The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with FIFA officials on the candidacy of Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa for FIFA President.
Tracey Crouch
I have had no discussions with FIFA officials regarding candidates standing for the FIFA Presidency.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2015-11-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what correspondence the Government has had with the Clydesdale Bank on implementation of the Access to Banking Protocol and the (a) closure of branches and (b) reduction of banking services in the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency.
Harriett Baldwin
The Government welcomed the industry-wide Access to Banking protocol announced in March 2015. From the first of May this year, each participating bank has committed to carry out a number of steps if it is closing a branch. This includes establishing the impact of a branch closure before it takes place; finding suitable alternative provision; and putting in place suitable alternative measures before a branch is closed.
There is a commitment to review the operation of the protocol after one year. In August, the Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise and I wrote to the Chief Executive of the British Bankers’ Association and requested an update on progress towards the appointment of an independent reviewer. A copy of the letter was also sent to the Chief Executives of the banks that are signatories to the Access to Banking protocol.
Banks and building societies need to balance customer interests, market competition, and other commercial factors when considering their strategy.
Decisions on the opening and closing of individual bank branches are taken by the management of each bank on a commercial basis without intervention from Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phillip Lee on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effects of open-plan teaching facilities on pupils’ learning; and what provision is available to assist schools with conversion of facilities from an open-plan layout where that layout is shown to be having a detrimental effect on learning.
Edward Timpson
The Department has not made any formal assessment of the overall effects of open-plan teaching facilities on pupil’s learning.
On 9 February 2015 the government announced £4.2bn of allocations to schools, local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary aided partners to fund the improvement and maintenance of our schools. This includes £1.4bn in 2015-16.
While we would expect this money to be spent first on making sure that existing school buildings are in good condition, it is for these bodies to decide how to prioritise the funding, according to local needs.
In 2015-16, the Department spent £8 million on improvements to large open teaching areas in academies which had been built under the Building Schools for the Future programme, where independent evidence suggested this was having a detrimental effect on good teaching and learning.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-11-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to make the level of discount received for tenants who exercise the Right to Acquire the same as for those who exercise the Right to Buy.
Brandon Lewis
The Government has a manifesto commitment to extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants.
The voluntary agreement we have made with the National Housing Federation will give 1.3 million housing association tenants the opportunity to buy their home with an equivalent discount to the Right to Buy, delivering the manifesto commitment.
This will include those tenants who currently have a Right to Acquire.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent estimate her Department has made of the amount of carbon dioxide displaced in the UK by installed renewable heat technologies.
Andrea Leadsom
The Department has made projections of carbon dioxide savings (MtCO2) in the Updated Energy & Emissions Projections (EEP), last updated Sept 2014. In the absence of funding arrangements after 2015/16, these carbon savings assume an extrapolation of RHI deployment to 2020.
The projections cover carbon dioxide displacement from the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), the main scheme in its heat strategy. The Department has not made projections for renewable heat carbon savings from technologies not supported by the RHI scheme.
The projected savings will be updated if required for any RHI scheme changes following the Spending Review outcome.
The EEP, which include the relevant carbon saving projections from the RHI are available at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2015-11-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2015 to Question 12813, what assessment he has made of the accessibility, clarity and ease of comparison of the care home ratings referred to; and if he will encourage the Care Quality Commission to develop a ratings table to increase transparency of that data.
Alistair Burt
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social acre in England. The CQC publishes the results of its new inspections regime including ratings on its website to help people choose care.
The CQC website provides a search facility for the services registered with it, including care homes. It is possible to search by name of provider or post code area. The results may be viewed as a list or on an interactive map and may also be downloaded on a spreadsheet. In this way, the CQC provides flexible access to the most up to date information of the sectors it inspects.
The Department expects the CQC to consider how it presents information to the public to ensure it is provided in a transparent and meaningful way and to keep its presentation of information under review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he had during his recent visit to the Gulf states to encourage those states to increase their involvement in the (a) war against ISIL and (b) resolution of the refugee situation in Syria.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The Foreign Secretary discussed the counter ISIL effort with all the countries that he visited during his recent trip to the Gulf, which included Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and UAE. We will continue to work intensively with Gulf States to deal with ISIL, both bilaterally and multilaterally, including under the auspices of the Global Coalition to counter-ISIL.
Our partners in the Gulf share our view that ISIL presents a threat to regional stability. Several of them have suffered from ISIL attacks in their homelands, and many host large numbers of refugees fleeing Assad’s and ISIL’s brutality. They are committed to defeating ISIL, and fully recognise that coordinated international action is the best way to achieve that. All the countries that the Foreign Secretary visited during his recent trip are working to defeat ISIL, including as part of the Global Coalition to counter-ISIL.
As a result of the Syrian crisis, there are now over 4 million refugees from Syria in neighbouring countries. All of the countries that the Foreign Secretary visited are in agreement with us that a political solution is the only way to resolve the Syrian crisis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Tyrie on 2015-11-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons the Airports Commission used his Department’s National Air Passenger Demand Model and National Air Passenger Allocation model in its work; whether the assumption of homogenous capacity in those models affected the net present value figures in Table 7.1 of the Commission’s Final Report, published in July 2015, compared with a model that distinguished between long and short-haul, business and leisure, and domestic and international capacity; and what assessment he has made of whether the use of a model that distinguishes between such different types of capacity would increase or decrease the net present value of each of those shortlisted schemes.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Government is currently considering the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.
The Government will carefully consider all the evidence set out, including that on costs, when making a decision on additional runway capacity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether Ms Patricia Hart was employed on a full-time basis continuously from 2011 until her retirement.
Ben Gummer
This information is not collected centrally.
We have written to Deborah Jenkins, Chair of South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, informing her of the hon. Member’s enquiry. She will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kramer on 2015-11-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the amount of the Bus Service Operators Grant in (1) 2014–15, and (2) 2015–16.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The amount of Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) paid out for services in England during 2014/15 was some £253 million. As BSOG is demand-led, it is too early to estimate accurately the amount likely to be paid out during 2015/16, although we would expect it to be broadly similar to that for 2014/15.
The amount to be paid out in future years will depend upon the number of eligible claims submitted by the operators of bus services in each year.However, I can confirm that we were able to protect the grant as part of the 2015 Spending Review. Moreover, we will be publishing more details early next year of how we will be reforming the way BSOG is paid to make it even more effective in supporting bus services.