Tag: 2016

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the viability of hydro pump storage energy solutions; and what support her Department makes available to that industry.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Energy storage is one way to provide flexibility to the energy system, alongside demand side response, interconnection and smarter networks. We continue to assess the potential for all forms of energy storage, including pumped hydro, to benefit the UK energy system.

    More than £80m public sector controlled support has been committed to energy storage research, development and demonstration activities since 2012. This innovation funding has included DECC grant support for a UK pumped hydro storage developer to assess the potential location of new pumped hydro sites around Great Britain. The developer concluded that up to 15GW of novel pumped storage could be possible, using various criteria such as the presence of existing or potential reservoirs, grid connection distance and whether the site is in an environmentally sensitive area. Other pumped storage developers have independently identified over 1 GW of additional potential pumped storage.

    We are also investigating the potential barriers to deployment of energy storage and possible mitigating actions. We are focussing in the first instance on removing policy and regulatory barriers. DECC plans to issue a call for evidence on a smart systems route map in due course.

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of servicemen and women recruited from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

    Penny Mordaunt

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 April 2016 to Question 33630 to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis).

  • Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 May 2016 to Question 37198, how many of the leaflets entitled Why the Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is the best decision for the UK have been returned to his Department; and what the postage cost to the Government has been of such returns.

    Andrew Selous

    I refer the Hon Member to the Prime Minister’s response of 25th May 2016. This information is not collated centrally by the Department.

  • John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has any plans to move away from a tax-funded NHS towards one funded by insurance and co-payments.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    There is no plan to change the way that the National Health Service is funded nor any consideration of changes. The Government remains committed to the principles of the NHS, enshrined in the NHS Constitution, that access to NHS services is based on clinical need, not the ability to pay.

    The Government is also committed to working with the NHS in implementing its own plan for the future of the NHS – the Five Year Forward View – backed up by the commitment made in the Spending Review to provide an additional £10 billion in real terms by 2020-21 compared to 2014-15. This fully funds the plan.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Attorney General, approximately how many (a) British and (b) non-British nationals are employed cleaning the Westminster estate of the Law Officers’ Departments.

    Robert Buckland

    The Law Officer’s Departments do not directly employ any staff to clean its estate. All cleaning services are provided via a national facilities management contract or via managed service agreements.

  • Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2015-12-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many persons were paying National Insurance contributions in the most recent period for which data are available, and how many of those were citizens of the EU10 countries at the time they first registered for a National Insurance number.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    In 2012-13 it is estimated that 26.8m individuals are liable to National Insurance Contributions from earned income or self-employed profits across the different classes of National Insurance.

    This is estimated using the latest available outturn from the Survey of Personal Income (SPI) for 2012-13. The SPI does not contain information on the nationality of individuals in the sample.

    Calculating the number of individuals in 2012-13 who were paying National Insurance Contributions who were citizens of the EU when they first registered for a National Insurance number is complex and cannot be done quickly.However, HM Revenue and Customs are planning to produce more data early in 2016 on this issue.

  • 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 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the government of Russia on human rights violations in that country.

    Mr David Lidington

    During my visit to Moscow on 21-22 December 2015, I raised the UK’s concerns about the human rights situation in Russia with my counterpart First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov. I pressed for the immediate release of Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who has restarted her hunger strike having spent 18 months in illegal detention, and I called for the release of filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and activist Olexandr Kolchenko, whose trials have also raised serious concerns. I raised our concerns about restrictions on civil society, Russia’s labelling of NGOs as “foreign agents”, and the situation of the LGBT community. I also met a group of human rights defenders to hear their concerns first hand. The UK will continue to support Russian civil society and to raise human rights issues with the Russian Government.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to Surrogacy in the UK: Myth Busting and Reform, published in November 2015, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to reform the law governing surrogacy to better balance the rights of those involved and the welfare of children born via surrogacy.

    Jane Ellison

    A search of the Department’s central correspondence system shows that the Department received 22 representations that made direct or indirect reference to the report `Surrogacy in the UK: Myth Busting and Reform’ since it was published in November 2015.

    The Government has no current plans to change the legislation in respect of surrogacy arrangements.

  • Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department has made towards meeting the International Aid Transparency Initiative’s standards to date.

    Mr David Lidington

    In March 2013 the Government published an implementation plan outlining how we intended to achieve International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) compliance without compromising the safety and security of the UK, our staff and our partners or without compromising our diplomatic relations with other countries. Since then we have been working towards achieving compliance with the UK Aid Transparency Guarantee. All published Foreign and Commonwelath Office Official Development Assistance information can be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/official-development-assistance-oda–2

  • Julie Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Julie Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with teachers on her proposal that all schools be required to convert to academies.

    Edward Timpson

    The Secretary of State regularly meets teachers at a range of events while visiting schools and in meetings at the Department as well as headteacher reference groups and expert panels. In these meetings, the Secretary of State discusses the Government’s commitment to achieving educational excellence everywhere.