Tag: 2016

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions his Department’s cyber strike capability was used in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

    Penny Mordaunt

    We continue to develop the ability of our Armed Forces to deploy a broad range of offensive cyber capabilities as an integrated part of military operations. As with other sensitive defence capabilities, we do not reveal specific details in order to safeguard national security. As we have previously made clear in the context of the war powers convention, we do not propose to define the circumstances in which we would consult Parliament about the use of particular military capabilities.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether it is his policy that the proposed public register of beneficial owners of companies will provide details of the names of (a) trust or company service providers and (b) other third parties which incorporated those companies.

    Anna Soubry

    It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

  • Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) regular service personnel, (b) reservists and (c) civilian staff were employed by his Department in each year since 2010.

    Mark Lancaster

    Information on the number of Regular Service personel and Reservists employed by the Ministry of Defence from 2012 to 2016 is available in the annual Service Personnel Statistics publication. Older data is also published by UK Defence Statistics. This information can be found at the following links:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-armed-forces-monthly-service-personnel-statistics-index

    http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140116142443/http://www.dasa.mod.uk/index.php/publications/UK-defence-statistics-compendium

    http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140116142443/http://www.dasa.mod.uk/index.php/publications/personnel/military/reserves-and-cadets-strengths/

    Civillian staff employed by the Ministry of Defence is published in the Quarterly Civilian Personnel Report and in the UK Defence Statistics publication which can be found at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-armed-forces-monthly-service-personnel-statistics-index

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a) investigations and (b) prosecutions overseen by Trading Standards have related to (i) the mis-selling of vehicles and (ii) the tampering of mileage on vehicles in each of the last five years.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department does not hold the information requested. National Trading Standards issues annual reports setting out annual data but it is not broken down into the categories requested.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-10-24.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to increase the number of male teachers.

    Caroline Dinenage

    We value diversity but want the best people in the classroom, as evidence shows that quality of teaching is the single most important factor in determining how well pupils achieve.

    Recent figures show that from 2011/12 to 2015/16, the number of full-time equivalent male teachers increased from 115,000 to nearly 120,000. Last year, 26 per cent of teachers in state schools were male.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the condition and capacity of naturally occurring underground aquifers in the light of the high levels of rainfall in the UK over the last six weeks.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Environment Agency routinely monitors groundwater levels in England’s principal aquifers and publishes these monthly in a national water situation report.

    Rainfall totals for December were above average across England at 165% of the long term average. For a second consecutive month north-east and north-west England had exceptionally high rainfall totals for the time of year. Groundwater levels increased at approximately two-thirds of indicator sites during December and two thirds of sites were classed as normal or higher for the time of year.

    The Environment Agency undertakes monitoring and assessment of different aquifers locally, based upon the potential risk of groundwater flooding. A system of groundwater flood alerts and warnings is provided through our incident response procedures for those communities most vulnerable to potential groundwater flooding.

    The groundwater situation currently varies widely across the country, with higher than average and exceptionally high groundwater levels in parts of Cumbria, Yorkshire, Wessex, East Hampshire and Sussex whilst across the rest of southern England groundwater levels are around average or below average for the time of year.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what representations he has received concerning paintings left by Sir Hugh Lane to the National Gallery.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy met with Paul McGuinness, Roy Foster and Sir Donnell Deeny in September to discuss the bequest left by Sir Hugh Lane to the National Gallery. The department has received no other representation concerning the bequest.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the geographic variation in the effectiveness of each of the UK’s NHS transplant centres for the transplantation of stem cells; and what steps NHS England is taking to reduce that variation.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England assesses providers against service specifications. Of the 46 providers assessed, 41 were assessed to be compliant with the NHS England specification. Commissioners and providers have agreed action plans to achieve compliance in the remaining five. NHS England also collects data from providers against a number of metrics. There is a process for reviewing variation in this data involving the Clinical Reference Group chair and accountable commissioner. Where variation is identified, commissioning teams hold discussions with services to determine any actions required.

  • Christopher Pincher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Christopher Pincher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Pincher on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many tonnes of air pollution control residues were captured at municipal energy from waste incineration facilities in 2015; and what estimate she has made of the total tonnes of air pollution control residues that will be generated by municipal energy from waste incineration facilities in 2016.

    Rory Stewart

    The derogation to allow the landfilling of air pollution control residues that are three times above normal waste acceptance criteria was originally granted because there was a lack of alternative treatment capacity at the time to either treat certain wastes to levels meeting normal waste acceptance limits, to treat the wastes via alternative treatment technologies or to recycle or recover the residues. The availability of sufficient alternative treatment capacity and the costs of that treatment are therefore the two central criteria that the government will use to decide whether or not to remove the derogation.

    The Government is making an assessment of the quantity of air pollution control residues produced at energy from waste facilities to inform its decision on whether or not to remove the derogation to allow the landfilling of air pollution control residues that are three times above normal waste acceptance criteria. These figures will be available following the announcement of that decision.

    The Government is making an assessment of the costs of the different forms of treatment for air pollution control residues, including their mixing into concrete blocks and their disposal to hazardous waste landfill, to inform its decision on whether or not to remove the derogation to allow the landfilling of air pollution control residues that are three times above normal waste acceptance criteria. These figures will be available following the announcement of that decision.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Cabinet Secretary is undertaking a review of High Speed 2.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    As is normal for large projects, the Cabinet Office’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority is conducting assurance of the HS2 programme as it proceeds into its delivery phase.

    It is standard practice for this to include a small cross Government team, and not unusual for the Cabinet Secretary to take an interest on projects of this scale.