Tag: 2016

Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which organisations contributed to UK Trade and Investment’s Northern Powerhouse Investment Pitchbook; and who provided the assessment and shortlisting of developments included in that document.

Anna Soubry

The following organisations contributed to the Northern Powerhouse pitchbook:

Allied London; Carlton Power Limited; Cheshire East Council; Foresight Group; Halite; Leeds City Council; Liverpool Vision; London and Continental Railways; Manchester City Council; Manchester Place; MIDAS, Manchester’s Inward Investment Agency; Newcastle City Council; Peel Group; Scarborough Group; Sheffield City Council; Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council; and Warrington & Co.

Overall shortlisting was done by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in consultation with HM Treasury.

January 1, 2023
Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his Department’s wellness strategy is.

Matthew Hancock

The Cabinet Office takes the well-being of its employees seriously and provides a range of support, including the recent launch of the Cabinet Office Listening Service, resourced by staff who have been trained in active listening and emotional support. The service can provide upfront support to Cabinet Office staff dealing directly or indirectly with specific issues in their personal or working life or to help them to cope with mental health issues of any kind including depression, anxiety or stress. Listeners can also signpost individuals onto other relevant services such as the external Employee Assistant Programme which offers counselling, impartial advice and access to online health and wellness related resources.

The department has established an employee led WorkWell community to further develop and implement a strategy for wellness. Progress to date includes establishing resilience training for senior leaders and their teams, signing up to the Time to Change pledge on mental health, providing access to coaching and training in skills to improve wellbeing such as mindfulness. WorkWell are also seeking to increase awareness of opportunities to improve physical wellbeing at work including provision of on-site health checks.

January 1, 2023
Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether Jobcentre Plus staff can provide support and advice to claimants who are intending to appeal against a benefit sanctions decision.

Priti Patel

Jobcentre staff will advise claimants about the appeals process at various stages.

January 1, 2023
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-04-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions have taken place with the government of Bangladesh about reforms of religious laws on marriage, divorce and separation and their impact on women’s economic situation.

Baroness Verma

At the heart of the UK’s strategy in Bangladesh is the recognition that empowering girls and women is the key to reducing poverty and driving sustainable economic growth. Combined with an improved enabling environment which makes girls and women feel secure at home or at work, this allows women to reach their full potential, resulting in job creation and higher incomes for women, as well as improved access to more efficiently produced goods and services.

UK aid funds the Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) which we work in partnership with to promote the rights of women and children in the religious legal system in Bangladesh. For example, since 2009, MJF have advocated for the enactment of the Hindu Marriage Act, which was passed in 2012, and further strengthening of the law which would give the wife rights over her husband’s property and thus impact her economic situation. MJF and its partners are also working at a local level to mobilise communities to make use of the law.

January 1, 2023
Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to increase the scope of the Financial Conduct Authority’s terms of reference to include the application of the Treating Customers Fairly policy to banks.

Harriett Baldwin

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is operationally independent of Government and its remit is set out in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Under the FCA’s policy, banks which are regulated by the FCA are already required to treat customers fairly. Principle 6 of the FCA’s Principles for Businesses states: A firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly.

January 1, 2023
Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of legislation on hate crime; and whether she has plans to review the suitability of such legislation for tackling such crimes.

Sarah Newton

The Government condemns all hate crimes and is committed to tackling these crimes in partnership with the communities affected.

We have in place some of the strongest legislation to tackle hate crime in the world – this includes specific offences for racially and religiously aggravated activity and offences of the stirring up of hatred on the grounds of race, religion and sexual orientation.

We also have stronger sentences for hate crime. We continue to carefully consider the recommendations from the Law Commission review into hate crime legislation. The Government has committed to taking action to improve our response to hate crime.

This includes joint training between the police and Crown Prosecution staff to improve the way the police identify and investigate hate crime; building on the improvements to police recording of hate crime by working with the police to break down religious-based hate crime by religion; and working with victims and advocacy groups to improve victims confidence to come forward and report such crimes.

The police are also improving their operational practices and recording. Last year, the College of Policing published Operational Guidance for officers responding to hate crime which comprehensively covers how to address all forms of hate crime.

