Tag: 2016

  • Lord Turnberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Turnberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of total annual benefit payments are paid to EU immigrants.

    Lord Freud

    The information on benefit receipt by nationality is not available.

    The Department has published statistics on working age benefit recipients claiming within 6 months of National Insurance Number (NINO) registration. This information is known as “Nationality at point of National Insurance number registration of DWP benefit claimants” and is included in the “Statistical Bulletin on National Insurance Number Allocations to Adult Overseas Nationals”.

    The Government is looking at ways to reform the current administrative system under Universal Credit so that it will systematically record nationality and immigration status of migrants who make a claim.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many people owned shares in Royal Mail at (a) the launch of the share offer and (b) 1 January 2016.

    Anna Soubry

    At the time of Royal Mail Initial Public Offering (IPO) in October 2013, approximately 16% of the company was sold to 690,000 individual investors through a retail offer. A further 10% of the company was awarded to the company’s eligible UK employees with approximately 147,000 employees receiving shares.

    Since the IPO, shareholders who purchased shares through the retail offer have been free to trade their shares. The Government does not hold records of these share dealings. Royal Mail has responsibility for maintaining a register of shareholdings in company.

    The shares awarded to employees have been held in trust by Royal Mail’s Share Incentive Plan (SIP) to enable the employees to benefit from tax and national insurance advantages. Employees will be able to sell shares from October 2016. Eligible UK employees were also awarded a further 1% of the company’s shares in October 2015 and a further 1% award will be made later this year. These shares will also be held in the Royal Mail SIP for 3 years before they can be sold.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what sanctions are in place to prevent the practice of nationality-based pay discrimination against EEA seafarers employed on (a) UK and (b) non-UK registered vessels working from UK ports.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011 makes clear that it is an offence to offer to pay or pay a person who is a national of an EEA State, or of a designated State (as defined in the Regulations), at a different rate based on that person’s nationality, where the seafarer is working wholly or partly in Great Britain and its adjacent waters and is working on a UK or EEA registered vessel.

    Similar legislation is applied in Northern Ireland.

  • Alan Whitehead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alan Whitehead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Whitehead on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if it is her policy for the oil and gas industry to include employment costs in interpreting paragraph 29 of her Department’s paper, Maximising Economic Recovery Strategy for the UK.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Any guidance for industry would be an Oil and Gas Authority matter and they will work with industry to support effective implementation of the MER UK Strategy. My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State does not intend to issue further guidance.

  • Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-06-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many national infrastructure projects have been established in Scotland since 1997.

    Greg Hands

    More than 240 infrastructure schemes have been completed since the beginning of the last Parliament. The National Infrastructure Pipeline (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-pipeline-2016) contains a list of planned private and public infrastructure projects and programmes. Almost all Scottish economic infrastructure, including transport, water, flood defence and waste, is devolved to the Scottish government. However, the UK government has made significant investment in transport infrastructure, including £1.2 billion to replace the electric intercity 225 fleet that currently runs on the London to Edinburgh line, as well as £50 million, matched by the Scottish government, to replace the Cross-border Caledonian sleeper.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans (a) his Department and (b) NHS England have to report on the outcome of the process to consider the future of the Cancer Drugs Fund.

    Nicola Blackwood

    A new approach to the appraisal and funding of cancer drugs in England, including a revised operating model for the Cancer Drugs Fund, came into force on 29 July 2016.

    This was subject to full public consultation and all of the documentation, together with a summary of the consultation responses, can be found at:

    www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/cdf-consultation

    Further information is available on NHS England’s website at:

    www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/cdf-sop.pdf

    “

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of deaths caused by the naval blockade of Yemeni ports; and what part the UK has played in that blockade.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    There is no blockade, although some measures were put in place to prevent the flow of arms to Yemen. We welcomed the Government of Yemen’s announcement in October 2015 that all of Yemen’s ports were open.

    It is vital that commercial shipments of food and fuel enter the country to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis. That is why the Department for International Development is providing £1.42 million to support the establishment of the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM), which became operational on 5 May. It is successfully verifying, and where necessary inspecting, ships in line with UNSCR 2216 (2015). This should speed up the clearance process for ships and improve commercial confidence, increasing supply and in turn aiming to reduce the price of basic goods. We call on all parties to facilitate and respect the operation of UNVIM.

  • Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will raise with his Colombian counterpart (a) the deteriorating health of many former combatant prisoners, (b) the reported human rights violations of prisoners, (c) the reported arbitrary transfers of prisoners and (d) the reported isolation of prisoners in that country which have taken place since its government’s pledges of November 2015 made following the prisoners’ hunger strike there.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    I am aware of the hunger strike by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) across 13 prisons in November over prison conditions, and recent Colombian media reports on the same issue.

    I understand the Colombian government and the FARC are currently discussing end of conflict issues, which include prisoner rights. It would not be appropriate for the United Kingdom to interfere in matters under negotiation, not least as we near the 23 March deadline for talks to conclude.

    The hon. Member will recall that our Embassy in Bogotá has closely followed the cases of specific Colombian prisoners, such as David Ravelo and Húber Ballesteros, discussing concerns with the Presidential advisor for human rights and the prisons authority.

  • Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to reduce stillbirths and improve the safety of maternity care.

    Mr Jeremy Hunt

    In November, I announced a campaign to halve the national rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth, by 2030. This includes a £2.24m fund for Trusts to buy cutting edge equipment, such as CTGs.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the scale of fraud carried out against the public sector by (a) individuals and (b) serious and organised criminals by means of (i) identity theft and (ii) creation of fake identities.

    Matthew Hancock

    We do not have any estimates on the scale of public fraud carried out by individuals or by serious and organised criminals in relation to identity theft or the creation of fake identities.

    In the financial year 2014/15, £4.13m worth of detected external identity theft was reported to the Cabinet Office through the fraud and error MI collection. Identity theft includes: fraudulently obtained genuine documents; counterfeit documents; and, forged documents. We do not have a breakdown of whether this was committed by individuals or organised criminals.

    The National Crime Agency, not the Cabinet Office, lead on matters related to serious and organised crime.