in need.

  • Karen Lumley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Karen Lumley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that betting shops are not placed in the same planning use class as cafes, banks and public houses.

    Nick Boles

    Yes.

    Betting shops are currently in the A2 (“financial and professional services”) use class. The Budget announced that we will consult on introducing a wider ‘retail’ use class; I can confirm that this would not include betting shops or payday loan shops.

    Moreover, to increase access to retail banking and to encourage new entrants, we have already recently amended secondary legislation such that shops (A1) are now able to change to banks, building societies, credit unions and friendly societies, within the A2 use class. This does not cover betting shops or payday loan shops.