The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rishi Sunak on 2016-04-13.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support businesses.
Damian Hinds
The Government wants low taxes, but taxes that are paid. We are cutting corporation tax to 17%, the lowest rate in the G20, reducing the business rates burden in England by £6.7bn over 5 years, and acting on avoidance to ensure a level playing field for all businesses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lexden on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Acts of Parliament have been passed since 2010; and how many of those have not been implemented.
Lord Bridges of Headley
212 Government and non-Government Bills have been passed by the United Kingdom Parliament since 2010. The Government monitors implementation of its policy commitments rather than individual legislative measures.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sheikh on 2016-07-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking, as part of the troika, to persuade opposition movements in Sudan to sign the African Union’s Roadmap for Peace, and to encourage the government of Sudan’s commitment to it.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Together with our Troika partners, we issued a statement on 27 May supporting the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel. We welcome the Sudanese Government’s signing of the roadmap agreement and continue to urge the opposition to do the same. The UK’s Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan and our Ambassador in Khartoum are in regular contact with the government and opposition groups.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures are in place to ensure that (a) vulnerable women and (b) under 18s who undergo abortions receive follow-up support.
Nicola Blackwood
The Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures (RSOPs) for termination of pregnancy providers approved by the Secretary of State, state that all women requesting an abortion should be offered the opportunity to discuss their options and choices with a trained counsellor. In addition, protocols should be in place for onward referral to specialist services. All independent providers of termination of pregnancy providers must comply with these RSOPs.
Pathways to further post-abortion counselling should be available for any woman who may require additional emotional support or whose mental health is perceived to be at risk.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guideline on the Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion (2011) recommends that services should identify issues which make women particularly vulnerable, and refer them on to relevant support services in a timely manner.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the number of Syrian refugees brought to the UK under the Private Sponsorship Scheme will be in addition to the Government’s commitment to take 50,000 refugees over the next five years.
Richard Harrington
The Prime Minister announced on 7 September 2015 that the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement (VPR) scheme would be expanded to resettle 20,000 Syrians in need of protection during this Parliament.
We will build on offers of support to develop a community sponsorship scheme to allow individuals, charities, faith groups, churches and businesses to support refugees directly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dairy farmers have gone out of business in each of the last five years.
George Eustice
The table below shows the net change in the number of dairy farms. Data is only available on the total number of dairy farms in June and December of each year, so the table only shows the net change, rather than the number entering and the number leaving dairy farming. The latest data available on the number of dairy farms in England is for June 2015. This is shown below with data for the previous 5 years. The change in the number of farms includes new holdings which have been registered with dairy cattle, holdings that have ceased to have cattle and holdings that have merged.
The number of dairy cows on these dairy farms is also shown below. This shows that despite a 16% decrease in the overall number of dairy farms between June 2010 and June 2015, the number of dairy cows has remained almost unchanged, suggesting consolidation within the industry.
|
Date |
Number of dairy farms(a) |
Number of cows in the dairy herd(b) |
|
Jun-2010 |
9 461 |
1 142 497 |
|
Dec-2010 |
9 287 |
1 147 450 |
|
Jun-2011 |
9 041 |
1 112 459 |
|
Dec-2011 |
8 823 |
1 105 290 |
|
Jun-2012 |
8 663 |
1 104 676 |
|
Dec-2012 |
8 503 |
1 107 045 |
|
Jun-2013 |
8 342 |
1 098 610 |
|
Dec-2013 |
8 197 |
1 124 368 |
|
Jun-2014 |
8 092 |
1 128 548 |
|
Dec-2014 |
8 051 |
1 150 007 |
|
Jun-2015 |
7 982 |
1 148 089 |
|
% change Jun15/Jun10 |
-16% |
0.5% |
(a) Sourced from Cattle Tracing System. Dairy farms are defined as the number of holdings with more than 10 cows in the dairy herd.
(b) Cows in the dairy herd are defined as female dairy cows over 2 years old in the milking herd (i.e. with offspring).
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many contracts Atos holds with the Home Office.
Karen Bradley
The Home Office holds three contracts with Atos.
The first is “IND Procurement of Infrastructure Development and Support” (IPIDS), which provides application management supporting and hosting for major immigration IT systems. This contract expired on 31st January 2016, and a six-month transition period was invoked to provide support for a smaller subset of applications not covered by the replacement programme.
The whole life cost of IPIDS was circa £220 million (exclusive of any additional project charges) until 31st January 2016. The maximum cost of the six-month transition period will be £642,000 (excluding VAT).
The Department’s second contract with Atos is “Contain,” which is a direct replacement for IPIDS. The programme provides continuity for seven major Immigration IT systems, whilst work continues on the Immigration Platform Technology (IPT) platform. The Contain contract allows legacy immigration applications to be phased out whilst service continuity is preserved, and enables new applications delivered by the IPT programme to be brought in without disruption. The contract will run for a maximum of two years, and the total contract value is £18.1 million (excl VAT), which includes run and decommission costs.
The third contract with Atos Worldline is a small G-Cloud Call-Off Agreement to enable passport application payments to be made online; the total contract value is £183,000.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2016 to Question 27711, on personal independence payments appeals, where information on the proportion of people successfully appealing ineligibility for the enhanced rate of mobility under personal independence payments is held.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The information requested could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Information about the number and success rates of PIP appeals in general is published in the Tribunal and Gender Recognition Certificate Statistics Quarterly. The most recent report, for the period October to December 2015, published on 10 March 2016, can be viewed at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Willis of Knaresborough on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the process by which Global Challenge Research Fund programmes will be agreed; and whether final decisions will be determined by reference to the Haldane principle.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
As stated in the recent White Paper, Government is committed to the Haldane principle, including with respect to Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). As with other areas of science and research activity, Research Councils will work with other delivery partners to prepare a high-level research strategy for the GCRF, which they will agree with Ministers. The specific approach to be taken to currently unallocated funds will be developed with delivery partners over the coming months, and will include using the funding to promote multidisciplinary research, in line with Sir Paul Nurse’s recommendations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chidgey on 2016-07-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the potential effects on investment of uncertainty around issues of future market access, whether they plan to commit to (1) extending bilaterally the duty- and quota-free access that the least developed countries have had to the UK market since 2001 once the UK’s exit from the EU is completed; (2) honouring the duty- and quota-free market access granted to Caribbean countries since 2008 until new bilateral trade agreements have been concluded; and (3) unilaterally extending the duty- and quota-free access granted to sub-Saharan countries under the transitional arrangements established since 2008 until new bilateral trade agreements have been concluded.
Lord Price
While the UK is still a member of the EU, all rights and obligations will apply. There will be no initial change in the way we trade with developing countries. The new Department for International Trade will work with the Department for International Development on the structure and access to the UK’s markets to be offered to developing countries. This will reflect the UK’s longstanding support for Least Developed Countries and other developing country trading partners including through preferential trade agreements. This recognises that trade can be an effective way of growing economies and reducing poverty internationally.