The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what contingency arrangements her Department has made for the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the upcoming EU referendum.
Mr Nick Hurd
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer provided by my Right Honourable Friend the Prime Minister on Thursday 14 January 2016 (UIN: 21952).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-02-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take against landlords who fail to maintain their properties in a safe and fit state of repair.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
The Housing Health and Safety Rating System assesses the health and safety risks in all residential properties. Under the Housing Act 2004, following an Rating System inspection, if a local authority identifies a serious hazard they can take action, including issuing an Improvement Notice or a Hazard Awareness Notice. In extreme circumstances, the local authority may decide to make repairs themselves, or to prohibit that property from being rented out. Where a landlord fails to comply with a statutory notice, this is an offence, and they can be prosecuted by the local authority. From October 2015 we introduced protection for tenants from retaliatory eviction, where they have a legitimate complaint about the condition of the property.
The Housing and Planning Bill will strengthen local authorities’ ability and incentives to tackle rogue landlords by introducing measures including:
My Department also recently announced a further £5 million of funding across 48 local authorities to tackle the worst rogue landlords in their areas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-02-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of paragraph 16 of the agreement between the Scottish and UK governments on the Scottish fiscal framework, whether there is any obligation on the Scottish Government (1) to spend all or a certain proportion of the money passed to them for NHS services under the Barnett formula on those services; or (2) to account to the Scottish Parliament for not doing so.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The mechanical application of the Barnett Formula ensures that the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly receive a population share of changes in UK government funding on the services for which they have devolved responsibility. In accordance with the principles of devolution and the devolution Acts themselves, it is for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their funding (from the block grant or taxes/borrowing) to public services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; and it is for the devolved legislatures to hold them to account. The Scottish Government’s new fiscal framework does not alter this.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what routine responsibilities are required of Amey by Highways England in its maintenance and response contract for the East Midlands.
Andrew Jones
The Maintenance and Response (M&R) Contractor for Area 7. Amey Highways Ltd, will be required to undertake cyclic and reactive maintenance, incident response, severe weather response and traffic management across the East Midlands and Lincolnshire. This includes :
Cyclic and reactive maintenance:
Incident Response:
Severe Weather Response:
Traffic Management (TM):
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received on the potential merits of exempting drivers between the ages of 17 and 25 who have telematics car insurance policies from insurance premium tax.
Harriett Baldwin
HM Treasury receives representations on a wide variety of issues. We have received representations from parts of the insurance industry indicating that they would support a reduction in, or exemption from, Insurance Premium Tax for telematics insurance policies, particularly for young drivers. We keep all taxes under review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department collects on the (a) cost of tribunal hearings for sanctioned jobseeker’s allowance claimants and (b) costs of tribunals for other benefits.
Mr Shailesh Vara
Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) cannot isolate cost data relating to specific benefit types. I refer the hon Member to my answer to PQ 39104, which states that the estimated average cost of a tribunal case for all benefits in the First Tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) in 2014/15 (the latest period for which figures are available) was £468.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many meetings have taken place between ministers of his Department and their Saudi Arabian counterparts since 25 March 2015; and at how many of those meetings concerns were discussed about alleged breaches of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen by air strikes.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We are aware of reports of alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by actors in the conflict and take these very seriously. It is important that all sides conduct thorough and conclusive investigations into all incidents where it is alleged that IHL has been breached.
We regularly raise the importance of compliance with IHL with the Saudi Arabian Government and other members of the military Coalition. We continue to monitor the situation closely, seeking further information where appropriate.
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson) raised the issue of IHL compliance with his Saudi counterpart, Foreign Minister Al Jubeir on 22 August. I also raised it during my meeting with Foreign Minister Al Jubeir on 25 August in Jeddah. I also held an open meeting for parliamentarians on 7 September with Foreign Minister Al Jubeir where members from across the House raised questions, including alleged breaches of IHL.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what meetings he has had with representatives of major sectors of the UK economy since he assumed office.
Mr David Jones
Government officials are carrying out a programme of sectoral and regulatory analysis, which will identify the key factors for British businesses and the labour force that will affect our negotiations with the EU. They are looking in detail at over 50 sectors and cross-cutting regulatory issues.
Details of Ministerial meetings will be published in the Department’s Quarterly Transparency Returns, which will be made publicly available on GOV.UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-11.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the maximum permitted spending by each campaign will be during the final weeks of campaigning on the referendum on EU membership; and what steps the Electoral Commission plans to take to ensure that spending by each campaign is subject to the same limit.
Mr Gary Streeter
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) sets out the spending limits that apply during the regulated referendum period at UK-wide referendums. The duration of the referendum period for the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union will be set out in secondary legislation.
PPERA does not set total spending limits for each of the referendum outcomes; rather it applies spending limits to individual campaigners that take part in the debate.
The Commission is already monitoring the campaigning activities of potential referendum campaigners so that it can identify any emerging issues and offer advice and guidance to those that intend to campaign at the referendum. Once the rules come into force, the Commission’s campaign monitoring will inform the use, if necessary and appropriate, of its enforcement and sanctioning powers where the rules are not followed.
For the EU Referendum, Parliament increased the limits set out in PPERA to take account of inflation. The limits for political parties that register to campaign in support of a particular outcome are allocated according to the party’s share of the vote at the last UK Parliamentary general election. Campaigners that do not register with the Commission are limited to spending £10,000. The new limits are set out in the table below:
|
EU Referendum Bill spending limits for a referendum held before 31 December 2017 |
2015 UK general election vote share |
|
|
Limits for designated lead campaigners |
£7,000,000 |
– |
|
Limits for political parties with: |
||
|
>30% share of the vote |
£7,000,000 |
Conservative (36.8%) |
|
>20-30% share of the vote |
£5,500,000 |
Labour (29%[1]) |
|
>10-20% share of the vote |
£4,000,000 |
UKIP (12.6%) |
|
>5-10% share of the vote |
£3,000,000 |
Liberal Democrat (7.9%) |
|
£700,000 |
SNP (4.7%) Green (3.8%) DUP (0.6%) Plaid Cymru (0.6%) Sinn Fein (0.6%) SDLP (0.3%) UUP (0.4%) Plus all other parties that stood at least one candidate at 2015 UKPGE |
|
|
Limits for other registered campaigners |
£700,000 |
– |
[1] Labour Party share of the vote is adjusted because votes cast for joint candidates are divided by the number of parties the candidate is standing for i.e. Labour / Co-op candidates (PPERA Sch14, para 1(4))
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lansley on 2016-02-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they intend to make permanent the restriction on HGVs overtaking between Junctions 9 and 10 of the M11, following the trial.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
There are currently no restrictions on HGVs overtaking between Junctions 9 and 10 of the M11 and there are no plans to introduce restrictions. A permanent overtaking restriction on the uphill sections of the M11 between Junctions 8 and 9 is planned to be implemented in late 2016/17 subject to the completion of statutory processes and the availability of funding.