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Tag: 2016

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK citizens have raised the issue of poor treatment by Israeli authorities at border crossings and entry points with the (a) UK Government, (b) embassy in Tel Aviv and (c) consulates in Jerusalem and Ramallah in the last 12 months.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Since January 2016, 15 British nationals have alleged poor treatment by Israeli authorities at border crossings.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on accumulated pension wealth on the lifetime allowance basis.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government does not hold its own records on total accumulated pension wealth, only on pension contributions. For the purposes of the Lifetime Allowance, officials have used data from the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey, which includes estimates of pension wealth.

    The Government assessed the effects of changes to the Annual Allowance and Lifetime Allowance by considering how many people would have to reduce their saving in response to these reductions. This methodology was agreed with the OBR.

    The reduction in the Lifetime Allowance will affect only 4% of savers currently approaching retirement. The Lifetime Allowance will be reduced to £1 million from April, but the average pension savings of someone approaching retirement is only £85,000.

    Just 1% of savers make contributions of £40,000 per year, the level of the Annual Allowance since April 2014. The average saver contributes £6,000 per year.

    The introduction of the Tapered Annual Allowance for individuals who earn over £150,000 in April 2016 will impact less than 2% of people saving into a pension.

    The Government laid out its modelling on the effect of changes to the Annual and Lifetime Allowances on pension contributions in its policy costings documents at the March and Summer Budgets 2015.

    For changes to the Lifetime Allowance, the Wealth and Assets Survey was used to estimate pension wealth, and this was projected forward using assumed pension contributions and estimates of the real rate of return on pensions savings taken from the OECD and the Government Actuary’s Department.

    For the Tapered Annual Allowance, modelling used estimates from the Survey of Personal Incomes, HMRC operational data on personal pension contributions, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, and the Occupational Pension Scheme Survey.

  • Lord Truscott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Truscott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of the experience in Oklahoma in the US, they plan to commission a detailed study into the potential correlation between fracking in the UK and more frequent earthquakes.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Waste water re-injection in the US has been linked to seismic activity, but this technique has not been proposed in the UK and the Environment Agency will not permit re-injection of waste water into any formation at this stage.

    In the UK, we have over 50 years’ experience regulating the onshore oil and gas industry. Our regulator regime is robust and we have strong controls in place to mitigate the risk of any seismic activity in the UK.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Prevent strategy.

    Mr John Hayes

    As part of the Prevent Strategy we have trained over 450,000 frontline workers in spotting signs of radicalisation. In Channel, hundreds of people have been successfully provided with support. 130 community based projects were delivered in 2015, up from 70 in 2014, reaching over 25,300 participants. Our local coordinator network has dramatically increased its reach, working with over 2,790 different institutions and engaging nearly 50,000 individuals over the course of 2015.

    Following referrals from the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit, social media providers removed 58,000 pieces of illegal terrorist material in 2015, compared with 46,000 in 2014. This brings the total to 140,000 since February 2010 when the police Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit was set up.

    We report on Prevent delivery annually through the CONTEST Annual report. The next report will be published shortly.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether a timetable has been agreed for the review of the General Dental Practitioners contract.

    Alistair Burt

    The current dental contract reform prototypes are testing a new way of providing preventative care, including the right balance of payment incentives. Subject to evaluation of the prototypes, a reformed dental contract could begin to be rolled out nationally from 2018/19 onwards.

  • The Earl of Sandwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The Earl of Sandwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Sandwich on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of (1) prisoners, and (2) young offenders, suffer from mental health problems; and of those, how many suffer from (a) illegal drug addiction, and (b) prescribed drug dependence.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    72% of adult male prisoners and 71% of adult female prisoners may have two or more mental disorders including personality disorder, psychosis, anxiety, depression or substance misuse according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

    According to the cross-government report Healthy Children, Safer Communities (2009), more than one third of people held in the children and young people’s secure estate, including those held in young offender institutions, have diagnosed mental health disorders. A copy of this report is attached.

    The ONS also reports that about 55% of individuals entering prison have a drug problem. Data on prescribed drug dependence in prisons is not collected centrally.

  • Nigel Adams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Nigel Adams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on artistic remuneration for online content.

    Matt Hancock

    Ministers and Officials from both Departments meet regularly to discuss a range of issues.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his US counterpart on the Proposed Joint Declaration of Principles for the Export and Subsequent Use of Armed or Strike-Enabled Unmanned Aerial Systems.

    Sir Alan Duncan

    The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson) has had no direct discussions with his US counterpart on this US-led initiative. He was consulted by Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials, who agreed with their US counterparts the 5 October Joint Declaration for the Export and Subsequent Use of Armed or Strike –Enabled Unmanned Aerial Systems.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department’s planned expenditure on grant-in-aid to Arts Council England is for (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, (c) 2018-19 and (d) 2019-20.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    DCMS secured an excellent settlement in the latest Spending Round that highlights the important contributions our sectors make in job creation, helping grow our economy, and bringing arts and culture to communities across the UK. Arts Council England’s overall settlement over the Spending Review period maintains the current resource budget in cash terms – £354,042,000 in 2016/17; £350,724,000 in 2017/8; £357,593,000 in 2018/19 and £359,307,000 in 2019/20.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many people he estimates will (a) relocate to London and (b) leave his Department following the announcement to close his Department’s Sheffield office.

    Joseph Johnson

    The intention to close the BIS Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place is subject to consultation with the Departmental Trade Unions. These are taking place now and, therefore, it is not possible to estimate how many staff will relocate to London or leave the Department.