The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.123 of the Budget 2016, whether the (a) proposed legislation to make it easier for local authorities to work together to create new garden towns and (b) consultation on a second wave of Compulsory Purchase Order reforms will apply to Wales.
Greg Hands
Housing and planning in Wales are the responsibility of the Welsh Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2016-04-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the total cost was of maintaining the UK Permanent Representation to the EU in each of the last five years.
Mr David Lidington
We cannot provide a figure for the total cost of maintaining the UK Permanent Representation to the EU (UKRep) in each of the last five years, except at disproportionate cost.
The budgets involved are aggregated in different ways, normally across HMG’s Brussels platform as a whole, which consists of UKRep, the British Embassy in Belgium, including UKTI and Consular operations, the UK Joint Delegation to NATO and Corporate Services Benelux.
Administrative resource spend, which includes, but is not limited to, Locally Engaged staff salaries, travel costs, telecoms, catering and entertainment and IT, is shared across the Brussels platform and difficult to disaggregate. Facilities management costs (eg security, reception, cleaning) are also shared across the Brussels platform and difficult to disaggregate. The rent spent on the offices which house UKRep and the British Embassy is aggregated. Salaries and allowances paid to UK-based staff working at UKRep are captured in further separate budgets, and would involve significant resource to disaggregate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hodgson of Abinger on 2016-05-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are providing support to the central bank of Yemen to avert financial collapse.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) is a key Yemeni institution. We have made sure that the economy and the state of the CBY are not ignored during the peace talks in Kuwait. We continue to lobby the Government of Yemen and the Houthis and Pro-Saleh General People’s Congress at the highest levels to emphasise the seriousness of the economic situation, including pressing for all Yemeni parties to cooperate, take ownership of the issues, and ensure key institutions such as the CBY are protected.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-07-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the results of the post-occupancy data on schools built under wave 1 of the Priority Schools Building Programme will be published before wave 2 begins.
Edward Timpson
The Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) is rebuilding and/or refurbishing those school buildings in the worst condition across the country. We expect to deliver the vast majority of the new school buildings in Phase 1 by the end of 2017, two years earlier than originally planned. Work on schools in Phase 2 of the programme has recently begun and good progress is being made.
The Department is collecting a range of post-occupancy data on schools under Phase 1. For post-occupancy evaluation to be truly representative, schools need to be operational for a full year to experience all the seasons. The results of the post-occupancy exercise will be published once it is complete. Lessons learnt on Phase 1 are being transferred to Phase 2 of the PSBP.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what proportion of staff on the payroll of his Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.
Kris Hopkins
All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.
Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.
More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20082, what the (a) dates, (b) locations and (c) organisations of the 19 visits and meetings referred to in that Answer were.
Alistair Burt
Details of the 19 visits to or meetings with mental health trusts undertaken by Simon Stevens and Sir Bruce Keogh since their appointments as Chief Executive and Medical Director respectively are given on the attached table Details of meetings with and visits to mental health trusts undertaken by Simon Stevens and Sir Bruce Keogh since their appointments as Chief Executive and Medical Director respectively of NHS England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much was awarded to businesses in Brighton and Hove under the Government Start-Up Loans scheme; and how much of that has been repaid to date.
Anna Soubry
To date over £1.1million has been lent through Start-Up Loans issued in Brighton and Hove. Of this, over £268,000 has been repaid.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether benefits for people with disabilities will be exempt from the freeze on working-age benefits.
Priti Patel
The Welfare Reform and Work Bill introduces a four-year freeze for the main rates of most working-age benefits from 2016-17 to 2019-20, as part of the Government’s welfare reforms that are moving the country to a higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare society.
The freeze does not apply to benefits related to the additional costs of disability, such as Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment; to the support group component of Employment and Support Allowance or the limited capability for work and work-related activity amount in Universal Credit; or to the disability premiums in Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support or Housing Benefit. Carers benefits and premiums are also exempted from the freeze.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the annual amount saved in ISA accounts in each income group; and if he will make a statement.
Harriett Baldwin
ISA statistics for the latest available tax year (2012-13) are published on the GOV.UK website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maggie Throup on 2016-04-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the evidential basis is for NHS England’s decision not to fund the pre-exposure drug prophyaxis for HIV for the at-risk population.
Jane Ellison
NHS England has placed its position on the commissioning of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) under review. This review of the commissioning process will be undertaken by the Specialised Services Committee of NHS England in late May 2016. Depending on the outcome of that decision, a further decision taking account of the clinical evidence for PrEP, the evidence and demand for other new treatments not currently commissioned and NHS England’s available funding and priorities is currently planned for June 2016.