The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2015-02-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many multi-agency vehicle enforcement checks were mounted in each of the last five years.
Lord Bates
The Home Office does not hold this information. This is an operational matter for the police and other partner agencies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Allen of Kensington on 2015-02-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase the United Kingdom’s research and development intensity above the 1.7 per cent reported by the Office for National Statistics last March for 2012; and whether they anticipate that the United Kingdom will meet the three per cent research and development intensity targets set by the European Union when the latest figures are released by the Office of National Statistics.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Government’s Science & Innovation Strategy, published last December has a long term commitment to research infrastructure of £1.1bn a year, increasing in real terms to 2021. This will give businesses long term certainty in planning their R&D investments which will be vital in ensuring the UK increases its R&D intensity. The Government has also protected the science ring fence in cash terms during this Parliament.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-02-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Libya.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK remains seriously concerned by the human rights situation in Libya. Libya is a human rights Country of Concern for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and features in the FCO’s annual Human Rights and Democracy report. The UK worked closely with international partners to support the efforts of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General, Bernardino Leon, to bring an end to the violence through an inclusive political dialogue between the parties. In April 2014 the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), offered diplomatic support for UN efforts by appointing Jonathan Powell as a Special Envoy to the Libyan political transition.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what estimate he has made of the change in the level of real wages in Scotland since May 2010.
David Mundell
Our economy is recovering from the deepest recession since ONS records began in 1948.
Thanks to this government’s long-term economic plan we have seen average regular pay rising faster over the last year than inflation. Furthermore, business surveys expect the steady rise in real wages to continue.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which HM Revenue and Customs officials saw the list of bank accounts held at the HSBC private bank in Geneva, known as the Falciani list, as passed to the Government by the French financial authorities; what evaluation was conducted of that list on its receipt; and when Ministers in his Department were first made aware of the information on that list.
Mr David Gauke
On receipt of the list HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) set up a project, called ‘Operation SOLACE’, which at its peak had around 300 tax specialists systematically examining the leaked HSBC Suisse data, to assess how it could be used to identify tax evasion and whether it provided sufficient evidence to support enforcement action against UK resident account holders.
The HSBC Suisse data initially revealed 6,800 ‘entities’ – individuals, businesses and trusts – but this contained duplication (some people had multiple accounts). Removing duplication left around 3,600 entities, all of which HMRC have examined.
HMRC have investigated and challenged more than 1,000 account holders, and collected £135 million from them in unpaid tax, interest and fines.
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.
Since 2010 we have asked the French authorities on a number of occasions for permission to use the data for purposes wider than tax collection.
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.
Ministers were not made aware of any specific cases under the long standing principle of taxpayer confidentiality and HMRC operational independence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on issues arising from the measures contained in the Football Governance Bill.
Mrs Helen Grant
I have had no such discussions. It would be for the Scottish Government to work with the key football bodies in Scotland on governance matters as they saw fit. I continue to encourage the football authorities in England to introduce improved measures around regulation and governance to their sport.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame M. Morris on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2015 to Question 223360, what proportion of the 1,000 skilled people he expects to be UK-based; and whether he expects these people to be subject to a collective bargaining agreement.
Matthew Hancock
The information requested is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Howell on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many exclusions of doctors under the Maintaining High Professional Standards framework have been for reasons relating to their non-clinical behaviour.
Dr Daniel Poulter
This information is not collected centrally.
Under Directions to the NHS Litigation Authority, the National Clinical Assessment Service function has a responsibility to monitor and report on national suspensions and exclusions under the Maintaining High Professional Standards framework.
The National Clinical Assessment Service has provided the following information. In their most recent published report ‘Use of exclusion and suspension from work in England’ of June 2014, which refers to financial year to 31 March 2014 they recorded 148 exclusions for doctors with a mean duration of 41 weeks based on 75 cases.
The information provided does not provide a breakdown of clinical and non-clinical behaviour.
The classification used is that the primary recorded reasons for exclusion are conduct (119 cases (80%)) and clinical (29 cases (20%)).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent progress he has made on proposals to privatise the criminal fine enforcement service.
Mr Shailesh Vara
Final bids were submitted on 5 January 2015 and negotiations commenced on 26 January as planned. The full final business case is currently in the process of being updated with results from the negotiation meetings, which then needs to continue through the usual governance and approvals processes that need to occur before any contract award of this type. Further negotiations may be required over the coming weeks to further refine the proposals.
The investment and technology an external provider can bring will enable the automation of many of the manual administrative processes and in turn decrease the cost of providing fine enforcement and increase the amount of fines that are paid. The innovation will free up staff time to enable them to be more pro-active in pursuing offenders to ensure they comply with their court order.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keir Starmer on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications have been made in each community forum area in Camden under the (a) Exceptional Hardship and (b) Need to Sell schemes of High Speed 2; and what the outcome of each such application has been.
Mr Robert Goodwill
We do not categorise applications for the Phase One Exceptional Hardship Scheme (EHS) or the Need to Sell (NTS) scheme by the applicant’s Community Forum Area. Nevertheless, from Holborn and St Pancras, we have received six Phase One EHS applications, including two reapplications. Two have been accepted, two were refused and two were withdrawn. Regarding the NTS, from Holborn and St Pancras we have received six applications, including one reapplication. Three have been accepted, two were declined and one is on hold.