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Tag: 2015

  • Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what consideration has been given to moving to digital voting in the House.

    Tom Brake

    The Commission has given no formal consideration to a move to digital voting in the House. Its responsibility in this matter is limited to any financial or staffing implications of any change to the present system, were a change to be agreed by the House.

    In January 2015 the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy recommended that the House should move to record votes using Members’ security passes but retain the tradition of walking through division lobbies. The House has not yet been invited to respond to this recommendation. House officials have undertaken some preparatory studies in the event of the House deciding to endorse this proposal. Members wishing to pursue the issue can seek a debate via the Backbench Business Committee or raise it with the Procedure Committee. It would also be open to Ministers to bring forward proposals.

    Accurate recording of divisions and timely publication of division lists are critical business activities of the House of Commons. The House Service has therefore been investigating means of electronic recording of divisions since October 2014, with a view to improving the timely publication of division lists, making division data more accessible to the public and easier to analyse, and improving accuracy. A trial was held in the House in March 2015 in which seven divisions were recorded in part by division clerks on tablet devices. Full implementation of tablet recording of divisions is expected to take place early in 2016. In the meantime, any divisions held under the new English votes for English laws procedure will be recorded on tablet devices, because the tablets can generate the results required under the ‘double-majority’ system. Electronic recording of votes by division clerks will not in itself alter the requirement for Members to vote by walking through the lobbies.

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of road safety awareness educational programmes in reducing accidents.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Road safety education includes a range of interventions including educational courses and publicity campaigns.

    The Department funds the THINK! road safety publicity campaign. We evaluate the campaign to ensure it is effective, that we continually improve performance; and that we ultimately deliver value for money for the taxpayer.

    Prior to each campaign we set communication objectives and key performance indicators. We measure progress against these by running surveys with our target audience before and immediately after the campaign. We have seen positive shifts in key performance indicators for the majority of our campaigns. All of our recent campaign evaluation reports are published on gov.uk[1].

    In the long run, positive changes in key performance indicators on campaigns such as speeding, drink driving and seatbelts have correlated with fewer drivers exceeding the speed limit, fewer accidents involving drink driving and higher seatbelt wearing rates; and ultimately to fewer road casualties.

    Publicity campaigns are part of the solution to reduce road casualties and work best when used alongside enforcement and engineering interventions. Due to the multiple factors affecting casualties (weather, road conditions, traffic levels, the economy etc.) it is difficult to demonstrate a causal relationship with a specific intervention. However, in 2012 the department commissioned an independent agency to evaluate the impact drink drive campaigns have had on casualties. They used econometric modelling to estimate that over a 30 year period, drink drive communication campaigns have saved almost 2,000 lives and prevented over 10,000 serious injuries[2].

    In 2013, the Transport Research Laboratory published[3] a review and synthesis of evidence on the effectiveness of pre-driver education and training for those under 17 years of age which was undertaken for the Coalition Government. The findings showed that very few interventions had been robustly evaluated and that the evidence base around pre-driver interventions was weak. The Government recently commissioned an evidence base review, to build on existing work, to help us to understand the effectiveness of a range of pre- and post-test behavioural and technological interventions for young drivers. The Government is currently also funding an evaluation of the effectiveness of speed awareness courses.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/think-communication-activity

    [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drink-drive-30-years-of-communication

    [3] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/249282/novice-driver-research-findings.pdf

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the average operating speed for High Speed trains to Europe.

    Claire Perry

    Eurostar operate passenger trains from London into Europe at speeds of up to 186 miles per hour.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to assist the organisations and volunteers in the UK taking action to help refugees (1) in the Calais area, (2) in the Dodecanese islands, and (3) elsewhere in Europe.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. The UK has pledged over £1.12 billion, our largest ever humanitarian response to a single crisis. We are the second largest bilateral donor after the US and have done more than any other European country.

    The UK’s priority is to stop the deaths of migrants making perilous journeys. We believe the right approach is to support people to stay in a place of safety in their home or host countries. To this end we are increasing our work to support longer term stability and resilience-building inside Syria and in neighbouring countries.

    We are providing £15 million to organisations working in Europe, which includes immediate humanitarian support to migrants and refugees who have made the journey to Europe. Our package of support includes life-saving aid to protect the most vulnerable people, as well as support to governments in managing registration in Europe and the Western Balkans.

  • Jeremy Lefroy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jeremy Lefroy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the passenger compensation regime for train delays and cancellations.

    Claire Perry

    In our manifesto we committed to improve compensation for delayed rail passengers. We have already changed the system to get compensation paid in cash, not travel vouchers, and we are putting new compensation obligations like automatic delay/repay into franchise specifications.

    We will negotiate hard with rail operators to get even better compensation arrangements for passengers but also focus on what we all want which is to have the trains run on time.

  • Baroness Walmsley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Walmsley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have introduced arrangements for sharing gains on the sale of PFI equity shares in new PFI projects, as recommended by the Public Accounts Committee in its report of 2011 Lessons from PFI and other projects.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    In its response to the Public Accounts Committee’s report, the Government has made clear that it does not agree that it would be desirable to seek a share of gains arising from the sale of shares in existing contracts. There would be a significant negative impact on the confidence of investors, particularly foreign investors, in the UK market and new investment in UK infrastructure would be discouraged.

    The Treasury’s full response can be found at on the gov.uk website.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish on his Department’s website (a) corroborated information on deaths of (i) ISIS fighters and (ii) civilians as a result of airstrikes on Syrian locations and (b) other information in a daily battle assessment for each day from 2 December 2015.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Information on RAF airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, and their outcome, is already published on the gov.uk website and is regularly updated. We know of no civilian casualties caused by RAF airstrikes against Daesh in Iraq or Syria.

  • Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to NHS trusts of nursing staff turnover as a result of proposals to cap union facility time in the Trade Union Bill.

    Ben Gummer

    There are no current proposals to cap tradeunion facility time although the Trade UnionBill includes a reservepower to do so if it is deemed appropriate.The Department has not estimated the cost to National Health Service trusts of nursing staff turnover should the power to do so be implemented and has no evidence that it would be affected.

  • Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking in response to the recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change on carbon capture storage and the power sector in its report, Power scenarios for the fifth carbon budget, published in October 2015.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department is currently considering the Committee on Climate Change’s advice and Government will set the fifth carbon budget in law next year.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his Answer of 23 October 2015 to Question 12551, if he will invite the hon. Member for Preston to visit the tax credit office in that constituency.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs is happy to facilitate visits to their offices from MPs. In the first instance they would ask for the MP’s office to send a formal request to communications.corporate@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk.

    “