Tag: Chris Law

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of interviews for a first-time adult passport application she expects to be conducted on a face-to-face basis in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales after the proposed closure of 15 HM Passport Office interview offices.

James Brokenshire

Based upon the number of interviews conducted in 2015 (222,264), following the changes to Her Majesty’s Passport Office interview office estate it is expected that 212,767 (95.72%) interviews will be conducted face-to-face.

This would be broken down by country to:

England: 183,952 (97%) face-to-face interviews

Northern Ireland: 3,965 (100%) face-to-face interviews

Scotland: 15,496 (85.83%) face-to-face interviews

Wales: 9,354 (85.10%) face-to-face interviews

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many times he has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.

Mr David Lidington

The Foreign Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) visited Edinburgh on 20 January 2016. Meetings were held with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Ruth Davidson MSP, and as part of the UK-Poland Quadriga, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski and Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz. There was a wreath-laying at the Scottish National War Memorial and a commemoration at the Wojtek the Bear memorial.

I visited Scotland on 11 November 2015, where I met Fiona Hyslop MSP and Humza Yousaf MSP to discuss EU reform and held roundtable meetings with Scottish Financial Enterprise and NFU Scotland.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s policy is on over-booking flights chartered for people being forcibly removed from the UK.

James Brokenshire

Charter flights are routinely overbooked to ensure the flight is fully utilised and delivers value for money. We reassess attrition rates for each flight on a monthly basis to ensure the number of individuals booked onto the flight who ultimately do not travel is kept to a minimum.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what financial support the Government has provided for academic research in Dundee in each year since 2010.

Joseph Johnson

Government provides financial support for academic research in Dundee through various routes, including funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ (BIS) Science & Research budget for Research Council grants, research capital grants (allocated through Scottish Funding Council – SFC) and the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (RPIF). In addition the Scottish Government allocates funding via the SFC for recurrent research grant.

Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data includes information about research grant income earned by individual higher education institutions from higher education (HE) funding bodies, Research Councils and Government Departments. The SFC publish details of the BIS HE research capital funding. Details of the RPIF are published by HEFCE.

The research grant income earned by the University of Dundee and Abertay University from these sources in each academic year are listed in the table (figures in £000s). HESA data for 2014-15 are not yet available.

Academic year	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
SFC recurrent research funding	23,841	23,606	24,133	24,409	–
Research Councils	20,734	22,203	15,260	22,387	–
Other Government Funding	5,738	4,651	5,535	9,371	–
BIS HE Research Capital	2,270	602	728	860	974
Grand Total	52,583	51,062	45,656	57,027	–

In addition, the University of Dundee secured £11.7m from UK RPIF for expenditure over 2012-15.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-01-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost of implementing HM Revenue and Customs’ Location Strategy over the next 10 years.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Location Programme is the result of an extended period of consultation and deliberation. The Department has taken account of a number of criteria in reaching its decisions, including the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, the cost of buildings and asset value, and the need to retain the staff and skills it needs to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

HMRC’s modelling estimates that the majority of staff in Scotland live within Reasonable Daily Travel of Glasgow or Edinburgh. Reasonable Daily Travel is calculated in line with established HR policies and procedures. Every worker at HMRC will have a one-to-one meeting with their manager to discuss their individual circumstances.

HMRC conducted high level People Impact and Equality Assessments to inform its planning. The Department plans to update these once discussions have been held with its staff.

Activities of trade union representatives are governed by long-standing agreements with departments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he last made representations to the Chinese government on the fate of the Panchen Lama; and what response he received to such representations.

Mr Hugo Swire

As I said in my answer to PQ12772 on 29 October last year, we urge China to ensure that the restrictions on the Panchen Lama’s freedom of movement and communication are lifted, so that he may select the career, education or religious life of his choosing, wherever he is. We most recently raised the matter at the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue in 2014. We had no substantive response but the Chinese authorities stated in September 2015 that the Panchen Lama was “leading a normal life”. We will raise the matter again at the next round of the Human Rights Dialogue later this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times she has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.

Mrs Theresa May

I have visited Scotland once in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election. Details of meetings with external organisations are published in quarterly returns which are available at: gov.uk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s practice is for the number of security guards per detainee aboard mass deportation charter flights.

James Brokenshire

Prior to each charter a risk assessment is undertaken for each detainee. This assessment will take into consideration many factors including history of non-compliance and medical issues. This information will be shared with the Home Office’s overseas escort provider, Tascor, who will make a decision on the necessary detainee to escort ratio.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what financial support the Government has provided to video games development companies in Dundee since 2010.

Mr Edward Vaizey

In 2014 Government introduced video games tax relief to support UK games development, including eligible projects in Dundee. In addition, this Autumn, a 4-year £4 million UK Games Fund was launched. This fund, administered from Dundee and London, includes grants for young games development businesses around the UK, and there has been a strong response from Dundee games developers for calls for applications.

The Fund follows our earlier successful video games prototype fund, run by Abertay University in Dundee from 2010 – 2014, and our support for expansion of the university’s games lab which benefitted a number of Dundee games developers.

Dundee games developers are also able to access a range of other schemes including the Research and Development tax credit, the Tradeshow Access Programme and Government match-funding from the Skills Investment Fund which is managed by Creative Skillset.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-01-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative estimate he has made of the property-related costs of the proposed HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) regional centres in Edinburgh and Glasgow and with HMRC’s existing property in Dundee.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Location Programme is the result of an extended period of consultation and deliberation. The Department has taken account of a number of criteria in reaching its decisions, including the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, the cost of buildings and asset value, and the need to retain the staff and skills it needs to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

HMRC’s modelling estimates that the majority of staff in Scotland live within Reasonable Daily Travel of Glasgow or Edinburgh. Reasonable Daily Travel is calculated in line with established HR policies and procedures. Every worker at HMRC will have a one-to-one meeting with their manager to discuss their individual circumstances.

HMRC conducted high level People Impact and Equality Assessments to inform its planning. The Department plans to update these once discussions have been held with its staff.

Activities of trade union representatives are governed by long-standing agreements with departments.