Tag: 2014

  • Bill Esterson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Bill Esterson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons local authorities are inspected by Ofsted separately from schools maintained by local authorities.

    Mr David Laws

    The Chief Inspector has powers to carry out an inspection of the performance of a particular local authority function as set out in Section 136(1)(b) of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. Specifically, he can use this power to inspect how well the local authority is fulfilling its general duty to promote high standards and fulfilment by every child of their educational potential as set out in Section 13A of the Education Act 1996.

    These powers are separate from his powers and duties in relation to the inspection of individual schools which are set out in Section 5 and Section 8 of the Education Act 2005. Section 5 requires Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector to inspect individual schools at prescribed intervals, and Section 8 Education Act 2005, contains a general power which enables the Chief Inspector to call for the inspection of a school in circumstances where he is not required to inspect.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport applications from residents of Ashfield constituency received more than three weeks ago HM Passport Office are processing.

    James Brokenshire

    Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not hold the information in the form requested. The
    cost of providing it from individual applicant data held would be
    disproportionate.

  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has given to motorway police on advising (a) vehicles without all-round screen vision and (b) public service vehicles carrying passengers of (i) up to 3.5, (ii) between 3.5 and 7.5 and (iii) over 7.5 tonnes maximum laden weight against entering or travelling in, or preventing such vehicles entering or travelling in, the right-hand overtaking lane of a three or more lane motorway; and which last edition of the Highway Code included advice on these matters.

    Damian Green

    The Home Office has not issued any guidance and does not hold any information on the enforcement of lane discipline. Enforcement of the law is an operational matter for the police.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce homophobic and transphobic hate crimes against LGBT people.

    Norman Baker

    Tackling all forms of hate crime, including that motivated by hatred of a person’s sexual orientation or transgender identity is an issue the coalition Government takes very seriously.

    On 1 May 2014 we published ‘Challenge it, Report it, Stop it – Delivering the Government’s Hate Crime Action Plan’. This progress report provides an overview of our achievements since the action plan was first published in March 2012 and sets out our key priorities for the remainder of this Parliament. A specific action in the plan includes tackling homophobia and transphobia in sports.

    We are meeting the coalition commitment to improve the recording of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation and transgender identity and are working with the police and other partners to encourage more victims to come forward. We have supported voluntary sector organisations to develop third party reporting services for LGBT victims.

  • Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Huppert on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to provide capital funding for sixth form colleges to enable them to provide free school meals to disadvantaged pupils.

    Matthew Hancock

    We are making available approximately £75 million revenue funding over the course of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 financial years to enable sixth-form and further education colleges to provide free meals to disadvantaged 16- to 18-year-old students.

    We will publish advice on the funding and implementation of this policy shortly.

  • Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of fines imposed by the Information Commissioner’s Office on reducing nuisance calls and texts.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    No such assessment has been made, but we are aware that after ICO issued a large monetary penalty in November 2012 for spam text messages, the monitoring service Cloudmark reported a 10% drop in unsolicited spam SMS text messages. We remain keen to ensure robust enforcement of the regulations, so that companies breaking the rules are caught and penalised.

    OurNuisance Calls Action Plan that was published on 30th March 2014, details the range of legislative and non-legislative measures being taken forward to tackle nuisance calls and texts and the plan can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nuisance-calls-action-plan-unveiled

    “

  • John Redwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    John Redwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the effect was on revenue from top rate income tax of the reduction of the top rate from 60 per cent to 40 per cent in 1988 in the (a) first year and (b) second year following that reduction.

    Mr David Gauke

    Observed changes in tax receipts following rate changes will reflect a combination of effects of the rate changes and underlying economic and distributional changes.

    One study that analyses these effects is set out in the Institute Fiscal Studies (IFS) Mirrlees Review, Dimensions of Tax Design. This studied the revenue impacts of tax changes during the 1970s and 1980s, including the rate changes in 1988. It is available at: http://www.ifs.org.uk/mirrleesreview/dimensions/ch2.pdf (see Chapter 2).

    This study was part of the evidence considered by HMRC in the report “The Exchequer effect of the 50 percent additional rate of income tax” published at Budget 2012. The behavioural response estimated in the HMRC report is consistent with a range of academic studies including the results from the IFS.

    The HMRC report is available at; http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2012/excheq-income-tax-2042.pdf

    “

  • Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the net benefit to people in Scotland of the UK’s membership of the EU.

    David Mundell

    The Government does not collate data which would allow calculation of a net benefit to the people of Scotland arising from the UK’s membership of the EU. However, independent analysis published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research in March 2014 suggested that, in 2011, approximately 335,000 jobs in Scotland were associated with Scottish exports to the EU.

  • 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 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to contact members of the armed forces wrongly disciplined in addition to receiving a police caution; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    No such steps have been taken.

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he expects EU funding allocated to the Youth Guarantee to be drawn down in the UK.

    Esther McVey

    There is no EU funding allocated to the Youth Guarantee.