Tag: 2016

  • Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to encourage BT to increase its commercial investments.

    Matt Hancock

    Nine out of ten homes and businesses now have access to superfast broadband, but our goal is to make sure the UK builds the right infrastructure to maintain our position as a world-leading digital nation. BT has a big part to play in this.

    The government supports Ofcom in the changes that it wants to see in relation to Openreach. A more independent Openreach is needed to benefit consumers and boost investment in the UK’s digital infrastructure.

    We are encouraging BT to invest in high-quality broadband infrastructure and have brokered a deal between Openreach and the Home Builders Federation that will see fibre-based broadband offered to all new developments either for free or as part of a co-funded initiative. Additionally, Virgin and GTC have recently signed new deals in this area.

    We are creating a favourable regulatory environment to incentivise commercial investment for BT and all Communications Providers. For example: we will reform the Electronic Communications Code, to support faster and more efficient infrastructure rollout and to encourage investment and growth in the UK digital industry; and we are making permanent a relaxation of the rules for deploying fixed broadband infrastructure originally introduced in 2013.

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring a local authority to keep publicly accessible lists of banned letting agents to prevent such agents from being able to operate in other local authority areas.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Housing & Planning Act 2016 contains a package of measures to help local authorities crack down on rogue landlords who exploit their tenants by renting out unsafe and substandard accommodation. The measures include a database of rogue landlords and property agents who have been convicted of certain offences or received at least two civil penalties for a breach of housing legislation.

    The database will enable local authorities to keep track of those landlords and property agents and target their enforcement action. Only DCLG and local housing authorities will be able to access the database, although the data will be made available publically in an anonymised format.

    Access to the database is being restricted in this way for data protection reasons and because making the database publicly available would effectively blacklist all those individuals and companies on the database and prevent them from continuing to be involved in renting out or managing property, which is not the purpose of the database.

    Where a local authority believes that a landlord or property agent should no longer be involved in the renting out or management of property, they will be able to seek a banning order from the First Tier Tribunal.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of how much will accrue to the Exchequer as a result of the Carbon Price Support legislation in each year until 2020.

    Damian Hinds

    The most recent forecast of receipts from the Carbon Price Floor was published by the OBR in their ‘Economic and fiscal outlook supplementary fiscal tables – November 2015’, available at http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/economic-fiscal-outlook-november-2015/.

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  • Sammy Wilson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Sammy Wilson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sammy Wilson on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps his Department has taken to provide further support for people with mental health problems in returning to work.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department for Work and Pensions lead on support for people with mental health problems in getting back to work. Over the next three years, we are investing over £40 million to develop the evidence base on what works in supporting those with mental health conditions get back to work/return to work through a series of trials

    Further support is available through the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service. Last year, Access to Work supported 1630 people who declared a Mental Health condition as their Primary Medical Condition – a 15% increase on 2013/14 and a record number for the programme

    Our wider employment programmes provide those with mental health conditions with the appropriate support to find work. Work Choice is an employment programme is specifically for those with a disability or health condition. Up to September 2015, of the 14,290 starters who declared either a Severe or Mild to Moderate Mental Health condition as their Primary Disability, 6,650 (over 46%) have achieved a job outcome.

    (BIS) Support is not restricted to employees, as the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is evaluating the impact of short, part-time adult education courses on people with mild to moderate mental health problems.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what research his Department has commissioned on the effect of a drone strike on a commercial aircraft.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    I refer the Honourable Member to my answer given on 4 March UIN 29156 (http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=QuestionsWithAnswersOnly&house=commons%2clords&uin=29156).

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  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of (a) UK firms based in Wales that trade with other EU member states and (b) people employed by those firms.

    Anna Soubry

    HMRC Regional Trade Statistics on the number of firms trading with the EU are publically available through the UKTradeInfo website.

    HM Treasury has published estimates of the number of UK jobs linked to EU exports broken down by region. These are available through the GOV.UK website.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to table 1.5 of HM Revenue and Customs’ document, Measuring tax gaps, published in October 2013, how much revenue was lost as a result of the tax gap in (a) tax evasion and (b) the hidden economy in each year since 2009-10.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs published its latest tax gap estimates on 22 October 2015 in Measuring tax gaps 2015 edition. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470540/HMRC-measuring-tax-gaps-2015-1.pdf

    The tax gap by behaviour is set out in Figure 1.6 (page 11) and Table 1.5 (page 19). As behaviour estimates are made using management assumptions and judgement, they should be used as a broad indication.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK (a) flight crew, (b) ground crew and (c) intelligence analysts have served on US P-8 Poseidon aircraft under the Seedcorn exchange programme; and what the cost to the UK public purse has been of deploying those people since the start of that programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Seedcorn programme in the US on P8 aircraft started in 2012 with 20 personnel involved and has remained at 20 for each subsequent year (allowing for minor fluctuations during transitory periods). As the Seedcorn programme is an aircrew initiative, no ground crew or intelligence analysts have served on US P8 under it.

    The total cost of the Seedcorn programme since inception is some £14.1 million. It is not possible to break out actual costs for personnel by location and aircraft type.

  • Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to stop the shipment of UK nuclear waste to Andnyamantha homelands in Australia up to 2020.

    Jesse Norman

    There is a very small quantity of Australian owned radioactive waste currently stored in the UK. We anticipate that this will be returned to Australia in due course in line with contractual commitments. The location of any storage and disposal facilities for this waste will be a matter for the Australian authorities.

    Any shipment of radioactive material out of the UK will comply with all relevant international laws and use ships which meet national and international requirements.

  • Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Saville Roberts on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the terms of reference are for the S4C review.

    Matt Hancock

    The Government committed to a comprehensive review of S4C in 2017 covering remit, funding and governance. Further details including the Terms of Reference, timetable and process will be announced in due course.