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Tag: 2014

  • Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2014-06-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that childcare providers receive payments from National Savings and Investments on time.

    Nicky Morgan

    On the 23 May the Government published a further consultation on the delivery of childcare accounts within Tax-Free Childcare. The consultation will be open until 27 June and the Government will consider the responses alongside those to the first consultation before it makes its decision on the provision of childcare accounts.

  • Margaret Curran – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Curran – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Curran on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the First Minister of Scotland has received from (a) the British embassy in Washington and (b) consular offices in the US ahead of his upcoming visit to that country.

    Mr David Lidington

    The British Embassy in Washington, and the New York Consulate, have provided support for the visit this week of the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, to the US. The Consul General in New York hosted a lunch at his residence on 7 April, in association with Scottish Development International (SDI), for the First Minister and 17 Scottish companies from the First Minister’s accompanying trade mission, to which key business figures were invited. The British Embassy in Washington worked with the New York Consulate to organise port courtesies for the First Minister, upon arrival in New York ,to allow the Scottish Affairs Office (based in the British Embassy Washington) to greet the First Minister at the airport and expedite customs and immigration procedures.

  • Karl McCartney – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Karl McCartney – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of local authority funding for the staffing of libraries.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Public libraries are funded and run by local authorities and it is for each local authority to determine at a local level how much they spend on libraries and how to manage and deliver the service, including decisions about expenditure on staffing.

  • Chris Williamson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Chris Williamson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Williamson on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many officials of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency are responsible for (a) driver and (b) operator compliance in the bus industry.

    Stephen Hammond

    It is not possible to determine the number of roles within the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) that are responsible for (a) driver and (b) operator compliance in the bus industry, as it forms only a part of a number of roles within the Agency. However, for the financial year of 2014/15, DVSA is budgeted to provide over 38 man-years of resource on the enforcement of the bus industry, for deployment of tasks such as roadworthiness checks, visits to licensed operators and bus operator account management.

  • 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 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether special educational needs coordinators are able to request funds from his Department for extra assistance with SEN students in maintained schools.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    The Department for Education does not give funds directly to local authority maintained schools. Funds for extra assistance with students with special educational needs (SEN) come from schools’ budgets and, if the extra cost is more than £6,000 per year for an individual student, from local authorities in the form of top-up funding for the school. Local authorities can also give extra funding to schools with a disproportionate number of pupils with SEN. Special educational needs coordinators should therefore seek any additional funds required from the relevant local authority.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-04-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, at the latest date, how many immigration detainees were being held in HM prisons; how many foreign national offenders, whose sentences had already expired but who had not been deported were being held; and what assessment they have made of the impact of such persons on the rehabilitation of British prisoners.

    Lord Taylor of Holbeach

    For the week commencing 31 March, there were 720 immigration detainees in prisons.

    Please note that the data includes a small number of individuals who have never served a custodial sentence, but who present specific risk factors that indicate they pose a serious risk of harm to the public or to the good order of an Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) including the safety of staff and other detainees, which cannot be managed within the regime applied in IRCs.

    To extract this small number of cases would incur a disproportionate cost.

    Foreign national offenders held in prisons beyond the end of their sentence under immigration powers are normally held in unconvicted conditions. Their presence in these prisons does not affect the rehabilitation of British nationals whose access to accredited interventions and other rehabilitation services is governed by risk of offending and offender-related need.

  • Roger Williams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Roger Williams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Williams on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will estimate the potential reduction in gas imports from the roll-out of ground sourced heat pumps.

    Gregory Barker

    I have not made such an estimate. However, we expect the impact of ground-source heat pump (GSHP) deployment on gas imports to be negligible.

  • Lord Patten – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Patten – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2014-04-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the reasons the government of Spain has given for sending warships and other state vessels into territorial waters around Gibraltar.

    Baroness Warsi

    Our assessment is that unlawful incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters by Spanish State vessels are a futile attempt to assert Spain’s legal position in respect of the waters. Incursions are a violation of sovereignty, not a threat to it. They do not weaken or undermine the legal basis in international law for British sovereignty over Gibraltar, including British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.

  • Greg Knight – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Greg Knight – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent changes to safety checks in slaughterhouses on the risk of diseased meat entering the food chain undetected; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    The Food Standards Agency advises that the new procedure for pig meat inspection will better protect consumers from foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella. It reduces the amount of routine carcase handling and incision carried out by officials that contributes to the risk of microbiological contamination on carcases and offal. This is in line with a 2011 scientific opinion from the European Food Safety Authority.

    Under the new procedures, all pigs will continue to be inspected by an official veterinarian whilst they are alive, and their carcases and offal will be visually inspected by an official meat inspector or veterinarian after slaughter. Any abnormalities that indicate possible animal health, public health or welfare issues will be further investigated and removed before meat can be declared fit for human consumption.

  • Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2014-04-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether particulate filters fitted to road vehicles are subject to testing to ensure that those devices remain in good working order.

    Baroness Kramer

    The annual roadworthiness tests include a test for diesel smoke, using an opacimeter, which is intended to detect a diesel particulate filter that has suffered a mechanical failure or which has been removed from a vehicle. The Department has amended the MoT testers’ manual so as to include a visual check to confirm that a diesel particulate filter is present where one was fitted as standard by the vehicle manufacturer. Further information is available at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-rules-for-mot-to-test-for-diesel-particulate-filter

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