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Tag: 2015

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-02-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the number of people currently paying income tax who would not pay that tax if the threshold at which it begins to be payable were to be raised to £15,000 per annum.

    Mr David Gauke

    It is estimated that raising the personal tax allowance to £15,000 in the year 2015-16 would take 6.2 million individuals out of income tax liability at a cost of £26 billion to the Exchequer.

    These estimates are based on the 2011-12 Survey of Personal Incomes projected forward to 2015-16 using economic assumptions consistent with the OBR’s December 2014 economic and fiscal outlook.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people are in receipt of a war disablement pension in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland.

    Anna Soubry

    The number of recipients of war disablement pensions in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, can be found below:

    Country

    Number

    England

    89,450

    Wales

    6,925

    Scotland

    11,890

    Northern Ireland

    3,680

    Other UK

    340

    UK Unknown

    345

    Not Known

    135

    Total

    112,765

    Notes:

    1. Other UK includes Isle of Man and Channel Islands.

    2. In line with Defence Statistics’ Rounding Policy, all figures of five or more have been rounded to the nearest 5. Due to rounding, the figures provided may not sum to totals.

  • Dan Byles – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Dan Byles – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Byles on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when his Department first became aware of wind turbines being excessively de-rated in order for generators to benefit from higher than intended feed-in tariffs; and if he will make a statement.

    Amber Rudd

    We are actively monitoring the extent of de-rating and will consider whether action is necessary to prevent wind developers from unfairly exploiting the FITs scheme.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kerry McCarthy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of Pakistan in support of resuming the moratorium on the death penalty in that country; and what assessment he has made of the prospects for a lasting moratorium on the death penalty in Pakistan.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We regularly raise the issue of the death penalty in Pakistan at the highest levels and have consistently pressed the Government of Pakistan to commit to a moratorium on the death penalty. It is our longstanding policy to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We fully understand Pakistan’s resolve to protect society from terrorism but there is no evidence that capital punishment is an effective deterrent.

  • David Ward – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Ward – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Ward on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that local authorities commission adult social care services at an hourly rate which provides for staff to receive the national minimum wage and includes travel time between clients.

    Norman Lamb

    High quality, compassionate care for the most vulnerable in society can only be delivered by a well-trained, motivated and appropriately remunerated workforce. The Government recognises that pay can be a particular concern for those with the responsibility for delivering those services.

    Care providers are legally obliged to pay their workers at least the national minimum wage – relevant time spent travelling between care appointments should be treated as working time for national minimum wage purposes in accordance with HM Revenue and Custom (HMRC) guidance. This is the least that care workers deserve and should expect.

    Responsibility for enforcement of the national minimum wage rests with HMRC rather than local authorities. However, the Care Act places duties on local authorities to have regard to fostering an effective workforce able to deliver high quality services.

    The Government has recently published statutory guidance to support the implementation of the Care Act that describes how local authorities must meet these new duties when commissioning, which directs that local authorities should have evidence that care providers they contract with are paying at least the national minimum wage, including factoring into those calculations any time spent travelling between care appointments and that those providers found to be recently in breach of the law, should be excluded from the contract tendering process.

    The Government has also worked with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association to co-produce a set of commissioning standards that were launched in October 2014. These standards amplify the good practice set out in the statutory guidance in regards to fostering an effective workforce.

  • Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the UK National Screening Committee’s policy on screening people over 65 for atrial fibrillation.

    Jane Ellison

    In 2014 the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommended that screening people aged 65 and over for atrial fibrillation should not be offered. This is because the evidence did not show that those identified by screening would benefit from early diagnosis. Ministers have accepted the UK NSC’s recommendation.

    As part of its three yearly recommendation review process, the UK NSC will review this recommendation in 2017/18.

  • Liz Kendall – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Liz Kendall – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2014 to Question 218419 on radiotherapy, how many individual funding requests were (a) received and (b) declined for stereotactic radiosurgery/radiotherapy in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England has only commissioned stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic radiotherapy since it was formally established on 1 April 2013. Information relating to 2013-14 was provided in the response to Question 218419.

    “

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many newly qualified police officers have been employed in (a) Preston and (b) each constabulary in the North West of England in each year since 2010.

    Mike Penning

    The table provided shows the number of new police officers who joined each police force in the North West of England from 2009/10 to 2013/14. These figures include police officer standard direct recruits and police officers who were previously special constables. They exclude transfers and re-joiners.

    The Home Offices does not collect these statistics below police force area level.

  • John Hemming – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    John Hemming – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Hemming on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer on 12 February 2015 to Question 223311, what calculations were made to determine that to answer the original question would incur disproportionate costs.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    In order to answer 223311 Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) would have to manually check every court log from 1 May 2013 to the present at Birmingham County Court, Birmingham Family Court and the High Court at Birmingham. Birmingham County Court and Birmingham Family Court between them heard in excess of 24,000 cases, each of which would have to be manually checked for any hearings for contempt of court.

    HMCTS have been able to check records of cases heard since November 2014, and identified those where committal orders were made for imprisonment for contempt of court. The contemnors weren’t all present at court and did not necessarily begin their term of imprisonment straight away. There were none at Birmingham Family Court. Details of committal orders made for imprisonment for contempt of court at Birmingham County Court and High Court since 1 November 2014 can be found in the table below. This data has been collated specifically to answer this question and has not been checked to the standard of Official Statistics.

    Court

    Judge

    Date

    Period

    Birmingham High Court

    HHJ Purle QC

    13-2-15

    6 weeks

    Birmingham County Court

    DJ Rich TD

    7-11-14

    8 weeks

    Birmingham County Court

    HHJ McKenna

    19-11-14

    16 weeks

    Birmingham County Court

    HHJ McKenna

    15-1-15

    18 weeks

    Birmingham County Court

    HHJ McKenna

    15-1-15

    25 weeks

    Birmingham County Court

    DJ Ingram

    30-1-15

    24 weeks

    Birmingham County Court

    DJ Shorthose

    13-2-15

    26 weeks

  • Gordon Marsden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Gordon Marsden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the breakdown of Fareham Maritime Operations Centre’s VHF radio network on 2 February 2015, how long the breakdown lasted; which body of water was affected by the breakdown; which communications systems were affected by the breakdown; and what information his Department holds on attempts by vessels on the waters affected during the period of the breakdown to make contact with the Coastguard Service using the affected communications networks.

    Mr John Hayes

    There were no issues experienced with the VHF radio network on 2 February 2015.

    However, on 8 February 2015 there was a temporary reduction in HM Coastguard’s ability to broadcast on VHF Channel 16 from Marsland Mouth, Cornwall to Beachy Head, East Sussex and River Towey, Carmarthen to Mull of Galloway. This lasted for 1 hour 47 minutes.

    During this time the 999 service and the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) Distress alert systems were unaffected. There was no reduction in HM Coastguard’s ability to task rescue resources, such as lifeboats, volunteer Coastguard Rescue Teams or SAR Helicopters, to any incident around the coast.

    HM Coastguard’s well established Business Continuity Plans allowed remedial action to be promptly undertaken and enabled vessels on the waters affected during the period of the breakdown to make contact with the Coastguard Service. The specific issue that caused the reduced ability to broadcast on VHF Channel 16 has now been resolved.

    The Coastguard services (VHF systems) are currently fit for purpose both (a) generally and (b) specifically for the new national network.