Tag: 2016

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will assess the merits of increasing the penalty charged to developers who regularly build without planning permission.

    Gavin Barwell

    Legislative changes which came into effect in March 2015 mean that both the magistrates’ and the crown court can already impose an unlimited fine on conviction for the most serious enforcement related offences – non compliance with enforcement notices, temporary stop notices and stop notices and for giving false or misleading response to a planning contravention notice. In determining the amount of the fine, the courts are required to “have regard to any financial benefit which has accrued or appears likely to accrue to him in consequence of the offence”.

    In addition, where a local planning authority achieves a successful conviction for failure to comply with an enforcement notice, they can apply for a Confiscation Order, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, to recover the financial benefit obtained through unauthorised development.

    We believe these penalties remain appropriate and have no plans to amend them at this time.

  • Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which organisations in addition to Rothschilds and the Governor of the Bank of England provided him with advice on whether the Government should sell its stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government has been consistently clear that its policy in respect of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to return the bank to the private sector in full. The advice received from Rothschilds and the Governor of the Bank of England relates specifically to the appropriate timing of an initial share sale.

    UK Financial Investments (UKFI) is responsible for the execution of share sales, and advised the Chancellor in August 2015 that it would be appropriate to conduct the first sale of the Government’s shareholding in RBS. On 3 August 2015, UKFI sold approximately 5.4% of the bank via an accelerated bookbuilding process.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have taken severance and redundancy packages in each month since May 2015.

    Andrew Selous

    Information on the number of Band 3 Officers who received severance payments between May and September 2015 is contained in the table below.

    Prison Officers Taking Severance Payments – May to September 2015

    Year

    Month

    Severance Leavers

    2015

    May

    20

    Jun

    20

    Jul

    10

    Aug

    20

    Sep1

    ~

    Total

    70

    1 Information on severance payments received in September 2015 is incomplete.

    Severance payments include payments for voluntary exit, redundancy, and payments as compensation for ill health retirements.

    No Band 3 Prison Officers received redundancy payments during this period.

    All figures are rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic, and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures.

    ~ denotes suppressed values of 5 or fewer or calculations based on a population of 5 or fewer. Low numbers are suppressed, in conjunction with the rounding policy to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to maintain a strong commercial bus market in northern regions of the UK.

    Andrew Jones

    The forthcoming Buses Bill will provide local transport authorities, including those in the North, with a range of tools that will enable them to improve their bus services by introducing new franchising powers and stronger partnership arrangements, as well as a step change in the information available to passengers.

    The Government is also supporting bus services outside London – including in the North – with some £250 million a year of funding through the Bus Service Operators Grant system.

  • Chris Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Chris Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Evans on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ban the sale of puppies under eight weeks old; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    We are reviewing certain local authority licensing schemes, including the breeding and selling of dogs. The public consultation on this issue closed on 12 March. The consultation proposed that anyone in the business of breeding and selling dogs, or who breeds more than two litters in a twelve month period, would need a licence.

    We also proposed to prohibit the sale of puppies under eight weeks of age in all cases. We are currently analysing the 1,500 or so responses before making any firm decisions.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the current average waiting time is for the completion of pre-employment checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service involving (a) Cleveland Police and (b) the Metropolitan Police Service.

    Karen Bradley

    Performance data for the Disclosure and Barring Service for March 2016 indicates that average processing time for DBS applications was 14.8 days. Certificates dispatched to applicants by the DBS in March 2016 involving (a) Cleveland Police and (b) the Metropolitan Police Service took an average of (a) 24 days and (b) 122 days.

    Protecting the public is a priority for this Government and it is important that checks undertaken are thorough; a proportion of the applications received by the DBS must be referred to one or more police forces as part of the enhanced disclosure process. In the vast majority of cases these checks are completed within target. The DBS is working closely with the small number of forces, including the MPS, whose performance does not meet turnaround time targets. The performance of police disclosure units is an operational issue for individual police forces and the MPS has established a Gold Group to oversee the recovery plan which they have in place to reduce the time taken. I have made clear to the MPS that its current delays must be addressed as a matter of priority and I continue to maintain close oversight of the progress being made.

  • FALSE – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    FALSE – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by FALSE on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultations have taken place between the Home Office and other relevant government agencies with reference to the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting communiqué in which Heads recalled the importance to the people of the Commonwealth for legitimate and temporary reasons in order to benefit from stronger economic

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Home Office regularly consults with other Government departments and agencies about all aspects of the UK immigration system including with regard to those visiting the UK from the Commonwealth.

    The UK continues to contribute to the Commonwealth Secretariat led group looking at the movement of Commonwealth citizens and how that can be improved taking due regard to the requirement in the Communiqué that the actions should “not conflict with national legislation and international obligations.”

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to introduce the national funding formula for schools in England; and what plans she has for how that formula will be implemented.

    Nick Gibb

    We recently announced that the new national funding formulae for schools and high needs will apply from 2018-19. We are determined to introduce this landmark reform and to get it right. It is important that there is wide and full consultation with schools and the education sector. We will bring forward proposals for full consultation in the autumn and we will work closely with the education sector over the coming months to understand their views and priorities for the national funding formula.

    The written Ministerial statement from the Secretary of State for Education is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/schools-funding

    “

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what research her Department has undertaken or assessment on links between the use of technology and (a) human behaviour and (b) productivity.

    Matt Hancock

    DCMS commissioned the UK Broadband Impact Study from SQW consultants, formerly known as Segal Quince Wicksteed, in 2013, which examined the impact of broadband rollout on the UK economy. The Link can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/257006/UK_Broadband_Impact_Study_-_Impact_Report_-_Nov_2013_-_Final.pdf

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many bids his Department received under its proposal to make the Defence Infrastructure Organisation government-owned contractor-operated.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has been led by a Strategic Business Partner (SBP) since September 2014. The SBP contract allowed for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to instruct the incorporation of DIO as a Government-owned company (GovCo), subject to a value for money review.

    I announced the conclusions of the review in my written statement of 10 December 2015 (Official Report, columns 55-56WS). The GovCo model would have been led by the SBP but 100% owned by the Secretary of State for Defence. A GovCo is distinct from a Government-owned contractor-operated organisation (GOCO) which has a different legal construct. The MOD has never proposed for the DIO to become a GOCO.