Tag: Gareth Thomas

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his European counterparts encouraging them to oppose Lithuanian government plans to erect a convention centre in the Jewish cemetery in Piramont, Vilnius; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Lidington

The Government is aware of plans announced by the Lithuanian Government to renovate the Soviet-era Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports, located in the Šnipiškės Jewish cemetery. The existing building on the site has been left derelict for some time. The Chairperson of the Jewish Community in Lithuania has been clear in her public support for the renovation, stressing that the current site is run-down and at risk otherwise of further deterioration. It is the Governement’s understanding that there will be no significant structural changes and that only the interior will be renovated for use as a centre for conferences and cultural events. The surrounding area will be maintained as a memorial park. The Lithuanian Prime Minister has said that all Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania would be memorialised and marked by the end of 2017. We welcome his commitment to working alongside the Jewish Community of Lithuania and the international Jewish community on this renovation. The Lithuanian government has also said it will discuss the renovation with the Israeli government.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to encourage investment in infrastructure in the north and east of Sri Lanka; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Desmond Swayne

DFID does not have a bilateral programme with Sri Lanka. However, the UK continues to provide assistance through a share of its contributions to multilaterals working in Sri Lanka, such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Inclusive growth is a major thrust of the ADB’s Sri Lanka strategy, with projects that support investment in infrastructure in the north and east of the country, as well as elsewhere.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has undertaken a value for money assessment of the National Citizen Service; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Rob Wilson

A value for money assessment is conducted annually as part of the independent evaluation of the National Citizen Service programme. The most recent report, covering 2014, shows a return of up to £3.98 for every £1 invested. This figure quantifies a range of benefits including the time participants spend volunteering on their social action projects. The NCS Trust estimates that participants have volunteered 8 million hours since 2011.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect of the new grading system for GCSEs on students of Latin and Greek; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb

This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have therefore asked its Chief Regulator, Glenys Stacey, to write directly to the Honourable Member. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the recent report by the Sri Lankan Centre for Policy Alternatives that more than 12,500 acres of land in the Northern Province remains occupied by the Sri Lankan military; what recent representations he has made to the Sri Lankan government on the restitution of land and reparations; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Hugo Swire

Since President Sirisena came to power in January 2015, the Sri Lankan Government has made efforts to return some military occupied private land to civilians. The UK has welcomed this. However, as the CPA report sets out, much more remains to be done. In January 2016, during my second visit in a year to Sri Lanka, I raised land returns in my meetings with the Government and reaffirmed our readiness to help it implement its commitments on reconciliation. I also met resettled families in the north, seeing for myself the progress that has been made as well as the challenges that remain. We will continue to encourage further land returns, a process the UK is contributing to through our support for demining in the north of the country.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-05-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will conduct a consultation with small and medium-sized enterprises on potential steps to support and encourage the take up of employee share ownership schemes after the withdrawal of the valuation check service by HM Revenue and Customs on 31 March 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

Tax-advantaged employee share schemes are greatly valued by both companies and employers, and the government wants to make sure that the rules surrounding these schemes are as simple and clear as possible. Budget 2016 made a number of changes to the rules for employment-related securities and options which will make these schemes fairer and easier for taxpayers to understand, and therefore encourage businesses to use them.

An HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) commissioned report conducted by Oxera considered the effect of the tax-advantaged employee share schemes on productivity. The report is available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110203095056/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/research/tax-advantaged-report2.pdf.

The government’s most recent assessment of the cost of the tax-advantaged employee share schemes to the Exchequer is provided in the table below.

	Forecast cost of Income Tax relief (2015-16)	Forecast cost of National Insurance relief (2015-16)
Share Incentive Plan	£220 million	£165 million
Save As You Earn	£180 million	£140 million
Enterprise Management Incentives	£70 million	£40 million
Company Share Option Plan	£70 million	£40 million

HMRC has not withdrawn the valuation checking service for the tax-advantaged employee share schemes. However, HMRC has withdrawn other checks for non-tax advantaged schemes as, in the majority of cases, acceptable valuations were submitted. Therefore, the valuation service added no value and is seen as unnecessary.

The government keeps all areas of the tax system under review and as part of that in always interested in understanding the views of all interested parties.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people entering or leaving the UK by air had pre-boarding electronic checks in each of the last seven years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The total volumes of passengers and crew crossing the UK border via scheduled commercial air routes, along with the figures for the volumes that underwent electronic checks, are listed in the table below.

The following table shows assessed number of passengers and crew travelling to and from the United Kingdom on commercial international aviation routes (excluding the Common Travel Area) and the percentage of those undergoing electronic checks, over the last five years. Full detail is not available for 2009/ 2010 given the events surrounding the termination of the Raytheon-led Trusted Borders contract.

Year	Number of passengers and crew on international scheduled commercial aviation routes (excluding Common Travel Area) travelling to and from the UK (Millions) *	Percentage of passengers checked electronically on international scheduled commercial aviation routes (excluding Common Travel Area)
2011	190.4	67%
2012	186.2	69%
2013	182.3	81%
2014	179.7	96%
2015	211	100%

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-06-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many fines have been levied on credit rating agencies (a) in total and (b) for inaccurate reports of individuals’ credit records; and if he will make a statement.

Harriett Baldwin

This question has been passed on to the FCA. The FCA will reply to directly to the Honourable member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what monitoring his Department undertakes of the number of homes built on surplus public land sold for housing development; and if he will make a statement.

Gavin Barwell

The current objective of the Public Land for Housing Programme is to release land with capacity for 160,000 much needed homes.

Although this is the primary objective, we plan to collect data from departments to monitor the development of sites up to completion. This will include the number of homes granted planning permission for each site and when construction starts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria are used to require local authorities to contract out the statutory children’s social work services; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

The following local authorities are currently rated as ‘inadequate’ under Ofsted’s Single Inspection Framework:

Birmingham, Bromley, Buckinghamshire, Coventry, Cumbria, Darlington, Doncaster, Dudley, Knowsley, Lambeth, Lancashire, Leicester City, Manchester, Norfolk, Reading, Rotherham, Sandwell, Slough, Somerset, Sunderland, Surrey, Torbay, Wandsworth, West Berkshire and Wirral.

The Government does not use set criteria to require local authorities to contract out their statutory children’s social care services.

The Department for Education has statutory powers to intervene in local authority children’s services under section 497A of the Education Act 1996. This legislation allows the Department to remove day-to-day operational control of children’s services from the local authority, for a period of time, if the Secretary of State believes that the local authority is failing to secure its relevant statutory functions by delivering children’s services to the required standard.

As a matter of policy, the Government has decided that any authority rated by Ofsted as ‘inadequate’ across all the key judgements in any one Ofsted inspection is deemed to be failing ‘systemically’, and any authority that is rated inadequate twice overall in any five year period is deemed to be failing persistently.

In these circumstances the Secretary of State appoints a children’s services commissioner to review services and then provide advice to the Secretary of State on whether they should remain in local authority control.

Once the Secretary of State has received the commissioner’s advice, she will decide whether to direct the authority to enter into a contract with a third party – for instance a Children’s Services Trust – to deliver those services on its behalf.