Tag: 2016

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with water suppliers on tariffs for customers who do not elect to pay for services online.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Department has not had any discussions with water companies about their charges or tariffs in the context of payment methods.

    As regulated private businesses, water companies must follow Ofwat’s charging rules and their licence conditions in setting tariffs for customers. Ofwat’s charging rules set out that companies must include a reasonable choice of payment methods.

    Water companies do not generally differentiate between customers that access their account online or pay their water bill by direct debit, and those that choose paper billing and annual payment. However, there are some that offer a discount, reflective of the cost saving, to customers that pay by direct debit. This is an incentive to encourage greater sign up as there are benefits for both the customer and the company.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to its Saudi Arabian counterpart on the case of Ali Al-Nimr, Dawood Al-Marhoon and Abdallah Al-Zaher.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are very concerned about the cases of Ali Al-Nimr, Dawood Al-Marhoon and Abdallah Al-Zaher and we have raised these cases with the Saudi Arabian authorities, on many occasions – most recently on 3 January, at a very senior level. We continue to make representations on these cases and others like it, whenever the opportunity to do so arises.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the criteria are by which his Department measures the level of service provided by rail franchises operating.

    Claire Perry

    Depending on the franchise, we measure the level of services provided by the performance against the set benchmarks (capacity, cancellations and delay minutes), and/or the Public Performance Measure. Some franchises are also measured against the National Passenger Survey results.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in his Department.

    David Mundell

    I refer the hon Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General on 29 February 2016.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what definition his Department uses for cyber warfare.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) (through its Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre) does not seek to define terms or elements of terms, particularly those applied in compound form, that are already in common use (i.e. "warfare").

    The MOD defines cyber activity as: "To operate and project power in and from cyberspace to influence the behaviour of people". The OECD defines "warfare" as: "engagement in or the activities involved in war or conflict".

    The MOD describes the active engagement in the conduct of "cyber operations" within our lexicon as being: "the planning and synchronisation of activities in and through cyberspace to enable freedom of manoeuvre and to achieve military objectives." This term applies to activities that include those conducted in war or conflict.

  • James Cartlidge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    James Cartlidge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23225, what progress his Department has made on bringing forward changes to secondary legislation that are necessary to implement the relevant provisions of the Pensions Act 2014.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Work on the changes needed to secondary legislation in relation to the Pension Protection Fund long service cap has begun. I am not, at this stage, able to say when these changes will be brought forward.

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-06-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 6 June (HL Deb, col 627), whether they have the necessary power to pursue pension contribution payments from companies where the parent company is based in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, or Monaco.

    Baroness Altmann

    Each case will need to be considered on its own merits but the Pensions Regulator can use its anti-avoidance powers against targets that are based abroad. Section 303 of the Pensions Act 2004, governing the service of documents abroad, is intended to operate outside the UK jurisdiction The power to enforce any regulatory action against a non-UK company is likely to require the approval or cooperation of the relevant overseas authorities. By and large, these provisions should be enforceable in other EU and Commonwealth jurisdictions.

    The Pensions Regulator has demonstrated that it is prepared to use its anti-avoidance powers against targets that are based abroad, as was shown in its handling of the cases involving Sea Containers and the Lehman Brothers group and a complex investigation into the Carrington Wire Defined Benefit Pension Scheme resulted in a £8.5m settlement with two Russian companies.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people working for her Department or its executive agencies on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.

    Sir Oliver Heald

    The table below shows the number of staff directly employed by the Department or its executive agencies who are paid less than the living wage (LW) as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, none of which are employed on zero hours contracts. This data is shown as at 31 March 2016.

    Number below living wage

    Headcount

    MoJ inc MoJ HQ, HMCTS, OPG, CICA and LAA.

    913

    22,539

    NOMS (including the National Probation Service)

    490

    45,909

    Information on contractors paid less than the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation as a LW could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with key health stakeholders on providing guidance for GPs on extending the length of appointment slots and increasing the number of appointments bookable for each GP each day.

    David Mowat

    General practitioners (GPs) are required to provide essential services to meet the reasonable needs of their patients within core hours. Length of appointment slots and number of bookable appointments is determined by individual GP practices. The Department has not had discussions with key health stakeholders on providing guidance for GPs on these matters.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of when new IVF treatments that enable donor fertilisation to occur outside the woman’s body will be available through the NHS.

    Jane Ellison

    In all in-vitro fertilisation procedures fertilisation takes place outside of the body.