Tag: Cheryl Gillan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2016 to Question 20755, when the visits to clinical commissioning groups referred to in that question are planned to start; and when he expects the findings of such visits to be reported to him.

Alistair Burt

NHS England with support from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, is visiting a selection of areas to talk to clinical commissioning groups and local authorities about their Autism Diagnostic Care Pathways. Based on information provided in the most recent local authority Autism Self-Assessment exercise, the areas selected include those areas that have assessed themselves as having a diagnostic pathway in place, those who appear to be facing obstacles, and those who have no pathway in place. A report on the work will be completed by the end of April 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the UK paid to the EU for agricultural levies in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

George Eustice

UK Contributions to the EU budget are set out in Table C3 of HM Treasury publication “European Union Finances 2015: statement on the 2015 EU Budget and measures to counter fraud and financial mismanagement” in December 2015.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/483344/EU_finances_2015_final_web_09122015.pdf

The contribution from sugar levies for the previous 5 years were:

2010: £8m

2011: £8m

2012: £10m

2013: £9m

2014: £2m

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many lorry movements there have been to remove spoil excavated in Greater London related to the construction of High Speed 2.

Mr Robert Goodwill

There have been no lorry movements to remove spoil excavated in Greater London related to the construction of High Speed 2.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) Statements of Special Educational Needs and (b) Education, Health and Care Plans were issued for each year from 2013; and how many such (i) statements and (ii) plans were issued in each of those years.

Edward Timpson

Information on the number of statements or Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans issued by local authorities in England based on the SEN2 return is available on GOV.UK in Table 2 of the Statistical First Release Statements of SEN and EHC plans: England 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2015

Data for January 2016 will be published on 26 May 2016.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been disbursed from the public purse in legal fees for solicitors, parliamentary agents, barristers and their staff who have been working on behalf of HS2 Ltd.

Andrew Jones

The Department has appointed a joint team of solicitors/parliamentary agents from Winckworth Sherwood and Eversheds LLP to provide support in relation to the HS2 Phase 1 hybrid Bill. The current spend on this contract is £9,594,124.36.

The Department has also appointed a joint team of solicitors/parliamentary agents from Winckworth Sherwood and Eversheds LLP to support the preparation of the HS2 Phase 2a hybrid Bill, which is expected to be deposited in 2017. The current spend on this contract is £146,265.10.

The Department continues to instruct a team of barristers to support the HS2 project. Each barrister is remunerated at agreed government hourly rates. The spend on these barristers for the period from 2013 to the present is £2,219,872.30.

All figures are correct up to 5 September 2016 and are exclusive of VAT.

Since approximately 2010, the Department has also instructed a number of barristers on other HS2 related work, primarily litigation. These barristers will have been remunerated at agreed government hourly rates, but unfortunately it would involve disproportionate cost for the Department to provide precise figures.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many car owners whose car tax has expired have not made a SORN declaration since the tax licence disc was abolished in 2015.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport conducts a roadside survey every two years. This survey estimates the number of vehicles without a valid licence or Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) to determine the rate of vehicle excise duty evasion.

The last survey took place in June 2015, which was eight months after the DVLA stopped issuing paper tax discs. The survey estimated that 1.4% of vehicles on UK roads were unlicensed and were not subject to a SORN.

The DVLA aims to make vehicle excise duty easy to pay and hard to avoid and operates a comprehensive package of measures to tackle vehicle excise duty evasion. These measures range from reminder letters, penalties and court prosecutions through to the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras, wheel clamping and the removal of unlicensed vehicles.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many officials in her Department are working on matters related to High Speed 2; and what the grades of those officials are.

George Eustice

Technical and policy specialists contribute to the Department’s work on HS2. Within the core Department a policy team (1 Grade 7 and 1 SEO) co-ordinates input from specialists from across the Department as required. This forms one part of the team’s role.

The Environment Agency (EA) and Natural England (NE) provide input through the roles of the following officials:

3 Grade 7s (2 EA, 1 NE)

1 Grade 6 (EA)

7 SEOs (5 EA, 2 NE)

3 HEOs (1 EA, 2 NE)

In addition, one Grade 7 and two SEOs from the Forestry Commission and members of local EA and NE teams provide specialist advice as required.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether a further review of the tunnel boring machine advance rates for the High Speed 2 Chiltern tunnel has yet taken place.

Mr Robert Goodwill

HS2 Ltd have carried out an extensive reviews of tunnel boring rates for comparable forms of tunnel (looking at the size of tunnel and type of tunnel boring machine used) as part of the work for the hybrid Bill development, including tunnels both in this country and overseas. Particular attention has been made to ascertaining the ‘hard average rate’ achieved on these tunnels, which is much more appropriate in calculating the overall time to complete a particular tunnel drive for its entire length from "machine in to machine out". HS2 Ltd have provided evidence from these applicable tunnel projects in front of the Select Committee and explained on several occasions how the tunnel drive rates from these other projects support the current assumed drive rate for the HS2 Chiltern Tunnel. No further review is considered to be required as there is no further appropriate evidence available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the five times increase in the annual upfront fee charges for private hire operator licences by local authorities on small and self-employed operators.

Andrew Jones

Local licensing authorities can charge fees for private hire vehicle operator licences that recover the cost of administering the licensing system.

Renewing a licence every five years, rather than more frequently as may have been the case in the past, reduces a financial and administrative burden on many of the small and medium size enterprises that make up the private hire vehicle industry.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what evidence he has received to demonstrate that the construction of Phase One of High Speed 2 will not breach the requirements of Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Environmental Statement and Supplementary Environmental Statements for the Phase One hybrid Bill fully assessed the impact on air quality from HS2 construction. The method of assessment is specifically directed at the limit values set out in Annex II of Directive 2008/50/EC, and identifies whether the limit values are currently breached, anticipated to be breached in the future, and to what extent any breaches are affected by the construction of Phase One of HS2.