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Tag: 2015

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department’s letter of 11 April 2014 to the Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd, when he plans to publish the advice by HS2 Ltd and Network Rail on improving connections to European rail networks referred to in that letter.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The HS2 Plus Report by Sir David Higgins, which was published in March 2014, highlighted a number of issues with HS2-HS1 link proposed in the Phase One hybrid Bill. In response to the HS2 Plus report, the Secretary of State decided to remove the HS1-HS2 link from the Phase One Hybrid Bill as it required too many compromises in terms of impacts on freight, passengers and the community in Camden.

    The Secretary of State has therefore asked HS2 Ltd to consider how to improve connections to the continent. This connectivity study, which is nearing completion, will explore options to improve connections to the continent. We expect the study to be completed by the end of this year.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Smeeth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much it cost to reconstruct the railway at Dawlish; and from which budget that cost was met.

    Claire Perry

    £35m was spent repairing the most damaged section of the track and sea wall and associated works during the initial 56-day work period at Dawlish. Work to raise the walkway is additional and has an anticipated final cost of £15.3m. Funding came in two phases: Phase 1 emergency work was funded primarily from insurance with the Network Rail structures renewals budget paying the excess of £2m. Phase 2 (raising the walkway) will be funded through Network Rail’s Control Period 5 (2019-24) structure renewals budget.

  • Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the level of administration fees and interest charges to pensioners under the Support for Mortgage Interest loan scheme.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The interest rate charged on the loans will be tied to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) forecast for gilts rates, so that the interest reflects the government cost of borrowing.

    The rate will be updated every 6 months and is forecast to be 2.9% in 2018/19. (OBR forecast Budget 2015).

    The fees charged will reflect the forecast average cost of administering the loans scheme. Until a provider has been appointed it is not possible to state what those fees might be.

  • Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the potential cost to local authorities of the proposed takeover of responsibility for LLC1 searches by the Land Registry.

    Matthew Hancock

    All costs of the conversion from the various databases held locally at the moment, whether they involve paper, microfiche or any other format to a digitised process, will be met by Land Registry.

    Whilst costs to local authorities will be taken into account by Land Registry, they have yet to be broken down into greater detail at this stage, so as not to prejudice Land Registry’s commercial interests in respect of future procurement activity.

  • Paul Murphy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Paul Murphy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Murphy on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many family members of each of the service personnel who died in Afghanistan will be able to attend the service of commemoration at St Paul’s Cathedral on 13 March 2015.

    Anna Soubry

    Invitations have been extended to the Next of Kin and one guest.

  • Lord Myners – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2015-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to ban United Kingdom banks from operating branches or subsidiaries in offshore tax havens; and whether United Kingdom regulators have any regulatory responsibility for those banks, their management or those in the United Kingdom who supervise such activities.

    Lord Deighton

    The Government does not impose restrictions on where UK banks can operate overseas. However, the UK has championed international tax transparency and through our G8 Presidency has driven the agreement and early implementation of the new global standard for automatic exchange of financial information for tax purposes. To date over 90 countries have committed to exchange such information on a multilateral basis. The UK also remains committed to ensuring that there are effective anti-avoidance rules in place to protect the UK corporation tax base.

    This includes the introduction of new Controlled Foreign Company rules (effective from the beginning of 2013) which help to deter and prevent artificial diversion of profits from the UK.

    It also includes supporting the G20-OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project which is looking to address weaknesses in international tax rules which allow companies to avoid paying tax on their profits.

    The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are the UK financial services regulators. The role of the FCA and PRA in regulating overseas branches and subsidiaries of UK banks is dependent on the specific circumstances of an individual case.

    However, I have asked the FCA and the PRA to reply directly to the Noble Lord by letter to explain their role in this area. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many officers of the rank of inspector and above at AWE Burghfield are currently under investigation.

    Anna Soubry

    No officer of the rank of Inspector or above stationed at AWE Burghfield is currently under investigation.

  • Gerry Sutcliffe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gerry Sutcliffe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerry Sutcliffe on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers at local authority community schools have achieved Learning Outside the Classroom accreditation in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr David Laws

    The Learning Outside the Classroom accreditation is run by an independent organisation. The Department for Education does not collect information on which schools have achieved the accreditation or quality mark. Decisions relating to teachers’ professional development rightly rest with schools, individual teachers and heads, as they are in the best position to make judgements about their requirements to help their pupils achieve good outcomes.

  • Lord Storey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 3 February (HL4358), what assessment they have made of the placement of defibrillators in schools in Liverpool; and whether there are plans to increase the number of defibrillators in schools across the country.

    Lord Nash

    The Department for Education is encouraging schools to purchase automated external defibrillators (AEDs) as part of their first aid equipment. To help them do this, on 26 November 2014, we announced new arrangements to allow schools to purchase AEDs at a competitive price. This is the result of a unique agreement between the Department for Education and the Department of Health, enabling NHS Supply Chain to purchase devices in batches from approved framework suppliers via a reverse auction process. The discount achieved on each batch is then passed on to schools through a reduced unit price.

    The Department for Education does not collect information about the placement of defibrillators in schools but is able to provide details of which schools have purchased an AED under the arrangements described above.

    To help schools in considering whether to purchase a defibrillator, the Department has also published advice on installing and maintaining AEDs on school premises. This has been developed drawing on the expertise of NHS ambulance services and voluntary and community sector organisations.

  • Tom Watson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Watson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether a research analyst is advising his Department on the deployment of remotely piloted aircraft systems.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    No.