Tag: 2016

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the consistency of sentencing for people convicted of online fraud.

    Andrew Selous

    Guidelines on sentencing are produced by the independent Sentencing Council, which was established to promote greater transparency and consistency in sentencing while maintaining the independence of the judiciary. The Council published a definitive guideline on fraud, bribery and money laundering offences in May 2014. The Council has a statutory duty to monitor the operation and effect of its guidelines.

    The most recent statistics on sentencing for fraud offences is available through the attached link. The courts database does not separate online and offline fraud offences.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014

    “

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will issue guidance to rail companies to ensure they publicise passenger rights for compensation for disruption caused by the recent floods in Northern England.

    Claire Perry

    We are committed to improving compensation arrangements for delayed rail passengers. That is why we are introducing requirements in all new franchise agreements to both require that train operators make reasonable endeavours to make passengers aware of their rights to claim compensation and also to implement Delay/Repay. It is noteworthy that under Delay/Repay, which will apply to the new Northern and TPE franchises to start in April this year, there are no exclusions for delays outside the control of the rail industry, such as exceptionally severe weather conditions.

    This winter’s unprecedented weather conditions have caused disruption to services. Network Rail have been working hard to repair tracks in these atrocious conditions. We remain absolutely committed to getting all lines able to run full services as soon as possible and thank passengers for their patience whilst emergency repairs are made.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in which months since March 2012 his Department has withheld performance payments from Capita as a result of it not meeting the recruitment targets required by the Recruitment Partnership Programme contract.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    I am witholding the information as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has for the future levels of bursaries and salary support for trainee child and adolescent psychotherapists.

    Ben Gummer

    Those undertaking training in child and adolescent psychotherapy are not currently eligible for NHS Bursary funding and tuition funding is determined by Health Education England (HEE) at a local level based on local need.

    For 2016/17, HEE will fund those commissions set out in the HEE Commissioning and Investment Plan 2016/17 which was published in December 2015. HEE’s plans for commissioning child and adolescent psychotherapist training places remain unchanged from 2015/16.

    The Government is working with HEE and other delivery organisations to ensure that the future supply of qualified healthcare professionals continues to meet the needs of the health service.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what timeline he has set for all multinational companies operating in the UK to publish country-by-country reporting; and how that requirement will be enforced.

    Mr David Gauke

    The UK initiated the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) work on country-by-country (CbC) reporting by large multinationals to tax authorities. The UK was one of the first countries to commit to the OECD model of CbC reporting with legislation in Finance Act 2015, and regulations were laid on 26 February 2016 setting the details of implementation in the UK, which apply to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2016. The UK together with 30 countries has signed the OECD Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) to exchange CbC reports.

    The Chancellor has recently pressed the case for public CbC reporting on a multilateral basis. On 12 April 2016 the European Commission published a legislative proposal for public CbC reporting by large multinationals. The UK welcomes this work as a step in the right direction towards new international rules for greater public transparency.

  • Lord Shinkwin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Shinkwin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Shinkwin on 2016-06-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions (1) in the last tax year for which figures are available, and (2) for each of the tax years since the introduction of Gift Aid, HMRC reclaimed or recovered Gift Aid from an individual because they had mistakenly made a Gift Aid declaration to a charity or had not paid sufficient tax to cover the Gift Aid.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Around £1.3bn of Gift Aid was paid to charities in 2015/16, the highest year of Gift Aid payments since the scheme began. During 2015/16, HMRC contacted 2,580 individuals where a shortfall was identified in the tax needed to cover the donation. Individual donors are responsible for ensuring they have paid sufficient tax to cover any Gift Aid reclaimed in their donation. No statistics are available for earlier years.

  • Lord Moonie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Moonie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moonie on 2016-09-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consular offices remain in Italy at which UK citizens can renew their passports, and what plans they have for those that still provide this service.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    British nationals cannot renew full validity passports at consular offices in Italy. Passport applications are made online and documentation is sent to Her Majesty’s Passport Office in the UK. British nationals can get an Emergency Travel Document at the British Embassy in Rome or at the British Consulate General in Milan when they have an urgent need to travel and meet the necessary criteria.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what Network Rail maintenance, renewal or enhancement works that were planned to be carried out under blockade during the 2015-16 Christmas and New Year period were cancelled or deferred.

    Claire Perry

    Network Rail has advised that of the schemes at the 80 highest priority worksites over the 2015/16 Christmas/New Year period, only one was cancelled – planned bridge works at Old Lodge Lane at Purley, which were cancelled due to high winds.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012 assumed a post-incident release of nuclear materials from the transportation packages.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Ministry of Defence maintains a Defence Nuclear Emergency Organisation (NEO) to respond in the unlikely event of an emergency involving the transport of defence nuclear materials. The NEO organises regular exercises to test the effectiveness of its emergency response planning and arrangements. These include the Astral series of exercises, which are designed to be challenging, and thus simulate the extremely unlikely event of a release of radioactive material from the transport containers. No radioactive materials are used or released to the environment during the exercises. The specific exercise objectives do not require assessments or estimates of decontamination, environmental or other post-incident decontamination costs or of radiological dose uptakes. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) undertook the modelling for each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012.

    I am withholding information about the physical state, mass quantity, release fraction and total released radioactivity assumed for these exercises as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice national security.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on the use of teargas against refugees and migrants at the Macedonian border.

    James Brokenshire

    We continue to work closely with our European partners to address all aspects of the current migration situation as it continues to develop, including regular bilateral and multilateral discussions. There have been no specific discussions on the use of tear gas.

    Public order is a matter for national governments and we expect all our international partners to ensure that migrants’ human rights are fully respected.

    We are clear that protection in the region of origin is often the best solution, including for refugees, and that those reaching the EU should claim asylum in the first Member State they enter (as per EU rules) rather than seeking to travel further across Europe to their destination of choice.