The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2016 to Question 40016, on unmanned air vehicles, if he will place in the Library a copy of the memorandum of understanding between his Department, the Home Office, the Civil Aviation Authority and the police.
Mr John Hayes
A copy of the memorandum of understanding will be placed in the House library.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to provide assistance to people who have purchased homes under the Help to Buy scheme in the event that interest rates subsequently rise.
Harriett Baldwin
The Government does not have any plans to provide additional assistance to those who have purchased a home under the Help to Buy scheme, in the event of a rise in interest rates.
Since April 2014, lenders have had to conduct an affordability assessment which includes a robust income and expenditure analysis. In addition, lenders must consider the impact of future interest rate increases on affordability.
This ensures that mortgages are only advanced where there is a reasonable expectation that the customer can repay.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the cost to the public purse has been of the refurbishment of Crown Post Offices in Lancaster since January 2010.
George Freeman
Post Office Limited runs and manages its directly managed Crown post offices. Arrangements for employees of these offices and changes to the Crown network are the operational responsibility of the Post Office.
I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to you on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-03-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the new Cabinet Office guidelines that no government grants may be used to lobby for new regulation or more government funding would preclude academics at publicly funded universities, or charities in receipt of grants for specific work, from giving evidence to parliamentary select committees drawing on such publicly funded research.
Lord Bridges of Headley
The new clause will not prevent recipients from performing activities that are part of the intended purpose of the grant. It makes sure that taxpayers’ money is not diverted from their intended purpose and wasted on political campaigning and political lobbying.
As indicated at the House of Lords Science Technology Committee, BIS and Cabinet Office are looking into how this new clause will apply to academic research.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to (a) announce the criteria and (b) begin the bidding process for allocating the funding available through the Pothole Action Fund.
Andrew Jones
The Pothole Action Fund is worth £250 million over the next five years to local highway authorities in England, outside London. On 7 April the Government announced the share each local highway authority will receive from the £50 million available for 2016/17. Funding is allocated according to the size of the road network the local highway authority is responsible for.
Further details can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cash-for-councils-to-fill-almost-1-million-potholes
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what monitoring her Department undertakes of the (a) allocation, (b) spending and (c) outcomes of pupil premium funding at (i) maintained schools and (ii) academy trust schools.
Mr Sam Gyimah
The conditions of grant for the pupil premium make clear that its purpose is to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. School leaders are best placed to decide how to spend the pupil premium in line with this policy and the needs of their pupils. Schools are not prevented from using the pupil premium to fund capital projects or from carrying over funding between years.
The Department for Education supports schools to make evidence-based decisions through the work of the Education Endowment Foundation, established to identify and promote effective practice in raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. The Department does not monitor how Academies and maintained schools spend the pupil premium but instead holds them to account for the outcomes of eligible pupils through the publication of data in performance tables and Ofsted inspection.
Where concerns are raised about the performance of an academy then they are addressed by the Regional School Commissioner with responsibility for that area. The Department also takes seriously any concerns about the financial management of a school. We are aware of the findings of the Ofsted report on Audenshaw School relating to its use of the pupil premium, following an inspection in February 2016. We are also aware that the Hon. Member, Andrew Gwynne, has met the Regional Schools Commissioner for Lancashire and West Yorkshire, Vicky Beer, on a number of occasions to discuss his concerns about Audenshaw School Academy Trust. The Department has carefully reviewed all the information provided on this matter and has identified no grounds to take further action.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the (a) minutes and (b) agendas of the Regional School Commissioners Strategy Forum are published; and if she will make a statement.
Edward Timpson
The minutes and agendas of the Regional School Commissioners (RSC) Strategy Forum are for internal use and are not published.
The RSCs meet monthly for the RSC Strategy Forum. The dates on which these meetings have taken place are as follows:
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RSC Strategy forum dates |
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16/09/2014 |
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14/10/2014 |
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11/11/2014 |
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16/12/2014 |
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06/01/2015 |
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10/02/2015 |
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10/03/2015 |
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02/04/2015 |
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21/04/2015 |
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14/05/2015 |
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23/06/2015 |
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14/07/2015 |
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18/08/2015 |
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09/09/2015 |
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06/10/2015 |
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11/11/2015 |
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09/12/2015 |
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13/01/2016 |
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10/02/2016 |
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09/03/2016 |
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06/04/2016 |
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04/05/2016 |
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08/06/2016 |
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06/07/2016 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Selous on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department takes to ensure that benefits paid to benefit appointees are used in the best interests of the benefit recipient.
Penny Mordaunt
The Secretary of State confirms that a claimant requires an appointee if we receive unequivocal medical evidence as to the claimant’s capacity to manage their benefit claim or if, as in the vast majority of cases, the visiting officer, through a series of questions relating to the comprehension of claiming and managing a benefit award, will reach a conclusion as to their capacity to act for themselves. This is specifically a benefit-related capacity assessment and not a mental capacity assessment.
Once someone has been appointed, they will remain in that role until (a) they wish to relinquish it (b) they themselves lose capacity (c) the claimant regains capacity or (d) they abuse their position by not acting in the best interests of the claimant and the appointment is revoked. This latter requirement is stressed to the prospective appointee when the appointment is being considered and they are required to sign form BF56 to confirm that they understand their responsibilities. The Department also has a review system in place.
The vast majority of revocations of an appointeeship occur because of information received from a third party alleging financial abuse which is subsequently confirmed on investigation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the purchase of the Kingsland Fire Station site for use by the Hackney New Primary School; and how much accrued to the public purse from the sale of that site.
Nick Gibb
The Government purchased the Kingsland Fire Station, 333 Kingsland Road, London E8 4DR for the sum of £16,000,000 (exclusive of VAT) from the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority in October 2015. The site has not been sold on.
The purchase, which was funded from the Department for Education’s budget, was made in the name of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; this is a long standing convention whereby the seal of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is held equally across all government departments and used for Land Registry Title purposes.
We do not have the details of any gain made by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority from the sale of the site; that could only be answered by the Authority.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will make an assessment of whether prices of imported ceramic goods from China reflect the domestic costs of production.
Anna Soubry
It is for industry to demonstrate prima facie evidence of dumping to the European Commission. We encourage industry to present this evidence to the Commission where there is evidence of dumping. Where evidence is sufficient to justify an investigation the Commission will do so and present any proposals for imposing duties to Member States. Trade defence is an EU competence and for the Commission to investigate.