Tag: 2016

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-03-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Revenue and Customs has any current contracts with Google to provide services; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not have a direct contract with Google. As with most of HMRC’s IT services, licenses for Google products are provided through its existing IT contracts and also via G-Cloud (a government framework of digital contracts).

    HMRC carefully selects all products and services to ensure its staff have the right tools to do the job. These tools aid collaborative working and support improved productivity.

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress has been made in discussions with the devolved administrations on the drawing-down of funds on apprenticeships when the apprenticeship levy is introduced in April 2017.

    Nick Boles

    Skills policy is a devolved area so the devolved administrations will continue to have control over how to support businesses through training and apprenticeships.

    We are working closely with the devolved administrations to ensure they get their fair share of the levy and can work out how best to use it to complement their own apprenticeships and skills policies.

    We have been engaging with skills ministers in the devolved administrations on how to make the levy work for employers and would-be apprentices across the UK and will continue to do so following the elections in May.

  • Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what annual per-person rate her Department provides to each of its Compass contractors for the accommodation of asylum seekers.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office provides accommodation for eligible asylum seekers via its contractual arrangements with three suppliers. Payments are made on a per person per night basis. The details of these daily rates are commercially sensitive and therefore we are unable to release this information.

  • 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 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Chinese government on the abduction of activists from outside mainland China.

    Alok Sharma

    The British Government remain concerned by the case of British citizen Lee Po and the other four Hong Kong booksellers. The National Security Adviser, Mark Lyall Grant, raised the case with the Chinese authorities on 13 June at the UK-China Security Dialogue. The former Foreign Secretary my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) also raised the case with the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities on 8 and 9 April.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45487, what the average time taken was for the return of forensically analysed evidence in cases involving (a) burglary, (b) murder, (c) violence against the person, excluding murder, (d) drugs offences and (e) sexual offences in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Home Office does not hold this information.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Gospel Oak to Barking Line electrification programme includes electrification of that line’s freight links.

    Claire Perry

    The Gospel Oak–Barking electrification programme includes plans to electrify the freight links. The timing and funding for these links is being reviewed in conjunction with Sir Peter Hendy’s re-plan of Network Rail enhancements and the revised cost estimates of all electrification projects. The main scheme continues to be on target for completion in 2017.

  • 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 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel who have taken Mefloquine have been treated for psychiatric problems in the last 12 months.

    Mark Lancaster

    Between 1 April 2007 and 30 September 2015 a minimum of 17,623 UK Regular Armed Forces personnel were prescribed mefloquine.

    For the year 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2015 (the latest date for which information is available) a minimum of 354 (2%) with a history of mefloquine prescription subsequently were assessed as having a mental health disorder at their initial assessment at a Ministry of Defence (MOD) Department for Community Mental Healthcare, or admission to the MOD in-patient provider.

    It must be noted that this numerical association does not prove direct causation. Further, a comparison of personnel prescribed other antimalarial chemoprophylactic agents with those prescribed mefloquine has shown no statistical difference between these groups in terms of the amount of time between antimalarial prescription and the presentation for mental healthcare.

    This emphasises it is not possible from centrally held data to identify whether a mental health episode is associated with being prescribed mefloquine, nor whether personnel have taken or continued to take mefloquine after they were prescribed it.

  • 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 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the government of Romania about the activities of (a) Central Media Enterprise, (b) Adrian Sârbu and (c) Ronald Lauder in (i) 1995 to 1999, (ii) 2000 to 2010 and (iii) 2011 to 2015.

    Mr David Lidington

    I refer the hon. Member to my previous answers of 14 December 2015 (PQ 18601) and 17 December 2015 (PQ 19436). The information requested in the years prior to 2011 is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which areas of the UK are covered by his Department’s application for assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund to help communities affected by recent floods.

    James Wharton

    The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February. The application included an estimate of eligible costs from Scotland, Wales, Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and the City of York, West Yorkshire, and Northumberland.

    Having made this initial application, we are in the process of refining our cost estimations and figures, and will work with the Commission to finalise details.

  • 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 2016-04-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the businesses and sectors which have failed to sign up to the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme; what steps his Department is taking to ensure that such businesses sign up to that scheme; and what steps his Department is taking to exclude from the market those businesses suspected to be trading fraudulently and which did not register by the 31 March 2016 deadline.

    Damian Hinds

    From April 2017, HMRC will be making publicly available details of alcohol wholesalers who are approved. From then, retailers who buy from unapproved wholesalers will be liable to a fine.

    HMRC is now assessing the applications it has received against the scheme’s approval criteria. The number of applications received are lower than HMRCs initial estimate of 21,000 businesses that could be wholesaling alcohol. There could be a number of reasons for this, and HMRC is currently comparing the applications received with original expectations and encouraging businesses that have not applied to do so, to mitigate penalties and the likelihood of enforcement action.

    Where businesses have been purposefully fraudulently trading, HMRC will take action. It is too early to report outcomes of any investigations into illicit trading that HMRC are undertaking since the introduction of the scheme.