The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants his Department estimates will have moved on to universal credit by the end of 2017.
Priti Patel
The number of people on benefits is driven by a range of factors. Because of this, the programme measures progress by the successful achievement of milestones of its delivery plan rather than targets for numbers of claimants.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the five times increase in the annual upfront fee charges for private hire operator licences by local authorities on small and self-employed operators.
Andrew Jones
Local licensing authorities can charge fees for private hire vehicle operator licences that recover the cost of administering the licensing system.
Renewing a licence every five years, rather than more frequently as may have been the case in the past, reduces a financial and administrative burden on many of the small and medium size enterprises that make up the private hire vehicle industry.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to her speech of 18 November 2015, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, when her Department plans to publish the terms of reference and timescales for the consultation on closing all unabated coal-fired power stations.
Andrea Leadsom
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced in her speech that the Department will be launching a consultation in the spring, and that remains the intention.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-04-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans HS2 has for using secondary aggregates for the construction of Phase 1.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
As part of our overall sustainability policy for HS2, we plan to use both secondary and re-cycled aggregates in structures which are designed with concrete. Their use, along with the types of concrete to be used, will be dependent on the specific design characteristics of individual HS2 structures and will be subject to the detailed design process in due course. The design process will also take into account other important sustainable factors such as material availability and logistics.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Donoughue on 2016-06-07.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Clean Technology Funds financial eligibility threshold of $200 per tonne of CO2 equivalent abated represents good value for UK taxpayers in the context of global mitigation effects.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
In order to ensure value for money, the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) Investment Criteria (2009) has six objectives, of which cost-effectiveness is one. The other objectives are Potential for GHG Emissions Savings, Demonstration Potential at Scale, Development Impact, Implementation Potential and Additional Costs and Risk Premium.
The financial eligibility threshold of $200 per tonne of CO2 equivalent is in place to safeguard value for money. This threshold was based on the International Energy Agency’s Energy Technology Perspectives 2008 Report, as the lower-end estimate of the marginal incentive needed to achieve a reduction of global GHG emissions to 50% by 2050. The average total investment cost per tonne achieved in the CTF is $39.60 (£26.40), which is significantly below this threshold.
More information is available in the document Climate Investment Funds (2009), Clean Technology Fund Investment Criteria for public sector operations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects Network Rail to publish an update to its industry electrification strategy.
Paul Maynard
Network Rail is now evaluating electrification of routes on a case by case basis as one of the ways of delivering enhanced train services to meet the forecast growth in rail usage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to support women suffering side-effects from hormone replacement therapy.
Nicola Blackwood
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is used to alleviate the symptoms of the menopause. The known side effects of HRT products are provided in the patient information leaflet which accompanies the medicine. Medically serious side effects of HRT affect a small number of women and include increased risks of breast and ovarian cancer and blood clots (venous thromboembolism, VTE), which are treated in clinical practice if they occur.
Due to these risks the advice since 2004 is that decision to start, continue or stop HRT should be made jointly by a woman and her doctor, based on the known risks and benefits and her own personal circumstances, including her age, her need for treatment and her medical risk factors, and that the lowest effective dose of HRT should be used for the shortest possible time with regular review of treatment.
The National Health Service publishes information online at NHS Choices about the menopause including the benefits and risks of HRT and alternative treatments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to investigate the termination of the contract between Cambridgeshire Clinical Commissioning Group and the Uniting Care Partnership.
George Freeman
NHS England advises that it has commissioned an independent review to establish the key facts and root causes leading up to the termination of the contract between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group and UnitingCare Partnership LLP, with the aim of identifying lessons to be learnt and next steps. The investigation, which will take place over the course of this month, will also consider how similar contracts will be managed and assured in the future.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-01-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Corston review in 2007, how many women’s centres there are in the UK; where those centres are located; to what extent those centres support women on remand or serving community sentences; and what plans they have to establish additional centres.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
We do not collate information centrally about the numbers and locations of women’s centres across the UK or the services that they offer.
The Government believes that future funding for women’s centres should lie at the local level, as local experts know what works in their community and how best to deliver services. We are encouraging and supporting areas to bring together local agencies in the criminal justice, statutory and third sectors to develop a joined-up, multi-agency approach to address the often complex needs of female offenders.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in his Department.
Justin Tomlinson
I refer the hon.Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my Rt.Hon. Friend Matthew Hancock, Question UIN 27946.
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