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Tag: 2015

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the (a) Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and (b) Trade in Services Agreement will be subject to a vote in the House following Parliamentary scrutiny.

    Anna Soubry

    We expect the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) will be mixed agreements covering areas of both EU and Member State competence. In that case, they will be subject to agreement by each EU Member State, the EU Council and the European Parliament. As part of this process the agreements will be laid before Parliament for scrutiny before they are ratified by the UK. After political agreement is reached on the text of TTIP and TiSA and it has been established that these will be mixed agreements, we will confirm the procedures for Parliamentary approval.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have evidence that Saudi Arabia funds Wahhabi mosques and Wahhabi communities in the UK.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    HM Government does not collect information on the denomination of religious institutions, nor of communities in the UK.

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure the routine use by his Department of the family test; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Officials in my Department have liaised with Department of Work and Pensions as the lead department for the Family Test on cross government activity to embed and encourage routine use of the Test. This has included training officials on applying the Test, disseminating relevant learning materials and best practice.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take following the announcement that the government of Israel is to end its diplomatic links with the EU.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    It is not our understanding that the Government of Israel is ending its diplomatic links with the EU. The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, discussed this issue with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on 30 November. Prime Minister Netanyahu clarified that Israel will continue to work with the EU on the Middle East Peace Process. In December 2009, the UK introduced voluntary guidelines to enable produce from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories to be specifically labelled as such. We therefore also welcome the EU’s ‘Interpretative notice on the indication of origin of goods from the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967’, a technical clarification of existing rules, adopted on 11 November.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will collect statistics on waiting times for disability benefit appeals to reach tribunal to ensure that such cases are not subject to delays.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    HMCTS is unable to provide the information requested as it is not held centrally.

    Information about the timeliness of SSCS appeals is published by the Ministry of Justice in the Tribunal and Gender Recognition Certificate Statistics Quarterly. The most recent report (for the period April to June 2015, published on 10 September 2015) can be viewed at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2015.

    “

  • Lord Ramsbotham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Ramsbotham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ramsbotham on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment has been made of the success of the current system of press regulation in preventing children being named before being charged, following the identification before charges were brought of the child convicted of stabbing Vincent Uzomah and the child accused of fatally stabbing Bailey Gwynne.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government is committed to a strong, independent and effective self-regulatory system for the press that commands the confidence of both the public and the industry.Following the Leveson Inquiry, and with cross-party agreement, Government has now delivered the framework for a new system of independent press self-regulation: the Royal Charter has been sealed and the Press Recognition Panel has been appointed, opening for business in September of this year. We must now give this new approach time to become established.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2015 to Question 13612, what the total monetary value is of the debts written off since 2010.

    Justin Tomlinson

    In 2014-15 overpayments in the benefit system have fallen to a record low. In the same period the Department has recovered over £1.3bn of debt and has written off less than 0.3% (£0.4bn) of the value of all benefit payments.
    Overpayments are written off for a variety of reasons including cases where the debtor is deceased with no estate. The total value of debts written off from 2010 to 2015 is less than 0.3% (£1.8bn) of the value of all benefit payments during that period.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Attorney General, what discussions he has had with the Secretaries of State for Defence and International Development on ensuring that full and proper account is taken of the importance of international humanitarian law in areas of potential conflict and war.

    Jeremy Wright

    I meet regularlywith Ministerial colleagues to discuss important issues of common interest, including on international humanitarian law. I am not able to talk about any legal content of those discussions because, by convention, whether the Law Officers have given advice or not is not disclosed outside Government. All legal advice provided by the Law Officers is confidential and subject to legal professional privilege.

  • Rob Marris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rob Marris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the contribution of the provision of free childcare to UK productivity in (a) 2005-2010, (b) 2010-2015 and (c) 2015-2020.

    Priti Patel

    DWP have made no assessment of the provision of free childcare on productivity itself. However, several reports, including the DWP working paper A Survey of Childcare and Work Decisions among Families with Children, identify childcare costs as one of the main barriers to returning to work after the birth of a child. ONS data show women with young children have lower employment rates than men, and the Resolution Foundation reports that mothers who are employed are more likely to have part time and low-paid jobs due to childcare responsibilities. Provision of free childcare should support mothers to combine high-skilled and full time work with raising children.

    Also, evidence from the IFS report The Economic Effects of Pre-school Education and Quality suggests that children who have attended pre-school earn more over their working lives on average than children who have had little or no pre-schooling.

  • Chris Law – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chris Law – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many apprenticeships the Government has supported in Dundee in each year since 2010; and what the per capita average financial value of that support was.

    Nick Boles

    Apprenticeship policy is a devolved matter. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not collect apprenticeships information relating to the devolved administrations. It is for the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to determine how they manage their own apprenticeship programmes and they will continue to have complete flexibility over how to support businesses through training and apprenticeships.