Tag: 2016

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Colombian counterpart on the 24 trade unionists killed in Colombia in 2015.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Our Embassy in Bogotá takes every opportunity to urge the Colombian government to take further measures to prevent violence and threats against human rights defenders and trade unionists. Our Ambassador in Bogotá raised concerns about human rights defenders with the Colombian Interior Minister on 1 February and with the Presidential Advisor for Human Rights on 4 February. Furthermore, this year we are funding a Colombian NGO to develop protection measures for human rights defenders in rural areas. Our Embassy will continue to raise these issues in regular meetings with the Colombian government.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26579, what financial assistance her Department provided to charities who support women and children who have suffered an instance of domestic abuse in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

    Karen Bradley

    The previous Government provided £40 million of stable funding for domestic abuse and sexual violence services between 2011 and 2015, equating to £10 million per year and including funding for independent domestic violence advisers, MARAC coordinators and national helplines.

    This funding was extended until April 2016, supplemented by an additional £10 million for refugees, and a £3.5 million fund to boost the provision of domestic violence services including refugees. This funding supports all victims of domestic abuse including those with children.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what provisions his Department has put in place to improve rolling stock as part of the rail franchise package for the North West.

    Andrew Jones

    The new Northern and TransPennine Express franchises commenced on the 1st April. By the end of 2019, they will have introduced significant improvements in Rolling Stock.

    The Northern franchise will deliver:-

    • 281 new carriages including 55 new Diesel and 43 new Electric trains – the first ever new trains specified for the Northern franchise
    • Additional diesel units cascaded from other franchises – refurbished to ‘as new’ standard
    • Removal of all Pacer trains by October 2019
    • All retained trains will be refurbished as new including Wi-Fi, media servers, passenger information systems, CCTV and accessible toilets with baby-change facilities

    This means that 30% of this expanded fleet will be new and will operate 2000 more services per week –a 12% increase. The additional trains will provide a 37% increase in morning peak capacity into the North’s 5 major cities by December 2019.

    The TransPennine franchise will deliver:-

    • 220 new carriages
    • All existing trains will be refurbished as new including Wi-Fi, additional power sockets, and real-time passenger information systems

    This means that 70% of fleet is new, the fleet size increases by two-thirds, provides 13million more seats, an 80% increase in morning peak seats by the end of 2019.

    These delivery plans as bid by the two operators during the Invitation to Tender process have been contracted within the franchise agreements.

  • Graham Brady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Graham Brady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Brady on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what information her Department holds on the viability of molten salt reactors to generate electricity.

    Andrea Leadsom

    In 2012, DECC published an ‘Assessment of advanced reactor systems against UK performance metrics’, which it had commissioned from the National Nuclear Laboratory. This analysis covered molten salt reactors.

    These can be found online at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/65502/6299-assessment-reactor-systems-uk-metrics.pdf

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/65503/6302-addendum-assessment-reactor-metrics.pdf.

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  • Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kramer on 2016-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the value of (1) imports, and (2) exports, from other EU member states to each local authority area in the UK.

    Lord Price

    Regional trade statistics at the local authority level are not available.

    Trade statistics showing the value of trade in goods between UK regions/countries (NUTS 1 level) and EU member states are available from the HM Revenue and Customs’ Regional Trade Statistics database.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-09-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for patients who have certain medical conditions, such as diabetes, mental health problems or other illnesses, to go into schools to talk to children about those conditions, to give them a better understanding of the nature of those illnesses.

    Lord Nash

    The national ‎curriculum sets the expectation that pupils study personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education in maintained schools and academies are encouraged to teach it as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.

    Schools and teachers should decide what to teach based on their pupils’ needs, and taking account of pupil and parent views, when planning health education as part of PSHE.

    We believe that schools are best placed to decide whether they draw on the support of patients or resources using patients’ perspectives when delivering PSHE.

  • Lord Harris of Haringey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Harris of Haringey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harris of Haringey on 2016-10-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 12 October (HL Deb, col 1889–90), whether any of the information supplied in response to the 20 information requests made by the Home Office of the National Pupil Database since April 2012 related to the information now being sought from schools as part of the school census on pupils’ nationality; and whether such information will be supplied in response to future requests for information.

    Lord Nash

    Data on nationality and country of birth have not and will not be shared with the Home Office or anyone else. It is solely for DfE research.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on increasing the annual limit for ISA contributions.

    Harriett Baldwin

    As announced at Autumn Statement 2015, the annual ISA subscription limit for 2016-17 is being maintained at its current level of £15,240. However, the government keeps all aspects of the tax system under review.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2016 to Question 25465, if he will publish the (a) total value and (b) number of grants made by his Department in the last 12 months as part of (i) the Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development scheme, (ii) the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund, (iii) the Strategic Partnership Programme and (iv) Specific Policy Grants supporting Departmental policy.

    Alistair Burt

    The following information shows new grant awards made by the Department in the financial year 2015/16. Recipients of grants include voluntary organisations. The Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development scheme and the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund grant awards shown here span a period of up to three years.

    Scheme / Programme

    New Awards Made (£)

    Number of New Awards made

    Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development

    £5,980,964

    14

    Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund

    £2,789,777

    25

    Strategic Partner Programme

    £4,020,000

    23

    Specific Policy Grants

    £133,112,643

    25
  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of senior civil servants in his Department are women.

    Mike Penning

    The percentage of senior civil servants broken down by gender is reported on an annual basis within the Department’s Diversity report. The published report for 2014/2015 can be found at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-report-2014-to-2015

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