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Tag: 2015

  • Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-11-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to deliver a faster payments infrastructure.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Faster Payment Scheme (FPS) launched in 2008 and provides near-instant settlement for over one billion payments that consumers and businesses make every year.

    FPS is one of the eight payment systems regulated by the new Payment Systems Regulator – which the Government launched in 2015, equipped with powers to ensure that UK payment systems are competitive and innovative. A key part of the PSR’s work is to ensure that UK payment systems work efficiently to deliver benefits for the individuals and firms that use them.

    The Government is also working with the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Project Innovate – which looks to foster and support innovative financial technology (“FinTech”) firms, including firms that offer customers new and efficient ways to make payments in the UK.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with his Chinese counterpart on allegations of doping in athletics.

    Tracey Crouch

    Both my Department and UK Anti-Doping engage regularly with international counterparts to discuss a range of sporting matters, including tackling doping in sport.

  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to encourage (a) the training of school children in digital skills before they enter the workforce, (b) graduate schemes on digital skills, (c) improving the digital skills of the workforce of firms in the digital technology industry and (d) other initiatives to promote existing professional training and digital skills initiatives; and whether he plans for such initiatives to be supported by the Apprenticeship Levy.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Introduced in September 2014, the new statutory computing curriculum in primary and secondary schools is providing schoolchildren with the digital skills they will need for further study and employment. It is supported by revised computer science A levels, and revised GCSEs will be introduced from 2016. In September 2015 the Higher Education Funding Council for England invited bids for pilot conversion courses in high demand computer science disciplines. This will supply industry with a new stream of graduates with in-demand digital skills from summer 2017.

    Additionally, this Government back a free ‘Introduction to Cyber Security’ course raising awareness of cyber security and developing the necessary skills in the sector. This Government is also funding pilots of short courses in key digital skills areas (web design, database management and digital marketing), designed and accredited by business.

  • Khalid Mahmood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Khalid Mahmood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if his Department will take steps to assist in securing the release of Kamal Foroughi from Evin Prison in Iran.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We remain very concerned about the case of dual-national Mr Kamal Foroughi. Iran does not recognise dual nationality and as such has not granted us consular access. I met his family on 1 December, and confirmed that we have raised this with the Iranian authorities on repeated occasions, urging Iran to provide regular medical assistance and access to a lawyer which are both key to securing his release. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised this with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif and President Rouhani during his visit to Iran in August. He also raised it most recently with Foreign Minister Zarif in New York at the UN General Assembly in September. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) raised the case with President Rouhani during a telephone call in July, and wrote a further letter on the matter in October regarding our consular cases.

  • Stephen Phillips – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Phillips – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Government of Saudi Arabia on the ending the restrictions on imports of fuel, food and medical supplies to Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    During a visit to Saudi Arabia on 28 October, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) met his counterpart, Minister Al Jubeir. They discussed humanitarian issues, including humanitarian access to Yemeni ports, as well as the need for accelerating the political process in Yemen. We welcome the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister’s and President Hadi’s statements that all of Yemen’s ports are open and the initial indications of progress on maritime access, but more needs to be done.

    To have real impact, commercial and humanitarian access must be sustained and systematic. The UN verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) is the best way to ensure this. We are working closely with the UN to establish it as soon as possible. The Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) has also expressed the UK’s readiness to support to the UNVIM and DfID has just committed £1.4 million to the UN to support its establishment.

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of those eligible service personnel who have left the armed forces have participated in the Core Programme of the Careers Transition Partnership in each year since 2010.

    Mark Lancaster

    Personnel with at least six years’ Service are eligible for the Core Resettlement Programme (CRP). The latest information held on eligible personnel that have participated in the CRP is as at 31 March 2014. Between 2010-11 and 2013-14 the following percentage of eligible personnel have participated in the CRP:

    2010-11 – 76%

    2011-12 – 74%

    2012-13 – 74%

    2013-14 – 72%

    Some of the personnel eligible for the CRP may choose to use the Employment Support Programme instead.

    Figures presented for 2013-14 are provisional as personnel can receive Careers Transition Partnership resettlement services up to two years before and after leaving the UK Armed Forces. Figures are revised annually in the Official Statistic publication with figures being fixed after two years.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many apprentices who have dyslexia have received support from the Access to Work fund in each of the last five years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government does not collate data on the number of apprentices with dyslexia who have received support from Access for Work.

    However, the overall number of people with dyslexia who are helped by Access to Work has been steadily increasing. In 2014/15, 4,560 people who reported dyslexia as their primary condition were supported by the scheme.

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on bonuses for regular Army personnel who have been transferred to the staff and personnel support branch in each year since 2010.

    Mark Lancaster

    Since 2010 the numbers of trained regular officers and soldiers transferring to the Adjutant General’s Corps Staff and Personnel Support Branch, AGC(SPS), each calendar year are as follows:

    2010 – 130

    2011 – 160

    2012 – 50

    2013 – 40

    2014 – 60

    2015 to 31 October – 150

    Where there is a shortage of key personnel, the Army offers a transfer bonus which is payable to soldiers upon successful completion of the transfer into the specified trade.

    From 2010 to 2013, transfer bonus payments of £1,500 each were made to 73 soldiers who transferred into the AGC(SPS) as Military Clerks or Combat Human Resource Specialists. No payments were made from 2014 onwards. The amount spent each calendar year since 2010 is as follows:

    2010 – £52,500

    2011 – £51,000

    2012 – £3,000

    2013 – £3,000

  • Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans the Government has for the funding of the Commissioning Academy over the next five years.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Government will continue to support the Commissioning Academy. We are looking at a variety of funding options to put it on a sustainable footing.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Attorney General, what the cost to the public purse has been since December 2014 of the Government defending cases which have been appealed to the European Court of Justice following a ruling in the Royal Courts or the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

    Robert Buckland

    Cases are not appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union from UK courts but they can ask for preliminary rulings on a point of European law from the Court of Justice of the European Union.

    The amount of disbursements paid by the Government for Counsel’s fees and for travel and accommodation costs for hearings in requests for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union from United Kingdom Courts since December 2014 was £33,288.42.

    This includes requests for preliminary rulings made by UK Tribunals, but not other legal proceedings in the CJEU in which the UK Courts and Tribunals have played no part. It does not include disbursements incurred but not yet paid, the cost of government lawyers and other staff involved in these cases within the Government, or costs incurred in relation to the domestic aspects of the proceedings, which are not centrally recorded.