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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what equality impact assessment has been carried out on the decision to reduce by £200 million the local government public health grant; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
The Department has conducted a public consultation exercise on the options for delivering this saving and specifically invited views in relation to the potential impact on people with protected characteristics as defined in the Equality Act 2010. We will publish our conclusions shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of senior civil servants from her Department are from a lower socio-economic background.
Karen Bradley
In September 2014, the Government published data on the socio-economic status of recent entrants to the SCS:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/359079/socialmobility_revised.pdf
There is an ongoing review into the most effective and appropriate definition for social mobility which we will align with in future years. This work is being led by The Bridge Group, a charitable policy association promoting social mobility, as part of research they are undertaking on social mobility in the Fast Stream. The Outcome of this review will also inform future data collection on socio-economic status more widely and assist us in our further efforts to increase representation of people from less well-off backgrounds at all levels within the civil service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many civil servants of his Department are members of trades unions; how many working hours of facility time are taken by such civil servants; and what estimate he has made of the cost of that facility time to his Department.
Andrew Selous
It is no longer possible for the department to verify the numbers of staff that are currently trade union members; this information can now only be obtained directly from the trade unions.
The Cabinet Office publishes data relating to Civil Service facility time on a quarterly basis. The latest data is Quarter 4, 2014 at and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-union-facility-time
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many tonnes of steel (a) used and (b) projected to be used in the construction of Crossrail were sourced from (i) UK-based steel manufacturers and (ii) all steel manufacturers; and what the monetary value was of those orders.
Claire Perry
Crossrail Ltd. does not directly procure steel as this is undertaken by their tier 1 contractors and their supply chains. However, Crossrail keeps an oversight of its critical contracts and estimates that 85% of its supply chain providing steel to the project is UK based; this includes the 57km of rails for the central tunnelled section that is being sourced from the UK.