Tag: 2015

Baroness Smith of Basildon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Smith of Basildon on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will (1) produce a (a) Green Paper, and (b) White Paper, and (2) consult with Parliament, prior to recommending any legislative changes to parliamentary procedures following Lord Strathclyde’s review of the powers of the House of Lords.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston):

Lord Strathclyde is being supported in his review by a panel of external experts and a small secretariat of civil servants in the Cabinet Office. The secretariat does not include political advisers. The expert panel comprises Sir Stephen Laws, former First Parliamentary Counsel; Jacqy Sharpe, a former Clerk in the House of Commons and Clerk to the Joint Committee on Conventions; and Sir Michael Pownall, former Clerk of the Parliaments.

Several reviews have examined the powers of the House of Lords, including the Royal Commission on the reform of the House of Lords (2000) and the Joint Committee on Conventions referenced above (2006).

The review led by Lord Strathclyde is due to consider how to protect the ability of elected Governments to secure their business in Parliament in the light of the operation of certain conventions. The review will consider in particular how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to its primacy on financial matters; and secondary legislation.

Ministers regularly discuss a wide range of issues with the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service.

Lord Strathclyde will determine the way in which the review is undertaken and the content of his recommendations, including any definitions required. It is not possible to provide an estimate of the cost of the exercise at this stage, but neither Lord Strathclyde nor his panel of experts will be paid a fee. Lord Strathclyde is expected to seek views from a wide range of Parliamentarians, parties and groups in undertaking his review, and has issued a letter to all Parliamentarians inviting their input. He is also seeking views from the Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the House. Lord Strathclyde will report to the Prime Minister, and the Government will decide how to proceed upon receipt of his recommendations.

January 1, 2023
Emma Lewell-Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Lewell-Buck on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that supply chain contracts from the Beatrice offshore wind project will create jobs in the UK.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department, together with UKTI and BIS, work closely with the Beatrice offshore wind farm developer to ensure that UK companies are able to bid for contracts in an open and fair competition process to maximise the UK content in the wind farm.

Offshore Wind Developers have committed to achieving their vision statement of providing over 50% UK content in UK offshore wind farms. There is an agreed industry standard methodology in place for the Industry to measure and record the UK content in each offshore wind farm. The industry publishes the anonymised and consolidated results to allow the sector and the public to track the sector’s progress towards fulfilling their vision.

January 1, 2023
Baroness Stern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Stern on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the 20 new Protector” drones to be procured under the Scavenger Programme will be the General Atomics certifiable Predator B or any other model or variant.”

Earl Howe

No decision has yet been made on the choice of platform to meet the Protector (formerly Scavenger) requirement. This will be determined as part of the main investment decision, which is scheduled for 2016.

January 1, 2023
Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects that the trial will begin of Michael Misick, former Prime Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

James Duddridge

We expect the trial to start this week.

January 1, 2023
Gordon Marsden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the likely impact of freezing the earnings repayment thresholds for 24+ Advanced Learner Loans on the Resource Account and Budgeting charge of outstanding debt which will be written off for 24+ Advanced Learner Loans.

Nick Boles

We estimate the RAB charge under option 1 (freeze threshold for all Plan 2 loans, existing and new borrowers from April 2016 to April 2021) will decrease by about 5 percentage points from the current level of 55% to 50%.

Further information on the impact of freezing the earnings repayment thresholds for 24+ Advanced Learning Loans on future repayments is shown in the Consultation on freezing the student loan repayment thresholds, which has been published here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/freezing-the-student-loan-repayment-threshold

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January 1, 2023
Ian Blackford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what evidence his Department holds on the prevalence of off-label prescribing among (a) specialist clinicians, (b) GPs, (c) nurses and (d) other medical professionals.

George Freeman

The Department does not hold the information requested. The Health and Social care Information Centre has published information on prescribing data by British National Formulary chapter.

Where clinically appropriate, off-label prescribing is supported in guidance given to prescribers by both the General Medical Council and by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Prescribing in this way is part and parcel of normal every day clinical practice. It is very common in paediatric and palliative care.

Discussions relating to the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill are considering how a potential database covering off-label use could be constituted.

January 1, 2023
Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barbara Keeley on 2015-11-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of in-work households in Salford in receipt of tax credits with an underlying entitlement to working tax credit in each of the last five tax years did not have a claim with an underlying entitlement to working tax credit in the following year.

Damian Hinds

The answers are only available at disproportionate cost.

January 1, 2023
Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions a special adviser in his Department accompanied a Minister on an overseas trip since May 2015.

Caroline Dinenage

As has been the case under successive Administrations, civil servants, including special advisers, may routinely accompany their Ministers on official visits.

All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.

January 1, 2023
Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of tax credit claimants who claim housing benefit are entitled to a higher rate of housing benefit due to the childcare cost disregard.

Damian Hinds

This Government is committed to moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society. As the Chancellor made clear, the Government will set out at Autumn Statement how we plan to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits, saving the money we need to save to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.

As announced at Summer Budget, the Chancellor announced that free entitlement childcare would be doubled from 15 hours to 30 for working parents. This will not be rolled out until September 2017, with early implementation in some areas in September 2016.

Information about the age, gender and number of children in receipt of tax credits can be found in HMRC’s Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics, April 2015. Available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-tax-credits-provisional-statistics-2013-to-2009

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January 1, 2023
Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-12-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he became aware that Connaught Fund investors pursuing compensation awarded by the Financial Ombudsman Service are having their professional indemnity claims rejected because the Financial Conduct Authority handbook IPRU-INV sch13 allows independent financial advisers to operate with insurer-imposed restrictions on their insurance that exclude schemes the adviser had already recommended to clients.

Harriett Baldwin

This is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is operationally independent from Government.

This question has been passed on to the FCA. They will reply directly to the Honourable Member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

January 1, 2023