Tag: Alison Thewliss

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to (a) support the Yemen economy and (b) ensure that there is an adequate supply of food and oil imports.

Rory Stewart

We are deeply concerned about the economic crisis in Yemen and are working closely with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, United Nations, Government of Yemen and other key countries to look at measures to stabilise the Yemeni economy.

We are also providing £1.4 million to support the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) to facilitate the flow of commercial shipping, which is crucial to ensuring adequate supplies of food and fuel.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK aged under 18 earning £3.87 per hour.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-02-29.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2016 to Question 20725, (a) on what dates and (b) with which financial providers the Government had discussions prior to the introduction of new rules for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visas in January 2013.

Harriett Baldwin

The government has regular discussions with a range of stakeholders, including financial institutions, on visa policies and other issues as a regular part of policy formation. The Treasury routinely publishes Ministerial meetings with outside organisations, including for the period prior to January 2013 at

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=hm-treasury&publication_type=transparency-data

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department has a strategy to ensure that the growth of district heating is accompanied by the development of non-fossil fuel heat sources that are compatible with long term carbon emissions targets.

Andrea Leadsom

Yes. The development of heat networks and non-fossil fuel heat sources needs to go hand in hand. One of the key benefits of heat networks is that they can be used to transport heat from a wide range of low carbon heat sources.

The Government’s support for both renewable heating and district heating (heat networks) was confirmed in the Autumn Statement. My Rt Hon friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer made clear that the Renewable Heat Incentive will see an increase in funding to £1.15 billion by 2020-21 and separately that over £300 million of funding would be made available for up to 200 heat networks to generate enough heat to support the equivalent of 400,000 homes.

We are currently designing the Heat Network Investment Fund to allocate this funding, which is due to launch later in 2016 and run until 2021. We are keen to ensure that the projects supported by the fund are low carbon, economically viable and strategically designed to ensure future growth and development. We expect a range of projects with a mix of different heat sources to come forward for support, as we have seen with those Local Authority projects already supported at the development stage by the Government’s Heat Network Delivery Unit. As well as fossil fuelled Combined Heat and Power, such sources include non-fossil fuel heat from waste, deep geothermal heat, water-sourced heat pumps and heat from underground minewater. In addition, DECC’s innovation budget was doubled; some of this will be used to support the development of low carbon technology in heat delivery.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on which dates in 2014 enforced removals of people from Yemen who had unsuccessfully claimed asylum took place.

James Brokenshire

In 2014, there were 3 enforced removals of nationals of Yemen who had claimed asylum at some point; 1 in April to June 2014, 1 in July to September 2014 and 1 in October to December 2014.

The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of persons removed or departed voluntarily from the UK within Immigration Statistics. The data on removals and voluntary departures are available in the latest release, Immigration Statistics: October to December 2015, table rv.03 from GOV.UK on the statistics web pages at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will bring forward proposals to ensure mandatory assessment of sources of additional evidence supplied by claimants of personal independence payments.

Penny Mordaunt

The Department always considers a range of evidence from a variety of sources when making a decision on an individual’s PIP claim and is robust in asking for further information if it feels this will be beneficial for the claimant. In addition, the department will always consider any additional evidence provided at the Mandatory Reconsideration or appeal stage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent steps she has taken to raise the profile of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Rory Stewart

Despite being one of the most serious and complex humanitarian crises in the world, Yemen is the world’s most serious forgotten crisis. The Secretary of State is co-hosting an international event on the Yemen crisis at the UN General Assembly on 21 September to shine a spotlight on the crisis and call for a step change in humanitarian delivery on the ground.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK aged 21 and over earning £6.70 per hour.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the immigration status of EU citizens currently resident in the UK.

James Brokenshire

At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU. The process for withdrawing from the EU has been set out in the White Paper published on 29 February 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a cap and floor funding approach for the development of new pumped storage capacity in Scotland.

Andrea Leadsom

We are investigating the potential barriers to deployment of energy storage and possible mitigating actions, focussing in the first instance on removing regulatory and policy barriers. We will be publishing a call for evidence on a smart systems route map, including storage, shortly. In addition, DECC is in regular dialogue with prospective developers of new pumped hydro storage projects, both in and outside of Scotland, and is keen to understand the extent to which any barriers to deployment can be overcome in a way that is affordable to consumers.