Tag: 2015

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate what the annual tax credit award for a single-earner family with two children, with no childcare costs, earning (a) £8,000, (b) £12,000, (c) £15,000, (d) £20,000 and (e) £25,000 a year will be in (i) 2015-16 and (ii) 2016-17.

    Damian Hinds

    The Summer Budget offered a new deal for working people. It means Britain moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society.

    A new National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 per hour from April 2016, will directly benefit 2.7 million low wage workers, and up to 6 million could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution. The new National Living Wage will boost pay for those currently earning the National Minimum Wage by £4,800 a year by 2020 when the National Living Wage is expected to rise to over £9 per hour.

    To help working families keep more of what they earn, the personal allowance will increase to £11,000 in 2016-17 and £11,200 in 2017-18. The government has committed to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 which will mean that a typical basic rate taxpayer will see their income tax cut by £1,205 a year compared to 2010.

    An illustrative renting family with two children, where one parent works full-time on the minimum wage, will be over £2,400 better off in cash terms by 2020.

    The government set out its assessment of the impacts of the Summer Budget policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July 2015. Taken together, the introduction of the National Living Wage, increases in the personal allowance and welfare changes mean that 8 out of 10 working households will be better off as a result of the Summer Budget.

    In response to a request from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, the government has chosen to produce and release an impact assessment on the tax credit changes to the Committee. The impact assessment shows that 60% of the tax credit savings come from the half of tax credit claimants with the highest income.

  • Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the performance of Build to Rent projects; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Build to Rent fund provides development finance to support the creation of a purpose-built private rented sector, backed by institutional private investment. The fund is market-led and the response has been strong.

    As at the end of September, there were 15 schemes in contract with the Homes and Communities Agency, representing £455 million of investment from the Build to Rent Fund, and which are expected to deliver over 4,000 housing units. In addition, a further 8 schemes seeking up to £378 million of investment have been shortlisted and are undergoing their approval process, potentially delivering up to an additional 2,950 housing units.

    As at the end of September, a total of 13 schemes – representing 2,631 housing units – receiving finance through the Build to Rent fund had started on site.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he plans to take to ensure that (a) UN membership of the European Convention on Human Rights and (b) other human rights measures do not adversely affect the ability of service personnel to discharge their duties in conflict zones.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Government is committed to upholding civilised standards in armed conflicts, and our view is that international humanitarian law, as embodied in the Geneva Conventions, set those standards. We are concerned that legal developments have the potential to impose unacceptable constraints on the Armed Forces when they are deployed to defend the UK and its interests. A commitment to address this problem was made in the Government’s Manifesto this year. Accordingly, we are considering the options available to safeguard the ability of our Armed Forces to do their job. We want to ensure that our Service personnel are not pressured to become unduly risk averse because of the fear of litigation or by the prospect of legal harassment, and that commanders are able to take the rapid and often high risk decisions necessary during military operations. We will announce our proposals in due course.

  • Graham Brady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Graham Brady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Brady on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what amount of pupil premium paid was not spent in the year it was paid in each of the last four years; what proportion of the total spending on pupil premium that amounted to in each of those years; and what estimate she has made of the total amount of pupil premium carried over in each of those years.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The department does not collect information from schools and academies on the amounts of the pupil premium spent in any given year nor the amount carried forward to future years.

    Local Authorities are obliged to provide an annual assurance that all pupil premium funding paid to them has been distributed appropriately. Schools and academies are also required to publish how much pupil premium funding they have received; what they have spent this on; and what impact this has had on the attainment of those pupils under the scope of the grant. This information is published annually, on their websites.

    Whilst we do not collect the specific information requested, we do publish the pupil premium allocations themselves and they are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2015-to-2016-allocations

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  • Charles Walker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Charles Walker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of the revenue from the sale of rod licences was not allocated to the maintenance and improvement of fisheries and fish stocks in the last five years.

    George Eustice

    The revenue raised from the sale of rod licences is classed as a hypothecated tax. The Environment Agency Financial Memorandum clearly sets out that this revenue is used for the provision of the Environment Agency fisheries service. The Environment Agency Financial Memorandum clearly sets out that the rod licence fees are for maintaining, improving and developing salmon, trout, freshwater and eel fisheries under the Salmon and Fresh Water Fisheries Act 1975.

    The Environment Agency Fisheries Service provides activities including; fisheries monitoring and enforcement, fisheries advice, preparing and responding to incidents and the necessary functions to support these services such as accommodation and legal advice.

  • Harriet Harman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Harriet Harman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Harriet Harman on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on which occasions British consular officials in Indonesia have visited Rebecca Prosser since her detention on 28 May 2015; how long each such visit lasted; and when the next such visit will take place.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Members of the consular team in Jakarta have visited Rebecca Prosser twice. The first visit took place on 2 June, shortly after her arrest, and lasted 30 minutes. The second, which lasted over two hours, took place on 10 September when she was moved from house arrest into a detention facility. Normal practice is to visit detainees in Indonesia every three months.

    Consular staff are in regular contact with Ms Prosser’s employer’s representatives, her legal team and her family. Since court proceedings began, we have provided a weekly written update to Ms Prosser, her family and their MPs. Our most recent contact with Ms Prosser’s family was on 21 October.

  • Caroline Flint – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Caroline Flint – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost of training a consultant in vascular surgery.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department does not hold information on the average cost to the taxpayer of training someone to become a consultant in vascular surgery.

    The Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Kent estimates within their report ‘Unit Costs of Health and Social Care 2014’, published March 2014 (latest data available), that the average cost in 2013/14 of consultant training to be £726,551. These figures reflect the pre-registration costs of tuition, living expenses/lost production and clinical placements and the post-graduate costs of tuition and replacement costs not the average cost to the taxpayer.

  • 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 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many perinatal mental health admissions there were in each financial year since 2009-10.

    Alistair Burt

    The information requested is in the table. It shows the count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary diagnosis of a mental health issue associated with the puerperium in each year from 2009-10 to 2013-14.

    Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector

    Year

    Count of FAEs

    2009-10

    278

    2010-11

    307

    2011-12

    267

    2012-13

    325

    2013-14

    325

    Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

    Note:

    An FAE is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on merging police forces in England.

    Mike Penning

    It is the role of directly elected local Police and Crime Commissioners to propose changes to local policing, not the Home Office. Any request from police forces to voluntarily merge would be considered where it is supported by a robust business case and has local consent.

    It is not necessary for police forces to merge in order to become more efficient. Existing legislation places a strong duty on Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners to collaborate in the interests of efficiency and effectiveness. Many are demonstrating that savings can be generated through collaboration without sacrificing local accountability and identity.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been (a) arrested, (b) charged and (c) convicted for targeting aircraft with laser pens in each of the last 10 years.

    Andrew Selous

    It is not possible to identify from data held centrally by the Ministry of Justice, Home Office, or Crown Prosecution Service, how many people have been arrested, charged or convicted for targeting aircraft with laser pens. This information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.