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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 assessment his Department has made of the availability of bank accounts for (a) crowd funding and (b) digital currency businesses.

    Harriett Baldwin

    As the Chancellor announced at the Budget in March, the Government intends to bring digital currency exchanges into the scope of anti-money laundering regulation. The digital currency industry has highlighted the current lack of regulation as one of the obstacles firms face when trying to get bank accounts in the UK. The new regulatory regime will be designed to support firms’ access to these vital banking services, and to foster an environment in which legitimate digital currency businesses can flourish in the UK. The Treasury will consult on the detail of regulation shortly.

    The Government has supported the crowdfunding industry by consulting on whether to extend ISA eligibility to debt and equity crowdfunding and helping equity crowdfunding through the tax efficient Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) – without which 24% of investors say they would not have invested.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department takes to ensure that people divorced from serving officers are not evicted from serviced housing before they have found alternative accommodation.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence is as flexible as possible in allowing the maximum time to secure alternative accommodation.

    However, only serving personnel are eligible to be housed. In the event of a marriage breakdown, entitlement for a non-serving partner to stay in the property is lost and it may become necessary to free up housing for entitled Service families.

  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has for the future of the Student Opportunity Fund.

    Joseph Johnson

    We are examining all elements of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spend as part of the Spending Review, which will be published on the 25th November.

    The Department will set out its priorities for higher education in the subsequent Grant Letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Final decisions will be for HEFCE, taking account of the Grant Letter.

  • 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 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department takes to compare the transformation plans of clinical commissioning groups when appraising those plans.

    Alistair Burt

    As part of improving transparency, all Local Transformation Plans must be published locally and made widely available.

    NHS England’s guidance Local Transformation Plans for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing – Guidance and support for local areas is explicit about the need to promote equality and address health inequalities, and states that plans should ‘address the full spectrum of need including children and young people who have particular vulnerability to mental health problems for e.g. those with learning disabilities, looked after children and care leavers, those at risk or in contact with the Youth Justice System, or who have been sexually abused and/or exploited’.

    The assurance process requires local areas to evidence how they are meeting the needs of vulnerable groups including looked after children and children who have experienced abuse.

    An analysis of Local Transformation Plans has been commissioned and will include a thematic review of how the mental health needs of children and young people in vulnerable groups have been addressed.

    As set out in the guidance for Local Transformation Plans an integral part of the locally developed Children and Young People’s Mental Health Transformation Plans includes a tracking template that sets out local progress milestones and financial spend. This tracker will be used as the basis for assurance assessment in 2015/16 and from 2016/17 onwards progress on local transformation will become part of the mainstream planning assurance process.

    Local Transformation Plansrequire all key partners in a local area to agree how best to meet the mental health needs of children and young people in their local populations. 122 Local Transformation Planshave been developed that cover all 209 clinical commissioning groups.

    The assurance process for Local Transformation Plans for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing was undertaken by NHS England regional teams and included assurance against each plan of standard self-assessment and tracker templates to enable a comparison of plans against objective success criteria.

    NHS England have commissioned a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Local Transformation Plans, in order to support policy makers, local commissioners and services to understand and use the data that is contained within the plans to drive further improvements. Local Transformation Plans will be reviewed from a narrative, analytical and financial perspective, with thematic reviews carried out in key focus areas that align with Future in mind principles.

  • 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 steps he is taking to support the establishment of an independent international body to investigate violations of international law in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation and alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen. The UK fully and actively supports the UN’s efforts to achieve a political solution to bring an end to the conflict. This will help create the conditions for the legitimate Government to improve its capacity to protect human rights. The UK has previously engaged the Yemeni Government – both bilaterally and through the UN Human Rights Council – on a wide range of human rights issues. We continue to raise the importance of compliance international human rights law with all sides to the conflict.

    We welcome the September UN Human Rights Council resolution which contains mechanisms for monitoring the human rights situation in Yemen. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has been tasked to help Yemen investigate human rights abuses and violations, but it will be up to Yemen to decide on how it sets up its own domestic mechanism. We welcome Yemen’s commitment to cooperate with the UN on protection of human rights.

  • 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 Employment Support Programme of the Careers Transition Partnership in each year since 2010.

    Mark Lancaster

    Personnel with between four and six years of Service are eligible for the Employment Support Programme (ESP). The latest information held on eligible personnel that have participated in the ESP is as at 31 March 2014.

    Between 2010-11 and 2013-14 the following percentage of the total Armed Forces outflow have participated in the ESP:

    2010-11 – 10%

    2011-12 – 6%

    2012-13 – 6%

    2013-14 – 8%

    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 Business, Innovation and Skills

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what guidance his Department gives to apprenticeship providers on supporting apprentices with dyslexia.

    Nick Boles

    Apprenticeships are covered by the Equality Act 2010, therefore employers and providers are required to make reasonable adjustments. Assessment centres (for example colleges) are responsible for ensuring that they understand and apply access arrangements.

    Ofqual provides guidance for awarding organisations in England on reasonable adjustment. The Joint Council of Qualifications publishes arrangements annually on special considerations and adjustments. The current version has a number of examples of how to apply arrangements to learners with dyslexia.

    The Education and Training Foundation provides guidance for training providers, including advice on supporting apprentices with dyslexia. This can be found in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) section of the Excellence Gateway on the Education and Training Foundation website http://send.excellencegateway.org.uk/.

    “

  • 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 the Government’s planned contributions are to the NATO Ballistic Missile Defence network in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-19 and (e) 2019-20.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The UK’s contribution to the NATO Ballistic Missile Defence network for future years will form part of our contribution to NATO in accordance with our agreed cost share. As outlined in the SDSR, we will support research, development initiatives and multinational engagement through the UK’s Missile Defence Centre. The specific expenditure for the years requested has not yet been identified

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

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

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to business rate relief on the charity sector.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Government is continuing to consider representations, including on business rates reliefs, to inform decisions on reform of the business rates system. The Government has confirmed the review will conclude by the end of the year.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2015 to Question 18261, if she will make an assessment of the net contribution to the UK economy made by immigration from Australia, Canada and New Zealand in the last five years before proceeding with her Department’s proposals to restrict access to Tier 2 visas for Australian and New Zealand citizens.

    James Brokenshire

    There are no plans to introduce Tier 2 restrictions specifically aimed at Australian, New Zealand and/or Canadian citizens.

    The Government has commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on restricting Tier 2 to genuine skills shortages and jobs which require highly-specialised experts, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers. The MAC is looking at selection criteria such as, but not limited to, salaries, particular attributes, economic need and skills level. The Government has asked the MAC to consider the economic impact of potential changes.

    The MAC is still finalising its report and we do not yet know what its findings and recommendations will be. We await the report with interest and will consider the potential economic impacts carefully before making any significant changes to the Tier 2 route.