The technical report issued by Norfolk County Council on 1 June 2016.
Technical Report (in .pdf format)
Tag: 2016
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Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to increase application charges to join the 2012 child maintenance scheme.
Priti Patel
The level of the application charge and collection charges for parents with care and non-resident parents will be included in the statutory 30 month review of charging, which is due to be completed by December 2016. There are no current plans to increase the application fee or collection charges.
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Baroness Gould of Potternewton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Gould of Potternewton on 2016-02-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the planned future HPV vaccine programme will also cover elimination of genital warts.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department and Public Health England are currently undertaking a procurement exercise to secure vaccine to support the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme for girls and as this is a competitive tender, it would not be appropriate to pre-judge the outcome of that exercise. The procurement will take account of the costs and benefits of all vaccines offered to establish which provides best value for money for the National Health Service.
The Department is considering the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation regarding HPV vaccination for men who have sex with men. Consideration will be given to the procurement of vaccine.
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Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to announce the outcome of proposals to assist unaccompanied refugee children from conflict regions.
James Brokenshire
As announced on 28th January, the Government is working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to lead a new initiative to scope the extent of the need to resettle in the UK unaccompanied refugee children in the exceptional cases where it is in the child’s best interests to do so. Discussions with UNHCR are ongoing. It is important that any proposal is considered carefully to ensure it is in the best interests of the children.
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Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the incidence and nature of human rights violations in South Sudan.
Mr Philip Hammond
The UK is deeply concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in South Sudan. A range of reports indicate that sexual violence and attacks on civilians remain widespread and that war crimes and/or crimes against humanity may have been committed, if established in a court of law. Bilaterally we are raising our serious concerns directly with the Government of South Sudan and pressing for action. At the regional level we are calling on the African Union to rapidly establish the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. And internationally we are pressing for a UN arms embargo to be put in place. We also undertook extensive lobbying to help secure a new Commission for Human Rights for South Sudan at the UN Human Rights Council in March.
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Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-05-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the position taken by the European Parliament that products containing glyphosate should be banned where alternative weed killers exist, and for use in public parks and playgrounds.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government recognises the importance of effective pesticides and believes that they should be authorised where the scientific evidence shows they do not pose unacceptable risks to human health or the environment.
The European Food Safety Authority concluded that glyphosate met these standards and UK experts agree. We therefore consider that glyphosate should be approved. If this happens, all authorised products which contain glyphosate will be individually re-assessed at a Member State level to ensure that they also meet safety standards.
The scientific assessment carried out so far does not suggest that blanket restrictions to prevent certain uses across the EU are justified. The Government therefore does not favour the inclusion of such restrictions in any future approval of glyphosate. It should be for Member States to consider whether restrictions are needed for particular glyphosate products in particular circumstances. This would form part of the normal product re-assessment process.
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Carol Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carol Monaghan on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans his Department has to help fill potential skills shortages in junior doctor and teaching positions resulting from the £35,000 income requirement for settlement of Tier 2 skilled workers over the next five years.
Nick Boles
Health Education England is the NHS body responsible for planning and commissioning training places for medical and non-medical NHS staff. Health Education England do not accept that the £35,000 income requirement will lead to a skills shortage in junior doctors and their current workforce plan for medical training commissions forecasts an increase of over 11,000 consultants and doctors by 2020.
Applicants that have been granted Tier 2 visas enabling them to take on work or training within the UK cannot apply for settlement (Indefinite Leave to Remain) until they have been resident for 5 years. Whilst it is recognised that basic starting salaries for junior doctors may be below the £35,000 threshold, junior doctors also receive salary allowances. By the end of the 5 year period most will have progressed sufficiently and are likely to be above the required threshold, ensuring that only the brightest and best may apply to settle.
In respect of teaching positions, secondary education teachers from non EEA countries in the subjects of maths, chemistry and physics are on the shortage occupation list and thus are exempt from the £35,000 threshold.
