Tag: 2016

Lord Hughes of Woodside – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hughes of Woodside on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen on 12 September (HL Deb, col 1308), what are the remit and terms of appointment of the anti-corruption champion, and what staffing and financial support arrangements have been put in place to assist him in carrying out his duties.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

The Anti-Corruption Champion, Sir Eric Pickles, is a personal appointment of the Prime Minister. The main elements of the Champion’s role were set out in the UK’s Anti-Corruption Action Plan and include: scrutinising the performance of departments and agencies, as co-chair of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Anti-Corruption; responsibility, along with Home Office Ministers, for approval of the UK’s Anti-Corruption Plan and for parliamentary and public accountability of the Government’s performance against the Plan; responsibility, along with other Ministers, for leading the UK’s push to strengthen the international response to corruption; and a mandate to engage with external stakeholders, including business and civil society organisations. The Champion is supported by the Joint Anti-Corruption Unit.

01/01/2023
Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-21.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the public sector exit payments cap on the ability of public sector employees to reduce the number of public sector workers through voluntary redundancy.

Greg Hands

The Government consulted on implementing a public sector exit payment cap in July 2015. The Government response to this consultation was published on 16 September 2015. This response provides detail on the potential impacts of the cap and sets out which organisations the Government intends to capture within scope of the public sector exit payment cap. The final policy is in line with the Government’s manifesto commitment to end tax payer funded six figure payoffs for public sector workers.

The consultation ran from 31 July to 27 August 2015. Over 4000 responses were received. These representations were considered during and after the consultation to inform the Government response that was published on 16 September 2015.

The response document can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464367/Public_sector_exit_payments_response.pdf

An impact analysis was published within the exit payment cap consultation document which respondents had an opportunity to comment on. Further, the Government worked with departments and took into account consultation responses received after the official deadline to inform the impact of a public sector exit payment cap set at £95,000 in different sectors and for different categories of workers. This assessment gave due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The exit payment cap is intended to capture organisations classified as public sector by the Office for National Statistics with few exceptions as identified in the consultation response.

The Government does not expect the cap to have a widespread impact on the take-up of voluntary redundancy.

At the 2015 Spending Review the Government announced it will consult on further cross public sector action on exit payment terms. This consultation will provide a good opportunity to collect further information on the trends in the level of exit payments between the private and public sector.

01/01/2023
David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2016 to Question 25444, whether she has made an estimate of the proportion of coal that may have been mined by children.

Andrea Leadsom

The majority of power station operators in the UK are members of BetterCoal, an industry-led initiative which is taking action to promote responsible coal mining and has established a set of ethical, social, and environmental principles with which companies in the supply chain are expected to align. This includes conformity with a number of International Labour Organization conventions and recommendations which aim to eradicate child labour.

01/01/2023
Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on press freedom of the takeover of the Turkish newspaper Zaman.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We continue to monitor specific cases and regularly underline the importance of freedom of expression and all fundamental freedoms as part of our broader dialogue with the Turkish government. We welcomed the EU Commission’s Annual Progress Report on Turkey, released on 10 November 2015, which highlighted the need for further reforms from Turkey in these areas. These reports reinforce our long-standing concerns about freedom of press in Turkey. Freedom of press and access to a range of views are crucial in a democracy. As a friend and ally, we urge the Turkish government to uphold the right of media to operate without restriction.

01/01/2023
Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with local authorities in Northern Ireland and Scotland about the illegal trafficking of puppies from the Republic of Ireland; and what assessment she has made of the effect on such trafficking of the transfer in Scotland of search powers from Trading Standards to local port authorities.

George Eustice

The Government takes the illegal movement of dogs and puppies seriously and it is committed to working with the Devolved Administrations, delivery bodies, enforcement agencies and non-government organisations to tackle this issue.

Whilst there have been no recent Ministerial meetings on the illegal movement of dogs, Defra’s Chief Veterinary Officer has recently discussed the issue with his Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland counterparts. Additionally, there have been discussions on this issue between other Defra officials and officials within the Devolved Administrations.

Defra has not carried out an assessment of the impact of transferring Trading Standards search powers to local port authorities in Scotland as this is a devolved matter. However, we will continue to work closely with the Scottish Government and other interested parties to ensure that there is a full exchange of ideas and information on combating the illegal importation of puppies.

