Tag: 2015

  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to reform the Electronic Communications Code following the closure of the consultation on 30 April 2015.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government remains committed to delivering a reformed Electronic Communications Code that is clear, fit for purpose, and supports a UK network that provides consumers with a choice of high quality telecommunications services.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the decision was taken to transfer Newcastle Central Station to Virgin East Coast rather than to Network Rail.

    Claire Perry

    The East Coast Franchise Agreement provided for the potential transfer of Newcastle Station to Network Rail. The decision to continue with the existing management arrangements of the stations was taken in late August 2015 following a period of negotiation between Virgin Trains East Coast and Network Rail.

    The Department concluded that the best value to the public purse and passengers was to continue with the existing arrangements already in place at Newcastle rather than transfer the station.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the command structure at RAF Waddington is; and what the total payroll costs for senior officers were in each year from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

    Mark Lancaster

    The total payroll costs for senior officers (Regular and Reserve personnel at RAF Waddington, holding the rank of Squadron Leader and above) for the previous five financial years are as follows:

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    Total Payroll Cost

    £6.125 million

    £6.161 million

    £6.404 million

    £6.127 million

    £5.840 million

    RAF Waddington’s command structure comprises Station Executives for each Wing and Squadron, who report directly to the Station Commander.

  • Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in how many cases qualifying information on child maintenance non-compliance has been supplied to a credit reference agency, pursuant to section 40 of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008, since the commencement of that provision.

    Priti Patel

    The Child Maintenance Group (CMG) has shared case information with credit reference agencies on cases where there has been child maintenance non-compliance. These cases were solely for sampling purposes as part of a pilot to test the potential gains from sharing such information and to assure our business processes. The information supplied to the credit reference agencies during the pilot was not recorded on any of their live systems and following the pilot was destroyed in accordance with DWP security procedures.

    On 30 November 2015 CMG will begin to issue the 21 day written warning of intention to disclose non-compliance information on all cases where the debt accrued has been recognised and a Liability Order to support this granted in the Magistrates / Sheriffs court. Where payment is still not received, the intention is to commence supplying this information to credit reference agencies in early 2016 for their use.

  • Lucy Powell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lucy Powell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the target countries are of her Department’s STEM international recruitment programme; and how many teachers have been recruited from each target country.

    Nick Gibb

    Schools have always been able to recruit teachers from overseas. Outstanding mathematics and physics teachers are in demand across the globe, and where schools wish to recruit from overseas we want to ensure they are able to do so and from those countries whose education standards are as high as our own.

    The Department for Education is committed to ensuring that schools are able to recruit appropriately to fill their teacher vacancies. We are working to grow a strong pipeline of teachers from within the UK and have a package of measures in place to support both recruitment of trainees and retention of existing teachers.

    The Department for Education recently embarked on an additional £67 million package of measures to target recruitment of 2,500 additional specialist maths and physics teachers and up-skill 15,000 existing non specialist teachers in these subjects. The vast majority of these additional 2,500 teachers will come from within the UK, but the government recognises the valuable contribution made by overseas trained teachers particularly for certain shortage subjects. Therefore a small part of the package is focused on supporting schools to recruit internationally for qualified maths and physics teachers where necessary.

  • 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 what is their assessment of whether continuing efforts to press the government of Sudan to tackle sexual and gender-based violence in Darfur have been successful, in the light of (1) the incidence of rape in the areas currently monitored by the UN and (2) the requirement in the legal framework in Sudan for a victim to provide four male witnesses to confirm that a rape was without consent.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We remain deeply concerned by the reported prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence in Darfur. While we welcome amendments to Sudanese law earlier this year that separated the crimes of rape and adultery we are concerned about how the law is implemented.

    In addition to engaging the Government of Sudan, we will continue to support a wide-range of efforts to progress this issue. We strongly support the presence of the African Union/UN Hybrid Mission operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and have worked to ensure that the mission has a strong mandate to protect civilians across Darfur. We are also vocal – both bilaterally and through the UN’s Security and Human Rights Councils – in urging all armed actors to address sexual and gender-based violence in Darfur. The UK played a significant role in the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2242 reflecting the importance of Women, Peace and Security-related issues for the UN family. Bilaterally, we have provided support to over 150 survivors of rape in Darfur and contributed to the successful prosecution of members of the police and armed forces.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many civil servants in her 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 her Department.

    George Eustice

    The number of civil servants in the Core-Department, who are members of a trade union, is matter for the unions.

    The Cabinet Office publishes data relating to the Civil Service facility on a quarterly basis. The latest data is Quarter 4, 2014 and is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-union-facility-time

    “

  • Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 23 November (HL3659), why no national assessment has been made of the effect of hospital trusts charging disabled people to park their cars, and whether they have made any regional or local assessments about that issue.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS trusts have the power to charge for car parking under paragraph 20 of Schedule 4 of the National Health Service Act 2006. Foundation Trusts (FTs) have similar general powers under section 43(3) of the NHS Act 2006. Individual NHS organisations decide locally whether or not to institute charges and they also carry out any assessment of the impact of such charges.

    As part of an assessment, trusts consider a range of factors, including the availability of parking spaces, the existence of alternative transport options and the cost of providing car parking. Such matters vary from place to place and therefore cannot be centrally assessed.

    In addition, as public bodies, NHS organisations must ensure they are compliant with the public sector equality duty at Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. The conduct of equality assessments is a local matter and the outcomes are not collected centrally.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had about access to all areas of East Ukraine for the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission.

    Mr David Lidington

    For the Minsk peace process to succeed, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitors must be given full and unhindered access to east Ukraine. I discussed implementation of the Minsk Agreements in detail with Prime Minister Yatseniuk, Foreign Minister Klimkin and OSCE Special Representative Martin Sadjik when I visited Ukraine between 6-8 October. I also raise access for OSCE monitors regularly with the Russian Ambassador to the UK, most recently in June 2015. We also continue to raise it as a point of priority when discussing Ukraine with bilateral partners and in multilateral fora including the EU, OSCE and the UN.

  • 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 what consideration they have given to the issues involved in maintaining or improving leasehold properties under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, in particular in central London, where a right to manage exists.

    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.