Tag: Craig Mackinlay

  • Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of vehicles transporting livestock through UK ports were inspected by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency in each of the last three years; and in what proportion of such inspections animal ear tags were physically inspected.

    George Eustice

    The information requested is not available. The Animal and Plant Health Agency does not hold comprehensive data on the proportion of livestock vehicles transported through GB ports that were subject to inspection.

    However, in the specific case of exports of livestock for slaughter from GB, 100% of livestock vehicles and 100% of ear tags were physically inspected by APHA at the point of loading on every occasion in each of the last 3 years.

  • Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes HM Revenue and Customs have (a) registered and (b) approved in each financial year since 6 April 2012.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not currently publish information on the number of Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes applications received and accepted.

    Official statistics on the number of companies raising funds, the number of subscriptions and amounts raised under SEIS in 2012-13 and 2013-14 are available to view at www.gov.uk/government/statistics/enterprise-and-seed-enterprise-investment-schemes-january-2016.

    The first official statistics for 2014-15 will be published in April 2016, alongside statistics for the Enterprise Investment Scheme. HMRC plans to publish new statistics within this release on the number of companies applying for the scheme and the number of those who are successful.

  • Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the European Council on the use of EU funds to support travel by candidates for the post of the UN Secretary General in connection with that candidacy.

    Mr David Lidington

    We are not aware of any EU funds being used to support travel by candidates for the post of UN Secretary General and have therefore not made any representations.

  • Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the European Council on the use of EU funds to support travel by candidates for the post of the UN Secretary General in connection with that candidacy.

    Mr David Lidington

    We are not aware of any EU funds being used to support travel by candidates for the post of UN Secretary General and have therefore not made any representations.

  • Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that there is no reduction in the funding of grammar schools as a result of recent changes to funding for pupils aged 16 to 19.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    All providers of 16-19 education, including school sixth forms, sixth form colleges and general FE colleges, are funded according to a single national formula. We announced, as part of the Spending Review, that we will protect the national base rate of £4,000 per student for the duration of the parliament. From 2016/17 the large programme uplift will apply, which will give a funding uplift of 10 per cent for study programmes of four A levels and 20 per cent for five A levels, when at least a grade B in all subjects is gained. Equivalent uplifts will apply to the full level 3 International Baccalaureate and large TechBacc programmes.

    We set out full details of the funding rates for 16-19 institutions in 2016/17 in January and aim to provide further information on savings that will be required from 2017/18 as soon as possible. We have already announced that we will remove transitional formula protection funding over six years from 2016/17, ensuring sufficient lead-in time for institutions to manage this reduction.

  • Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the HGV road user levy.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government published an assessment of the effectiveness of the HGV levy in a written statement on 15 June 2015. The levy was introduced, on time, in April 2014. It raised £192.5m in its first year, with £46.5m of that coming from foreign hauliers. Compliance in Great Britain is high at around 95%, and over 3,000 fixed penalties were issued in the first year.

  • Craig Mackinlay – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Craig Mackinlay – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2015-11-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will (a) consider legal action to recover tax due from Volkswagen as a consequence of carbon dioxide outputs and nitrogen dioxide levels and (b) commit to not reassessing tax payments for an additional benefit in kind as a result of higher carbon dioxide outputting vehicles.

    Damian Hinds

    The Government takes the unacceptable actions of Volkswagen extremely seriously and is taking robust action to get to the bottom of the emissions sandal.

    The Government has announced that no UK taxpayers will be penalised by higher taxes if their existing vehicles are found to be affected by the emissions testing scandal.

    The Government continues to monitor the actions of Volkswagen closely and will consider all options once the facts are fully clarified.

  • Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of proposed reductions in pharmacy funding on specific patient populations.

    David Mowat

    The Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond, on which we have consulted, are being considered against the public sector equality duty, the family test and the relevant duties of my Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health, under the National Health Service Act 2006.

    Our assessments include consideration of the potential impacts on the adequate provision of NHS pharmaceutical services, including the supply of medicines, access to NHS pharmaceutical services, supplementary hours, non-commissioned services, individuals with protected characteristics, impacts on other NHS services, health inequalities, individuals with restricted mobility and access to healthcare for deprived communities.