01/01/2023
Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received on improving road-side facilities for hauliers on the strategic road network.

Andrew Jones

Since the beginning of the year Transport Ministers and DfT officials have received five letters from MPs and six letters from the public calling specifically for an improvement in roadside facilities for hauliers. I have asked officials to see what can be done to work with the industry to improve the provision and quality of roadside facilities.

01/01/2023
Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make it her policy to implement the Competition and Markets Authority’s recommendations in making all future auctions for renewable support contracts technology neutral.

Andrea Leadsom

The CMA recommendations are another step towards ensuring we have a competitive and effective energy market for consumers. We will now take action, along with Ofgem and other delivery bodies, to implement these recommendations.

The Competition and Markets Authority did not recommend making all future auctions for renewable support technology neutral.

01/01/2023
Lord Clement-Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with other EU governments regarding the position the EU plans to take at the forthcoming CITES conference regarding bans on domestic ivory markets.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

A number of proposals on elephant and ivory related issues will be discussed at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to be held in South Africa between 24 September 2016 and 5 October 2016. This will include discussions on the existing global ban on the trade in ivory, which the UK is committed to maintaining, and the role of domestic ivory markets in illegal trade. Officials have engaged in substantial discussions with counterparts from other EU Member States on these and other issues over several months in formulating the EU and Member State position at the CITES Conference. The UK will continue to play a full role in these discussions.

The then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Affairs, Rory Stewart, discussed the issue of the closure of domestic ivory markets with the Government of the United States (US) during a trip earlier this year. In addition officials in Defra are in regular contact with their US counterparts and have discussed the US measures on a number of occasions.

The Government has been actively exploring options with relevant parties about how to implement the UK Government’s manifesto commitment to press for a total ban on ivory sales and the steps to be taken in respect of the UK’s ivory market. On 21 September 2016 the Secretary of State announced plans for a ban on sales of items containing ivory dated between 1947 and the present day, putting UK rules on ivory sales among the world’s toughest.

The Government will consult on plans for the ban early next year, seeking views from conservationists, traders and other relevant parties to ensure clear rules and guidance for those operating within the law, while cracking down on illegal sales. This will complement the existing UK ban on trade in raw ivory tusks. Trade in raw tusks presents the greatest risk of poached ivory entering the legal market.

TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring organisation, has recently published its independent report – A Rapid Survey of the UK ivory market. Although not an exact comparison with a survey conducted in 2004, TRAFFIC’s survey found the number of market stalls offering ivory for sale had declined by approximately two-thirds and the number of items offered for sale had halved. No new or raw ivory was seen in any of the physical market outlets or online platforms— only one ivory item seen for sale was reportedly from after the legal cut-off (1947) for antique ivory being sold without CITES documentation within the EU. Ivory is a key UK wildlife crime priority with an enforcement action plan in place to tackle risk. For example, UK Border Force through Operation Quiver has in particular successfully targeted ivory sent through postal systems.

01/01/2023
Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential financial implications for small businesses with 100 employees or fewer of the Apprenticeship Levy.

Nick Boles

Employers with a pay bill of less than £3m will not have to pay the levy. This is more than 98% of all employers. Small employers will continue to have access to government funding to support apprenticeships. Until the levy comes in, the apprenticeships scheme will continue to operate as it does now.

01/01/2023

Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the (a) budget and (b) total spend was on the disabled facilities grants scheme in each year from 2009-10 to 2014-15.

Brandon Lewis

Information on the annual budgets provided by the Government for the Disabled Facilities Grant and additional funding by local authorities, which adds up to the total spend for the Grant, is given in the table below.

	2009-10 (£m)	2010-11 (£m)	2011-12 (£m)	2012-13 (£m)	2013-14 (£m)	2014-15 (£m)
Government Funding	157	169	200	220	180	185
Local Authority contribution	139	137	98	60	88	84
Total	296	306	298	280	268	269

Data on local authority contributions is provided by local housing authorities in their annual LOGASnet returns. LOGASnet is the Department of Communities and Local Government’s web-based data capture and payments system. The data is not audited centrally.

01/01/2023