The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what additional support her Department is providing for Royal Navy personnel assisting with the aftermath of the Caribbean tsunami.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The Royal Navy is not responding to a tsunami in the Caribbean.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people were in full-time employment in Havering in each year since 2010.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps have been taken since July 2014 to revise the UK Oil and Gas Industrial Strategy: government and industry in partnership; and when that Strategy is next due for review.
Matthew Hancock
The Oil and Gas Industrial Strategy is under constant review by the Oil and Gas Industry Council. The Council met in November 2014 and is due to meet next in March 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of commissioners from local government have attended the Commissioning Academy; and by which local authorities those commissioners are employed.
Mr Francis Maude
Through its programme of Civil Service Reform, the Government is taking urgent action to address long-standing skills gaps in the Civil Service. Our pioneering Commissioning Academy is building commercial capability across the public sector, and improving how public services are delivered.
To date 392 individuals have attended the central Commissioning Academy programmes, including 206 (52%) from central government. In the last year there was a 50% increase in demand for places on the programme, and it will be expanded to deliver 1,500 places by March 2016.
Commissioners have attended from the following local authorities:
Basildon Borough Council
Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council
Birmingham City Council
Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council
Bristol City Council
Canterbury and Coastal Clinical Commissioning Group
Cheltenham Borough Council
Cherwell District, South Northants and Stratford on Avon Councils
Cheshire East Council
Cheshire West and Chester Council
Cheshire West and Chester (a place-based group)
Cumbria County Council
Devon County Council
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
Essex County Council
Fenland District Council
Gloucestershire County Council
Harborough District Council
Horsham District Council
Kent County Council
Knowsley Council (Health and Social Care Integration)
Lancashire County Council
Leicestershire County Council
London Borough of Barnet
London Borough of Haringey
London Borough of Lambeth
London Borough of Lewisham
London Borough of Sutton
London Borough of Waltham Forest
Lowestoft Rising (Place based group)
Manchester City Council
Milton Keynes Council
Norfolk County Council
Northamptonshire County Council
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
Shropshire
Somerset County Council
Southend-on-sea Borough Council
Staffordshire County Council
Stoke-On-Trent City Council
Suffolk Coastal
Sunderland City Council
Surrey County Council
Swindon Borough Council
Tamworth Borough Council
Tri-borough councils: Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council
Walsall Council
Warrington Borough Council
Waverley Borough Council
West Sussex County Council
Westminster City Council
Wirral Council
Worcestershire County Council
A number of other programmes sit alongside the central programme under the Commissioning Academy umbrella. 78 officials have attended local programmes in Norfolk and Staffordshire, modelled on the central programme, with participants drawn from local authorities and other public sector bodies in the local area. In addition, 8 councillors have attended a streamlined programme for Local Authority elected members.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2015 to Question 223119, how many times the Minister-led working group set up to identify evidence of poor practice in the park homes sector has met to date; and if he will make a statement.
Brandon Lewis
The working group held its first meeting on 10 February and agreed its terms of reference and membership. The next meeting will be held in March.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to adopt the measures contained in the Football Governance Bill.
Mrs Helen Grant
In recent years, the football authorities have introduced greater independence to the FA’s main Board, stricter rules around club ownership, and improved financial transparency and reporting rules to ensure clubs are sustainably run.
Government is allowing the football authorities more time to make the necessary reforms to the game themselves
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2015-02-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which were the 10 jurisdictions into which closed bank accounts held in Switzerland by United Kingdom residents were transferred according to information provided to them by the Swiss National Bank.
Lord Deighton
HL4893
Under the Swiss Agreement HMRC received a list of the top 10 destinations to where funds were moved in the period before the Agreement came into force. They are using this information together with information from compliance work to follow the proceeds of tax evasion.
As with Lichtenstein agreement signed in 2009, HMRC is legally restricted by the Agreement’s terms from publishing the information provided.
HL4896
Where there is evidence of collusion in tax evasion or other wrongdoing, the relevant law enforcement agency would assess that evidence and decide whether to pursue an investigation.
HMRC received the data from the French in April 2010 under very strict international treaty conditions, which limited its use to tax purposes only and prevented HMRC from sharing the data with other law enforcement authorities for investigating other potential offences.
HMRC first asked for the conditions to be relaxed in August 2010. Following a number of more recent representations, the French authorities gave written confirmation on 23 February 2015 that they were lifting restrictions on the use and sharing of the data with other law enforcement agencies and regulators for the purpose of investigating criminal offences.
As a result, HMRC has recently held a multi-agency meeting to discuss how the stolen HSBC Suisse data can be shared with them.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to his Department was of providing Phase two training for the Royal Air Force Music Services at the Headquarters Music Services, Northolt in 2013-14.
Anna Soubry
The requested detail for Financial Year 2013-14 is provided below:
|
Number of personnel who completed Phase Two training |
Cost of providing Phase Two training |
|
|
Royal Marines School of Music (Portsmouth) |
22 |
Information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost |
|
Royal Military School of Music (Army, Kneller Hall) |
66 |
£2.8 million (approx) |
No personnel undertook phase two training with the RAF Music Services. The RAF recruits are fully trained musicians who undertake a rigorous audition process and are only admitted once their playing ability is proven.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2015 to Question 222434, what consideration his Department has given to deployment of the UK Reapers in storage for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance in Iraq.
Mr Mark Francois
As with all platforms and capabilities not deployed on operations, the deployment of additional Reaper aircraft currently in storage in the UK is kept under constant review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Pinnock on 2015-02-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to give the responsibility for traffic speed enforcement on roads with a 30mph limit to local authorities.
Baroness Kramer
Her Majesty’s Government does not plan to give responsibility for traffic speed enforcement to the local authorities. These decisions on where to apply speed limits are taken by local authorities in conjunction with the police force for the area in question, whose role it is to properly enforce these.