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Tag: 2015

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Attorney General, what steps his Department is taking to implement the family test; and if he will make a statement.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Family Test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014. DWP published guidance for Departments and officials on how the test should be applied when formulating policy and whenever appropriate the Law Officers’ Departments would follow that guidance.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November to Question 17518, what steps he plans to take to increase the course completion rate for people who are referred to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme.

    Alistair Burt

    We are working closely with NHS England on all issues related to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme, which includes reducing dropout rates. The Department is currently in conversation with NHS England to determine the causes of dropouts.

    The table in answer to Question 17518 includes all referrals who did not finish a course of treatment, this would include those that drop out but also includes those who do not complete treatment for other reasons including those who were not suitable for IAPT treatment, those who are moved or referred elsewhere and those that declined the offer of treatment.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on director conduct of the funding of insolvency litigation being brought under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

    Dominic Raab

    An Impact Assessment was published when the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 received Royal Assent in May 2012.

    The Ministry of Justice is in the process of considering the way forward in relation to the application to insolvency litigation of the no win no fee reforms in Part 2 of the Act.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department plans to spend on domestic counter-terrorism operations in each of the next five years; and if she will make a statement.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Government protected counter-terrorism police funding over the last 5 years and the Strategic Defence and Security Review and Spending Review both confirmed a real terms increase to counter-terrorism police funding to invest in new capabilities.

    The Spending Review announcement set the overall budget for the Home Office. Officials are now going through the detail and will continue to provide advice to the Home Secretary on individual allocations and spending commitments. We anticipate that funding allocations for counter-terrorism will be confirmed in the New Year.

  • Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2015 to Question 14136, what work the Government has undertaken to implement the commitments made in paragraphs (a) 1, (b) 2, (c) 3, (d) 8 and (e) 10 of the 2013 Lough Erne G8 Leaders’ Communiqué since January 2014; and what assessment he has made of the level of progress against those commitments.

    Mr David Gauke

    Since January 2014 the Prime Minister has updated the house on 11 June 2014 and 10 June 2015 following the G7 Summits. The UK presidency focused on 3 Ts: tax, transparency and trade.

    On tax there has been significant progress on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) the major international agreement to realign taxation with economic activities and value creation. In October 2015 the OECD issued the final BEPS outputs, which were endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers. The UK has made significant progress including: consulting on implementing rules to address hybrid mismatches arrangements and issuing draft secondary legislation to implement Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting, a template for multinational companies to report profit and tax information to tax authorities, in the UK in line with the internationally agreed timetable. In addition, in February 2014 G20 Finance Ministers endorsed the OECD’s new global standard for Automatic Exchange of Information of tax. All G20 Finance Ministers committed to first exchange by end-2018 in September, with 10 G20 countries including the UK committing to begin exchange in 2017.

    With regards to transparency, in March 2015 the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act received Royal Assent, establishing a public registry of company beneficial ownership that will show who ultimately owns and controls in-scope UK companies. The register will be operational from June 2016 and the UK is undertaking a wider review of corporate transparency.

    On trade, the Government has furthered international free trade agreements (FTA), with negotiations on an EU-Canada FTA finalised in August 2014. The EU and Japan held a constructive round of Free Trade Agreements negotiations in October 2015. The EU-US FTA 11th Round of negotiations took place in Miami 19-23 October 2015.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Statement of 25 November 2015, Official Report, column 1361, what the evidential basis is for the statement that an investment of £800 million to fight tax evasion will return almost 10 times that amount in additional tax.

    Mr David Gauke

    Spending Review 2015 confirmed the additional £800m investment in HMRC, announced at Summer Budget, to tackle evasion and non-compliance, which will deliver an extra £7.2bn over the next five years – a return in tax revenue of almost 10 times the additional funding. The individual measures that the Government has provided funding for and the revenue they raise is set out on page 73 of the Summer Budget 2015 document. The assumptions and methodologies underlying all of the costings are set out in the policy costings document published at Summer Budget 2015. Both of these documents are available on www.gov.uk.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will exempt housing co-operatives from the right to buy scheme; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    Under the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation, there will be a presumption that housing associations will sell tenants the property in which they live, but there will be some broad circumstances where a housing association can exercise discretion to decline a sale. These circumstances include properties held by co-operative housing associations.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of and outcomes achieved by (a) Connaught Fund investors and (b) other investors who have sought payment from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme when their independent financial adviser has declared a default on an award of compensation by the Financial Ombudsman’s Service; and if he will publish that assessment.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Her Majesty’s Treasury does not keep records of cases of investors who have sought compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

    The Honourable Member should contact the Financial Services Compensation Scheme directly with inquiries relating to compensation claims.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tristram Hunt – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the residence requirements are for (a) existing right-to-buy entitlements and (b) the proposed extension of right-to-buy to housing association tenants for (i) non-EU foreign nationals, (ii) EU foreign nationals and (iii) UK citizens.

    Brandon Lewis

    Before 2006 all applicants for Government supported home ownership had to have indefinite leave to remain in the UK. The last Labour Government changed these rules in 2006.

    Subject to EU Treaty negotiation, we will introduce a residency test for social housing, requiring European Economic Area nationals to have lived in the UK for 4 years. This means that European Economic Area nationals would not be eligible for Right to Buy until they had lived in this country for a minimum of seven years.

    A tenant must have had a public sector tenancy within the UK for three years before qualifying for Right to Buy.

  • Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take to require social landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department for Communities and Local Government does not provide any specific guidance to private registered providers of social housing on energy efficiency of social housing stock. I would expect private registered providers to look at all opportunities for efficiencies.