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Tag: 2016

  • Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of staffing of railway stations on (a) passenger safety, (b) passenger assurance, (c) safety of women passengers, (d) disabled passengers, (e) revenue protection and (f) passenger assistance.

    Claire Perry

    Whilst we regulate Ticket Office opening times through the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement station staffing levels are a matter for operators as we believe that railway operators themselves are best placed to determine how to meet the needs of their passengers. However, it is important that those who need assistance to travel can rely on railway staff to provide this. Each operator is required to participate in the Passenger Assist system which allows disabled passengers to book staff assistance when they require it.

    We recognise that passengers can feel very strongly about station staffing hours and we expect all operators to take on board the views of stakeholders before taking any proposal to change such hours forward.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether their review of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) contract with UnitingCare LLP for older people’s and adult community services will consider the role and advice given to the CCG by the Strategic Projects Team.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England is responsible for the review of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG’s) contract with UnitingCare LLP. NHS England confirms that its review will look at the role of the Strategic Projects Team and the advice that it gave to the CCG.

    NHS England advises that it has commissioned an independent review, so the Strategic Projects Team’s role can be considered objectively.

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the introduction of measures for country-by-country reporting of profits for UK-listed companies.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID Ministers and officials have regular discussions with other Government Departments on a wide range of issues relating to international development, including tax.

    The UK supports efforts to improve tax transparency. We initiated international work on country-by-country (CbC) reporting during our G8 Presidency in 2013, calling on the OECD to develop a framework for CbC reporting to tax authorities as part of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. This important initiative will enhance transparency between business and tax authorities, including those of developing countries.

    The UK leads international efforts to help developing countries tackle tax evasion and avoidance. DFID funds the Global Forum and the World Bank to provide technical assistance to improve exchange of tax information in developing countries which will allow tax authorities to gain access to information such as country-by-country reports. We also support the OECD in helping developing countries tackle multinational practices such as transfer pricing and have provided HMRC tax auditors to Tax Inspectors Without Borders, which puts expert tax auditors in the field working on complex multinational audit cases.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to encourage other donors to fund Education For All: the fund for education in emergencies at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK has played a leading role in the development of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23rd May. The UK has committed to provide £30 million in support over two years to the new fund as a founding donor, which was announced by the International Development Secretary at the fund’s launch. The UK is working closely with UNICEF and other partners to encourage a broad funding base to Education Cannot Wait, including funding from non-traditional donors, private sector and philanthropic organisations. An example is UK technical support to the fund’s case for investment and other key communication and outreach products, to raise awareness of the fund with others.

  • William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Cash on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to create a new independent system operator to remove any potential conflict of interest between National Grid and its electricity balancing and management responsibilities.

    Jesse Norman

    There is a case for greater independence for the system operator to promote more competition and flexibility in our electricity system. We are working alongside National Grid and Ofgem to this end, so that the electricity system continues to be operated in the best interest of consumers.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of staff on the payroll of her Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.

    George Eustice

    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.

  • Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on how many occasions in each of the last two calendar years her Department has been notified by outside consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department was notified by a third party of a breach of document retention or security policy relating to confidential or secure materials on two occasions during 2014.

    No other notifications were received during the period.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much and what proportion of the Flexible Support Fund was spent on female jobseekers in 2014-15.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested is not available.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment she has made of the effect of recent floods on small businesses.

    Anna Soubry

    The most recent available data indicated that 4,940 businesses across northern England had been flooded following this winter’s exceptional rainfall. The vast majority of these will be small and medium size businesses. Impacts included flooded property, loss of stock and equipment and interruption to trading.

    Our interventions, include business recovery grants (a total of £11 m from BIS, of which £4,572,000 has been paid out), business rate relief (£4.26 m from DCLG), and property level resilience scheme (£5,000 per household or business, to incorporate greater flood resilience into property repairs).

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) full-time equivalent civil servants work in his Department and (b) civil servants work full-time on the Northern Powerhouse agenda.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Data for full-time equivalent Civil servants working in HM Treasury are published on .gov.uk and can be found using the link below.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmt-workforce-management-information-december-2015

    We are unable to supply information on employees who may work on the Northern Powerhouse agenda as our system does not give a breakdown of staff to that level. Therefore to supply this information would be at a disproportionate cost.

    “