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Tag: 2016

  • 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 discussions he has had with the government of China on human rights in Tibet.

    Alok Sharma

    We set out our human rights concerns about China, and specifically in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office annual report on Human Rights and Democracy. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my noble Friend, the Rt Hon. the Baroness of Anelay of St Johns raised our concerns about the Tibetan language advocate Tashi Wangchuk with the Director of the National People’s Congress Foreign Affairs Committee on 7 July.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) key stakeholders on ensuring that researchers who are EU nationals and who are in the UK or due to arrive in the UK to work at leading research institutions are supported through any changes to their ability to remain and work in the UK when the UK leaves the EU.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status of EU nationals already living and working in the UK, and the only circumstances in which that wouldn’t be possible is if British citizens’ rights in other EU Member States were not protected in return.

    As part of this process, the Home Secretary will continue to work closely with colleagues across Whitehall and the Government will engage with relevant stakeholders.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates’ courts opened in each local justice area in each year since 2010.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The tables below show magistrates’ courts that have opened since 2010. Each of these new courts replaced multiple smaller facilities, providing modern and efficient premises in place of buildings which were unfit for purpose.

    2011

    Westminster Magistrates Court

    2012

    Aberystwyth Justice Centre

    Chelmsford Magistrates Court

    Colchester Magistrates Court

    Newport Magistrates Court

    It is not possible to present the above sites by their local justice areas as many local justice area boundaries change over time.

  • Stephen Tim – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Stephen Tim – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Tim on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) kilometres of duct and (b) poles have been installed with financial support from BDUK.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Openreach predominately uses existing duct and pole infrastructure in BDUK project areas, but where state funded infrastructure has been used, they report it on their website at: https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/products/ductandpolesharing/contracts/contracts/downloads/State_Aided_Infrastruture_One_Truth.xlsx“

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria her Department uses to assess whether a local authority should be subject to a Sure Start claw-back.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Where local authorities dispose of or change the use of buildings or other assets funded wholly or partly through Sure Start capital grants, they must repay the money through the claw-back process.

    The Department for Education has a thorough set of monitoring arrangements in place regarding claw-back rules. Local authorities are required to notify the department of each and every proposed change of services and provide details about the level of early years services that are to continue. The department then considers if the local authority has continued to offer a sufficient level of early years services for children and their families from the building in question to meet the original aims of the grant.

    If the department is satisfied that the funding for the asset will continue to be used for purposes consistent with the grant, the department may defer claw-back. Deferring claw-back means that we accept the change of usage at that time, however, the department retains its interest in the asset and if in the future the asset has its usage changed, is transferred or otherwise disposed of, and does not continue to meet the purposes of the grant the local authority must inform the department and we will claw-back the funding. The department’s interest in an asset funded by Sure Start capital grants is 25 years from designation of the building. If the grant was used to purchase capital items or re-furbish an existing asset, the length of time and value of any claw-back depends on the depreciation value of the items, according to local authority depreciation rules.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2016 to Question 29831, what recent steps he has taken to encourage all local authorities to publish (a) transparent financial audits and (b) undisclosed procurement costs for all public-private contracts.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Department encourages local authorities to be open and transparent with their data. The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 requires local authorities to publish their audited accounts on their website, and the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires local authorities to publish details of expenditure, resource and assets, including details of all of their contracts with a value of over £5,000.

  • 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, how many wholesalers have been found as a result of their failure to sign up to the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme to have been trading in alcohol fraudulently since the introduction of that scheme

    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.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure (a) compliance with and (b) appropriate implementation of COMPASS contracts in Teeside.

    James Brokenshire

    The provision of accommodation for asylum seekers is provided under the COMPASS contracts. It is the responsibility of all of the suppliers to ensure that all accommodation used meets the required contractual standard and complies with the Decent Homes Standards. The accommodation should be safe, habitable and fit for purpose. The COMPASS providers are required to inspect properties each month and UKVI’s contract compliance teams reinforce this by visiting properties regularly.

    The Home Office expects the highest standards and where a contractor is found to be falling short of these standards we work with them to ensure that issues are quickly addressed.

    Earlier this year, we instructed our supplier (G4S) to repaint the doors of G4S and Jomast managed properties to ensure that no one colour is predominant. I have received confirmation from the Provider that this had been completed, UKVI staff have also confirmed that no one colour is predominant as they have visited properties as part of their inspection regime.

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to announce the rate for NHS-funded nursing care for residents of care homes for 2017-18.

    David Mowat

    The Department appreciates the importance of timely communication of the rate of National Health Service-funded Nursing Care for care homes.

    The new rate will be paid on an interim basis whilst further work is done to review the element of the rate for agency nursing staff (which could lead to a reduction to the rate from 1 January 2017) and to consult on introducing regional variation from April 2017.

    The rate for 2017/18 will be published following completion of work which is being done by the Department.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data protection measures his Department has in place to ensure the safety of claimant’s personal information from a potential online data breach.

    Caroline Nokes

    The Department takes the security of personal information very seriously. The Department has a range of capabilities in place to ensure the safety of the data it holds and processes. Disclosing the exact nature of the measures it takes to prevent data breaches would be prejudicial to the Department’s ability to keep that data safe.

    The Department works with other agencies, Departments and delivery partners to prevent online data breaches in support of the National Security Strategy.