Tag: Douglas Carswell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what advice he has received from the Office for Budget Responsibility on the effect on the economy in the event of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr David Gauke

A vote to leave the EU is identified as an economic risk in the OBR’s March 2016 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, which states that it “could usher in an extended period of uncertainty regarding the precise terms of the UK’s future relationship with the EU. This could have negative implications for activity via business and consumer confidence and might result in greater volatility in financial and other asset markets”.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the press release, Government response to public desire for EU facts, published on 6 April 2016, whether the Government plans to complete the delivery of the leaflets on the EU referendum and remove the website, eureferendum.gov.uk, prior to the start of the purdah period related to that referendum on 27 May 2016.

John Penrose

I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 14 April 2016, to the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex.

All leaflets will be delivered in advance of the 28 day restricted period, beginning on 27 May 2016. The costs of the leaflet will be met from the Cabinet Office budget.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-04-27.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Prime Minister’s oral contribution of 22 February 2016, Official Report columns 24-5 whether his Department plans to release further analysis of the economic benefits of the UK staying in a reformed EU.

Mr David Gauke

The Treasury’s document published on the 18^th April, was a rigorous and objective assessment of the economic impact of EU membership and the alternative. As stated in this document there will be a further document with an independent assessment of the short term implications of leaving the EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many doctors trained in the UK emigrated in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2013 and (d) 2014; and what assessment he has made of the effect such emigration has had on the provision of emergency medicine.

Ben Gummer

This information is not collected centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 17 September 2015 to Question 9945, who conducted the independent evaluations of 2007 and 2013; against what criteria the evaluations concluded that the curriculum promoted values of democracy, pluralism and peace; and what sources of information other than those independent evaluations her Department used to assess the quality of the curriculum in Khyber, Pakhtunkwa and Punjab.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The independent evaluations were conducted by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the delivery agency of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, as part of their regular reporting to the National Education Development Partners Group (NEDPG) in Pakistan.

The NEDPG, which consists of both bilateral and multilateral donors, including the UK, UNESCO, UNICEF, The World Bank, the US, Germany and Australia, has prioritised scrutiny of the curriculum in its dialogue with the government of Pakistan. There is an implicit set of internationally agreed professional norms and standards for all aspects of education, set through the UNESCO Annual Global Monitoring Reports against which conclusions can be drawn.

While GIZ has led evaluation on behalf of the Partners Group, other members carry out reviews of the education sector, including curriculum quality, and these are pooled and used by all. In addition, DFID staff scrutinise the curriculum and its implementation as part of regular monitoring of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa education programmes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-02-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department had with the International Accounting Standards Board on the effect of conversion to IFRS accounting standards for financial services companies on leverage ratios for those companies.

Harriett Baldwin

In the UK, listed companies have been required to use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) since 2005. Banks who are not required to use IFRS are able to choose between using IFRS or using UK Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

This Government has not had any discussions with the International Accounting Standards Board around the effect of companies being required to convert to IFRS, though continues to engage with that body and all others involved in setting standards for the financial services sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-02-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Prime Minister’s Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

Priti Patel

On 19 February, the Prime Minister set out the Government’s view on remaining in the European Union.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to update the Drug Driving (Specified Limits) (England and Wales) Regulations 2014, so as to reduce the amount of a drug that can be detected in blood for the purposes of the definition of that offence.

Andrew Jones

The Department is evaluating the new specified limits drug driving offence and a final report from the researcher is due at the end of 2016. The Department will consider its findings and assess whether there is any requirement to change the legislation, but currently there are no plans to amend the regulations. Thanks to the tougher law, police are catching and convicting more drug drivers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff in his Department were in receipt of Continuity of Education Allowance in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; and what the cost to his Department was of providing that allowance for staff based (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas in each such year.

Mr Julian Brazier

The requested information is provided in the following table and I have added the figures for 2009-10 for comparison.

Continuity of Education Allowance, Number of Claimants and Cost (UK and Overseas) by Financial Year (FY)

	FY 2009-10	FY 2012-13	FY 2013-14	FY 2014-15
UK Claimants	5,020	4,160	3,600	3,230
Overseas Claimants	1,000	790	700	650
Total Claimants	6,020	4,950	4,300	3,880
UK Cost (£ million)	93.2	82.2	74.3	69.4
Overseas Cost (£ million)	18.1	16.4	15.0	15.1
Total Cost (£ million)	111.3	98.7	89.3	84.5

Note: all numbers are rounded

Continuity of Education Allowance was reviewed as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 since when improvements in governance have achieved a reduction of costs by around £30 million per annum along with an associated reduction in claimants. Work continues to further reduce the cost of the allowance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government’s policy is on Turkey’s accession to the EU.

Mr David Lidington

The UK supports Turkey’s EU accession process, which remains the most effective mechanism for continuing reform in Turkey. Turkey’s accession itself is not on the cards for many years to come. Turkey first applied for associate membership of the EEC in 1959, and there remains a very significant amount of detailed work to do before Turkey is ready to join the EU including economic reforms. Every Member State has a veto at every stage. For the UK, the EU Act 2011 requires any Accession Treaty admitting a candidate country to membership to be ratified by Act of Parliament.