Hate crime statistics show number of crimes recorded by the police by force area. The decision as to how hate crime is resourced in individual forces is an operational matter for the Police and Crime Commissioner for that area. The latest police funding settlement represents a fair deal for the police and reinforces this Government’s commitment to protect the public. No Police and Crime Commissioner who maximised precept income is facing a reduction in cash funding this year.

Police and Crime Commissioners are also responsible for commissioning local support services for victims of crime. The Ministry of Justice provides the Commissioner with a grant to enable services which best meet the needs of local victims of crime to be funded.

The Home Office published a new hate crime action plan on 26 July 2016, which sets out Government action over the next four years to tackle hate crime. It includes:

● new steps to boost reporting of hate crime and support victims;

● new CPS guidance to prosecutors on racially aggravated crime;

● a new £2.4 million fund for protective security measures at potentially vulnerable places of worship;

● and additional funding to community organisations tackling hate crime.

Nobody in this country should live in fear because of who they are and anyone who experiences hate crime should report it to the police, either in person at a police station, online through the True Vision website, or by phoning 101.

January 1, 2023
William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve rates of teacher recruitment and retention in schools in England.

Nick Gibb

At a national level we are retaining and recruiting the teachers we need. We recognise, however, that the strengthening economy and growth in pupil numbers have made the situation more challenging, and that this is more acute in certain subjects and particular schools or areas of the country.

We have more teachers in our schools than ever before and the number of teachers has kept pace with changing numbers of pupils. The number of teachers in state-funded schools throughout England is up more than 15,000 since 2010. This year we have recruited more than 27,000 people to postgraduate teacher training programmes and we have exceeded our recruitment targets in a number of key subjects including biology, English, geography and history.

We are spending over £1.3 billion up to 2020 to attract new teachers into the profession. We have funded the expansion of Teach First into every region of England; continued to fund targeted leadership programmes; and we are supporting schools to bring more former teachers back into the classroom.

Latest statistics show that teacher retention one year after qualifying has remained stable at around 90% for the past two decades. We are actively addressing the key issues that evidence suggests cause teachers to consider leaving the profession, for example, by supporting schools to reduce unnecessary workload and improving behaviour management training for new teachers.

January 1, 2023
Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has made to her French counterparts on the proposed construction of a new camp for migrants close to Dieppe.

James Brokenshire

The management of migrant camps in northern France is the responsibility of the French Government. The Home Office is in regular contact with the French authorities and will continue to engage with them on managing port security and dealing with the migrant pressures.

We are not aware of any proposals to build a migrant camp in Dieppe.

January 1, 2023
Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2015 to Question 19988, what progress he has made on finalising monitoring arrangements; and if he will support monitoring of the use of public transport and investment in the North East’s bus and rail networks as part of those arrangements.

James Wharton

The Government is working with the North East Combined Authority on the implementation plan for its devolution deal, which will cover monitoring arrangements. The devolution deal will create an elected mayor, who will be directly accountable to local people and will have powers over transport among other things. It is for the future mayor to decide how to monitor transport policy, and for local people to hold the mayor and the Combined Authority to account.

January 1, 2023

Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on how many occasions in each year since 2009-10 he has been asked to confirm a local planning authority’s decision to revoke planning permission under Section 97 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990; and on how many such occasions he (a) confirmed and (b) overturned that decision.

Brandon Lewis

Section 97 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 means that if it appears to the local planning authority that it is expedient to do so, it may make an order revoking any planning permission to develop land. When an order is opposed by the owner and occupier of the land or by other persons who in the authority’s opinion will be affected, the order has to be submitted to the Secretary of State and shall not take effect unless it is confirmed by him.

For each year since 2009/10:

Year	Number submitted for confirmation	Confirmed	Overturned (declined to confirm)
2009/10	1	1	None
2010/11	1	None	None
2011/12	None	None	None
2012/13	1	None	None (withdrawn by authority)
2013/14	None	None	None
2014/15	None	None	None
2015/16	None	None	None

January 1, 2023