The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he has met Mark Samworth, owner of the food manufacturing company Samworths, in the last six months.
Anna Soubry
Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly alongside gifts, hospitality and travel on the GOV.UK website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Bacon on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much to date the NHS has paid Fujitsu for the licensing, deployment and support of acute IT systems in the South of England.
Nicola Blackwood
The Department is currently in arbitration proceedings with Fujitsu and these are on-going and confidential and confidentiality is a specific contractual obligation upon parties to the proceedings. As the subject matter of the arbitration proceedings is a contractual dispute, the Department has significant commercial interest in ensuring that no internal information regarding these proceedings is placed in the public domain. The Department is therefore unable to provide this information as the disclosure may prejudice the commercial interests of the Department.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-10-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the economic effect of the UK leaving the EU on the steel industry in South Wales.
Mr Nick Hurd
The UK economy is fundamentally strong, highly competitive, and open for business. As we work towards negotiating Brexit, we will aim to limit uncertainty surrounding businesses and industries, including the steel industry in South Wales, whilst also seeking to forge new relationships and seize new opportunities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-01-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the amount that will be raised in each local authority by the two per cent social care precept in the first year of its operation.
Mr Marcus Jones
The Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 of 26 November 2015 (Cm9162) estimates that if all local authorities use the adult social care precept to its maximum effect, it could raise nearly £2 billion a year by 2019-20. In the first year of its operation, we estimate that it would raise nearly £400 million.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479749/52229_Blue_Book_PU1865_Web_Accessible.pdf
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-02-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the report by the Fair Admissions Campaign and British Humanist Association, An Unholy Mess, and in particular that report’s recommendations that guidance be produced for schools to help them to ensure that they comply fully with the School Admissions Code.
Lord Nash
Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious designation, are required to comply with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code and other admissions law.
Where an objection is made to the Schools Adjudicator, if the arrangements are found to be unfair or fail to comply with the Code, the admission authority must make changes to ensure their arrangements are compliant without undue delay. Where an admission authority fails to implement decisions of the adjudicator, the Secretary of State may direct the admission authority to do so.
We continue to keep the Code under review, and, where we consider any changes are necessary to make the admissions system work more effectively for parents, these will be subject to a full public consultation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-02-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.122 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what estimate his Department has made of the average change in tax credit award as a result of reducing the income rise disregard for tax credits.
Damian Hinds
As announced in the combined Autumn Statement and Spending Review, the amount by which a tax credit claimant’s income can increase within the year before their tax credit award is adjusted (the income rise disregard), will be reduced from £5,000 to £2,500. The reduction to the income rise disregard will stop one family receiving a higher tax credit award over another family with precisely the same income and the same circumstances, which makes the system fairer. The household income of families before it rises will inform how they might be effected by a reduction in the income rise disregard.
The only people who will be affected are those who will see an income increase of more than £2,500 in-year.
Due to the way that tax credits are calculated, the amount an award will be adjusted by – because of an increase in income – will depend upon a claimant’s individual circumstances, such as the household’s income before it rises. No one will be a cash loser because their income will have increased. As an example, for an individual with a wage of £12,000, an income increase of £2,501 would lead to an adjustment in their tax credit award of just 41 pence. An increase of less than £2,500 would see no change at all.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of upgrading the M56 to a smart motorway between junctions 12 and 14.
Andrew Jones
No work has been done to estimate the costs of upgrading the M56 to a smart motorway between Junctions 12 and 14 as this scheme is not within the first Road Investment Strategy (RIS). Highways England is working hard to deliver the schemes set out in the RIS in the first Road Period 2015-20.
Future investment in the strategic road network is currently being developed through Highways England’s Route Strategies process, which will be used to plan new investments in the second Road Period 2020-25.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what work her Department is carrying out using its funding priorities to encourage gender equality around the world.
Mr Nick Hurd
Promoting the rights of girls and women is a priority for the UK’s development programme. The UK Aid strategy states that ‘Throughout all its development spending, the government will continue to prioritise the needs of girls and women, which has been fundamental to the UK’s approach to development’ (para 3.2.1).
DFID’s Strategic Vision for Girls and Women (published in 2011, refreshed in 2013) sets out how UK Aid is being used to unlock the potential of girls and women, to stop poverty before it starts. To reinforce this, the Gender Equality Act was passed in the UK law on 13th May 2014. Through the Act there is a legal requirement to consider, before providing development assistance and alongside other considerations, how the assistance will contribute to reducing gender inequality.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Government Minister will have responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the new anti-corruption strategy.
Matthew Hancock
Building on the UK’s Anti Corruption Plan and the Prime Minister’s successful summit, the UK has committed to develop a new national anti-corruption strategy which will provide a vision and framework for our domestic and international policy priorities. We are reviewing the governance arrangements for the strategy and will announce them in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Hammond on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) ability and (b) willingness of police forces to catch those using their mobile phone while driving.
Brandon Lewis
There has been no assessment made of the enforcement by the police of the offence of driving whilst using a mobile phone. The enforcement of this offence is an operational matter for individual Chief Officers of police.
The attached table, “Fixed Penalty Notices” includes figures for Fixed Penalty Notices for use of mobile phones whilst driving, broken down by Police Force Area and by Year.
Based on information provided by the Ministry of Justice, statistics on offenders found guilty and sentenced, including sentence outcomes, for using or causing others to use a mobile phone whilst driving, at all courts in England and Wales, by police force area, from 2005 to 2015, can be viewed using the ‘Motoring data tool: with criminal justice area’ in the annual publication, linked below:- https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2015