Tag: 2015

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the size of the current account balance in 2014.

    Mr David Gauke

    The current account deficit in 2014 was 5.1% of GDP, with this net borrowing from the rest of the world helping fund the budget deficit. The Government’s plan to repair the public finances through fiscal consolidation should in turn improve the current account deficit, as set out in the latest forecasts of the Office for Budget Responsibility.

    The Government is also working to boost UK exports, including a £20m package of support for first time exporters and working alongside a more effective UKTI and better export finance.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Pet Travel Scheme in tackling pet smuggling.

    George Eustice

    The carriers which carry out checks to ensure pets animals are compliant with Pet Travel Scheme rules are audited by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and the results show that they are performing satisfactorily. In 2014, APHA audited close to 6,000 pets. Of these only 0.9% of the pets were found not to comply with the entry rules. These pets were either detained until their compliance could be established, re-exported or placed into quarantine.

  • Alasdair McDonnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Alasdair McDonnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he expects revenue to be generated to the public purse from the sale of assets, buildings and land in Northern Ireland during 2015-16; and if so for what amount.

    Greg Hands

    The devolved administrations have the capacity to generate income from asset sales and should do so where this is a sensible way of realising value for taxpayers and freeing up resources for investment.

    The Government has committed to securing good value for money for taxpayers by establishing UK Government Investments to deliver the sale of a wide range of publicly-owned assets.

    The Stormont House Agreement contains specific measures whereby the Treasury would allow the Northern Ireland Executive to retain the proceeds of specific agreed asset sales in their entirety, and give exceptional consideration to those funds being used for a combination of both capital and resource spending.

  • 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 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of children who receive mental health assessments on entering care; and what assessment he has made of recent trends in such figures.

    Alistair Burt

    Data is not collected nationally on the number of children entering care who receive a mental health assessment.

    Local authorities are responsible for making sure that a health assessment is carried out for every child they look after when they start to be looked after. The care planning regulations specify that this should include an assessment of the child’s emotional and mental wellbeing. The Department for Education annually collects data from local authorities on the numbers of children continuously looked after for at least 12 months at 31 March who received their statutory annual health assessment during the year. At 31 March 2014, 88.4% of these looked-after children did so.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what change there was in the number of firefighter posts in Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service in 2013-14.

    Greg Clark

    Information on the number of full time equivalent firefighter posts for each fire and rescue service and for each year, together with greater detail, is available in the Department’s Fire and Rescue Operational Statistics publication (Table 2 for full time equivalent posts) at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fire-and-rescue-authorities-operational-statistics

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  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many civil servants in her Department are in the redeployment pool.

    Karen Bradley

    There are 104 staff in the redeployment pool. This data is from the Home Office redeployment database.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Virendra Sharma – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the number of spare parts his Department has for equipment no longer in use; and what steps his Department has taken to ensure that spare parts for such equipment are not held in storage.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Since the introduction of the Defence Equipment and Support Inventory Management Strategy (IMS) in 2012 the level of obsolete stock held has substantially reduced; currently, items identified as obsolete represent less than 0.2 per cent of the total value of inventory held by the Ministry of Defence. As at 1 April 2015 the IMS has achieved an overall stock reduction of £8.7 billion against a strategic target of £9.5 billion set for 31 March 2016. We are also working with industry to optimise inventory further and reduce the logistics footprint, while supporting operations and maintaining availability to the Front-line Commands.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his policy is on interpreters working on behalf of the UK armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan who wish to seek resettlement in the UK.

    Penny Mordaunt

    For information on Iraq, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my noble Friend, the Minister of State for Defence, the Rt Hon Earl Howe, to the noble Lady, Baroness Jolly, in the House of Lords to Question HL3606.

    In Afghanistan, the Ex-Gratia Redundancy Scheme offers nearly 500 eligible local staff, including interpreters, the opportunity to apply for relocation to the UK. More than 200 have already been granted visas and have moved to the UK with their immediate families. Others are going through the application process or are still in our employment.

  • Derek Twigg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Derek Twigg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) all UK electricity generators and operators and (b) developers of gas plants are able to compete on a level playing field after the planned increase in interconnector capacity after 2020.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The priority of this government is to ensure security of supply at the lowest cost to consumers. Where there are benefits to consumers of further interconnection, this will be identified through Ofgem’s regulatory regime. In this way, we will ensure the efficient level of interconnection and a good balance between domestic generation and continental imports.

    In relation to the Capacity Market, National Grid advises on a sensible range for de-rating factors for interconnectors in the auction from which the Secretary of State will decide the final number. This mitigates the risk of relying too much on imports and ensures that the efficient amount of domestic capacity will always be secured in the auction.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted of begging in the latest period for which information is available.

    Andrew Selous

    The number of people convicted at all courts of offences related to begging in 2014 (latest available) is available at the following link under offence code 182 (begging).

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/428937/outcomes-by-offence-tables.xlsx

    These figures relate to offences under Section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824.

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