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Tag: 2014

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of efficiency savings arising from his Department’s digital strategies in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    DCMS has made significant savings by working with the Government Digital Service to streamline it’s IT services, in line with other Government departments. Cabinet Office and DCMS now share a technology platform for common technology systems, which has allowed the Department to reduce its annual running IT costsfrom £3.79 million to £1.75 million – a saving of over £2 million per year (this does not include capital costs or costs associated with DCMS specific business systems or projects.) Due to costs associated with adapting to the new system, savings in 2014-15 were approximately a third of that.

  • Catherine West – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Catherine West – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Chinese government on the imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We pay close attention to the human rights situation in China, and consistently raise the range of our concerns with the Chinese authorities. We did so in detail at the most recent UK-China Human Rights Dialogue, held in Beijing in April. We raised the case of Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia immediately prior to the Dialogue.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2015 to Question 12217, on judicial co-operation with Saudi Arabia, when those discussions took place.

    Dominic Raab

    Discussions are ongoing. No work has yet been undertaken by the Ministry of Justice as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-10-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full-time equivalent staff in the Tax Credit Office were allocated to deal with representations from hon. Members relating to constituents’ concerns about tax credits on 1 October (a) 2011, (b) 2012, (c) 2013, (d) 2014 and (e) 2015.

    Damian Hinds

    HMRC do not hold the requested data.

    HMRC requires many of its staff, as part of their roles, to contribute to dealing with tax credits enquiries from Members.

  • Christina Rees – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Christina Rees – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the apprenticeships levy rate will be.

    Nick Boles

    My Rt hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will announce further details of the apprenticeship levy at the Spending Review, including the scope and rate of the levy and how it will operate with respect to the Devolved Administrations.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many sites are approved for fracking in England and Wales; what the location is of each such site; and if she will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Licensing and consent of onshore oil and gas activities in England is now a matter for the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA). Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences are not specific to shale gas. They grant exclusive rights to extract hydrocarbons, including shale gas but also other hydrocarbons, within a particular onshore area. A separate consent from the OGA is required before any drilling or hydraulic fracturing (fracking) can take place, as well as planning permission, environmental permits and review of the well design by the Health and Safety Executive.

    The OGA does not have any undetermined consent applications.

  • Jessica Morden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jessica Morden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government made during recent discussions with the Chinese Prime Minister in agreeing a timetable for closing legal ivory markets at international and domestic levels.

    Rory Stewart

    China is a key partner for the Government to work with in combating the illegal trade in wildlife. In the UK-China Joint Statement on Building a Global Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century, issued on 22nd October on the occasion of the State Visit of President Xi Jinping, the UK and China recognised the importance and urgency of combating the illegal wildlife trade, and committed to take active measures to tackle this global challenge. We warmly welcome the recent announcement by China that it intends, in due course, to close its legal domestic market for ivory, and will continue to work with China to encourage this to happen as soon as feasible.

    The Government is committed to maintaining the current global ban on any new international trade in ivory. In addition, the UK does not permit trade in raw ivory tusks of any age and we are pressing for this approach to be taken across the whole of the European Union.

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-10-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of (1) crime against older people, and (2) fear of crime amongst older people; and what steps they are taking to address both the incidence and fear of crime against older people.

    Lord Bates

    The Home Office has made no specific assessment of the level of crime against older people, and fear of crime amongst older people. The attached tablesshow figures from the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for the year to March 2015 for (1) the percentage of adults in each age group who were victims of crime, and (2) the percentage of adults in each age group who had high levels of worry about crime.

    Police reform is working and the Crime Survey shows that overall crime is down by more than a quarter since 2010. We continue to develop the role of our elected and accountable Police and Crime Commissioners to shape policing services to local needs and priorities, as they are now doing in commissioning victims’ services, setting policing priorities and driving reform.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials of his Department in each of the last three years.

    Joseph Johnson

    Non-consolidated performance related pay is paid to reward excellence, for example to recognise and incentivise those responsible for delivering high quality public services and savings to the taxpayer. These one-off payments are not pensionable. Since 2010-11 the Government has restricted awards for senior civil servants to the top 25% of performers (from 65% in previous years), saving around £15 million overall.

    An element of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills overall pay award for staff below the Senior Civil Service (SCS) is allocated to non-consolidated, non-pensionable pay related to performance. There are two types of award: in-year awards and annual performance awards.

    Performance awards for the SCS are part of the pay system across the whole Senior Civil Service, and are used to reward high performance sustained throughout the year.

    Information in the table shows the cost of each of these type of awards in each of the last three years.

    Year

    Non-SCS End year Annual Performance Awards

    Non-SCS In-Year Awards

    SCS Annual Performance Awards

    Total

    2013

    £1,540,773

    £332,080

    £577,925

    £2,450,778

    2014

    £990,360

    £492,228

    £576,000

    £2,058,588

    2015

    £1,288,474*

    £605,608

    £539,500

    £2,433,582

    * A few end year payments still to be made so this figure is the latest and may increase

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to recover the cost of treating patients who have received injuries from negligent cosmetic surgery from private providers from those providers.

    Ben Gummer

    Clinical commissioning groups have local arrangements in place to recover the costs from private healthcare providers.

    The NHS Standard Contract requires all contractors of National Health Service care to hold and maintain adequate and appropriate indemnity arrangements. The commissioner issuing the contract should always ensure that sufficient indemnity/ insurance is in place.

    Private healthcare providers are now able to use the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts. Changes were made to secondary legislation to allow this to happen from April 2013.