Tag: 2014

  • Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of how many properties at risk of flooding in (a) Windsor constituency and (b) the Thames Valley that will not be covered by the new Flood Re scheme.

    Dan Rogerson

    The assessment of the impact the scope of the Flood Re Scheme will have was done at a UK level. There was no specific assessment for individual constituencies or regions.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on the introduction of legally binding pre-nuptial agreements.

    Simon Hughes

    The Law Commission published its report on Matrimonial Property, Needs and Agreements on 27 February 2014.

    The report focuses on clarifying the law in the areas of financial ‘need’ and nuptial agreements and makes 3 broad recommendations:

    1. that written guidance is produced on financial need;

    2. that the feasibility is assessed of producing numerical guidance to help couples to calculate the likely financial outcome of divorce or dissolution; and

    3. that pre-nuptial agreements are made statutorily binding.

    The Government is grateful to the Law Commission for their hard work on this complex area of law.

    The Government is giving the report careful consideration. An interim response will be published by August 2014 and a full response by February 2015. These are the timescales established in protocol between the Law Commission and Government.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of London Midland’s current rolling stock is within the scope of the company’s fleet maintenance contract with Siemens.

    Stephen Hammond

    Prior to the delivery of the new class 350/3 trains ordered in 2012 , 74 trains (45% of the London Midland fleet) was maintained by Siemens; upon completion of delivery, 84 trains (49% of the fleet) will be maintained by Siemens.

  • Jake Berry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jake Berry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been allocated from the £200 million fund to repair potholes to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council to repair potholes in Darwen.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    From the £200 million to help fix potholes on the local road network announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the March 2014 Budget, £168 million will be for local authorities in England. This funding will be made available through a bidding exercise and it will be for Blackburn and Darwen Council to submit a bid to the Department. Guidance on how councils can apply for this funding will be made available in the coming weeks.

    The Department for Transport has agreed to provide £90.1 million to Lancashire County Council for road maintenance during the financial years from 2011/12 to 2014/15. This funding can be used to help repair potholes.

    Rossendale falls within Lancashire County Council’s area of responsibility and we do not allocate any funds directly to the Borough Council for road maintenance.

  • Lord Lexden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Lexden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lexden on 2014-06-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the Department for International Development’s spending on research and development is devoted to developing new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for HIV.

    Baroness Northover

    The Research and Evidence Division within DFID spent £320 million during the financial year 2013-14. Research spend covers a wide range of different types of research across a number of themes including agriculture, climate and environment, education, governance, conflict and social development, growth and health research.

    The total spent on developing new drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and microbicides for HIV was £4.5m during the financial year 2013-14. Funding was provided to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM). This amount represented 1.4% of the total Research and Evidence Division spend.

  • 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 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proposals he has to tackle worklessness among social housing tenants.

    Esther McVey

    Jobcentre Plus provides personalised support to help all unemployed people, including social housing tenants, into work. If claimants are at risk of long term unemployment, they are referred to tailored help offered by the Work Programme.

    Where Jobcentre Plus District Managers identify gaps in skills or other provision they have discretion to work with partner organisations, like social landlords, to support the provision of extra help to meet particular needs.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2014-06-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many, and which, local authorities have made representations to the Department for Education asking it to legislate to extend the power to outsource children’s social work functions, including child protection, under the Children and Young Persons Act 2008.

    Lord Nash

    Formal representations concerning outsourcing of social care functions, potentially including child protection, have been made by Staffordshire, Kingston, and Richmond local authorities. In addition a number of informal discussions on this topic have taken place with other local authorities.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to require all police referrals to the National College of Teaching and Leadership to include details of the school where the alleged teacher previously taught.

    Mr David Laws

    Referrals by the police to the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) are currently made under the Notifiable Occupations Scheme, which is the responsibility of the Home Office (Home Office Circular No. 6/2006). The scheme is currently under review with new provisions being considered by the Home Office to supersede the existing scheme.

    Officials at NCTL are in discussions with the Association of Chief Police Officers to ensure that the new scheme continues to provide consistent, timely and relevant information. Disclosure of the teacher’s current or last employment will be considered as part of those ongoing discussions.

  • Roger Williams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Roger Williams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Williams on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what role his Department is playing in the Government’s review of the Muslim Brotherhood announced in April 2014.

    Mr William Hague

    The Government has appointed a senior member of the diplomatic service, Sir John Jenkins, to lead the review. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is contributing information and analysis through our network of Embassies across the Middle East and more widely, including by consulting academic experts. The FCO is also providing an oversight role as part of the review’s steering group.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many instances of Alabama Rot there have been in dogs in the UK.

    George Eustice

    Alabama Rot is the name commonly being given to the newly emerged condition in dogs, known by its clinical and pathological description as ‘Cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy’. Whilst this new condition, which appears seasonally, seems very similar to Alabama Rot, we do not know that they have the same cause.

    Investigation into this condition is being led by vets at a referral small animal veterinary practice and at the world renowned research organisation, the Animal Health Trust. These vets have expertise specifically in small animal medical cases. As such the veterinary practice, Anderson Moore, is best placed to update on the number of confirmed and suspect cases. The practice informed Animal Health Veterinary Laboratories Agency on the 27th March that 14 cases have been confirmed between December 2013 and March 2014. This is in addition to 14 cases confirmed between December 2012 and March 2013.