The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Glindon on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to monitor the use of procedures to recover abandoned premises introduced by the Housing and Planning Act 2016.
Gavin Barwell
These provisions are not yet in force. The first step is for the Department to issue guidance on how the procedures may be effectively and lawfully applied.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether it is his policy to apply to join the EFTA (a) before or (b) after the UK leaves the EU.
Mr Robin Walker
We have been clear that we will pursue a solution that works for the unique circumstances of the UK. Ministers are considering the UK’s future customs and trading relations with the EU and work continues to analyse the options to ensure we have the best possible outcome for the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-12-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department has assessed the potential use of gas-driven heat pumps as part of its review of the Renewable Heat Incentive.
Andrea Leadsom
We intend to reform the RHI to improve value for money and reduce costs; improve cost control and budget management; and explore the best way to support less able to pay households. Ofgem will continue to run the RHI under the current rules, while we consider the reform of the scheme. Officials have begun discussions with stakeholders, and we plan to consult on the changes early in 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has carried out benchmarking of the public sector exit payment cap against comparable private sector roles.
Greg Hands
At the 2015 Spending Review the Government announced it will consult on further cross public sector action on exit payment terms. This consultation will provide a good opportunity to collect further information on the trends in the level of exit payments between the private and public sector.
Exit payment terms vary significantly across the private sector, and there will be examples of terms that match or even exceed those in the public sector. However, the Government has seen no evidence that redundancy terms such as employer-funded early retirement, which are widely available across the public sector and often cost employers tens, or even hundreds of thousands of pounds per person, are replicated to anything like the same extent in the private sector.
The precise number of those affected by the public sector exit payment cap will depend on the number and type of exits in coming years.
However, as the average cost of an exit in the public sector in recent years has been around £25,000 the vast majority of exits are below the level of the cap. For example, less than 2% of recent exits in local government were above the level of the cap.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-02-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that there is full market participation in real-time data-sharing in the short-term credit market.
Harriett Baldwin
The Government agrees that market-wide credit data sharing is key to effective affordability assessments in the high-cost, short-term credit market. In February 2014 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) asked the payday lending industry to identify and remove any blockages to real-time data sharing as a matter of urgency. The FCA reports that there has been substantial recent progress made by the industry in this area. Over 90% of high-cost, short-term lenders by market share are meeting the FCA’s expectations to share data in real-time.
The FCA expects that the proportion of firms using real-time data sharing to further increase by the time the authorisation process is complete for most high-cost short-term credit firms. The FCA will continue to monitor progress to keep this momentum, and ensure that there continues to be improvement in this area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-03-16.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the financial difficulties of G4S will have an impact on any government security contracts.
Lord Bridges of Headley
G4S is a listed company, active in over 110 countries. Information on G4S’s financial performance is publicly available. As one of Government’s Strategic Suppliers Cabinet Office undertakes regular analysis of G4S’s performance and financial standing in line with the Strategic Supplier Risk Management Policy, to monitor any possible risks to Government contracts.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-04-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support prisoners with mental health problems.
Andrew Selous
Providing appropriate treatment at the right time is vital to improve outcomes for people with mental health problems. All new prisoners accepted by a prison are assessed on reception by a health care professional on arrival at the prison. Where appropriate, prisoners may be referred to a range of individual or group mental health interventions. In the most serious cases, prisoners may be transferred to secure hospital on the recommendation of two psychiatrists
The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-05-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will place in the Library copies of all letters, leaflets and other material from his Department circulated to (a) stakeholders and (b) members of the public on the EU referendum; what the costs of the production and distribution of that material have been since 1 January 2016; and what he estimates the cost of any further production and distribution of such material will be between 6 May 2016 and 23 June 2016.
Mr David Lidington
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Weston-super-Mare, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Cabinet Office (John Penrose) on the 9th June 2016 in response to PQ 38825.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations her Department has received on the recommendations of the Report of the Independent Teacher Workload Review Group entitled Eliminating unnecessary workload associated with Data Management published in March 2016; and from whom those representations were received.
Nick Gibb
We established three independent review groups to tackle workload related to data management, marking and lesson planning. Members of the review groups included serving teachers and head teachers, teaching unions and Ofsted.
No formal representations have been received on the recommendations in the data management report although all three reports have been well received by the profession and ongoing discussions are taking place with teachers and their representatives to help embed their principles and implement the recommendations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions the Government has had with Ministers in the Scottish Government on access for Scottish businesses to the single market after the UK leaves the EU.
Mr David Jones
The Prime Minister has committed to full engagement with the Devolved Administrations to get the best possible deal for all parts of our United Kingdom as we leave the EU. The Secretary of State for Exiting the EU has spoken with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon about developing a UK approach for EU exit. He has also met with Michael Russell, the Scottish Government Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotland’s Place in Europe, to discuss the work of the Department for Exiting the EU. We will give the Devolved Administrations every opportunity to have their say as we form our negotiating strategy and we will look at any suggestions that they put forward.