Tag: 2016

  • Oliver Dowden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Oliver Dowden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2016 to Question 23018, what steps he is taking to limit the availability of laser pens.

    Anna Soubry

    I refer to my answer of 25 January.

    I have asked my officials as a first step to request an urgent update from Trading Standards on their recent market surveillance activities. I am aware that Leicester Trading Standards recently seized 1,500 unsafe laser pens at point of entry and the importer agreed to destroy them.

    In addition RAPEX (the European electronic notification platform for the notifying and removal of dangerous consumer products) statistics show 98 different types of laser pointers were removed from the EU market and of these 9 different products were notified by UK market surveillance authorities.

  • 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, when he next plans to attend a meeting of the National Infrastructure Commission.

    Greg Hands

    The agenda for meetings of the National Infrastructure Commission is set by its interim Chair, Lord Adonis.

  • Alan Mak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alan Mak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Mak on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of diplomatic and economic relations between China and the UK.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Our relationship with China is strong and prosperous. We are building on the global partnership established during last year’s Chinese State Visit, by cooperating on international challenges and boosting trade and investment. We also have frank discussions on difficult issues including steel over-capacity, human rights and the South China Sea.

  • Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the positive findings of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs research Digestate and Compost in Agriculture, what action they are taking to increase the volume of food waste going to anaerobic digesters rather than to incinerators.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    It is wrong for good surplus food to go to waste when it could go to people. For food waste which is unavoidable and inedible, anaerobic digestion is the most environmentally beneficial means of dealing with it.

    The Waste Framework Directive sets out a priority order for waste treatment: the waste hierarchy. We have departed from the waste hierarchy to place anaerobic digestion above – rather than on a par with – composting and other energy recovery technologies for the treatment of food and garden wastes. We explain this position in our “Guidance on applying the waste hierarchy”. While local authorities are best placed to determine local collection arrangements, they must have regard to this guidance.

    The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has recently published guidance to local authorities on how to introduce or improve the effectiveness of food waste collection systems. WRAP is also looking at whether greater consistency in how waste is collected has the potential to improve recycling rates.

    The “Food Waste Recycling Action Plan”, soon to be published by WRAP, aims to bring together industry and local authorities to increase the supply and quality of household and commercial food waste to the food waste recycling industry.

  • Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-06-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the 2013 Report of the European Court of Auditors EU Direct Financial Support to the Palestinian Authority said (1) that a number of civil servants in Gaza were being paid without going to work, and (2) that the EU was not using its leverage on the Palestinian Authority to promote reforms; and what assessment they have made of the EU allocation of 252.5 million euros to the Palestinian Authority in 2016 through PEGASE.

    Baroness Verma

    The European Court of Auditors report of the EU’s Direct Financial Support to the Palestinian Authority assessed the European External Action Service’s and the European Commission’s management of the direct financial support provided through the PEGASE mechanism to the Palestinian Authority. The report is accessible in the public domain.

    The UK is supportive of the EU’s programme of financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority, which supports delivery of essential basic services to Palestinians and helps maintain the viability of the two-state solution.

  • Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-09-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offices in Scotland the Government plans to close by 2020; and what changes there will be in the total number of HMRC employees working in Scotland.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) plans to create two new regional centres in Scotland in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 2019-20, accommodating between 5,700 and 6,300 full time equivalent posts by 2025. As work is transferred to the regional centres HMRC plans to close ten offices in Scotland by 2020. The changes are part of a ten-year transformation programme to deliver better public services at lower cost to the taxpayer. Scotland has 12 per cent of HMRC’s total workforce and that will not change with modernisation.

    HMRC believes that its responsibilities will be unaffected by the changes. Staff are receiving guidance and training to deal with any enquiries relating to the Scottish rate of income tax, as with any other tax issues.

  • 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 at polling stations.

    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.

  • Lord Sharkey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Sharkey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the Migration Advisory Committee to publish the findings of the review of the Tier 2 route of the Points Based System, including their recommendations on the application of a skills levy to businesses recruiting from outside the EEA.

    Lord Bates

    In June last year, the Government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on how to restrict Tier 2 to roles where there are genuine skills shortages or which require highly-specialised experts, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers.

    As part of that commission, the MAC was asked for advice on applying an immigration skills charge to businesses recruiting from outside the EEA. The MAC published its report on 19 January 2016.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy that business rates generated by new nuclear development in Copeland will be retained by the billing authority.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Government has announced reforms to the business rates retention scheme which mean that, by the end of this Parliament, local government will keep 100% of locally raised business rates and 100% of the growth generated by new development. Over the coming months we will be working with local government on the details of the scheme.

    Ahead of final decisions, it is too early to assess what the impact of the reforms will be on individual areas’ spending power.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent consideration he has given to amending existing non-statutory guidelines on Residential Leasehold and Recognised Tenants’ Associations to ensure that those who reside in larger blocks and developments have the same opportunity to gain recognition as a recognised tenants’ association as those in smaller blocks and developments.

    Brandon Lewis

    The non-statutory guidelines available to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) when considering applications for statutory recognition of a tenants’ association, apply to all residential blocks of flats, large or small.

    Recognising concerns raised about the ability to acquire statutory recognition, the Department published a detailed discussion paper last year to consider what more can be done through the existing guidelines to assist the tribunal when considering applications. We are currently considering responses to the discussion paper.