The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blunkett on 2016-10-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the timetable for the announcement of successful bids for the pilot scheme for capital loans to multi-academy trusts.
Lord Nash
We will notify multi-academy trusts (MATs) who have applied for the MAT capital loan pilot of their outcomes shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-01-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that departments assist projects such as the British Coatings Federation’s PaintCare project.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government welcomes the PaintCare initiative and is working constructively with the British Coating Federation in relation to several aspects of the project. This includes identifying potential regulatory barriers to the recycling and re-manufacturing of paint and how these might be overcome, as well as providing opportunities to raise awareness of the potential benefits of PaintCare, for example at the G7 Alliance for Resource Efficiency conference in Berlin last October.
My Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), spoke at the Parliamentary launch of PaintCare’s interim report in November. The Waste and Resources Action Programme has also been working with PaintCare to provide information to consumers on how to recycle and dispose of household paint, through the Recycle Now campaign.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to ban the use of whips for encouragement in horse racing.
George Eustice
The Government considers that the British Horseracing Authority’s rules on use of the whip during horseracing, which were drawn up in consultation with the RSPCA, together with the Animal Welfare Act 2006 provide protection for the welfare of racehorses.
There are, therefore, no proposals to ban the use of the whip during horseracing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-03-07.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the government of Burma plans to (1) protect resources in ethnic areas in Burma, and (2) press for a moratorium on large-scale extraction projects.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Government of Burma’s term of office expires on 30 March. It will be for the incoming government, led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), to formally announce its policies when it takes office. Resource issues will be a major issue for any new government. The NLD made a manifesto pledge to distribute the proceeds of resource extraction fairly, to address the issue of environmental degradation associated with this industry and to raise labour safety standards. The UK already supports work on public financial management in Burma. We have also actively supported Burma’s candidacy for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. We stand ready to work with the incoming government on resource issues at its request.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2016 to Question 30916, for what reason the 26 related party transactions by academy trusts classified as irregular or improper by the Education Funding Agency were not repaid by the trusts.
Edward Timpson
Repayment is considered on a case by case basis and may be sought where there has been a serious breach of requirements or standards of conduct. Some transactions may be classified as irregular or improper because of less serious procedural and compliance issues, or because of insufficient evidence to form an opinion. Repayment may not be pursued in these cases. The 26 related party transactions classified as irregular were assessed on this basis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 1 March 2016 to Question 27610, on Volkswagen, what response he has received from Volkswagen on the difference in compensation offered to US and UK customers.
Andrew Jones
We continue to engage with Volkswagen on the issue of compensation for UK consumers. The Secretary of State summoned the Managing Director of VW UK to a further meeting earlier this month to discuss the issue. Volkswagen’s position is that there is no evidence that drivers in the UK have suffered a loss, and so they maintain there is no need for compensation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the introduction of the Local Housing Allowance cap on the level of supply of supported housing.
Brandon Lewis
The Government is committed to protecting the most vulnerable, including through protecting and further boosting the supported housing supply we have already.
We are continuing to work with the supported housing sector and other partners to develop a sustainable and workable future for supported housing and will announce next steps in due course.
In the meantime we have put in place a one year exemption for supported housing from the Local Housing Allowance cap.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the final report and recommendations of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance published on 19 May, what actions they are taking to reduce to agreed target levels the use in the UK of antibiotics in livestock and fish farming by 2018.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government published its response to the final report and recommendations of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance on 16 September 2016.
In response to the Review, we have committed to work closely with different individual sectors to ensure that appropriate sector specific reduction targets are agreed by 2017 so that future reductions are greatest where there is most scope, and that they are underpinned by improvements which focus on encouraging best practice and responsible use of antibiotics.
This work aligns with the actions already set out in the Government’s Five-Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy, including improving the stewardship of existing antibiotics, improving infection prevention and control and optimising prescribing practice.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-21.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the average levels of exit payments in the (a) public sector and (b) private sector.
Greg Hands
The Government consulted on implementing a public sector exit payment cap in July 2015. The Government response to this consultation was published on 16 September 2015. This response provides detail on the potential impacts of the cap and sets out which organisations the Government intends to capture within scope of the public sector exit payment cap. The final policy is in line with the Government’s manifesto commitment to end tax payer funded six figure payoffs for public sector workers.
The consultation ran from 31 July to 27 August 2015. Over 4000 responses were received. These representations were considered during and after the consultation to inform the Government response that was published on 16 September 2015.
The response document can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464367/Public_sector_exit_payments_response.pdf
An impact analysis was published within the exit payment cap consultation document which respondents had an opportunity to comment on. Further, the Government worked with departments and took into account consultation responses received after the official deadline to inform the impact of a public sector exit payment cap set at £95,000 in different sectors and for different categories of workers. This assessment gave due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty.
The exit payment cap is intended to capture organisations classified as public sector by the Office for National Statistics with few exceptions as identified in the consultation response.
The Government does not expect the cap to have a widespread impact on the take-up of voluntary redundancy.
At the 2015 Spending Review the Government announced it will consult on further cross public sector action on exit payment terms. This consultation will provide a good opportunity to collect further information on the trends in the level of exit payments between the private and public sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of the coal burnt in UK coal-fired power stations originated in Russia in the first nine months of 2015.
Andrea Leadsom
DECC does not hold figures on the proportion of coal burnt in UK coal-fired power stations, by country of origin. However, from January to September 2015, 16,784 thousand tonnes of steam coal (mainly used by coal-fired power stations) were imported into the UK, while coal used for electricity generation was 22,512 thousand tonnes during the same period.
The USA provided 3,231 thousand tonnes of steam coal imports, 19% of all steam coal imports, while Russia provided 7,237 thousand tonnes (43%)
Source:
Energy Trends tables 2.1 and 2.4, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solid-fuels-and-derived-gases-section-2-energy-trends
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