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Tag: 2015

  • Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what account his Department plans to take of the closure of steel plants in 2015 in the strategic defence and security review process.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Strategic Defence and Security Review will be a comprehensive review of our defence and security capabilities.

    Separately, the Cabinet Office are leading a cross-Government Steel Procurement Working Group on which the Ministry of Defence is represented. The Government has published new guidelines for Departments to apply to major projects when sourcing and buying steel directly. Departments will be encouraged to take into account social impacts of competing suppliers when placing contracts directly.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 1.123 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, when he plans to publish further information on transitional protection for universal credit recipients; whether his policy is to guarantee that such protection entails no loss of income for recipients compared to income from tax credits; and whether he plans for such protection to apply to (a) new applicants and (b) people who experience a change in circumstances.

    Priti Patel

    At the summer budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government’s commitment to move the UK from a high tax, high welfare, low wage society to a lower tax, lower welfare, higher wage society. This remains the case, and Universal Credit (UC) is delivering this.

    UC is a fundamentally different benefit to the legacy benefit system and provides people with support into, and to progress in work.

    Therefore there is no meaningful way of comparing an unreformed Tax Credit system with Universal Credit. The Government has committed to transitional arrangements as we reform the benefits and Tax Credit system. Those transferred without a change of circumstances by DWP from tax credits to UC will receive Transitional Protection so that their income is not reduced as a result of the transfer.

    We will bring forward regulations for transitional protection in due course.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which regulations her Department introduced as a result of EU legislation in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015 to date; which regulations her Department expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2016 and (ii) 2017; and what estimate she has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

    Andrea Leadsom

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to Question 15037:

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-11-05/15037/.

    “

  • 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 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average response time to dwelling fires was for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service in 2013-14.

    Mike Penning

    I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Office.

    Information on average response times to dwelling fires for each fire and rescue service and for each year is available in Table 3b of the Department’s Fire incidents response times: England publication at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-incidents-response-times-england-2014-to-2015

    “

  • Anne Main – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Anne Main – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the outcome was of his Department’s visit to Um-il-Hiran and Ateer; whether he plans to visit that region; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and our Embassy in Tel Aviv visited three Bedouin communities in the Negev, including Um al Hiran, on 5 August. This visit, arranged through the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality (NCF), deepened our understanding of the constant risk of demolition faced by both recognised and unrecognised Bedouin villages; the restrictions on construction in even Government-planned Bedouin towns; and the unequal provision of services to communities of different ethnicities in the Negev. We remain concerned about this situation and will continue to work with partner countries, to address the inequalities.

  • Julie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Julie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether people over the initial postgraduate loan age cap of 30 will be able to apply and receive a postgraduate loan of up to £10,000 for the 2016-17 academic year.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government is committed to enhancing its support for postgraduate study and wants more people to have the opportunity to build on their academic success through access to a higher level qualification.

    The new Postgraduate Loans for Master’s study are intended to be available for eligible students studying in academic year 2016/17.

    The Government announced on 25 November that the new Postgraduate Loan for Master’s study will be available to individuals up to age 60. Further information is available via the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/postgraduate-study-student-loans-and-other-support

    “

  • Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department gives to NHS trusts on hiring temporary doctors and nurses.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department has not issued specific guidance to National Health Service trusts on hiring temporary doctors and nurses. It has, however, commissioned NHS Employers to offer advice, guidance and good practice. The NHS Employers’ guides on sourcing temporary staffing can be found at

    http://www.nhsemployers.org/search-results?q=sourcing+temporary+staffing+exterrnally

    The Department also encourages NHS trusts requiring temporary staff to use the Crown Commercial Services’ Framework agreements wherever possible. Agencies on these Framework agreements are required to support trusts improve their commissioning of temporary staffing.

  • Angus Brendan MacNeil – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Angus Brendan MacNeil – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she made of the value for money of carbon capture and storage before the Government’s carbon capture and storage competition was suspended; and how much from the public purse had been spent on that competition at the time of suspension.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The provision of ring-fenced capital support for CCS was judged against other Government funding priorities as part of the Spending Review. My department has paid £78.6m between 2011/12 and November 2015 on the CCS Competition including the investment in Front End Engineering and Design (approximately £60 million), independent professional technical, legal, financial and commercial advice and civil service staff.

    The Government continues to view CCS as having a potential role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK’s power and industrial sectors, and considers that the investment to date remains value for money to the UK.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2015 to Question 14466, if he will publish the minutes of the 21 October 2015 meeting of the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody.

    Andrew Selous

    The next meeting of the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody, which I will chair, will take place on 1 March 2016. The minutes of the Board held on 21 October 2015 will be agreed by members at that meeting and then published.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the government of Romania on improving media freedom and media pluralism in that country.

    Mr David Lidington

    The British Embassy in Bucharest follows the issue of media freedom in Romania closely, given its impact on the quality of democracy and on the rule of law. As part of the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), to which Romania has been subject since its EU accession, the European Commission has called on Romania to “review existing standards to safeguard a free and pluralist media”. We have worked closely with the European Commission and the Romanian government in encouraging full implementation of CVM recommendations including on the relationship between the media and state institutions.