Tag: 2016

  • Mark Pawsey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Mark Pawsey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pawsey on 2016-09-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to announce the outcome of the consultation on reforming the business energy efficiency tax landscape which closed in March 2016.

    Jane Ellison

    The government announced its response to the business energy efficiency tax landscape consultation at the March Budget 2016 and the accompanying consultation response document can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-reforming-the-business-energy-efficiency-tax-landscape.

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  • Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gill Furniss on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the source of the information was regarding fraudulent tax credit claims passed from HM Revenue and Customs to Concentrix.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs provided cases to Concentrix where there was an indication that there may be something wrong with the tax credits claimed. Concentrix then applied their own data profiling techniques as well as data matching to identify claims that involved an increased likelihood of error or fraud. The detailed process for selecting claims for Concentrix compliance interventions is set out in sections A9 and A10 of the “specifications of requirement” annex of the Concentrix contract which can be found at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/85d1b730-5e4e-4be8-ae4c-3ac1f359afc7

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  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the official records from 1987 relating to the ban on the publication of Spycatcher by Peter Wright have not been released to the National Archives under the 20-year rule.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    Moving from a 30 year to 20 year rule has meant a doubling of the amount of information to be considered for release. The Cabinet Office is actively reviewing the remaining 1987 and 1988 records and will complete this work as quickly as possible.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for Skills of 2 February 2016, Official Report, column 764, what proportion and amount of funding for adult skills is planned to be allocated to (a) apprenticeship provision and (b) non-apprenticeship provision in (i) 2016-17, (ii) 2017-18, (iii) 2018-19 and (iv) 2019-20.

    Nick Boles

    The attached table shows the amount of funding for adult skills allocated in 2016-17 and indicative allocations for 2017-18 to 2019-20 for apprenticeship and non-apprenticeship provision. These figures are taken from the Skills Funding Letter 2016-17 Skills funding letter: April 2016 to March 2017 – Publications – GOV.UK.

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  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to further reform the Bank of England.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government has set out its plans for reform of the Bank of England in the Bank of England and Financial Services Bill, which is currently progressing through Parliament.

  • Mary Creagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mary Creagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to support the formation of the transitional government of national unity in South Sudan.

    James Duddridge

    In January I visited Juba and held meetings with President Salva Kiir, members of the opposition and civil society. In the margins of the African Union Summit I met with the Leader of the Opposition Riek Machar. In all those meetings I emphasised the importance of forming the transitional government without delay. The UK has also worked closely with key countries in the region and in the UN Security Council to build pressure on the parties to form a government of national unity.

  • Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of how the carbon emissions of waste-fed anaerobic digestion plants compare to those of plants fed by energy crops.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    The carbon emissions from anaerobic digestion (AD) plants have been assessed by adding together; the greenhouse gas emissions from the AD plant including an estimate of their methane leakage rate, the reduction in UK greenhouse gas emissions from the use of biomethane to substitute for natural gas in the gas grid, and where this is relevant, the emissions avoided by no longer needing to dispose of the feedstock. The estimates below are for typical plants and will depend on particular circumstances.

    For food waste this net change in greenhouse gas emissions was assessed as a saving of 850 g of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt hour of energy in the biomethane produced (g CO2eq /kWh). This arises principally from the reduction in emissions from the landfilling of food waste. Animal waste based AD plant save emissions of 704 g CO2eq /kWh as a result of the reduction in storage emissions of slurries and manures. The use of annual energy crops for AD was assessed as saving 102 g CO2eq /kWh.

    The assumptions behind this assessment are detailed in the Impact Assessment that accompanied the recent consultation ‘The Renewable Heat Incentive: A reformed and refocused scheme’ and did not taken account of any additional carbon emissions impacts relating to indirect land use change, which may arise from changes in agricultural land caused by the expansion of croplands for feedstock production.

    This evidence was drawn from the modelling that supported the Impact Assessment for the recent Renewable Heat Incentive consultation that closed on 27th April.

    Food waste is estimated to be considerably more cost-effective than agricultural feedstocks because of the ‘upstream’ emissions abatement that is assumed to occur as a result of diverting food waste from landfill to an anaerobic digester. This is despite the controls that are in place at landfill sites to collect and combust landfill gas.

    Agricultural wastes are also assumed to produce upstream emission abatement owing largely to avoided emissions from the storage of slurries and manures, although these are less significant than the upstream abatement from food waste. In contrast energy crops do not offer these GHG emission reduction advantages.

  • Baroness Burt of Solihull – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Burt of Solihull – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-06-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the average duration of employment for civil servants within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in each of the last five years.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The length of service for employees of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills HQ, in each of the last five years, is shown in the table below.

    Period ending

    Average length of service (Years)

    31 March 2016

    16.3

    31 March 2015

    15.8

    31 March 2014

    15.6

    31 March 2013

    15.6

    31 March 2012

    15.6

    The data above relates to the total length of their employment within the Civil Service.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-09-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s press release of 13 August 2016, Chancellor Philip Hammond guarantees EU funding beyond date UK leaves the EU, how the future allocation of European Regional Development Fund funding will be assessed.

    Mr David Gauke

    The European Regional Development Fund is one of a number of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs). The relevant information on ESIFs can be found in my letter of 12 August to the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. This letter is attached and can be found on the Gov.uk website, alongside the Treasury press notice.

  • James Cleverly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    James Cleverly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cleverly on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent steps his Department has taken to detect and prevent electoral fraud involving polling cards and voter registration.

    Chris Skidmore

    The Electoral Commission provides guidance on preventing and reporting electoral fraud sets out the role of Local Electoral Registration Officers, Returning Officers, the police and political parties in detecting and preventing fraud. This guidance can be found online.

    Moreover, the security of registration has been improved by the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration. This service checks the details provided by the applicant, including their National Insurance number, against government data before passing the application to the relevant local electoral administration team.

    For applications with no National Insurance number and other applications not verified through the digital service, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) will seek further information regarding identity. For all registration applications, online or otherwise, the ERO is also responsible for ensuring that other eligibility requirements, such as the nationality of the applicant, are satisfactorily met.

    Finally, the Government considers the integrity of the electoral system of the utmost importance and has recently welcomed the report published by Sir Eric Pickles into electoral fraud.

    The Government will closely consider the recommendations laid out in that report and issue its response shortly.