The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with the US (a) Treasury and (b) Justice Department on HSBC’s licence to operate in the US since HSBC’s prosecution by the US authorities for facilitating money laundering in 2012.
Mr David Gauke
Treasury Ministers and officials regularly discuss a wide range of issues with their counterparts in foreign jurisdictions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had on the inclusion of proposals to introduce direct elections to National Park authorities through the draft Governance of National Parks (England) and the Broads Bill; and with which people or organisations those discussions have taken place.
Dan Rogerson
The Secretary of State regularly meets with a wide range of people and organisations to discuss a wide number of issues.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what change there has been in the productivity of the NHS in England in each of the last three years for which information is available.
Jane Ellison
The most comprehensive and reliable estimates of productivity for the National Health Service in England are compiled by the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York. Their published series provides data from 1998/99 onwards and the latest available data relates to 2011/12, published in January 2014.
Total factor productivity, adjusted for quality change, was -1.25% in 2009/10, +3.21% in 2010/11 and +2.13% in 2011/12. This is the first time that the series had shown two consecutive years of positive productivity growth.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles a similar series for the whole of the United Kingdom, on a calendar year basis. The latest ONS results were published in January 2015 and show productivity growth rates for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 as -1.3%, 0.6%, 3.5%, 0.9% respectively.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps NHS North West London took to consult residents of Ealing local authority area whose first language is not English when drawing up its Shaping a Healthier Future plan.
Jane Ellison
We are advised by NHS England, that NHS in North West London, through its programme Shaping a Healthier Future, undertook a number of activities (particularly in the summer of 2012) to ensure effective consultation with residents across the area, including in Ealing, whose first language is not English.
The engagement was conducted by a post holder who speaks Urdu and Punjabi, two of Ealing’s most common non-English languages and included: working through existing voluntary and community networks within the area, such as the voluntary services councils, health and wellbeing boards, refugee/Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups and others; developing links with individual groups and communities interested and possibly affected by the proposed changes; using local authority forums and existing meetings to engage groups and communities; and engagement through commissioning organisations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the outcomes were of her visit to New York and Washington in February 2015 to brief US administration representatives on the progress of the Stormont House Agreement.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
I updated a number of key figures in the US Administration, in Congress and in the Irish-American community on the Stormont House Agreement. It is evident from these meetings that there is strong US support for the Agreement, and ongoing interest in its implementation, including the devolution of corporation tax powers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Attorney General, what discussions he has had with the Crown Prosecution Service in respect of the possibility of prosecuting HSBC Bank for conspiracy to assist some of its customers to evade paying tax.
Mr Robert Buckland
The Attorney General and I frequently meet representatives of the Crown Prosecution Service to discuss a variety of issues. However, as was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s policy to provide details of all such meetings.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to ensure policy coherence between trade policy and international poverty reduction with reference to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Matthew Hancock
Trade openness is a key driver of economic growth, which is essential for poverty reduction. Trade will therefore play a central role in the Means of Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. We are working with colleagues across Whitehall to develop an ambitious proposal for trade commitments in the Post-2015 agenda. These commitments range from securing increased market access for low income countries to ensuring that they can make the most of this access through tackling ‘behind the border’ obstacles to trade.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2015-02-10.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on the number of employees at Eurostar International Limited who receive more than 50 days’ paid holiday per year.
Danny Alexander
Eurostar is run on a standalone commercial basis, as a result my department does not hold this information.
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.
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.