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Tag: 2014

  • David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to ensure that the recent reductions in wholesale gas prices available to energy companies are benefiting consumers.

    Michael Fallon

    In a competitive market, pricing decisions are a commercial matter for companies.

    Consumers can put pressure on companies to reduce prices by switching to the best deal for them – Ofgem’s Retail Market Reforms to deliver a simpler, clear market combined with Government’s push to significantly reduce switching times and require suppliers to share consumer data with trusted third parties, should make this easier to do.

    The Government supported Ofgem’s recent letter to the largest suppliers, challenging them to explain to consumers the impact of falling wholesale prices on their retail prices. Evidence that large suppliers raise prices more quickly when costs increase than they reduce prices when costs fall was one of the issues underpinning Ofgem’s recent referral of the energy markets to the Competition and Markets Authority.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with its counterparts in Northern Ireland ahead of the Global Dementia Legacy Event in London on 19 June 2014.

    Norman Lamb

    Senior officials from each of the devolved administrations are members of the Dementia Steering Group (International) and were involved and aware of plans for the UK Global Dementia Legacy event. They were also invited to attend the event. Ministers were not invited, senior officials were sent a formal invitation.

    There were no discussions between my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and his Ministerial counterparts. Senior officials in the Devolved Administrations were involved in discussions via their participation in the Dementia Steering Group (International).

    Ministers from across the United Kingdom signed up to the Blackfriars Consensus to prevent and delay dementia, which was announced at the UK Global Legacy event.

  • David Ward – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    David Ward – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Ward on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the level of food, fuel and medical supplies entering Gaza each day.

    Mr Alan Duncan

    Israeli movement and access restrictions, exacerbated by the closure of illegal smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, have led to serious shortages of fuel and medical supplies and have driven up the price of food. 71% of households in Gaza are either food insecure or vulnerable to food insecurity. The World Health Organisation estimates that 29% of drugs are at zero stock (less than one month’s supply). Due to severe shortages of fuel, Gaza’s power plant operates at half its capacity, triggering power outages of up to 12 hours per day and sometimes shutting down completely.

  • Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Liverpool was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in (a) April 2014 and (b) May 2014.

    Stephen Hammond

    Liverpool Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed below risk assessed levels during:

    a) April 2014 – 30 occasions out of 60 shifts

    b) May 2014 – 6 occasions out of 62 shifts

    Where there are specific issues at a MRCC Her Majesty’s Coastguard is using the current long established pairing arrangements between MRCCs. This enables each MRCC to be connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chidgey on 2014-06-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to deploy Stabilisation Unit experts to work as counterparts to the Central African Republic’s civil servants, to assist in financial, taxation and budgeting reform in that country.

    Baroness Warsi

    The UK will continue to work with and through international organisations, such as the World Bank and the UN, to ensure a coherent strategy for the Central African Republic, including on public financial management and public sector reform. We would be happy to consider the deployment of Stabilisation Unit experts to support the work of these international organisations, as necessary.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what work the British Business Bank is doing in Northern Ireland to promote its services to small businesses located there.

    Matthew Hancock

    British Business Bank programmes facilitated £7.5m of new lending and investment to smaller businesses in Northern Ireland in 2013/14.

    The Business Bank’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee programme supported £5.1 million of additional lending to Northern Irish businesses during 2013/14, bringing the total amount of lending through the programme in Northern Ireland to £36.1 million.

    The Bank’s Start Up Loans programme was extended to Northern Ireland in June 2013 and since then, it has provided 120 loans to Northern Irish start-ups, lending a total of over £560,000.

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Northern Ireland Executive recently hosted a roadshow in Northern Ireland to promote the delivery of Business Bank programmes through Northern Irish finance providers and the Business Bank is actively discussing with the Executive how it can continue to support Northern Irish businesses in the future.

  • Chris Bryant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Chris Bryant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to free (a) swimming and (b) other leisure services to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

    Mrs Helen Grant

    No costing has been estimated.

  • Chris Bryant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Chris Bryant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to free early education to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

    Elizabeth Truss

    Government-funded early education for three- and four-year-olds is already a universal entitlement, so there would be no cost of extending the entitlement. Universal Credit will be fully rolled out in the next Parliament, and spending decisions for that period have not been taken. This means it is, therefore not possible to estimate the potential cost on early learning for two-year-olds.

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many marine dredging applications have been dealt with by the Marine Management Organisation using the online marine licensing system since 2009.

    George Eustice

    The online marine licensing system came into force on 6 April 2011 following the formation of the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) in 2010. To date the MMO have dealt with the following numbers of marine aggregate and non-aggregate dredging applications:

    Aggregate dredging

    2009/10

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    0

    1 x 15 year dredging permission

    0

    25 x short term marine licences;

    14 x 15 year marine licences;

    7 x 15 year marine licences

    1 x aggregate trial dredging

    0

    1

    0

    32

    15

    Non-aggregate dredging

    There was a transitional period from 6 April 2011 to 5 April 2014 for non-aggregate dredging. This activity mainly included navigational dredging which become licensable from 6 April 2014.

    Disposal dredged material at sea

    (figures below represent MMO licensing up to April 2014)

    2009/10

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    0

    0

    39

    42

    38

    “

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what resources his Department plans to commit to the Implementation Plan for the UK’s National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.

    Mark Simmonds

    The National Action Plan (NAP) articulates our priorities on women, peace and security and is a tool to coordinate implementation of our work at the national level. It serves as a guiding policy document that is able to capture the diverse set of initiatives on this agenda taking place across our security, foreign policy and development work. The NAP’s Implementation Plan, which will be launched later this year, will be used to assess the impact of UK efforts on women, peace and security throughout the life of the NAP.

    The NAP and the Implementation Plan, which will be launched later this year, provide the framework for activities which are funded through existing Departmental budgets, including: the Conflict Pool (the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund from 2015-16), the Human Rights and Democracy Fund, the Arab Partnership Fund and Official Development Assistance – all of which help to fund the work on women, peace and security across the world. We will also allocate funding for external and independent monitoring and evaluation of the NAP.