The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Clegg on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides to police forces on dealing with offenders who use cannabis to treat a serious medical condition.
Karen Bradley
The Home Office does not collect data on this.
Decisions on disposal options for those who possess cannabis for any reason are an operational matter for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-04-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will be participating in the Investment Association’s roundtables on executive pay; and whether Minister or officials intend to communicate with the Investment Association in preparation of those roundtables.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Government welcomes the interim conclusions of the Executive Remuneration Working Group. They represent a valuable source of ideas for ensuring more effective engagement between investors and directors and ensuring that executive pay policies are tailored to the needs of individual businesses. We also welcome the Working Group’s plans to consult interested stakeholders on practical ways of improving the current approach to executive pay. Departmental officials will be engaging with the roundtables that are being planned.
The Government made significant reforms to the governance of executive pay in 2013. Under these reforms, companies are required to put their pay policies to shareholders at least every three years. These policies have to include information on how each director will be paid and how that is linked to different levels of performance. This is subject to a binding vote. Companies also have to provide shareholders with an Annual Remuneration Report which reports the pay of each director in a single figure and again has to set out clearly how the actual payments relate to performance. Shareholders have an advisory vote on this report, but if they reject the report, the company must submit a revised pay policy to a binding vote at the next AGM.
These reforms give shareholders effective powers to challenge excessive pay and hold boards to account on executive pay policies. There is strong evidence from the current AGM season that shareholders are willing to use these powers, particularly where levels of pay are out of line with performance.
The Government has no current plans for further legislation or regulation, but is looking for firm evidence that companies are liaising effectively with shareholders and adjusting pay policies where there is shareholder dissatisfaction.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 12 May (HL8031), what percentage of diplomatic missions in the UK issued with the annual letters on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office requesting staff lists with details of all locally engaged staff and private servants replied with full information in 2015.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Embassy team issued 279 letters to the various Embassies and their different sections requesting staff lists for the 2014-15 tax year in September 2015. The requests also ask for details of private addresses and Remuneration. As a result of that letter we received 24 responses. That is an 8% return.
Article 10 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR) outlines a mission’s responsibility to keep the host State informed of the arrival and departure of staff. Embassies therefore only have a legal obligation to notify HM Government of their leavers and new starters so we rely greatly on the goodwill of Embassies to supply us with this additional information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy is on future collaboration with the EU on fish stock management; and what discussions she has had to date with the European Commission on that matter.
George Eustice
Exit from the EU presents us with an opportunity under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to improve the way in which waters within the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone are managed. Defra officials will be working with the new Department for Exiting the European Union, Devolved Administrations and stakeholders to develop proposals that will allow the UK to best take advantage of this opportunity.
No formal discussions have taken place with the European Commission at this stage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Howarth on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to increase investment in decentralised renewable energy to benefit the world’s poorest people.
James Wharton
The UK Government is playing a leading role in improving energy access in developing countries. DFID has a range of programmes which are working with developing countries to ensure renewable energy markets work effectively as well as supporting energy businesses to grow, and providing consumers with access to funding to buy solar goods. For example, our Energy Access Ventures programme is investing in off-grid electric and we are delivering green mini-grid solutions across Africa.
Through the UK Government’s Energy Africa campaign we are working with solar firms to help them access the finance they need to expand their businesses, create jobs and help reach millions of people in Africa without electricity access.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, under which circumstances Southern Railway’s franchise would be withdrawn.
Claire Perry
Schedule 10.2 of the TSGN Franchise Agreement (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/488198/tsgn-franchise-agreement.pdf p.506) specifies how this franchise can be terminated by the Department.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-01-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the effect on the number of school support staff of the Government’s policy to consider for deportation after five years non-EU migrants earning less than £35,000 per annum.
Nick Gibb
The Department does not collect data on the nationality or immigration status of the school workforce.
This is a local matter for schools and all schools must employ members of the school workforce in accordance with employment law.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many social media accounts promoting extremist content were recommended for closure by her Department in each of the last 12 months; and what proportion of such content related to Daesh.
Mr John Hayes
We have seen an increase in the scale and pace of terrorist communications by groups like ISIL, encouraging vulnerable young people to travel to conflict zones like Syria and Iraq. This Government takes seriously the threat from online terrorist and extremist propaganda, which can directly influence people who are vulnerable to radicalisation.
Since 2010 over 140,000 pieces of terrorist-related material have been removed by industry from various online platforms at the request of the dedicated police Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). Approximately 55,000 removals were made in 2015 alone. Removal requests are now at over 1,000 a week and approximately 70% of CTIRU’s caseload is Daesh related.
We are pressing industry to take a lead in tackling the abuse of their services by terrorist and extremist groups.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much funding her Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
My Department has not received any funding from the European Social Fund in either of the periods requested. Implementation of the European Social Fund in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-04-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to sustain aerospace engineering capability and capacity in the South West region.
Anna Soubry
We work closely with aerospace companies and their representative organisations, in particular the West of England Aerospace Forum (WEAF), in the South West through the Aerospace Growth Partnership (AGP) to tackle barriers to growth, boost exports and grow high value jobs. As part of this work we are investing heavily in the sector to support the industry’s private investment in technology, competitiveness and productivity, manufacturing capability and skills.
The work of the AGP includes businesses of all sizes in the South West region including large players such as Airbus, Finmeccanica Helicopters, GE Aviation, GKN, Rolls-Royce, Safran Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, UTC Aerospace Systems, as well as their many medium and small sized suppliers, and other specialist aerospace businesses.