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Tag: 2016

  • Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has discussed the study, The impact of classroom design on pupils’ learning, by Professor Barrett of Salford University, with her counterparts in the devolved administrations; and if she will make a statement.

    Nick Gibb

    The Secretary of State has not discussed the study, The Impact of Classroom Design on Pupils’ Learning, by Professor Barrett of Salford University, with her counterparts in the devolved administrations.

  • Lord Harrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Harrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the HM Revenue and Custom’s commissioned research conducted by Oxera on the impact employee share ownership schemes had on the productivity levels of UK firms.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The report “Tax-advantaged employee share schemes: analysis of productivity effects” was prepared for HM Revenue and Customs by Oxera and published in August 2007.

    The research represents a valuable addition to the evidence base on employee share schemes, but there are important limitations to its scope. While the research uses real measures of company productivity, it does not take into account potential complementary effects or assess the effects of share schemes on other performance measures, such as staff turnover, or in achieving wider objectives such as promoting share ownership.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the Government has made representations to the Egyptian government on the case of Giulio Regeni; whether those representations were made by Ministers or by HM Ambassador to Egypt; and which of those representations were made in person.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We regularly raise the case of Giulio Regeni with the Egyptian authorities. Most recently, I raised our concerns in a call to the Egyptian Ambassador on 11 April. These concerns have been reiterated by senior diplomats including the Permanent Under Secretary, Simon McDonald, who raised Mr Regeni’s case with the Egyptian Ambassador when they met on 11 April. Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Cairo raised the case directly with the Egyptian Prime Minister’s security advisor on 3 March; both he and officials in Cairo and London continue to raise the case on a regular basis, most recently in mid April.

    The Government published a response to the petition regarding Mr Regeni on 25th April: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/120832

    “

  • Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrea Jenkyns on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to page 23 of the final report of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, published in May 2016, what steps his Department is taking to address the substantial evidence gaps relating to effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of new technologies for improving hygiene.

    Ben Gummer

    Auditing to improve hand hygiene and ensuring appropriate use of technology are important local responsibilities which contribute to improving the quality of care. However, tackling healthcare associated infections is complex and requires a strong patient safety system that integrates cleanliness, infection prevention and control and antibiotic use and addresses them all.

    To help the National Health Service improve infection prevention and control we continuously review and enhance national measures, systems and guidance. For example, reducing infections is part of the Guidance for the NHS on Sustainability and Transformation Plans. Antimicrobial resistance was added to Public Health England’s (PHE) Fingertips data system in April to enable easier monitoring and benchmarking against other organisations. PHE’s Rapid Review Panel assesses new products and technologies aiming to reduce infections and in addition the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including hygiene.

    The NIHR also supports research infrastructure in the NHS including Diagnostic Evidence Co-operatives which generate evidence on diagnostic medical devices that have the potential to lead to improvements in healthcare services and the quality of life of NHS patients. Two of these, based at Imperial and Newcastle, focus part of their work on clinical areas relevant to infection.

  • Julian Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Julian Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Lewis on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for the technological competitiveness of the UK of the proposed takeover of ARM Holdings by the Japanese company Softbank; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK remains open for business and we welcome firms that want to invest in growth here. The UK’s technological innovations, skilled workforce and competitive business environment make it one of the world’s best destinations for investment.

    ARM Holdings is a highly respected company who have achieved great things: working with the UK’s Takeover Panel, Softbank have published a set of clear and binding undertakings, including that ARM’s global headquarters would remain in Cambridge and that the UK workforce would at least double if the acquisition is finalised. This provides reassurance that ARM would continue to develop leading-edge technology in the UK as part of the UK technology industry.

  • Baroness Altmann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Altmann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Altmann on 2016-10-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that workers who are contributing to a workplace pension, and who earn less than £11,000 a year, are able to receive the government contribution to their pension for which they are eligible; and what action they are taking to ensure that such earners are not disadvantaged by losing out on the 25 per cent top-up to which they are entitled.

    Lord Young of Cookham

    The Pensions Regulator provides guidance to employers on choosing a pension scheme for their staff in order to discharge their statutory obligations under automatic enrolment. This guidance covers the choice between net pay and relief at source schemes, and the implications of net pay schemes for employees who do not pay tax.

    The Government’s latest analysis of the eligibility of workers for automatic enrolment was published on 13 October 2016 in ‘Workplace Pensions: Update of analysis on Automatic Enrolment’. Information on age and earnings breakdowns for all workers can be found in table 3a on page 6, and is available in the report titled: Workplace pensions: Update of Analysis on Automatic Enrolment 2016, which is available on the gov.uk website.

    The Government does not collect data on the number of workers earning less than the personal allowance who are also members of pension schemes that operate a net pay system. The Government does not hold employee level data on employees enrolled in net pay pension schemes, as such schemes are not obliged to report pension contributions to HM Revenue and Customs. The Government does not therefore hold information on the value of tax reliefs paid out to employees in net pay schemes.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of current and past students who it expects will be able to pay off their student loans in full.

    Joseph Johnson

    The student loan system is progressive, with income contingent repayments protecting those on the lowest incomes and loans that have not been fully repaid being cancelled after 30 years. Therefore only a proportion of students are expected to fully repay their loans within this repayment term, although almost all students will repay at least part of their loan.

    The BIS Student Loan Repayment Model forecasts that around 45% of current full time students will fully repay their student loan. The majority of these students have Plan 2 student loans.

    It is forecast that around 75% of all past students with student loans since 1998 that are still making repayments will fully repay their student loan. This includes all full time students that finished their courses in the 2015/16 financial year or earlier, the majority of whom have Plan 1 student loans.

    The above figure for past students does not include those borrowers who have already fully repaid their student loan or had it cancelled. The Student Loan Company publication ‘Student Loans in England: financial year 2014-15’ published in June 2015 shows statistics on the number of borrowers that had fully repaid their loans or had them cancelled up to the end of April 2015. This can be found at the following link:

    http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/england.aspx

    “

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the information that a person has been arrested and bailed and subsequently released without charge by the Police is required to be provided to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS); how long such information is required to remain on that individual’s DBS records; and for how long the DBS is required to disclose that information to enquirers.

    Karen Bradley

    A chief police officer should only provide such information to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for inclusion in an enhanced criminal record certificate where they believe it is relevant to the purpose of the certificate and, in their opinion, it ought to be included.

    The DBS does not maintain a record itself for disclosure purposes.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs were destroyed following violent behaviour in each of the last three years.

    George Eustice

    The numbers of dogs destroyed as a result of being dangerously out of control (section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991) are not held centrally. Such records would be held by each police force.

  • Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to investigate further the allegations of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham as covered by the Jay Report to establish more precisely the number of children involved.

    Lord Bates

    Professor Alexis Jay’s report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham provided a terrible account of the appalling failures by the Council, the police and other agencies to protect vulnerable children. Following publication of the Jay report the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, David Crompton, asked the National Crime Agency (NCA) to carry out an independent investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham over the period covered by the Jay report (1997-2013). In response the NCA launched Operation Stovewood which has three priorities. They are to deliver a victim-focused investigation, to work to identify and bring all offenders to justice and, thirdly, to work with partners and help to build confidence in local agencies. Operation Stovewood is ongoing and has a number of designated suspects and hundreds more potential suspects still to investigate.