Tag: 2015

  • Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2015 to Question 8779, whether the range of information sources HM Revenue and Customs uses to monitor the reported self-correction by employers participating in the new national minimum wage campaign includes speaking independently to the workforce and other relevant groups such as local trade unions.

    Nick Boles

    HMRC operate a risk based approach using a range of sources to monitor self-corrections in the national minimum wage campaign, this ‎includes contacting workers to ensure they have received the reported arrears.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paul Monaghan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2015-09-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2015 to Question 5430, on ownership of companies, what his definition is of a similarly effective system.

    Mr David Gauke

    The international standards on anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing, including transparency of legal persons, are set by the Financial Action Task Force. The British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands are members of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and are subject to mutual evaluations of their AML/CTF regime through this body.

    At the December 2014 Joint Ministerial Council, the UK and the Overseas Territories committed to continue to work together in raising international standards to tackle money laundering, tax evasion, illicit finance and corruption, leading by example given the importance of our financial centres to the international financial system. In March, the Minister for the Overseas Territories and I wrote to the Premiers of the BVI and Cayman Islands asking them to set out plans and a timetable for the implementation of central registers of company beneficial ownership, or similarly effective systems, by the November Joint Ministerial Council.

    Any system should meet the following three criteria: UK and domestic law enforcement and tax authorities must be able to access company beneficial ownership information without restriction, subject to relevant safeguards; these competent authorities should be able to quickly identify all companies that a particular beneficial owner has a stake in, without needing to submit multiple and repeated requests; and companies or their beneficial owners must not be alerted to the fact that an investigation is under way.

    The UK Government continues to engage actively with the BVI and Cayman Islands to emphasize the importance of this agenda and to offer any technical support that might be required.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2015 to Question 9926, what steps he is taking specifically to support fibre to the premises.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    We are proposing action in a number of areas to encourage the market to invest in better fixed communications infrastructure.

    We intend to reform the Electronic Communications Code – the statutory framework governing rights of access to private premises. We will be implementing the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive to help reduce the cost of rolling out high speed broadband. We will review the effectiveness of the fixed planning changes introduced in England in 2013 to determine whether they should be made permanent. We will also encourage and support innovative approaches in street works which can lower the cost and speed up deployment of faster broadband.

    We will continue to look for new ways to support fixed infrastructure deployment in consultation with industry.

  • Sue Hayman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Sue Hayman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the Sellafield site security costs were in each of the last five years; and what those costs are projected to be in each of the next five years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Security at Sellafield is a high priority for the Government. However, the Government does not comment on security at nuclear sites. Expenditure on security is subject to the same processes and rules as other public expenditure.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what contact his Department had with Action on Smoking and Health on the Tobacco Control Strategy 2011 before publication of that strategy.

    Jane Ellison

    Health Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England, states that the plan was developed in collaboration with local government representatives, public health advocacy groups, academics, clinicians, professional bodies and retailers.This included Action on Smoking and Health.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will estimate the number of asylum seeker applicants in the UK who were living in poverty in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    If asylum seekers are destitute they are provided with support by the UK taxpayer. The support usually consists of accommodation and a cash allowance to cover essential living needs.

    The cash allowance is also provided if the asylum seeker is living with friends or relatives but needs assistance to meet their essential living needs.

  • Jeremy Lefroy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jeremy Lefroy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many entry visas for business purposes were granted to nationals of (a) China, (b) India, (c) Brazil, (d) Indonesia, (e) Malaysia, (f) Nigeria, (g) Tanzania and (h) Kenya in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2014-15.

    James Brokenshire

    The requested information is given in the table below, for skilled workers sponsored by business (Tier 2 of the Points Based System):

    [Insert table]

    The Home Office publishes statistics on entry clearance visa grants by work category in table vi_06_q_w (Entry clearance visas tables volume 2) within the ‘Immigration Statistics’ release.

    A copy of the latest release, “Immigration Statistics April to June 2015”, is available from the Library of the House and the Home Office website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to the letter of 7 September 2015 from the UK Permanent Representative to the UN to the President of the UN Security Council, on the military action against Reyaad Khan in Syria, for what reasons he did not cite the collective self-defence of Iraq from ISIL in his oral statement of 7 September 2015, Official Report, column 30.

    Mr David Cameron

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for West Bromwich East (Mr Watson) on 14 September 2015, UIN 9571, 9653 and 9656.

  • Lord Tebbit – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Tebbit – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2015-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 5 February (HL4559), whether they consider it to be in the interests of the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union in its existing form of membership.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK’s membership of the European Union brings many benefits to the UK, including jobs and investment, free access to the largest common market in the world and a strong collective voice to negotiate free trade agreements. EU Membership also gives the UK greater international influence on global threats such as climate change and Ebola. The Government’s position remains clear: the EU must reform to become more competitive, democratically accountable and fair for those inside and outside the Eurozone. The need for reform is widely recognised among EU Member States and the Government has already shown that it is possible, through our success in cutting the EU budget, reforming the Common Fisheries Policy, reducing the burden of EU regulation on business and ending the UK’s bailout obligations.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government who is responsible for the maintenance of buildings, parapets, and statues on Horse Guards Parade.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    The Royal Parks Agency is responsible for Horse Guards Parade Ground as it forms part of the Royal Park. They also have responsibility for the maintenance of the following statues and structures.

    – Earl Mountbatten Statue

    – Field Marshal Earl Kitchener Statue

    – Field Marshal Earl Roberts Statue

    – Viscount Wolseley Statue

    – Cadiz Mortar

    – Ottoman Gun

    A Charitable organisation, the Committee for the Royal Naval Division Memorial is responsible for the maintenance of the Royal Naval Division Memorial. However, the Foreign and Commonwealth office has an agreement to maintain the costs of the water supply and the costs of cleaning the memorial.