    An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

    Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. We believe these efficiencies can be made within community pharmacy without compromising the quality of services or public access to them.

    Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

    We want a clinically focussed community pharmacy service that is better integrated with primary care and public health in line with the Five Year Forward View. This will help relieve the pressure on general practitioners and accident and emergency departments, ensure better use of medicines and better patient outcomes, and contribute to delivering seven day health and care services.

    The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, Dr Keith Ridge has commissioned an independent review of community pharmacy clinical services. The review is being led by Richard Murray, Director of Policy at The King’s Fund. The final recommendations will be considered as part of the development of clinical and cost effective patient care by pharmacists and their teams.

    NHS England is also setting up a Pharmacy Integration Fund to support the development of clinical pharmacy practice in a wider range of primary care settings, resulting in a more integrated and effective NHS primary care patient pathway.

    The rollout of the additional 1,500 clinical pharmacists announced by NHS England will help to ease current pressures in general practice by working with patients who have long term conditions and others with multiple medications. Having a pharmacist on site will mean that patients who receive care from their general practice will be able to benefit from the expertise in medicines that these pharmacists provide.

  • Craig Mackinlay – 2022 Comments on Using Canterbury Christchurch University for Migrant Accommodation

    Craig Mackinlay – 2022 Comments on Using Canterbury Christchurch University for Migrant Accommodation

    The comments made by Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP for South Thanet, in the House of Commons on 7 November 2022.

    The Minister will be well aware that previous student accommodation at Canterbury Christchurch University—86 rooms—has been taken up by a company called Clearsprings, one of many outsourced companies around the country that have been trying to find accommodation. He may also be aware that Thanet District Council had been in correspondence with the Home Office in August, saying how unsuitable the site would be because of its close proximity to both primary and secondary schools that were a few hundred yards away, and because it was in a residential area.

    Is it not the case that outsourced companies such as Clearsprings and Serco are simply running roughshod over planning consents, local authorities and local consultation? I am very concerned about this example. The Home Office must get involved when these large sites are selected, rather than big outsourced companies just doing as they please.

    Robert Jenrick 

    My hon. Friend and I were in contact about this issue over the weekend, and I know how strongly he feels. My first duty has been to ensure that Manston can operate in a legal and decent manner, and we are well on the way to achieving that. The second task is ensuring that the Home Office and its contractors procure accommodation—whether it be hotels, spot bookings or other forms of accommodation—in a sensible manner, taking into account many of the factors that my hon. Friend has just described, such as safeguarding, the impact on the local community and the likelihood of disorder, whether there is already significant pressure on that community, and whether it is a tourist hotspot. Those criteria need to be followed carefully.

    My third priority, beyond that, is our exit from this hotel strategy altogether. It is not sustainable for the country to be spending billions of pounds a year on hotels. We now need to move rapidly to a point at which individuals are processed swiftly so that the backlog in cases falls and we disperse people fairly around the UK to local authority and private rented sector accommodation where appropriate. We also need to look into whether other, larger sites that provide decent but not luxurious accommodation might be available, so that we do not create a further pull factor for people to come to the UK.

  • Craig Mackinlay – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Craig Mackinlay – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many empty properties were brought back into use as affordable housing by the Empty Homes programme; and if he will introduce a similarly-operating scheme to that programme.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Coalition Government set a new direction in tackling empty homes and property to ensure their value and opportunity was realised. It provided £216 million direct funding to local authorities, registered providers and community groups between 2012- 2015 and 9,044 homes were created from empty property. Of these 5,722 homes were brought back into use as affordable housing. The remaining 3,322 were brought back to use in line with local demand and the requirements of the neighbourhood as part of the Clusters of Empty Homes Programme.

    This funding was intended to provide a push in the right direction, we have no plans to provide more. The Government has achieved a year on year reduction in long-term empty homes and the number of homes that stand empty for more than six months is now at its lowest level since records began.