Tag: 2016

  • Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-06-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to empower regulators and law enforcement agencies to prevent and detect the laundering of corrupt assets through the UK financial system.

    Harriett Baldwin

    In April, we launched the Action Plan for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finance, to address the gaps identified in the National Risk Assessment, and to make significant changes to improve our response to threats.

    The Action Plan will reform the supervisory regime so that the high anti-money laundering standards and controls that the UK subscribes to are implemented successfully.

    It also commits us to establish an enhanced law enforcement response to the threats we face through building new capabilities in law enforcement agencies and exploring tough new legal powers to enable the relentless disruption and prosecution of criminals and terrorists.

    Furthermore, the Prime Minister’s Anti-Corruption Summit in May launched a number of new initiatives to address illicit financial flows and give momentum to existing projects.

  • Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is her policy to retain targets to recycle 50 per cent of waste by 2020 after the UK withdrawals from the EU.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    While we remain in the EU, all rights and obligations associated with our membership will remain in place, including the target to re-use or recycle 50% of our household waste by 2020. Beyond that, the Government remains committed to actions to reduce waste and increase our rates of recycling. In our 2015 Manifesto, we set the goal of being the first generation to leave England’s natural environment in a better state than that in which we found it. This is a big ambition and one to which the Government remains committed.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to tackle online abuse and harassment targeted at Jewish people on (a) social media networks, (b) Facebook and (c) Twitter.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Government recognises the significant harm caused to individual Jewish victims and communities by online hate material. We have a robust legislative framework which allows the operationally independent Crown Prosecution Service and Judiciary to balance the right to exercise free speech with the need to protect communities and individuals from targeted abuse.

    In July 2016, we published Action Against Hate: The UK Government’s Plan for Tackling Hate Crime which sets out a range of non-legislative responses. This includes counter-narrative activity and collaborative work with the Internet industry to identify ways to reduce the harm caused, for example, by taking down illegal material within 24 hours.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many illegal money lenders Illegal Money Lending Units prevented from operating in 2015.

    Nick Boles

    According to the National Trading Standards Annual report 2014/15, the England and Wales illegal money lending teams commenced 365 operations into 756 suspected money lenders in 2014/15.

    In the same period 42 individuals were charged or had proceedings instituted against them for illegal money lending in England and Wales. Trading Standards Scotland referred a further 9 individuals to the Procurator Fiscal for illegal money lending in 2014/15.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to encourage people to become pilots.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Secretary of State for Transport appointed Terry Morgan CBE to develop a transport infrastructure skills strategy, which was published on the 28 January. The strategy, which covers aviation and specifically pilot training, contains recommendations for both government and industry to act on.

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many pathologists qualified to conduct post-mortems there were in (a) 2010 and (b) 2015.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Department does not hold this information.

  • Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the proposed £1,500 business rates discount for office space occupied by local newspapers in England outlined in the Budget will affect Northern Ireland and Scotland.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The £1,500 discount for office space occupied by local newspapers will be introduced in England for 2 years from April 2017. This measure will help to support local newspapers in England, alongside the other changes to Small Business Rate Relief. Business rates are devolved to Scotland and Northern Ireland and so this is a matter for the devolved administrations. Barnett consequentials apply to this measure in the normal way.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what involvement ministers or officials of his Department had in the Security and Counter Terror Conference at Olympia in London on 19 and 20 April 2016; and how the Civil Contingencies Secretariat of his Department undertakes outreach activities.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    A number of Cabinet Office officials spoke at events associated with the Security and Counter Terror Expo held on 19 and 20 April 2016. They did so to set out government policy on topics of relevance to those attending.

    The Civil Contingencies Secretariat participates in a wide range of events involving the resilience community. This participation is an essential part of its role in engaging with partners and stakeholders to understand the issues faced in making the UK more resilient and in explaining Government policy.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2016 to Question 38217, on his Department’s BME pay gap, where the information about this is held; and what estimate he has made of the cost of providing the information.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Ministry of Defence does not capture and report data on hourly earnings, and therefore does not provide comparative data in this way.

    The Department has recently published an Equal Pay Audit 2015 report which can be found at the following address:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mod-equal-pay-audit-report-2015

    This Audit presents a comparison of male to female and White to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) annualised average salaries in the period 1 October 2014 to 1 October 2015. This meets the Department’s obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty to provide information on its workforce identified by the Equality Act 2010.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 10 May 2016 to Questions 36574 and 36576, in what way his Department carried out its assessment of the human rights situation in Tibet; and for what reasons the 2015 Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy contained no relevant information on that situation.

    Alok Sharma

    Our assessment of the situation of Tibet is based on range of credible sources and information gathered by diplomats and officials. I draw the Hon. Members attention to the most recent version (updated in July 2016) of the Human Rights and Democracy report where we outline a number of concerns relating to Tibet. We raise these concerns regularly, for example I raised two Tibetan cases involving freedom of expression (Tashi Wangchuk and Druklo (Shokjang)) with the Chinese Ambassador on 1 August.