Tag: Chuka Umunna

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons information held by her Department regarding the ethnicity, age and gender of people involved in police Taser incidents has not been included in annually published statistics; and if she will ensure such information is included in future publications of annual police Taser incident statistics.

Mike Penning

The Government supports the need for transparent and accurate data on how the police are using force. That is why the Home Secretary asked Chief Constable David Shaw to carry out an in depth review of Taser data and other use of force. The review will present options for collecting, collating and publishing data on how force including Taser is being used by the police, who it is being used on, and what the outcomes are. Chief Constable David Shaw’s Use of Force Data Review is expected to report to the Home Secretary later this year. As with sensitive powers like stop and search, the police use of force warrants proper accountability and transparency.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff (a) in his Department and (b) its executive agencies are currently working wholly or in part on the issue of Sunday trading.

Jo Swinson

a) No staff in BIS are currently working full time on the issue of Sunday Trading. There are two policy staff and one lawyer that have Sunday Trading as part of their wider portfolio e.g. providing briefing on policy and employment aspects, answering PQs, drafting responses to Bill amendments and information requests, providing correspondence advice. In addition there are 2 staff that deal with standard correspondence some small proportion of which will include responding to letters referring to Sunday Trading legislation.

b) We are not aware of any staff in Executive Agencies of BIS that are specifically assigned to work on the issue of Sunday Trading.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many firms have received assistance under the Direct Lending Scheme to date.

Matthew Hancock

There has been significant interest in UK Export Finance’s (UKEF) Direct Lending Facility (DLF) since its enhancements were announced in the Budget. Since it was relaunched on 30 June 2014, the pipeline of potential export contracts has developed and now involves 28 UK-based exporters of varying size and export experience. As it stands, the pipeline has 35 potential export contracts that range from £3m to over £350m. Most importantly, the DLF pipeline is growing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information his Department holds on the current ownership of shares in Royal Mail.

Matthew Hancock

Maintaining and updating the Royal Mail shareholder register is the responsibility of the company.

A number of financial market Information providers publish information about company shareholders including Royal Mail.

The Government does not hold any information that cannot be obtained from these sources.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assurances were sought from priority investors ahead of the privatisation of Royal Mail on long-term holding of shares by (a) Ministers in his Department (b) Officials in his Department (c) the Financial Adviser to the Government and (d) the banking syndicate working on the privatisation.

Matthew Hancock

No assurances were sought from the priority investors ahead of the sale of shares in Royal Mail.

Any mechanism which requires a buyer to give up the rights normally associated with shares, such as a restriction on the right to sell those shares for a period of time, would be reflected in the price investors would be prepared to pay for those shares.

These investors gave the Government confidence to take forward the IPO which raised nearly £2bn for the tax payer and reduced the risk that the tax payer to support the universal postal service.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what agreement was sought from priority investors on the long-term holding of shares in Royal Mail.

Matthew Hancock

No agreement was sought from the priority investors ahead of the sale of shares in Royal Mail on the long term holding of shares.

Any mechanism which requires a buyer to give up the rights normally associated with shares, such as a restriction on the right to sell those shares for a period of time, would be reflected in the price investors would be prepared to pay for those shares.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, when (a) due diligence will be completed and (b) funds will be drawn down by winning bidders under the Local Growth Fund.

Greg Clark

Growth Deals were announced with all 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) on 7 July. This followed a highly competitive process in which the Government assessed LEP Strategic Economic Plans against the published assessment criteria including value for money and deliverability. The funding for these deals will be in place for all LEPs by April 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on how many occasions the Future High Streets Forum has met this year; and who has attended each such meeting.

Penny Mordaunt

The Future High Streets Forum has met three times this year, on 21 January, 29 April and 8 July. Attendee details can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/future-high-streets-forum

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, column 292W, on Royal Mail, from which directorate each member of staff working on the privatisation of Royal Mail was drawn.

Matthew Hancock

The core team of 17 people working on the sale of Royal Mail shares comprised staff from the Shareholder Executive. Staff in other BIS Directorates contributed to the work – primarily from Legal Directorate, Finance Directorate, Press Office and Economics and Markets Directorate.

The project received scrutiny outside BIS from the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority and a Treasury Approval Point panel.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, column 292W, on Royal Mail, how many staff of the Shareholder Executive worked on the privatisation of Royal Mail.

Matthew Hancock

The 17 core staff referred to in the Answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, column 292W, were all from the Shareholder Executive working on the Royal Mail Initial Public Offering.