Tag: 2015

Gordon Henderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Henderson on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to monitor the security of the SS Richard Montgomery and prevent terror attacks on it.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Medway Port Authority, which guards the wreck under contract to the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, provides: 24 hour surveillance of the wreck, both visually and by radar; patrols of the area around the wreck; and an initial response to any potential incursions into the prohibited area. Incursions, and incidents likely to result in an incursion, are reported immediately to the Police and to HM Coastguard so that appropriate specialist support can be provided.

January 1, 2023
Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2015-10-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the October publication of a revised Ministerial Code, whether the omission in section 1.2 of a commitment to international law and treaty obligations represents a reduction in the role that the United Kingdom’s international obligations play in domestic decision-making, and whether the duty of ministers to comply with the law continues to include international law and treaties.

Lord Bridges of Headley

I refer the Noble Lord to the answer given to the Noble Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 5 November 2015 to HL3046,HL3047,HL3048, which I attach for ease of reference.

The Ministerial Code is normally updated and reissued after a General Election. The updated Code makes clear that Ministers must abide by the law. The obligations of Ministers under the law including international law remain unchanged.

Information relating to internal discussions and advice is not disclosed.

January 1, 2023
Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2015 to Question 13392, if he will make an estimate of the number of people with cancer who will be affected by the proposals to remove the work-related activity element of employment and support allowance.

Priti Patel

No current claimants will be affected by these proposals. We do not hold estimates on the number of future claimants of the work-related element of ESA with specific conditions.

The impact assessment can be found here: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006B.pdf.

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January 1, 2023
Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the Competition and Markets Authority is undertaking an investigation into defeat devices used by Volkswagen in emissions tests.

Anna Soubry

The Competition and Markets Authority has been considering this issue carefully since it first emerged, including in liaison with government and other agencies nationally and internationally. It has not opened a formal investigation, but is continuing to assess in cooperation with government and other agencies what action it would be appropriate to take and who would be best placed to take it.

January 1, 2023
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recourse or right of appeal is available to a member of the public removed from, or prevented from working with, a local healthwatch by the contractors.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department currently has no plans to undertake an investigation in to the performance of local Healthwatch organisations. In March 2015 the Department published a report commissioned from the King’s Fund – Local Healthwatch: Progress and promise – which set out the progress that local Healthwatch have made since being established in 2013. Transparency about the performance of local Healthwatch organisations is provided through the annual reports which they are required to publish. Reports on how the local Healthwatch network as a whole is operating and the nature of the support needed to deliver their activities effectively are discussed at quarterly public meetings of the Healthwatch England Committee.

Arrangements for ensuring local Healthwatch statutory activities are delivered in each area are a matter for local authorities. The Local Government Association has published guidance to support local Healthwatch and local commissioners in putting in place good governance arrangements, which includes clarity about the roles of all parties involved.

Neither the Department nor Healthwatch England are aware of local Healthwatch contractors refusing to engage with the public in their area. Where Healthwatch England is made aware of concerns in relation to local Healthwatch around governance or local relationships with specific individuals or organisations, it seeks to provide support to resolve these where appropriate. Members of the public are able to raise concerns though the complaints process of the local Healthwatch or the commissioning local authority.

January 1, 2023
Kate Hollern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which psychiatric disorder had the highest mortality rate in each of the last five years.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

January 1, 2023
Lord Palmer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Palmer on 2015-11-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what legal basis the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has in English law.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is an international treaty establishing general guidelines and principles for international governance on tobacco control. The United Kingdom ratified the Treaty in 2004 and takes its obligations under the Convention very seriously.

January 1, 2023
Dawn Butler – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2015-10-27.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the average annual amount by which working families affected by changes to tax credits will be compensated by the increase in the level of the minimum wage.

Damian Hinds

This Government is committed to moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society. As the Chancellor made clear on [Monday / 26 October], the Government will set out at Autumn Statement how we plan to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits, saving the money we need to save to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.

The Summer Budget offered a new deal for working people. A new National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 per hour from April 2016, will directly benefit 2.7 million low wage workers, and up to 6 million could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution. The new National Living Wage will boost pay for those currently earning the National Minimum Wage by £4,800 a year by 2020 when the National Living Wage is expected to rise to over £9 per hour.

To help working families keep more of what they earn, the personal allowance will increase to £11,000 in 2016-17 and £11,200 in 2017-18. The government has committed to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 which will mean that a typical basic rate taxpayer will see their income tax cut by £1,205 a year compared to 2010.

The government set out its assessment of the impacts of the Summer Budget policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July 2015.

January 1, 2023
Lord Laird – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-11-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current level of HM Treasury’s outstanding statutory debt in relation to the Dunfermline Building Society; how much has been paid by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme towards that debt; and whether any assets have been retrieved or sold since the Society went into administration.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

In March 2009, Dunfermline Building Society (DBS) was entered into special administration under the Banking Act 2009. As part of the resolution, HM Treasury provided just under £1.6 billion to enable the transfer of the core DBS business to Nationwide Building Society. The remainder of DBS is currently being wound-down by KPMG affiliated administrators.

Most of the estate has been wound-down and the remaining commercial book is expected to run-off over the next 1-2 years, at which point the administration will be complete. In 2014, the remaining residential mortgage portfolio was sold by the administrators to Arbuthnot Latham and Co. As of 31 March 2015, HM Treasury has received just over £1 billion from the DBS estate.

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ‘Contribution Regulations’ allow the Treasury to recover any shortfall from the estate from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), subject to a cap, via an interim levy on industry. In October 2014, the FSCS made the first payment to HM Treasury with respect to DBS, of £100 million.

HMT expects to recover the amount in full.

January 1, 2023
Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what limit is set on each of the three tenancy deposit schemes which hold contracts with his Department to run authorised schemes for the maximum length of time it takes for them to resolve a dispute through alternative dispute resolution; and what guidance or requirements his Department has issued to these schemes on these maximum limits.

Brandon Lewis

Under tenancy deposit protection legislation introduced in the Housing Act 2004, all landlords who let out property on an assured shorthold tenancy are required to protect their tenants’ deposits in one of the three Government-approved deposit protection schemes.

Details of the number of deposits protected under each scheme as at March 2015 are set out below:

Custodial scheme: Deposit Protection Service: 1,170,564

Insurance Schemes:

Tenancy Deposit Scheme: 1,135,769
Deposit Protection Service: 20,944
MyDeposits: 738,853

Whilst the Government has authorised three private companies to provide tenancy deposit protection schemes, we do not have a day-to-day role in the running of the schemes, however, we do maintain an oversight responsibility, and the Department holds quarterly monitoring meetings with scheme providers at which any performance issues can be discussed. Over the period that the schemes have been in operation, they have performed at a consistently high level. We have not issued guidance for the schemes who all engage the services of dispute resolution professionals. However, the majority of disputes are resolved in 28 days, which is the performance target set by the Government.

The number of adjudications per year for each scheme is set out in the attached table, including the percentage of adjudications awarded to tenants and landlords.

January 1, 2023