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Tag: 2015

  • Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many Syrians are temporarily displaced within Syria; and how many such people are displaced from (a) Daesh controlled areas, (b) Syrian government controlled areas and (c) other areas of conflict.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. We are the second largest bilateral donor after the US.

    The UN estimates that there are now 6.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Syria.

    We are unable to assess the exact numbers of people displaced from areas controlled by different parties to the conflict. Estimations of internal displacement are complicated by shifting front lines and the fact that most Syrian IDPs have been displaced multiple times.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Monaghan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answers of 6 July 2015 to Question 4511 and 12 October 2015 to Question 10567, if she will request that OFGEM explain what its justification is for allowing a higher charge for supply in the north of Scotland.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Electricity supplied to consumers in the North of Scotland region is produced by a range of generation types traded in a competitive market across GB. The electricity price paid by consumers in any given region is not therefore determined by the predominant generation type in that region.

    Ofgem does not regulate energy prices – these are set by energy suppliers in competition with each other and so matters relating to the pricing of tariffs are a matter for each individual company.

    Ofgem addressed the differences in electricity charges between regions at paragraph 2.5 of their recent report on ‘Regional Differences in Network Charges’. This stated that the differences observed are not a ‘surcharge’, but reflect the different network costs in the region when shared out between customers consuming energy in that area. They also saw “no compelling case” to change these arrangements, from a regulatory perspective.

    The report also noted that electricity distribution charges in the north of Scotland are already cross-subsidised to an extent through the Government’s Hydro Benefit Replacement Scheme. It is currently worth around £41 per annum per household in the north of Scotland, and means that consumers face lower network charges than they otherwise would.

    This report can be obtained at:

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/ofgem-report-regional-differences-network-charges.

    “

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of prisoners is per cell in (a) male and (b) female prisons.

    Andrew Selous

    As at Friday 27th November 2015 the average number of prisoners per occupied cell in both male and female prisons is one.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Hodge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his objectives are at the Joint Ministerial Council during the week of 30 November 2015 in respect of central registries of beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories.

    James Duddridge

    In March the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and I wrote to the Premiers of the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda 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.

    We set out that any system should meet the following criteria:
    a)UK law enforcement and tax authorities must be able to access company beneficial ownership information without restriction, subject to relevant safeguards;
    b)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
    c)Companies or their beneficial owners must not be alerted to the fact that an investigation is underway.

    My objective is to press the Premiers to repeat their commitments to uphold international standards of transparency to ensure the highest degree of effectiveness including on holding beneficial ownership information. I will be discussing their proposals and timetable for doing so.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the reasons for changes in the number of Blue Badges held in England since 2014.

    Andrew Jones

    No assessment has been made. The number of valid Blue Badges held in England is published in table DIS0101, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/478972/dis0101.xls.

    “

  • Heidi Alexander – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the total amount that will be spent on pay for junior doctors in 2015-16; and how many junior doctors will be employed in that year.

    Ben Gummer

    Data on the junior doctor paybill for 2015/2016 and those that will be employed over this financial year is not yet available.

    The latest data available relates to the financial year 2014/2015. For that year the substantive junior doctor paybill was £3.1 billion; and there were an average of around 53,000 full-time-equivalent junior doctors employed over the year.

  • Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what timetable he has set for tax credit claimants in Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency to migrate to universal credit.

    Priti Patel

    We are rolling out Universal Credit (UC) in a careful and controlled manner – an approach that was endorsed by the Major Projects Authority. UC is now available to single claimants, couples and families in Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency.

    Our plan is that existing benefit and tax credit claimants will be migrated to UC by 2020/21. Further details will be made available in due course.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department plans to release estimates of NHS expenditure on mental health services for financial year 2013-14; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England has published clinical commissioning group (CCG) level expenditure on mental health for 2013/14, which was estimated to be £8.1 billion. CCGs are currently in the process of preparing estimates of expenditure for mental health services in 2014/15.

    We continue to take mental health as seriously as physical health and to hold the National Health Service to account for achieving the objectives set out in the NHS Mandate. In the planning requirements for 2015/16, CCGs were required to invest additionally in mental health in line with their increase in allocation. The total planned additional spend is £376 million, an increase of 4.5%.

  • Lord Allen of Kensington – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Allen of Kensington – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Allen of Kensington on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many catapult networks have been established by Innovate UK; what is the focus of each network; and how much funding they are providing to each network.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Innovate UK has established a network of 10 Catapult Centres covering a broad range of markets and technologies and Government investment will be around £557 million by 2015/16 but the future allocation between the individual catapults has not yet been finalised”. The Catapults are:

    High Value Manufacturing Catapult – seven individual centres working together to bring their expertise in different and complementary areas of high value manufacturing to provide an integrated capability and embraces all forms of manufacture using metals and composites, in addition to process manufacturing technologies and bio-processing.

    Cell Therapy Catapult – working to grow a viable and sustainable cell therapy industry in the UK.

    Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult – focused on development of commercially viable technologies applicable to offshore wind, wave and tidal power.

    Satellite Applications Catapult – helping UK businesses to develop new satellite-based products and services.

    Digital Catapult – working to position UK business to lead the introduction of radically new applications and experiences across the increasing breadth of internet services.

    Future Cities Catapult – helping to make cities to become smarter and more forward thinking.

    Transport Systems Catapult – supporting UK industry in exploiting the massive global market for new products and services that will drive the integration of transport and its systems and help UK businesses to develop effective and sustainable solutions to transport needs for both freight and people.

    Energy Systems Catapult – working to deliver economic value to Britain by making the transformation of the UK’s energy systems sector attractive to companies that are developing and growing new technology-based products and services by creating a critical mass of world class independent engineering and social science expertise in energy systems

    Precision Medicine Catapult – working to simplify and accelerate precision medicine product development and implementation, building the necessary partnerships between different therapeutic, diagnostic and informatics players in the sector, supporting existing and new companies and attracting inward investment by global life science companies

    Medicines Technologies Catapult – still being established, but will work on the development of new technologies that better predict the response of humans, animals and environment to chemicals (for example prescription drugs, pesticides and cosmetics).

  • Graham Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Graham Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support the UK is offering to Yazidi people.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    UK aid is reaching hundreds of thousands of people across Iraq, including the most vulnerable groups, such as Yazidis. All UK-funded aid is distributed on the basis of need to ensure that no-one is discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion or ethnicity. The UK works with the Government of Iraq, Kurdish Regional Government, the UN and the international community to support the rights of all minorities and to ensure our aid reaches those in greatest need.

    To date, the UK has committed £79.5 million to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq.