The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in his Department.
Mr Edward Vaizey
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer to PQ 27946
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take after the new terms and conditions for doctors come into effect to encourage people to take up a career in medicine.
Ben Gummer
Medicine is an extremely popular career choice and we expect that to continue. In 2015, there were over 48,000 applications for pre-clinical medicine course of which over 5,000 people were accepted onto a place on this course.
The new contract for doctors in training will have a positive impact on the working life of doctors and on the training they receive. It will introduce stronger safeguards to ensure doctors are not required to work long, unsafe hours, enforced through contractual obligations on employers and external scrutiny of those hours by the Care Quality Commission and the independent Guardian of safe working hours.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his US counterpart on LGBT rights in North Carolina and Mississippi.
Mr Hugo Swire
Our Consul General in Atlanta raised our concerns with the North Carolina Commerce Secretary on 19 April. We have amended our Travel Advice for the United States to reflect legislative changes on LGBT rights in North Carolina and Mississippi . This Government is opposed to all forms of discrimination. We are committed to ensuring that all LGBT people are free to live their lives in a safe and just environment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2016 to Question 38441, what role he has asked the Chairman of the Parole Board, Professor Nick Hardwick, to undertake in relation to people serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection.
Andrew Selous
The Justice Secretary has asked the Chairman of the Parole Board to improve the efficiency of the parole system.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times his Department has used the services of (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years; and what (i) work was undertaken and (ii) the cost to the public purse was on each such occasion.
Caroline Nokes
We are unable to provide the requested information on the number of times the Department for Work and Pensions has used the services of consulting firms, including details of the work undertaken and cost to the public purse for each occasion. To do so would incur a disproportional cost to the Department because of how the data is held on our systems, and the time and resource required for extracting and analysing it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure future interoperability of the Boeing Poseidon P-8 platform with the General Atomics MQ9 Reaper platforms.
Harriett Baldwin
The P-8A Poseidon aircraft will form a vital part of the UK’s maritime patrol capability, and interoperability with other platforms and systems is a key user requirement. Work to enable this is under way, however, I am withholding further detail as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will ensure that any exploitation of shale gas in the UK is (a) a substitute for, and not in addition to, imported gas and (b) does not lead to an increase in carbon emissions.
Andrea Leadsom
The shale gas resources beneath Britain have the potential to bolster our energy security and add new sources of home-grown supply to our real diversity of imports.
We are committed to reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 and natural gas, the cleanest of fossil fuels, will help us in meeting that target. Reports[1] have shown that the carbon footprint of electricity from UK produced shale gas would likely be significantly less than coal and also lower than imported Liquefied Natural Gas.
This will be especially significant as we displace energy generation from high carbon fuels as coal.
[1] Mackay-Stone report (requested by DECC), Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Shale Gas Extraction and Use, Sept 2013
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23487, which external consultants or other third parties were responsible for the eight breaches there identified.
Mr Robert Goodwill
2 cases were reported by Shared Services Arvato
2 cases were reported by GBGroup plc
2 cases were reported by Pearson
1 case was reported by Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)
1 case was reported by Civil Service Resourcing who reported non-receipt of documents from the sender.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place in the Library a copy of EC-01-19-01/20130205-Mil Cap Air Safety Management Plan 2103.
Penny Mordaunt
I have placed a copy of the Mil Cap Air Safety Management Plan 2013 in the Library of the House, although I am withholding Annexes D and H of the document because these consist of personal data which cannot be released.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wayne David on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on (a) setting a fixed price for Energy Performance Certificates and (b) ensuring that Energy Performance Certificates are valid for more than 10 years.
James Wharton
The overall price charged by accredited energy assessors to house holders and businesses for the preparation of Energy Performance Certificates is not set by government.
The validity period is determined by the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings which does not allow the validity period to be extended past 10 years.