Tag: 2016

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of British nationals living (a) outside the UK and in the EU and (b) outside the UK and the EU; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Lidington

    The UN publishes data on the number of people of UK origin living elsewhere, broken down by region and country. The dataset can be found at: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/estimates2/estimates15.shtml

  • Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maggie Throup on 2016-09-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on funding research into improving the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The information requested is not available.

    The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) spent £25.5 million on respiratory disease research in 2014/15 (the latest available figure). Most of this investment (£16.6 million in 2014/15) is in infrastructure for respiratory research where spend on specific topics such as the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis cannot be separated from total infrastructure expenditure. This infrastructure includes NIHR biomedical research centres and the NIHR Clinical Research Network.

    The NIHR manages the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme, which is funded by the Medical Research Council and NIHR. The programme is currently funding a £1.4 million efficacy and mechanism evaluation of treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with the addition of co-trimoxazole.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had on increasing the number of armed response (a) officers and (b) vehicles in the West Mercia police force area.

    Mike Penning

    It is for Chief Officers in conjunction with Police and Crime Commissioners to determine the number of armed response officers and vehicles in their areas based on a thorough assessment of threat and risk. As announced in the Police Grant Report for England and Wales Written Ministerial Statement on 17 December 2015, this Government will provide £34 million in 2016-17 to enable a national uplift in armed policing capability and capacity to respond more quickly and effectively to a firearms attack. Decisions over where this money will be distributed are yet to be made, however for reasons of national security we do not publically disclose the detailed allocation of funding for counter terrorism by force area or by capability.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Work and Pensions on ensuring equitable tax arrangements for flexible and contract workers.

    Mr David Gauke

    The taxation of temporary and contract workers’ income will depend on their employment status for tax, as is the case for direct employees and the self-employed.

    Decisions about tax policy are made by Treasury ministers. However, as recommended by the Office of Tax Simplification, officials from HM Treasury, HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will form a Cross Government Working Group for Employment Status early this year.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Saudi Arabian government on the role of religious police in that country.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We have not recently discussed the role of the religious police in Saudi Arabia with the Saudi Government.

  • Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Will Quince on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the level of EU subsidies provided to sugar manufacturers.

    George Eustice

    There are no specific EU subsidies provided to sugar manufacturers under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). However, those that produce their own sugar beet are entitled to make a claim for support under the CAP Basic Payment Scheme. Details of the amounts received by UK beneficiaries can be found on the UK CAP Payments website at http://cap-payments.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx.

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  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-05-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to investigate the growth in the number of banks offering unsecured credit cards with interest and principal payment grace periods of more than three years, in the light of the most recent report by MoneyFacts.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market, which includes the credit card sector. Consumer credit regulation transferred from the Office of Fair Trading to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014.

    The FCA is currently undertaking a thorough review of the credit card market through its ‘credit card market study’. On 3 November 2015 the FCA published its interim report which found that the market was working reasonably well for most customers.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of ending the NHS bursary system on the Capital Nurse project in London.

    Ben Gummer

    We are advised by NHS England that it is working closely with Health Education England to deliver the Capital Nurse programme.

    Impact on programmes such as the Capital Nurse programme, will be considered by NHS England once the outcome of the bursary consultation, which closes on 30 June 2016, has been published.

  • Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-09-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many contracts for franchised passenger rail services his Department has tendered in each year since 2013; and how many such contracts his Department plans to tender under the existing franchising schedule in each year between 2016 and 2023.

    Paul Maynard

    The number of contracts for franchised passenger rail services tendered* per calendar year from 2013 to 2015 are as follows:

    Year No.of Contracts Awarded

    2013 0

    2014 3

    2015 2

    The number of planned of contracts for franchised passenger rail services tendered* per calendar year from 2016 to 2023 are as follows:

    Year No.of Contracts Awarded

    2016 1

    2017 3

    2018 4**

    2019 1

    2020 0

    2021 2

    2022 2

    2023 0​

    *We have taken the use of the term ‘tendered’ to mean the completion of the tendering process which is contract award. The response does not require the number of Direct Awards as the question only asks for “franchised passenger rail services”.

    **The schedule shown reflects standard Department for Transport franchising timings. The UK Government has agreed in principle to transfer franchising powers to the Welsh Government to lead on procuring the next Wales & Borders franchise. In anticipation of this, the Welsh Government are developing their procurement approach which is planned to start earlier than shown on this schedule.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on lowering the Tier 2 visa scheme’s minimum salary threshold for chefs.

    James Brokenshire

    Acquiring this information on visa applications from chefs would involve examining each individual case record held by UK Visas & Immigration for the Tier 2 category. To do so would incur a disproportionate cost.

    The Home Office regularly receives representations to lower the criteria (including the salary requirement) for sponsoring chefs under Tier 2, the skilled worker route. Tier 2 is, however, reserved for graduate level occupations. We continue to welcome the very top chefs who promote innovative and authentic cuisine here in the UK — and these types of skilled chefs are on the shortage occupation list. The salary threshold applied to chefs was based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee.

    We have been clear, however, that the restaurant industry needs to move away from an unsustainable reliance on migrant workers. We want to nurture more home-grown talent and encourage young people in this country who want to pursue a skilled career. This means the restaurant sector offering training to attract and recruit resident workers to meet their staffing needs.

    The industry is starting to make progress in this area, recruiting and training more chefs in the UK, and this needs to continue.