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Tag: 2016

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to introduce independent oversight of the Service Police.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Service Police are already subject to independent oversight by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabularies and their reports are placed in the public domain. We also remain committed to the introduction of independent oversight of complaints made against the Service Police and work continues in order to identify the most appropriate means of achieving that.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether North Wales is to be included in the Northern Powerhouse.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    The Northern Powerhouse presents a once in a generation opportunity to redress the North-South economic imbalance. North Wales is an integral part of the Government’s Northern Powerhouse vision.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on the proposal from the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee for a mandatory Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) in the EU, in order to have one set of rules for calculating the taxable profits of companies operating in more than one member state; and if he will press for the introduction of such a CCCTB with other EU member states in the Council.

    Mr David Gauke

    The European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) has a keen interest in tax, and hence put forward certain proposals. However, the Commission has the sole power of initiative in relation to legislative measures. Tax files are to be agreed by unanimity at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN). The European Parliament’s role in this process in not formal, and purely consultative.

    The term tax haven is often used as shorthand for low or zero tax jurisdictions. However, low tax rates are not by themselves harmful and the UK supports fair tax competition. The UK is working with other Member States in the EU Code of Conduct Group to identify harmful tax regimes and will continue to take strong action against aggressive avoidance and evasion.

    The UK and other Member States have not yet seen any proposals from the European Commission or the European Parliament on public country-by-country reporting (CbCR). The Commission is due to publish an Impact Assessment on public CbCR shortly, and we are interested in the results of their analysis. The UK will carefully consider any proposals put forward by the Commission.

    The UK played a leading role in encouraging other countries and jurisdictions to sign up to international tax transparency agreements during its G8 presidency in 2013. Thanks in large part to the UK’s continuing leadership on this agenda, over 90 countries have now committed to exchange information on offshore accounts, beginning in 2017 or 2018. The UK also initiated the international work on CbCR and was the first country to formally commit to implementing the OECD model for CbCR, with legislation in the Finance Act 2015. We support the proposal to amend the Directive on Administrative Co-operation to require all EU Member States to adopt and exchange the OECD CbCR template.

    The European Commission intends to publish a revised proposal for a mandatory Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) later this year. The Government will wait to see the detail of the Commission’s proposal, including a robust impact assessment, before finalising its position. However, we have stated that the UK will not sign up to anything that undermines our tax sovereignty.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2016 to Question 29272, how many of the 2635 EEA nationals upon whom administrative travel papers were served in 2014 have left the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    After an EEA national has been served with administrative removal papers, they have 30 days to leave the country. They do not have to inform us of their departure. This period is set out in the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006.

    Following this 30-day period, if the EEA national has not voluntarily left the UK Immigration Enforcement officers can and do forcibly remove these individuals. Out of the 2,635 EEA nationals who were served administrative removal papers in 2014 1,019 were forcibly removed.

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2016 to Question 31313, on immigration controls: EU nationals, whether any of the people refused entry have subsequently been permitted to enter the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    This information is not held centrally.

  • Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the findings of the Government’s Human Rights and Democracy Report 2015, published on 21 April 2016, on her Department’s country guidance on people from Eritrea seeking asylum in the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    We are currently updating our September 2015 country information and guidance on handling asylum claims made by Eritrean nationals.

    The revised guidance will be based on an assessment of a range of sources including the Foreign Office’s Human Rights and Democracy Report 2015 as well as recent publications by Amnesty International and the findings of a Home Office fact finding mission to Eritrea undertaken in February 2016.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that computer coding is taught to children from an early stage in their education.

    Nick Gibb

    Demand for high-level skills in computing will only grow in the years ahead and will be crucial to supporting a successful economy. It is essential that we have a generation of pupils who have the knowledge and understanding they need to become active creators of digital technology, and not just passive consumers of it. We want them to have a deeper understanding of how digital technologies work and be able to write computer programs.

    Since 2014, computing has been part of the National Curriculum at all four key stages. This replaced the outdated Information and Communications Technology (ICT) programme of study. The computing curriculum focuses on teaching children how computers work, the basics of programming, and encourages them to design computer programs to address real world problems. This includes introducing coding to primary pupils. At primary school, pupils are being taught what algorithms are, how to design and write programs to accomplish specific goals using sequencing, selection and repetition and how to apply logical reasoning to detect and correct errors.

  • Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the announcement on page 4 of her Department’s publication entitled Central Government Funding for Flooding and Coastal Erosion, published in September 2016, that decisions on where to allocate the remaining funding set aside for flood defences have yet to be made, (a) which Department or agency will make those decisions and (b) when she expects those decisions to be made.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    Decisions on allocating the remaining headroom from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures announced at Budget 2016 will be made on the basis of a rigorous assessment of local needs and value for money. HM Treasury, in consultation with other government departments including Defra and the Environment Agency, will make allocation decisions in due course.

  • Lord Morris of Aberavon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Morris of Aberavon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Morris of Aberavon on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 30 November 2015 (HL3712), whether, in the interests of transparency, they will arrange for police forces to collate and publicise the occasions on which persons arrested but not charged have had their names disclosed.

    Lord Bates

    The Home Office currently has no plans to arrange for police forces to collate and publish data in relation to the occasions on which persons arrested but not charged have had their names disclosed.

    Police are guided in making such decisions by the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice (APP) Guidance on ‘Relationships with the media’.

    There are clearly great risks in naming suspects and the College of Policing guidance makes clear that decisions should only be made on a case-by-case basis, and that the police should not release the names of those who are arrested or suspected of a crime unless they have clearly identified circumstances to justify disclosure.

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which electoral wards in England have exceeded a one in 200 saturation level for asylum placements; and by what percentage each such ward has exceeded that level.

    James Brokenshire

    As part of the regional dispersal policy for asylum seekers established in 2000, the advisory cluster limit of 1 asylum seeker for every 200 of the settled population, applies to local authority area level only. Data on the numbers of asylum seekers in local authority areas is published and can be found at (Asylum Vol 4. Table 16q). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2015/asylum.

    Data is not collated at ward or constituency level and to do so would incur disproportionate costs, it may also be precluded by the provisions of the Data Protection Act, given that individuals could reasonably be identified through the release of such data.