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Tag: 2015

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of assured shorthold tenancies registered with each of the three tenancy deposit schemes; whether each deposit is held under (a) a custodial and (b) an insurance scheme; and how many assured shorthold tenancies there were in England and Wales in each year since each scheme’s establishment.

    Brandon Lewis

    Under tenancy deposit protection legislation introduced in the Housing Act 2004, all landlords who let out property on an assured shorthold tenancy are required to protect their tenants’ deposits in one of the three Government-approved deposit protection schemes.

    Details of the number of deposits protected under each scheme as at March 2015 are set out below:

    Custodial scheme: Deposit Protection Service: 1,170,564

    Insurance Schemes:

    Tenancy Deposit Scheme: 1,135,769
    Deposit Protection Service: 20,944
    MyDeposits: 738,853

    Whilst the Government has authorised three private companies to provide tenancy deposit protection schemes, we do not have a day-to-day role in the running of the schemes, however, we do maintain an oversight responsibility, and the Department holds quarterly monitoring meetings with scheme providers at which any performance issues can be discussed. Over the period that the schemes have been in operation, they have performed at a consistently high level. We have not issued guidance for the schemes who all engage the services of dispute resolution professionals. However, the majority of disputes are resolved in 28 days, which is the performance target set by the Government.

    The number of adjudications per year for each scheme is set out in the attached table, including the percentage of adjudications awarded to tenants and landlords.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce the deficit in the light of statistics from the ONS recording the highest level of borrowing in six years.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The government has made significant progress to date in reducing borrowing – the deficit has more than halved as a share of GDP since 2009-10 and the national debt as a share of GDP is forecast to be falling this year. But the job is not yet done – the deficit remains high among advanced economies.

    At Summer Budget the government announced £17 billion of consolidation measures; £5 billion from tax avoidance, evasion and imbalances in the tax system and £12 billion from welfare reform. The Autumn Statement and Spending Review laid out a further £18 billion; £12 billion savings to overall RDEL spending; £3 billion from the Apprenticeship levy and £3 billion from delivering reforms such as Making Tax Digital and further measures to tackle tax avoidance.

    In their November forecast, the independent OBR predict the deficit to fall in each year of this Parliament, reaching a £10.1 billion surplus by 2019-20.

  • John Pugh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many English secondary schools belong to an academy trust which has more than one school.

    Edward Timpson

    As of 29 October 2015, there are 1,093 English schools which provide some form of secondary education and are part of academy trusts with more than one school.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest projection of the cost of HS2 at completion including motive power units and carriages.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Spending Review 2015 settlement announced by the Chancellor on 25 November sets out an updated funding envelope for delivering the HS2 project in 2015 prices of £55.7bn. This includes provision for rolling stock, including motive power. The underlying budget for this project has not changed. At SR13 we announced that the total budget was £50.1bn in 2011 prices and it has been uprated to 2015 prices.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many incidents of Larsen trap tampering there have been in each of the last five years.

    Rory Stewart

    Defra does not collect data relating to the interference with traps, including Larsen traps.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential threat to national security of the involvement of Chinese government companies in the UK steel industry.

    Anna Soubry

    We scrutinise closely any deal that may have implications for national security.

  • Lord Berkeley of Knighton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Berkeley of Knighton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley of Knighton on 2015-11-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve the availability of musical instruments and instrumental teachers in schools.

    Lord Nash

    Music education hubs are responsible for making sure that every child aged 5 to 18 in their local area has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument through whole-class ensemble teaching and that clear progression routes in music are available and affordable to all young people. Music education hubs must also provide an instrument loan service to support pupils from families with low incomes.

    According to data published by Arts Council England (ACE), 583,783 pupils learnt to play an instrument at school through whole-class ensemble teaching in the academic year 2013/14, an increase of 52,361 from 2012/13.

  • Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2015-11-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions the Financial Conduct Authority has had with the New York State Department of Financial Services on the use of the financial services messaging platform Symphony.

    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 directly to the Rt Hon Joan Ryan by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

  • Lord Ouseley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Ouseley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2015-11-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether children from low socioeconomic status backgrounds with lower 11-plus test scores are more or less likely to be offered grammar school places than children from higher socioeconomic status backgrounds; and what steps they are taking to achieve equality of opportunity in education.

    Lord Nash

    The Department does not collect data on the selection test scores of prospective applicants to grammar schools.

    We are committed to ensuring that every child, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to fulfil their potential. The recent report by the Public Accounts Committee on ‘Funding for disadvantaged pupils’ stated that, since the introduction of the pupil premium, the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has closed by 4.7 percentage points in primary schools and by 1.6 percentage points in secondary schools.

    We continue to invest in our academies and free schools programme, which is already raising standards in areas serving some of our most disadvantaged young people.

    We are also putting high expectations at the heart of our school system, with a rigorous new curriculum, world-class exams, and a new accountability system that rewards schools that encourage every child to achieve their best.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Prompt Payment Code on (a) UK businesses in the FinTech sector and (b) other businesses.

    Anna Soubry

    The Prompt Payment Code is a voluntary code which organisations from the public, private and third sector can sign up to. The Government monitors a variety of sources to monitor the level of late payment debt. We are not able to assess the direct effect of the Prompt Payment Code on any individual sector.

    New transparency measures will allow us to monitor the payment performance of signatories. Through powers in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 the Government will introduce a new reporting requirement on the UK’s largest companies – including many Code signatories – to report on their payment practices and performance. We plan to introduce this next year, and the Code will make full use of this new information. From next year small and medium-sized Code signatories will also report on their payment performance directly to the Code. Small and medium-sized companies will report, on an annual basis, on a comply or explain basis.