Tag: 2016

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of raising the state pension age on levels of tax avoidance.

    Mr David Gauke

    Information on the impacts of State Pension age rises can be found in Annex A of the Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment, and in Annex B of the Pensions Act 2014 at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pensions-act-2011-impact-assessment

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pensions-act-2014-impact-assessments-may-2014

    The department has not made an assessment of the impact of raising the State Pension age on tax avoidance.

    “

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many cases of alleged international humanitarian law violations by the Saudi coalition within the Yemen conflict presented to the UK and Saudi authorities by NGOs have been investigated by the Government.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK has encouraged Saudi Arabia to investigate allegations of breaches of International Humanitarian Law.

    The Saudi Arabian Government announced on 29 February that they are forming an independent committee to examine military activity in civilian areas in order to minimise possible civilian casualties; assess the Coalition’s rules of engagement; assess accidents, verification and targeting procedures and advise how they can be improved; and provide a clear, full and objective report for each investigation made including conclusions, lessons learnt and recommendations for future actions.

    We monitor the situation closely and we welcome any further information non-governmental organisations can provide to supplement the range of information we consider from a variety of sources.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish a draft Public Service Ombudsman Bill.

    John Penrose

    We remain committed to this reform and will publish draft legislation in due course.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what options his Department is considering for making access to an expanded range of cancer drugs available through the NHS after the end of the Cancer Drugs Fund.

    George Freeman

    The Government remains committed to the Cancer Drugs Fund which has so far helped over 84,000 patients in England access the cancer drugs they need. £340 million has been allocated to the Fund in 2016-17.

    NHS England has advised that it envisages, under the new arrangements that are being introduced for the Cancer Drugs Fund, that a greater number of cancer drugs will be funded from baseline commissioning. This will be as a consequence of more appropriate pricing arrangements proposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers and better evidence being available through the Fund as to longer term patient outcomes.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-09-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans for HM Revenue and Customs to deliver the services currently conducted by Concentrix under the tax credit error and fraud contract upon the end of that contract.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs is currently considering various options for service delivery, in line with contractual obligations and considerations under the agreement with Concentrix.

  • Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the continued delivery of essential mobile telephone infrastructure to rural areas after the completion of the Mobile Infrastructure Project on 31 March 2016.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Improving mobile coverage remains a priority for the Government, and our landmark agreement in December 2014 with the four mobile network operators (MNOs) to provide voice and SMS text coverage to at least 90% of the UK landmass by 2017 will significantly improve coverage in the UK. It guarantees £5 billion of investment in mobile infrastructure, and as a result mobile services will come to some areas for the first time. It will halve partial not-spots (where the is coverage from at least one MNO, but not all four), and cut total not spots by two thirds by end 2017. Additionally, Telefonica has a licence obligation to deliver indoor 4G coverage to 98% of premises in the UK by 2017. Other MNOs have indicated that they will match this commitment.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has been informed of any defects relating to the reliability of the Rolls-Royce MT-30 marine gas turbine engines for the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    There are no indications of reliability problems with the MT-30 gas turbine engines, which are used for electrical power generation on the Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers.

  • Clive Betts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Clive Betts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities have (a) an adopted local plan in place, (b) a local plan found sound by the planning inspectorate but not yet adopted, (c) a plan that has been submitted but not yet assessed by the planning inspectorate and (d) a plan published but not yet submitted for inspection.

    Brandon Lewis

    As of 29 February 2016 (a) 237 authorities had an adopted local plan in place, (b) 1 authority had a local plan that had been found sound by the planning inspectorate but not yet adopted, (c) 29 authorities had plans that have been submitted but not yet assessed by the planning inspectorate and (d) 17 authorities had published a plan but not yet submitted it for inspection.

    We have committed to publishing league tables, setting out local authorities’ progress on providing a plan for the jobs and homes needed locally. Last month we set out our intention to publish this information from summer 2016, on a six monthly basis, further details of our proposals can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/implementation-of-planning-changes-technical-consultation.

    “

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what targets his Department has set to increase early diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.

    Jane Ellison

    As services for the treatment of Lyme disease are commissioned locally information on the costs associated with laboratory testing and treatment of late stage Lyme disease is not collected centrally. Nor is information collected centrally on the average time to diagnose cases of Lyme disease.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is developing a clinical guideline on Lyme disease and reports progress on its website. NICE recently consulted on a draft scope for the guideline, and expects to publish final guidance in July 2018.

    Public Health England and NHS Choices publish information on their websites to raise awareness of Lyme disease and encourage timely medical consultation because early diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is the best way of limiting complications from infection. Given the need to maintain public awareness these or similar mechanisms are expected to continue beyond 2018. Increased awareness is likely to encourage early consultation but no information on the time taken to seek medical advice is available.

    There are no plans to set targets for diagnosis and treatment as most cases of Lyme disease are diagnosed empirically by general practitioners using their clinical judgement rather than relying on a laboratory test, thus treatment can start immediately. Diagnosis of patients with late or complicated Lyme disease can be difficult and the National Health Service will continue to provide care taking account of the existing evidence base.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 32639, how much of the investment in energy efficiency measures referred to was spent on (a) administrative costs and (b) targeted energy efficiency schemes; and what estimate she has made of the amount that will be spent on administrative costs relating to such planned investment in the current Parliament.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Of the £7.4bn spend last parliament, around £350m was spent by energy suppliers on administration and the remainder (around £7bn) spent on delivery.

    Of the £1.8bn estimated to have spent between May 2015 and the end of March 2017 (when ECO is due to end), around £160m is expected to be spent on administration, with the remaining £1.6bn spent on delivery.

    The Government has yet to consult on the design of the future supplier obligation replacing ECO, so it is not possible to estimate the administration costs beyond March 2017. However, the consultation is expected to include provisions designed to reduce the cost of administration relative to ECO, freeing up more of the estimated £1.9bn for delivery.

    The administration costs are proportionately higher under this parliament, as ECO strengthened the monitoring and reporting requirements for suppliers relative to those under CERT and CESP (which were in operation during the last parliament), to allow more detailed and timely monitoring of suppliers’ progress against their obligations.