Tag: 2015

  • Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servants in his Department are members of trades unions; how much working hours facility time is claimed by each such civil servant; and what the cost of that facility time is to his Department.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) no longer holds data on employees who are members of Trades Unions (TUs), following the removal of automatic TU subscription-fee deductions from employees’ salary in January 2015.

    The MOD makes certain facilities available to civilian employees who are accredited representatives, but not paid officials of, TUs recognised by the Department. The amount of time off and the purposes for which it is allowed is in accordance with the ACAS Code of Practice Time off for Trade Union duties and activities. This is recorded as facility time (FT).

    In FY 2014-15 some 9,865 staff days were spent on FT at a cost of £1.13 million, which is significantly lower than comparable figures for FY 2011-12 when an estimated 27,060 staff days were spent on FT at a cost of £3.65 million. The number of Departmental staff who were recorded as being 100% FT has also fallen from 53 in 2013 to zero in 2015.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of (a) the extent to which UK pension funds are investing in fossil fuel and high carbon industries and (b) the potential effect of climate change on the stability of the UK pension sector; and if he will make a statement.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Investment of UK pension funds is a matter for the trustees of the scheme. Trustees are required to take advice on investment from a suitably qualified person to ensure they are appropriate. Trustees make investments according to a statement of investment principles they prepare after taking advice. The statement will set out the extent to which the trustees take into account environmental considerations when making investments.

  • Nic Dakin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) guidance she provides and (b) information her Department holds on the admissions arrangements for the Sevenoaks Annexe of Weald of Kent Grammar School, recently approved by her Department.

    Edward Timpson

    Departmental advice for academies wishing to make a change to their existing arrangements is available on GOV.UK.

    The new annexe will serve the same age range as the existing site of Weald of Kent Grammar School, which is 11-19. The admission arrangements apply across the whole school. It is the responsibility of the academy trust as the admission authority to ensure that admission arrangements are compliant with The School Admissions Code.

    The newly expanded school will better meet the needs of school-age people in the community that it serves, with over 41% of students at the existing site already travelling from the Sevenoaks area.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, as penholder on the UN mission in Darfur in the UN Security Council, the UK is pressing for the introduction of community liaison assistants who would follow the model provided by MONUSCO in the DRC and would aim to provide camp residents with support in giving their views on their protection needs.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The mandate for the African Union/UN Hybrid Mission operation in Darfur (UNAMID) will be reviewed by June 30 2016. We will continue to work to strengthen the mission, including its engagement with vulnerable communities. We will assess the effectiveness of the use of community liaison assistants in the Democratic Republic of Congo and explore whether UNAMID’s community engagement would be improved by following a similar model.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations she has made to the European Commission on difficulties faced by milk farmers because of the low price of milk.

    George Eustice

    UK Ministers and officials have regularly drawn the Commission’s attention to the difficulties facing UK dairy farmers. The Commission has listened to the concerns raised by the UK and other Member States and has introduced a €500m package of targeted support for EU farmers. The UK has been allocated the equivalent of £26.2m as part of this aid package and this will be shared between dairy farmers on the basis of their milk production. Northern Irish farmers will receive a boosted payment in recognition of the very low prices in Northern Ireland. Payments are expected to be made in December 2015.

  • Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that tunnelling engineering skills in the UK are not lost.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

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    In 2012, the Government published “Tunnelling: A Capability Analysis” which identified the tunnelling skills essential to deliver key projects, including Crossrail, HS2 and the Thames Tideway Tunnel.

    To help meet this demand and maintain the UK’s skills base, the National Construction College delivers training at a purpose-built facility: the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy in East London.

    In September, the Government published the National Infrastructure Plan for Skills, to ensure the UK has the right skills base to deliver and maintain world-class infrastructure. This report sets out the scale of the challenge and is just the first step. The Government is now consulting with stakeholders across industry, academia and training providers to build a series of detailed actions to address the skills challenge.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of instances of a newborn baby being sent home from hospital with a woman other than that baby’s biological mother in each of the last 10 years.

    Ben Gummer

    Information on the incidences of newborn babies being sent home from hospital with a woman other than that baby’s biological mother is not collected centrally.

  • Baroness Gardner of Parkes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Gardner of Parkes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Gardner of Parkes on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to legislate in connection with the right to manage in order to provide a limited time within which non-resident leaseholders who fail to respond can be deemed to have agreed to a proposal.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The maintenance and repair of a block of flats containing leasehold properties is normally the responsibility of the landlord and will be set out under the terms of the lease. This responsibility can pass to a Right to Manage Company where leaseholders have exercised and acquired that right, allowing them to exercise direct control over how their block is maintained.

    Landlords, or those who have acquired the Right to Manage, have a contractual obligation under the terms of the leases to carry out necessary works to the properties that they are responsible for maintaining. Where works are suggested by a majority of leaseholders that are not essential to the repair or maintenance of the property, we would expect landlords to engage with their leaseholders to discuss the feasibility of the suggested works, but there are no plans to legislate to obligate landlords to carry out such work.

    There are also no plans to legislate to provide a limited time within which non-resident leaseholders who fail to respond to a proposal for qualifying works, are deemed to have agreed to the proposed works. The statutory consultation process (known as section 20) gives leaseholders the ability to have a greater say on proposed works to their property by making observations. It does not require leaseholders to make observations, but any observations that are made must be made within a specified time limit. The landlord (or Right to Manage Company) is therefore in the knowledge that subject to observations made, they are able to proceed with necessary works.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 September 2015 to Question 10048, if she will take steps to ensure that the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority collects data in a way that would allow information about compensation awarded to victims of modern slavery to be identified.

    James Brokenshire

    There are currently no plans to change the way data is collected that would allow information about compensation awarded to victims of modern slavery to be identified. As explained in my earlier response of 17 September the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) cannot provide data on the compensation it has awarded to victims of a particular crime type. This is because it awards compensation in line with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme tariff of injuries rather than the type of incident that led to those injuries. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 makes both modern slavery offences – slavery, servitude and forced labour and human trafficking – “criminal lifestyle” offences, making perpetrators subject to the most robust confiscation regime available under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA).

  • Baroness Byford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Byford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Natural England Stakeholder Working Group on Unrecorded Public Rights of Way, when considering the diversion or extinguishment of paths that pass through gardens, farmyards or businesses, have agreed to the use of the term presumption” in either the heading or the introduction to the guidance.”

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Stakeholder Working Group is currently working on a final version of the guidance on making it easier to divert and extinguish public rights of way that pass through gardens, farmyards or commercial businesses. Once there is an agreed version we will also carry out further consultation with other interested parties on the wording to ensure we produce both clear and effective guidance.

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