Tag: 2016

  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions officials from her Department have had with the City of London Police on the performance of Action Fraud in the last 12 months.

    Mr John Hayes

    The City of London Police (CoLP) is subject to ongoing scrutiny, in terms of both performance and financial management of the Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau capabilities; this is an explicit condition of the funding arrangements. CoLP is also subject to a Ministerially approved improvement plan, which is overseen by officials, who meet CoLP on a regular basis to monitor progress and to ensure delivery.

    We have seen significant improvement in performance; official figures show reports of fraud have trebled since Action Fraud was rolled out nationally, addressing the concern that fraud was an underreported crime type. The number of crime packages disseminated to local forces to consider investigation has also increased significantly, raising from around 40,000 in 13/14 to 75,000 in 14/15.

  • Lord Wills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Wills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have  considered tackling in-built obsolescence in relation to internet search engines, equivalent to legislation in France under decree 1482, and if not, why not.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Decree 1482 concerns obsolescence in appliances rather than computer software. The Government is not specifically considering obsolescence in computer software but has protected consumers in a different way. Since October 2015 consumers have had new rights under the Consumer Rights Act in relation to digital content including software. Software must be of satisfactory quality which includes remaining functional for the period a consumer can reasonably expect.

    Decree 1482 does not cover internet search engines and the concept of in-built obsolescence in relation to internet search engines is unclear so the Government has no plans to address this issue.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the level of subsidy from the public purse provided for council housing.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Local housing authorities do not receive subsidy from the Exchequer; the Localism Act 2011 abolished Housing Revenue Account Subsidy.

    The Housing Revenue Account Self-Financing Determinations published in 2012 provided a once and for all settlement that allows local housing authorities in England to keep all their rental income in return for a rebalancing of housing debt.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-14.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many applications from public sector organisations his Department has received to (a) increase service charges, (b) charge above cost for public services and (c) charge below cost for public services in each year since 2009-10; and how many such applications have been (i) approved and (ii) rejected.

    Greg Hands

    The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Treasury consent is required for all proposals to extend or vary charging schemes, and Treasury guidance advises that it is good practice to review these routinely at least once a year, and if appropriate revise the charging level. This leads to a large number of requests for consent being received by HM Treasury on a regular basis, not all of which are collated centrally.

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-05-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what they regard as the main objectives of the forthcoming autumn UN Peacekeeping Conference.

    Earl Howe

    The Secretary of State for Defence will host a UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial at Lancaster House in London on 8 September 2016. This is a follow-on event to the Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping hosted by President Obama last September. The event will be an opportunity to take stock of progress made on pledges since last year, as well as to focus on how we can improve peacekeeping and on the role and participation of women in peacekeeping.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many public procurement contracts were won by small and medium-sized businesses in each region in the last five years.

    Ben Gummer

    In 2014-15, Central Government spent over £12 billion (27.1%) with small and medium sized businesses, which shows a continued year on year increase in SMEs winning public procurements.

    The Government is determined to deliver its new target of one third of spend with SMEs by the end of this Parliament and we have appointed Emma Jones as the new Crown Representative for SMEs to help us achieve that.

    We do not hold information on the number of public sector contracts won by small businesses or on the number of companies bidding.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason her Department has invited private sector companies to tender for work currently carried out by its civilian enforcement officers.

    Dr Phillip Lee

    HMCTS are considering a range of options about how best to deliver this service. The tender process will allow HMCTS to make informed decisions about what is in the best interests of the service and the taxpayer. No decision on the way forward for the Civilian Enforcement Office role has been made at the current time.

  • Christina Rees – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Christina Rees – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the costs and benefits of the current funding regime for insolvency litigation between 26 February 2015 and 17 December 2015.

    Dominic Raab

    Since the passage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) 2012, it has always been the government’s stated intention that the exemption for insolvency cases would be temporary. Commencement of Part 2 of LASPO’s conditional fee (or ‘no win no fee’) arrangement reforms for insolvency, was announced in December and will apply from April this year. The aim of LASPO’s reforms was to control the cost of civil litigation.

    Ministry of Justice Officials discussed Professor Walton’s report with him, but the Ministry of Justice did not agree with his conclusions. Officials have also met representatives of insolvency practitioners who use no win no fee arrangements to fund these cases, as well as those who fund them in other ways.

  • Lord Trefgarne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Trefgarne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Trefgarne on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what powers are available to ministers to order the release of prisoners duly sentenced and held in England and Wales.

    Lord Faulks

    Prisoners are held in accordance with the type and length of sentence they are given by the courts and legislation prescribes when and how they are to be released. The majority are released automatically, with standard determinate sentence prisoners released at the half-way point in their sentence. Some prisoners are released at the discretion of the independent Parole Board – for example, all prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence and some extended sentence prisoners – once they have reached the point in their sentence when they are eligible to be considered for parole.

    Legislation also gives the Secretary of State discretion to release sentenced prisoners in certain circumstances. In practice, these decisions are taken on behalf of the Secretary of State by prison governors or other officials in the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). For example, some shorter sentenced, low risk offenders may be considered for release before their automatic release date under the Home Detention Curfew (HDC) scheme, at the discretion of prison governors.

    There is also a statutory power for the Secretary of State to release any sentenced prisoner if there are exceptional circumstances which justify release on compassionate grounds. Decisions on whether to grant early compassionate release are taken on a case-by-case basis by senior officials in NOMS.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with motor vehicle insurance companies on reducing the level of insurance premiums.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department for Transport has held a number of recent meetings with the motor insurance industry, for example to discuss young driver safety and technology measures which impact on the cost of insurance.

    The Autumn Statement 2015 announced the Government will bring forward measures to reduce the excessive costs arising from unnecessary whiplash claims, and as the industry is competitive we expect average savings of £40 to £50 per motor insurance policy to be passed onto customers. Some insurers have already committed to pass on all savings to consumers as a result of the proposed changes.

    The pricing of insurance products is a commercial matter for individual insurers in which the Government does not seek to intervene.