Tag: 2016

  • Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit the imposition of broadband service cessation fees by providers who are unable to provide customers with adequate service.

    Matt Hancock

    Most major broadband providers have signed up to Ofcom’s Residential Broadband Speeds Code of Practice. This requires providers to give new customers, or customers who have changed their service, information on their guaranteed minimum speed. If a customer cannot get this guaranteed access line speed and providers are unable to resolve the problem, the Code states that providers must allow customers to leave their contract without penalty.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when Dame Louise Casey’s review into Opportunity and Integration in the UK will be published.

    Sarah Newton

    Dame Louise Casey’s independent review on boosting opportunity and integration in isolated and vulnerable communities will report to the Prime Minister and be published in due course.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to ensure that businesses which contribute to the Construction Industry Training Board Levy scheme do not also pay the apprenticeship levy; and if he will make a statement.

    Nick Boles

    The apprenticeship levy is economy wide. It will apply to all employers with a pay bill over £3,000,000 including those in the construction and engineering construction sectors.We are aware that the industry is concerned about the potential impact of paying two levies. We are working closely with the Industry Training Boards who will consult with their members ahead of the introduction of the apprenticeships levy on how their existing arrangements will be affected.

  • The Lord Bishop of Durham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The Lord Bishop of Durham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Durham on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that those refugees from Burundi now living in camps in neighbouring countries do not become politicised and radicalised.

    Baroness Verma

    We are aware of allegations of recruitment into armed groups. We continue to emphasise to the Government of Rwanda and UNHCR the importance of maintaining the civilian nature of refugee camps, and of supporting a political solution in Burundi. We are addressing the issue of potential radicalisation by supporting protection work in the refugee camps, in particular Mahama Camp in Rwanda, focusing particularly on vulnerable children and youth. This includes funding two additional UNHCR protection officers to be based in Mahama camp, the creation of more child and youth-friendly spaces, and increased provision of psycho-social support and case management services.

  • Baroness Featherstone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Baroness Featherstone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Featherstone on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much they have forecast they will spend on staff costs related to regulating fracking in each year to 2020.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Staff costs related to shale gas will be determined as part of the Department’s current business planning process.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to reports of his remarks in Ankara in January 2016, what recent estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens who have (a) entered and since left, (b) entered and remained in and (c) been prevented from entering (i) Syria and (ii) Iraq since April 2013.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    Approximately 800 individuals of national security concern have travelled to take part in the Syria conflict since it began. Of these approximately half have returned. As I said when I visited Ankara in January, the UK and Turkey have worked together to prevent the travel of over 600 UK nationals to Syria and Iraq via Turkey.

    The UK continues to work to prevent the flow of extremist travellers to Iraq and Syria, through domestic measures in the UK, and through co-operation with international partners including Turkey.

  • Michael Fabricant – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Michael Fabricant – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Fabricant on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to publicise the hygiene ratings of restaurants and other food outlets in England; and if she will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has responsibility for the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. Ratings are published on the FSA’s website (and are available via smart phone apps), and there is open access to the data so that others may use it. Food businesses are also given stickers and are encouraged to display these at their premises where consumers can easily see them.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the number of EU nationals in prisons in England and Wales in (a) the latest period for which figures are available and (b) each of the last five years.

    Andrew Selous

    It is the Government’s position that, wherever possible, prisoners should serve their sentences in their home countries, reducing the burden on the UK taxpayer. The most recent foreign national offender statistics can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/519445/prison-population-31-march-2016.xlsx.

    Foreign national offender prison populations back to 2002 are published at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449241/prison-population-2015.xlsx

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which of the Type 45 Destroyers are (a) available for operations, (b) being used for training, (c) preparing to deploy and (d) being refitted.

    Harriett Baldwin

    All ships rotate through planned operating cycles involving maintenance, training, deployment, leave and upgrades. This results in individual ships being at various levels of readiness to deploy, safeguarding the continuous ability of these technologically advanced ships and the highly skilled personnel to deploy in support of Government policies.

    The following table provides the current programming of each Type 45 Destroyer.

    Ship

    Current programming

    HMS DARING

    Deployed (on route) to Middle East

    HMS DAUNTLESS

    Training

    HMS DIAMOND

    Deployed to Mediterranean

    HMS DEFENDER

    Entering a maintenance period

    HMS DRAGON

    Adaptive Force Escort

    HMS DUNCAN

    Maintenance prior to deployment

  • Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has received assurances from Volkswagen that fixes made in response to problems with emissions testing will be completed in 2016.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Government continues to take the unacceptable actions of the Volkswagen Group extremely seriously and I have pressed the company to ensure that they are implementing the technical solutions as quickly as possible for UK consumers.

    I recently summoned Volkswagen UK to a meeting where they set out their intention to have “fixed” 90% of affected UK vehicles by June 2017. To date, of the 1.2 million affected vehicles in the UK, 479,000 have had a technical solution approved and approximately 180,000 have been “fixed”.