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Tag: 2016

  • Alan Duncan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Alan Duncan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Duncan on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what obligations Openreach and BT have under contracts with the Government to provide prior warning to residents of planned maintenance or improvement work to junction boxes and other infrastructure that involves the temporary disconnection of services.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The same regulatory and communication code conditions apply to Openreach in BDUK contracted areas as would apply to their commercial deployment areas.

    The contracts between BT and government relating to broadband are for the provision of the design and build of infrastructure. Once this infrastructure is in place, it forms part of BT’s network and maintenance and improvement works will be carried out by Openreach in the same way as on the rest of the network. Although there is no obligation to inform residents of any planned upgrades or essential maintenance, these activities are scheduled to be carried out when usage is at its lowest, in order to minimise disruption.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the maximum reduction in tax credits is that an individual could be subject to as a result of the reduction in the income rise disregard implemented through the draft Tax Credits (Income Threshold and Determination of Rates) Amendment Regulations 2016.

    Damian Hinds

    From April 2016, the income rise disregard – the amount by which a tax credit claimant’s income can increase within a year before their tax credit award is adjusted – will be reduced from £5,000 to £2,500.

    The only people who will be affected by this will be those who see an increase in their in-year income by more than £2,500. There will be no net cash losers because their income will have increased.

    In the subsequent tax year, a claimant’s tax credits award will be calculated in the usual way, using their full annual income for the previous year to determine their tax credit entitlement. This means that after the change in the tax year, whether the claimant’s increase in income was above or below the disregard level, their tax credit award for the following year will be adjusted to what it would have been had no disregard existed.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has put in place further flood prevention measures in response to the recent flooding in Northamptonshire.

    Rory Stewart

    As the Lead Local Flood Authority, Northamptonshire County Council will be carrying out 17 formal flood investigations, with support from the Environment Agency. These flood reports will recommend actions to reduce the risk of future flooding. The Environment Agency will review their programme of works, in line with the recent flooding incident, and will investigate if any Capital work can be brought forward to reduce flood risk.

  • 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 2016-05-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the growth in private sector credit; the use of lending strategies by banks; payday lenders and peer-to-peer lenders; and risks to family finances and financial stability.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Private credit growth grew at 3.7% in the year to March, below the 2003-08 average of 11.5%. Industry sources such as Nesta estimate that peer-to-peer lending for consumers and business facilitated £2.4 billion of gross lending in 2015, 85% higher than in 2014. The volume of payday lending fell 35% in the first six months after the government transferred regulatory responsibility of the consumer credit market to the Financial Conduct Authority in April 2014.

    The government created the independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC) to ensure we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past, and they have judged that financial stability risks from domestic credit growth are not elevated. The FPC has already taken action on loan-to-income ratios and mortgage affordability to ensure against risks from indebted households, and interest payments as a proportion of household income have fallen to a record low of 4.7% in Q4 2015, compared to 10.6% in Q1 2008.

  • Ian Mearns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Mearns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Mearns on 2016-06-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Ofsted inspectors are required to have experience of teaching in primary schools prior to becoming an inspector.

    Nick Gibb

    This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. I have asked him to write to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-09-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department’s (a) £10 million payment to the Macfarlane Trust in 1987 and (b) £500,000 payment to the Eileen Trust in 1993 was allocated to his Department’s capital budget or revenue budget.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The Department does not hold the information requested.

    The Department only holds data for the last seven financial years, in accordance with departmental policy for retention of financial data, and the Finance Act 1998 – Schedule 18 Part III, Duty to keep and preserve records.

    The government spending control regime has changed many times since the period referred to in the question, however generally payments to charities such as these would score as “grants”. The treatment of a grant as “revenue” or “capital” is explained on page 31 of HM Treasury’s Consolidated Budgeting Guidance 2016-17, which can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/503365/Consolidated_budgeting_guidance_2016-17.pdf

    “

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Mauritania.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We last assessed the human rights situation in Mauritania in November 2015 before Mauritania’s Universal Periodic Review ahead of the UN Human Rights Council. Officials continue to monitor human rights in Mauritania and raise our concerns with the Mauritanian authorities at the highest levels.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 24113, on what occasions the Government has requested the sending state to waive the rights to diplomatic immunity of an individual diplomat in the UK in the last 12 months.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    We do not disclose the missions from which we have sought waivers of immunity. Doing so would be likely to prejudice relations between the United Kingdom and the States in question. Statistics for the total number of waivers of immunity sought for foreign diplomats in the UK in the last 12 months are not kept centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Statistics for waivers of immunity sought in cases of serious and significant offences allegedly committed by foreign diplomats in the last 12 months have yet to be compiled. Those allegedly committed in the calendar year 2015 will be available in the next annual Written Ministerial Statements on the failure of foreign missions to comply with UK law in 2015.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to ensure that any underspend of the budget for Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus is allocated to projects and schemes on those bases; and what planning his Department has carried out for such a scenario.

    Penny Mordaunt

    There has been no significant underspend in the Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) in recent years. In the unlikely event an underspend is identified, there are measures in place to identify priorities for additional investment in the SBAs, subject to wider Departmental policies. These measures involve engagement with all key stakeholders at the beginning of each Financial Year to identify ‘quick win’ projects that could be funded and implemented promptly in the event of a potential underspend.

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what instructions his Department has issued to ambassadors and diplomats in relation to the forthcoming referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is in regular contact with diplomatic posts overseas to ensure they are informed of HM Government’s position, including on the referendum, and are able to promote the United Kingdom’s interests overseas, supporting our citizens and businesses around the globe.