The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what contingency arrangements his Department has made for the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the upcoming EU referendum.
Brandon Lewis
I refer my hon Friend to the answer given to him by my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 14 January to PQ 21952.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wigley on 2016-02-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research they have undertaken into the number of legal practitioners who will still be able to provide criminal legal aid services in England and Wales in the light of the decision to abandon proposals to reduce significantly the number of duty solicitors in those countries.
Lord Keen of Elie
All organisations who bid for own client contracts in 2015 will have the opportunity to bid for criminal legal aid work when we invite applications for replacement contracts later in the year. As my colleague, Lord Faulks, told the House on 28 January, a process of natural consolidation is already taking place in the criminal legal aid market, following the reduction in crime and natural competition.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2016-02-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have a target for the proportion of new motor vehicles that will be electrically powered by (1) 2020, and (2) 2025; what investments they are making to ensure that a high proportion of those vehicles are manufactured in the UK; and what incentives, if any, they plan to introduce for such vehicles, such as through reducing motor vehicle tax and congestion charges.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government has a commitment that almost all cars and vans will be zero emission by 2050. This means all new cars should be zero emission by 2040. We have not set interim targets, but market penetration of ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) has doubled in the last year to nearly 2% of new vehicle sales.
We will invest over £600 million during this Parliament to support the uptake and manufacture of ULEVs in the UK – including over £400m for the Plug in Car Grant that offers up to £4,500 off the price of eligible cars. ULEVs also benefit from favourable vehicle excise duty, company car tax, and enhanced capital allowances. They are exempt from Transport for London’s congestion charge and can attract other local benefits. The £40m Go Ultra Low cities scheme is supporting a range of local measure such as free parking and use of bus lanes that are designed to drive take up of ULEVs. £82m support was provided during the period 2010 to 2015 for industry-led collaborative research and development, with a similar programme of support underway for the period 2015-20. In addition the Government and industry are investing around £1bn over 10 years in the Advanced Propulsion Centre to develop, commercialise and enable the manufacture of advanced propulsion technologies in the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the average cost per mile of electrification of a railway line in the UK.
Claire Perry
The Department for Transport does not delineate the average cost per mile of electrification from the wider rail upgrade works that it funds in England and Wales. The Government’s commitment to a rolling programme of electrification is reliant on a wider set of enhancement works to make journeys better. This often includes track works, gauging, signalling upgrades, power supply works and station works to allow electric trains to run. The Department does not make an estimate of the average cost per mile of electrification as the engineering complexity and challenge varies significantly across England and Wales. Electrification works in Scotland are devolved to the Scottish Government.
However, we are aware of the significant cost to the industry and the wider public of the failure of the Labour Governments of 1997 to 2010 to progress electrification schemes across the country. This Government is determined to rectify this failure.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had the Electoral Commission on ensuring that people are able to check whether they are registered on aboutmyvote.co.uk related to the EU referendum.
John Penrose
A registration look up tool that allowed electors to check their registration status would reduce duplicate applications. Technical and practical barriers prevent its implementation before the EU referendum.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department’s policy is on maintaining an intercity standard train service between (a) Norwich and London, (b) Ipswich and London, (c) Colchester and London and (d) Chelmsford and London.
Claire Perry
In our invitation to tender for the East Anglia franchise we have asked bidders to:
I look forward to saying more in the coming weeks.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent representations she has received from scientists and other experts on the use of neonicotinoids and their effect on the bee population.
George Eustice
Defra has not received recent expert representations on this issue. However we do consider new studies on neonicotinoids carefully, taking advice from the independent UK Expert Committee on Pesticides, Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser and experts in the Chemicals Regulation Division within the Health and Safety Executive.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has for employees’ representation on company boards; and what conditions will be set for such representation.
Margot James
UK companies are able to appoint employees to their company boards presently, but very few do. Many UK companies deploy alternative approaches to engaging their employees. The issue of employees’ representation on company boards will be included in a discussion document that will be published by Government later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Prime Minister’s announcement of 11 January 2016, how much of the proposed £1.4 billion mental health support funding for young people over the next five years has already been allocated.
Alistair Burt
The Government has committed to making available the full £1.4 billion over the course of this Parliament to improve children and young people’s mental health.
In this financial year (2015/16), the Government has already allocated £173 million. This includes:
– £75 million for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to improve local services;
– £30 million to CCGs to develop evidence based community eating disorder services for children and young people;
– £28 million to fund the expansion of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme;
– £15 million for improvements to perinatal mental health care; and
– £25 million for investment in inpatient services for children and young people, to build workforce capability, and to support innovation and development of online support.
A targeted and phased approach to the additional investment over future years will enable local areas to develop additional capacity and a collaborative approach across health, education and children’s services so that the money can be spent effectively. This is what is needed to make a real difference. The Government remains committed to spend the whole £1.4 billion over the course of this Parliament to improve children and young people’s mental health.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Touhig on 2016-02-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the speed at which reservists will be able to fill front-line combat roles.
Earl Howe
Volunteer Reservists (VR) on the trained strength (26,560 as at 1 December 2015) are required to respond to a mobilisation call-out at 28 days’ notice and may then carry out additional training for an operation. The length of time required for this training will depend on the complexity of the operation, which may require familiarisation training on equipment which they will be required to operate, and procedural training to prepare for the environment they will encounter. Further preparations may be required, such as vaccinations, which depend on the environment of the operation and which will affect the length of time between mobilisation and deployment.
For a medium scale intervention operation we would expect the period between mobilisation and deployment for VR to be around 180 days. However, the use of intelligent mobilisation means that willing and available VR are routinely mobilised in around 90 days for specific tasks and this can be significantly shortened in some circumstances.
No estimate has been made of the number of Reservists who would be able to serve at short notice in the event of a major conflict.