At a national level we are retaining and recruiting the teachers we need to deliver educational excellence everywhere. We have more teachers in our schools than ever before and the number of teachers has kept pace with changing numbers of pupils. There are more than 450,000 teachers in schools throughout England – up more than 13,000 since 2010. We recognise, however, that the strengthening economy and growth in pupil numbers make the situation more challenging and that this is more acute in certain subjects and particular schools or areas of the country.
That is why; we have expanded schemes like Teach First and let schools take the lead in training the next generation of teachers; we are investing over £1.3 billion up to 2020 to attract new teachers into the profession and we continue to offer generous bursaries of up to £30,000 tax free in priority subjects.
Last year we announced a £67 million investment in STEM teaching in England to recruit up to 2,500 additional maths and physics teachers over the next 5 years as well as providing subject knowledge training in maths and physics to 15,000 non-specialist serving teachers.
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Earl Attlee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Earl Attlee on 2016-09-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether it is their policy that the Secretary of State for Transport shall decline to grant a Vehicle Special Order under section 44 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, for the purpose of carrying crane ballast weights, to an operator which does not have a green Operator Compliance Risk Score from the DVSA; and if not, whether they will review that policy.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The DVSA’s Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) is a scheme that supports DVSA’s compliance monitoring for operators. In contrast Vehicle Special Orders in relation to the Special Types General Order (STGO) for abnormal loads are granted by the Secretary of State for Transport through Highways England.
These two schemes are not connected or interdependent. The Compliance Risk Score does not form any part of the process for granting an application for a Vehicle Special Order. Both schemes are designed with specific requirements. We have no plans to change the process to make either scheme conditional on the other.
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Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-10-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department’s policy is on the inclusion of anti-abuse clauses in the UK-Malawi tax treaty to prevent tax avoidance through treaty shopping.
Jane Ellison
As is usual in any negotiation, the text of a tax treaty remains confidential between the two governments during the negotiations. It is not therefore possible to comment on the contents of a treaty before it is signed.
The majority of the UK’s double taxation treaties are based on the OECD Model Double Taxation Convention. However, some developing countries prefer to follow the United Nations Model, whose provisions differ in some respects from the OECD Model, including in the “permanent establishment” article. Many of the UK’s treaties with developing countries contain at least some of these provisions. A treaty will be signed only when both governments are satisfied with its contents.
It has long been the UK’s policy to include robust anti-abuse provisions in its tax treaties to ensure that they operate as intended and in particular that residents of third countries cannot indirectly benefit from their provisions.
The text of the new treaty with Malawi was substantively agreed some time ago. However, in August 2016 Malawi raised some further points for consideration, which we will work together on. When that process is complete, and both countries are satisfied with contents of the new treaty, it will be signed and published. Parliament will scrutinise the revised agreement, as part of the affirmative Statutory Instruments procedures, before the treaty can enter into force.
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Bill Esterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2016-01-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which 10 companies owed the greatest amount of late payment debt to SMEs in each six-month period of the last 10 years.
Anna Soubry
The Department does not hold the information required. However, BACS data shows that small and medium businesses are owed a total of £26.8 billion, and the average small business is waiting for £31,900 in overdue payments.[1]
The Government recognises that late payment remains an important issue for small businesses in the UK and is taking significant steps to assist small businesses to recover late payment debts. This is part of a package of measures to tackle late payment. We have also legislated for new transparency measures in the public and private sectors.
The Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 legislated for new reporting requirement on the UK’s largest companies and Regulations will be introduced this year which will compel larger companies to report on payment practices and performance. This information will be published on a six-monthly basis and will be made publicly available.
The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 introduced a requirement for all public-sector buyers to publish annually, from 2017, their liability to debt interest payments. In central government we have gone further and faster. We will be publishing against these requirements quarterly from April this year. This will allow full public scrutiny of payment performance.
Through the Enterprise Bill, currently before Parliament, we will legislate to establish a Small Business Commissioner to give general advice and to help small businesses resolve disputes relating to payment matters with larger businesses.
Tackling late payment is about creating a responsible payment culture where larger companies recognise the benefit of having a sustainable and robust supply chain, and smaller businesses feel able to challenge poor behaviour. Once implemented, the Government is confident that these measures will lead to significant changes in the UK’s payment culture.
[1] BACS Data June 2015.