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Tag: 2016

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he, his Ministers or his officials have had with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Taiwan’s intention to join that bank; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Neither I, other Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers, nor my officials have discussed Taiwan’s intention to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank with representatives of that Bank.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the Government’s ability to prosecute criminals who have left the UK.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Government’s position is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

    Through participation in the European Arrest Warrant, the UK is able to extradite foreign suspects and bring suspects back to the UK more quickly and economically. Since April 2011, it has enabled us to transfer around 5,500 suspects out of the UK and to bring back around 650 to face justice here.

  • Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with learning disabilities are on the waiting list for a Care and Treatment Review.

    Alistair Burt

    Data on waiting lists for Care and Treatment Reviews (CTRs) is not collected centrally.

    The number of CTRs completed was added to the Health and Social Care Information Centre‘s Assuring Transformation Collection and data has been collected since January 2016. Between January 2016 and May 2016, 625 CTRs have been completed.

  • James Cartlidge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    James Cartlidge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the total estimated net present value was of all outstanding equity loan advances in UK residential property held by government departments on the latest date for which information is available.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) operates and administers a number of current and past equity loan and equity share schemes for the Department for Communities and Local Government.

    The estimated fair value for all outstanding equity loans with HCA at end March 2016 is:

    Help to Buy: Equity Loan £3,629,294,000

    Other legacy home equity schemes £461,301,000

    Total £4,090,595,000

    The other legacy home equity schemes are: FirstBuy, HomeBuy Direct and First-Time Buyers’ Initiative.

    This information is set out in the HCA Annual Report and Financial Statements 2015-16 (Note 21) with further information about ‘fair value’ in Notes 1 and 31.

    The Ministry of Defence operated a scheme: Affordable Homes Ownership scheme (AFHOS) until March 2014. There are presently 259 live AFHOS loans with an initial value of £15.073 million. The net present value for this book is not estimated so this figure is the value of the equity at purchase.

    The Scottish and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive also operate equity loan and shared schemes for home ownership, on which they can provide information.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the findings of his Department’s right to buy pilots; what recent estimate he has made of the total cost of providing discounts to tenants eligible for that scheme nationwide and the number of council homes which will need to be sold in the course of that scheme; and what recent assessment he has made of the ability of housing associations to provide a like-for-like replacement for homes sold in the area local to those homes.

    Brandon Lewis

    As set out in the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation, tenants of housing associations will be eligible for the equivalent discounts that are available under the Right to Buy (up to £77,900 and £103,900 within London). The Government has been clear that the sale of high value vacant council housing will pay for the cost of compensating housing associations for the discount, so the Right to Buy will be cost neutral. Ahead of full implementation, we have launched the Right to Buy pilot with 5 housing associations.

    Overall there will be an ongoing evaluation of the Right to Buy pilot with the pilot informing the design of the full scheme.

    We are engaging with local authorities and are in the process of updating data that will be used to help inform the high value threshold. Every home sold under the voluntary Right to Buy will result in a new additional home being built nationally.

  • Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people were recruited to the (a) Army, (b) Royal Air Force, (c) Royal Navy and (d) reserve forces in Scotland in each of the last five years.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    Intake to the UK Regulars by location is unavailable. However, the Ministry of Defence publishes UK Regular strengths by stationed location in our Quarterly Location Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/location-of-all-uk-regular-service-and-civilian-personnel-quarterly-statistics-index

    Information on intake into the Volunteer Reserve by stationed location is provided in the attached table.

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much small businesses with a rateable value of less than £30,000 paid in business rates in (a) 2012, (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Department does not hold this information.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the minimum standards required to practice as a care worker are; and what steps he is taking to ensure online training courses in care work are regularly assessed and adequate to meet those requirements.

    Ben Gummer

    All providers of health or adult social care activities that fall under the supervision of the Care Quality Commission have a legal duty to ensure that all staff working to provide those activities have the qualifications, competence, skills and experience necessary for the work to be performed.

    Health and social care support workers should meet the Care Certificate standards. The Certificate comprises 15 standards that cover the fundamental skills, knowledge and behaviours that are required to provide safe, effective and compassionate care.

    The Care Certificate contains practical components that must be completed. There are a number of online commercial Care Certificate training products that do not make this clear. Health Education England and Skills for Care are working on online training materials to provide a free-of-charge and authoritative alternative to the current commercial offerings.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what operational contingency plan his Department has made in the event of the UK leaving the EU.

    Michael Fallon

    None.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of the foreign aid budget was given directly to the governments of recipient nations in each of the last three years.

    Sir Desmond Swayne

    Direct financial aid to governments of recipient nations constituted 14%, 12% and 9% of DFID’s total programme expenditure for years 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 respectively. These are the three most recent years for which this data is currently available. General Budget Support reduced from 2.2% to 0.5% of DFID’s total programme expenditure over the same period.