Tag: 2015

  • Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many regulated Retail Financial Advisory firms there are; and how many have five or more financial advisers working for them.

    Harriett Baldwin

    This is an operational matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who are operationally independent from Government. The question has been passed on to the FCA. The FCA will reply to you directly by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will place in the Library copies of the (a) labour and (b) materials data used to calculate the area cost adjustment factor element of the Sussex Police grant.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Area Cost Adjustment data referred to in the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2015/16 is that used for the 2013-14 Local Government Finance Settlement.

    The main data used for the labour cost element are anonymised personal records from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Any release is governed by the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and is the responsibility of the Office for National Statistics.

    The main sources of data used for the rates cost element come from Valuation Office Agency estimates for offices. This data is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/business-floorspace-experimental-statistics

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to change how take-away food delivery drivers are regulated.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    This is not a matter for the Department for Communities and Local Government.

  • Paul Farrelly – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Paul Farrelly – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Farrelly on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which sections of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 have not yet been implemented.

    Mike Penning

    Most of the Act has been implemented, but the sections which have not been commenced are listed below.

    Provision Not in Force

    s.26(1), (3)-(8)

    s.40 ss. 41 & 42 (in so far as they are ancillary to section 40)

    S.56 and Sch.22 (commenced in England and Wales only)

    Sch. 8 (11)

    Sch. 9 (62) (Repealed)

    Sch. 13 Part 4

    s.44 (only to the extent it enacts the following provisions in Sch. 16) Sch. 16, Part 4 (11-21)

    Sch. 19 (not commenced in Northern Ireland)

    Sch. 20 (1-15) (not commenced in Scotland)

    Sch.23
  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to reform the Electronic Communications Code following the closure of the consultation on 30 April 2015.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government remains committed to delivering a reformed Electronic Communications Code that is clear, fit for purpose, and supports a UK network that provides consumers with a choice of high quality telecommunications services.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the decision was taken to transfer Newcastle Central Station to Virgin East Coast rather than to Network Rail.

    Claire Perry

    The East Coast Franchise Agreement provided for the potential transfer of Newcastle Station to Network Rail. The decision to continue with the existing management arrangements of the stations was taken in late August 2015 following a period of negotiation between Virgin Trains East Coast and Network Rail.

    The Department concluded that the best value to the public purse and passengers was to continue with the existing arrangements already in place at Newcastle rather than transfer the station.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the command structure at RAF Waddington is; and what the total payroll costs for senior officers were in each year from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

    Mark Lancaster

    The total payroll costs for senior officers (Regular and Reserve personnel at RAF Waddington, holding the rank of Squadron Leader and above) for the previous five financial years are as follows:

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    Total Payroll Cost

    £6.125 million

    £6.161 million

    £6.404 million

    £6.127 million

    £5.840 million

    RAF Waddington’s command structure comprises Station Executives for each Wing and Squadron, who report directly to the Station Commander.

  • Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in how many cases qualifying information on child maintenance non-compliance has been supplied to a credit reference agency, pursuant to section 40 of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008, since the commencement of that provision.

    Priti Patel

    The Child Maintenance Group (CMG) has shared case information with credit reference agencies on cases where there has been child maintenance non-compliance. These cases were solely for sampling purposes as part of a pilot to test the potential gains from sharing such information and to assure our business processes. The information supplied to the credit reference agencies during the pilot was not recorded on any of their live systems and following the pilot was destroyed in accordance with DWP security procedures.

    On 30 November 2015 CMG will begin to issue the 21 day written warning of intention to disclose non-compliance information on all cases where the debt accrued has been recognised and a Liability Order to support this granted in the Magistrates / Sheriffs court. Where payment is still not received, the intention is to commence supplying this information to credit reference agencies in early 2016 for their use.

  • Lucy Powell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lucy Powell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the target countries are of her Department’s STEM international recruitment programme; and how many teachers have been recruited from each target country.

    Nick Gibb

    Schools have always been able to recruit teachers from overseas. Outstanding mathematics and physics teachers are in demand across the globe, and where schools wish to recruit from overseas we want to ensure they are able to do so and from those countries whose education standards are as high as our own.

    The Department for Education is committed to ensuring that schools are able to recruit appropriately to fill their teacher vacancies. We are working to grow a strong pipeline of teachers from within the UK and have a package of measures in place to support both recruitment of trainees and retention of existing teachers.

    The Department for Education recently embarked on an additional £67 million package of measures to target recruitment of 2,500 additional specialist maths and physics teachers and up-skill 15,000 existing non specialist teachers in these subjects. The vast majority of these additional 2,500 teachers will come from within the UK, but the government recognises the valuable contribution made by overseas trained teachers particularly for certain shortage subjects. Therefore a small part of the package is focused on supporting schools to recruit internationally for qualified maths and physics teachers where necessary.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of whether continuing efforts to press the government of Sudan to tackle sexual and gender-based violence in Darfur have been successful, in the light of (1) the incidence of rape in the areas currently monitored by the UN and (2) the requirement in the legal framework in Sudan for a victim to provide four male witnesses to confirm that a rape was without consent.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We remain deeply concerned by the reported prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence in Darfur. While we welcome amendments to Sudanese law earlier this year that separated the crimes of rape and adultery we are concerned about how the law is implemented.

    In addition to engaging the Government of Sudan, we will continue to support a wide-range of efforts to progress this issue. We strongly support the presence of the African Union/UN Hybrid Mission operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and have worked to ensure that the mission has a strong mandate to protect civilians across Darfur. We are also vocal – both bilaterally and through the UN’s Security and Human Rights Councils – in urging all armed actors to address sexual and gender-based violence in Darfur. The UK played a significant role in the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2242 reflecting the importance of Women, Peace and Security-related issues for the UN family. Bilaterally, we have provided support to over 150 survivors of rape in Darfur and contributed to the successful prosecution of members of the police and armed forces.