Tag: Christian Matheson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information he holds on the (a) military representation that will accompany President Santos of Colombia on his state visit to the UK in November 2016 and (b) rank and function of each such military representative.

Mr Hugo Swire

I am delighted that Her Majesty The Queen has invited President Santos and the First Lady of Colombia to the UK for the Autumn State Visit. HMG is in regular communication with the Colombian Government in the preparation for the Visit. Details of the programme including the composition of the Official Suite accompanying the President are yet to be confirmed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what initial assessment she has made of the implications of the incident at Porter Ranch, California, for safety and engineering procedures and standards in the UK onshore unconventional gas extraction sector.

Andrea Leadsom

In the UK, we have an entirely different regulatory system to the US.

We have over 50 years of experience in safely conducting surface activities and constructing onshore gas wells, regulated by the Health & Safety Executive and Environment Agency.

Our tough regulations ensure on-site safety, prevent water contamination, mitigate seismic activity and air pollution. To reinforce our already robust regulations, the Infrastructure Act 2015 introduced a range of further requirements that must be met before an operator can carry out hydraulic fracturing in a responsible, sustainable and safe manner. These include the assessment of environmental impacts, groundwater monitoring, community benefits and prohibiting hydraulic fracturing in specified protected areas.

The UK has one of the best track records in the world when it comes to protecting our environment while also developing our industries – and we’ve brought that experience to bear on the shale gas protections.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the average cost per mile to upgrade a motorway to a smart motorway.

Andrew Jones

Highways England has an improvement programme to create additional network capacity by utilising the motorway hard shoulder as an additional lane. This is known as the Smart Motorway Programme.

The cost depends on the scope and nature of each scheme and is heavily influenced by factors such as the number of junctions and the extent of work needed to existing structures.

Based on the actual or forecast actual cost of relevant schemes started over the past five years, the total cost ranges from £7.5-£8.8m per mile of additional network capacity (using a common price base of March 2015).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of key stage 2 tests in 2016 have required remarking.

Nick Gibb

If a school believes that there is a discrepancy between how questions have been marked and the published mark scheme for Key Stage 2 National Curriculum tests, they had until 15 July 2016 to apply for a marking review. Statistics related to marking reviews will be published in November 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many terrorism-related suspects on police bail have (a) been ordered to relinquish and (b) relinquished their UK passports since January 2013.

Mr John Hayes

Individuals suspected of terrorism-related offences can be arrested under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) or the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT). The decision on which power of arrest to use is an operational judgement for police, and will depend on the circumstances of the case.

Individuals arrested under TACT cannot be released on police bail. By contrast, those suspected of terrorism-related offences arrested under PACE must be bailed once the grounds for detention no longer apply. Figures for the number of terrorism-related suspects on police bail that have been ordered to relinquish their passports, or have relinquished their passports, are not collected.

As the Secretary of State for the Home Department said in the House on 05 January 2016, figures for the number of people who have absconded whilst on police bail for terrorism offences are also not collected.

Figures for those who fail to surrender to bail are collected, but these figures are not separated into categories of offence. These figures are publically available and can be found as follows: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what total value of assets has been transferred from local authority control to control by academy schools or combinations of academy schools in each of the last five years.

Edward Timpson

The majority of the assets that transfer to academy control on conversion are land and buildings. In the vast majority of conversions the local authority (LA) retains the freehold, and will lease the land and buildings to the academy. No academy can dispose of land without the Secretary of State’s consent and – where they retain the freehold – the LA.

In accordance with government accounting requirements the Department for Education is obliged to consolidate academy trust’s accounts into our own and record the total value of net assets that academies control; including land and buildings leased from LAs.

The table below summarises information we hold and have published on the transfer, in accountancy terms, of assets to academies. As the Department for Education has only been required to consolidate academy trust’s accounts into our own from financial year 2012-13, it is not possible to provide individual figures for 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Net assets transferred to EFA on conversion of academy trusts from local authorities.

Year	Net assets transferred from local authorities (£m)
Academies converting before 1st April 2012	13,900
Academies converting in 2012-13	6,213
Academies converting in 2013-14	3,390
Academies converting in 2014-15	2,707
Total	26,210

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools have raised concerns with her Department on the marking of the key stage 2 reading assessment in 2016.

Nick Gibb

If a school believes that there is a discrepancy between how questions have been marked and the published mark scheme for Key Stage 2 National Curriculum tests, they had until 15 July 2016 to apply for a marking review. Statistics related to marking reviews will be published in November 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2015 to Question 11221, how many prosecutions or fixed penalty notifications have occurred for non emergency vehicles displaying static blue lighting in the last three years for which figures are available.

Mike Penning

This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2015-10-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Serious Fraud Office on allegations relating to (a) systematic undervaluing of properties owned by small businesses and (b) misselling of interest rate swaps.

Harriett Baldwin

Treasury Ministers and officials meet with a wide range of organisations as part of the usual policy making process.

It might be useful to know that the Treasury publishes a list of ministerial meetings with external organisations. This is available online at: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm.

As you are aware, the FCA is an independent non-governmental body responsible for regulating and supervising the financial services industry. Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, it has strictly limited powers in relation to the FCA. In particular, the Treasury has no general power of direction over the FCA and cannot intervene in individual cases.

The independence of the FCA is vital to the role it provides as a safety net for consumers with complaints against financial services firms. Their credibility, authority and value to consumers would be undermined if it were possible for the Government to intervene in their decision-making.

The FCA regularly publishes information on the progress of the redress scheme. This can be found here: www.fca.org.uk/consumers/financial-services-products/banking/interest-rate-hedging-products.

You may be aware that the Treasury Select Committee’s report into SME lending, published on 10 March, recommended that the FCA collect the information necessary to establish whether there are systemic failures in the redress scheme. The FCA has responded and the Committee, which published this response on 12 October 2015. It can be found here: www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/treasury/Responses/Financial-Conduct-Authority-response-to-Conduct-and-Competition-in-SME.pdf

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of guidelines in national planning guidance on archaeology and heritage in managing heritage assets.

Tracey Crouch

Historic England is currently exploring ways of assessing the effectiveness of heritage-related planning policy and law in practice.Its assessment of nearly 200 heritage-related planning appeal decisions, its own experience, and its discussions with practitioners all suggest that the application of national policy in relation to the historic environment appears to be broadly effective, and maintains an appropriate degree of protection.