The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the withdrawal of the Housing Market Renewal Initiative.
Brandon Lewis
The Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders programme ran from 2002 to 2011 and created large-scale Whitehall targets for demolition and clearance across the Midlands and the North of England. The programme was cancelled under the last Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department takes into account successful challenges to benefit sanctions retrospectively in benefit off-flow statistics.
Priti Patel
It is not necessary to retrospectively adjust the benefit off-flow statistics. The sanctions figures cover both disallowances and sanctions and neither automatically lead to an off-flow from JSA.
We ask claimants who are disallowed and who wish to continue claiming to reaffirm their circumstances and those that do so remain in the claimant count. Only those not prepared to commit to actively seek and be available for work would leave the count as an off-flow.
Claimants who are sanctioned retain their underlying entitlement to benefit and only flow off if they choose not to attend their job search reviews.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on reconsidering the cases of people who had their leave to remain wrongly cancelled, or who were wrongly detained or removed, on the basis of allegations of fraud in English language tests made by ETS in response to the Upper Tribunal ruling in Qadir v Secretary of State, 23 March 2016.
James Brokenshire
We received the determination in the case of Qadir and SM from Upper Tribunal on 8 April which provides the full reasons for the decision which were not included in the summary handed down on 23 March. Although the Upper Tribunal found that the Home Office did discharge the evidential burden on it in establishing fraud at ETS test centres and that each appellant would need to establish an innocent explanation, it went on to allow the appeals. We are disappointed by the decision and we are currently reviewing it with a view to challenging before the Court Of Appeal. Given this there are no current plans to reconsider earlier decisions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a public inquiry related to the miners’ strike and events at Orgreave in 1984.
Mrs Theresa May
I am currently considering a submission from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign containing their extensive and detailed arguments for establishing a public inquiry into the events at Orgreave and will set out the Government’s position in the near future.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-06-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if his Department will produce a new Strategy for Abolition of the Death Penalty.
Mr David Lidington
I refer the Hon. Member to my answer of 14 January in response to Written Question 21761 of 11 January from the Hon. Member for Birmingham Hall Green (Mr Godsiff ).
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-09-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department’s paper, Infected Blood: Government Response to Consultation on Reform of Financial and Other Support, published in July 2016, whether it is planned that the new single trust set to be established in 2017-18 will receive all funds held in reserves by the Caxton Foundation, the Eileen Trust and Macfarlane Trust; and how much is held in reserves by each of those charities.
Nicola Blackwood
There will be a new scheme administrator combining the functions of the existing schemes into a single scheme going forward. The new scheme administrator will become operational in the financial year 2017/18 and the current bodies will operate until then. We are working on transition plans and would hope that the charities would use any reserves to support beneficiaries. Details of reserves are published in the Annual Accounts.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mc Nally on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reasons the remit of the proposed Small Business Commissioner does not include businesses in the construction industry; and if he will make a statement.
Anna Soubry
The Small Business Commissioner (SBC) will not consider a complaint which is covered by a statutory right to adjudication; or is within scope of an ombudsman, regulator or another public body.
We do not want the SBC to duplicate existing dispute resolution bodies or schemes, particularly where these are sector specific. Certain disputes arising under a construction contract are covered by a statutory right to adjudication under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (the “Construction Act”).
The Government has announced its plans for taking forward a Post Implementation Review of the effectiveness of the “Construction Act” following amendments introduced in 2011 – alongside the review of the practice of cash retention in construction, and is very pleased that the Construction Leadership Council has agreed to oversee this.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the cost to the NHS of antibiotics used to treat urinary tract infections in each of the last three years.
George Freeman
Information on why a drug has been prescribed is not collected.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-03-04.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on advertisements with Google in each of the last three years.
Matthew Hancock
Cabinet Office spent £107,896.25 on Google advertising in 2013/14. Cabinet Office did not spend anything on Google advertising in 2014/15. Fully auditable figures are not yet available for 2015/16. All figures include VAT.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of public country-by-country reporting of corporation tax details by multinational companies on the economies of developing countries.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The UK supports efforts to improve tax transparency. We initiated international work on country-by-country (CbC) reporting during our G8 Presidency in 2013, calling on the OECD to develop a framework for CbC reporting to tax authorities as part of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. This important initiative will enhance transparency between business and tax authorities, including those of developing countries.
DFID funds the Global Forum and the World Bank to provide technical assistance to improve exchange of tax information in developing countries which will allow tax authorities to gain access to information such as country-by-country reports. We also support the OECD in helping developing countries tackle multinational practices such as transfer pricing and have provided HMRC tax auditors to Tax Inspectors Without Borders, which puts expert tax auditors in the field working on complex multinational audit cases.