The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department or Saxton Bampfylde Ltd approached any person to apply for the Pubs Code Adjudicator vacancy.
Anna Soubry
The Department and the contracted executive search agency, Saxton Bampfylde, approached individuals to consider applying for the Pubs Code Adjudicator vacancy. This was done in accordance with standard practice.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the average amount of unused food thrown away by households in the last 12 months.
Rory Stewart
Through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the Government continues to work with the grocery sector to reduce household food waste. The Love Food Hate Waste programme helps UK households to reduce food waste and save money through awareness raising and consumer advice. There has been a 15% (1.3 million tonnes) reduction in household food waste between 2007 and 2012.
WRAP launched Courtauld 2025 on 15 March, which builds on the progress we have already made. This new agreement includes a target to reduce food and drink waste arising in the UK by 20% by 2025 (calculated as a relative reduction per head of population).
For the average household, the price of avoidable food and drink waste is £470 per year. For the average household with children, the cost of avoidable food and drink waste is £700 per year.
The total amount of food thrown away by the average household is 260 kg per year. 160 kg of this is avoidable waste. For the average household with children, this figure rises to 390 kg per year, including 240 kg of avoidable food waste.
These are the latest available figures, applying to 2012. WRAP aims to publish updated figures for household food waste later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what relevant qualifications the official from his Department who was seconded to oversee the appointment panel for the recruitment of the Pubs Code Adjudicator held; and what methodology was used by the Department to choose who would be seconded into that role.
Anna Soubry
No official from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was seconded to oversee the appointment panel for the recruitment of the Pubs Code Adjudicator.
In line with the Office for the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) guidance the recruitment panel was chaired by a Public Appointments Assessor. The Panel also included the relevant Director from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and an independent panel member.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.256 of Budget 2016, what meetings (a) he and (b) his officials have had with the Department of Health regarding the UK’s bid to host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.
Greg Hands
As stated in Spending Review 15 the government supports the ambition to host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup in the Northern Powerhouse.
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: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average hourly earnings were of his Department’s (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.
Jane Ellison
The information requested (as at 31 March in each of the two years) is presented below. The figures given take into consideration only information about staff who have formally declared their ethnicity.
|
Average Hourly Rate 2015 |
Average Hourly Rate 2016 |
|
|
Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Staff |
£18.50 |
£19.03 |
|
Non-Black and Minority Ethnic (Non-BME) Staff |
£24.23 |
£24.34 |
17% of the Department’s staff are BME which is above the Civil Service average. The difference in average hourly rates between BME and non BME staff is due to there being a higher proportion of BME staff in junior grades at present.
To encourage recruitment and promotion of talented individuals from a BME background, the Department has undertaken several initiatives including, but not limited to, blind recruitment forms, mandatory unconscious bias training for all staff and a suite of other Diversity and Inclusion training, such as Race Awareness, Positive Action Pathways, and Future Leaders Schemes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he plans to make changes to the procedure of the market rent only option once triggered, as planned in Part 6 of the withdrawn Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016.
Anna Soubry
No. The Government does not plan to make any material changes to the procedure of the ‘Market Rent Only’ option, once triggered, in the revised regulations. Some technical drafting improvements have been made to Part 6.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of levels of passenger satisfaction with light rail systems.
Paul Maynard
The Department for Transport has not made any assessment of passenger satisfaction levels in regards to light rail. However, Transport Focus, an independent transport user watchdog, published results in May 2016 which indicated overall journey satisfaction in 2015 had increased to 92% from 90% the previous year. This follows a survey conducted of over 5,000 passengers who had used light rail systems in operation in Blackpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh.
A copy of the Transport Focus report can be found at the following weblink:
http://www.transportfocus.org.uk/research-publications/research/tram-passenger-survey/
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Security Industry Authority’s processing of license applications.
Brandon Lewis
The Home Department receives regular performance updates from the SIA, including information around the processing of licence applications. In the last financial year the SIA met its performance target for processing licence applications. We are however aware of some delays in the issuing of SIA licences following the launch of its new IT system in July 2016. The SIA have introduced a series of measures to address the issues and we will continue to monitor its performance in this area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Attorney General, how many complaints to the Crown Prosecution Service proceeded to formal Stage 2 during each of the last three years.
Robert Buckland
The following table shows the number of complaints escalated to Stage 2 in the past three years:
|
Year |
Stage 2 Complaints |
|
2013/14 |
245 |
|
2014/15 |
264 |
|
2015/16 |
254 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many licences the Government has secured for off-patent drugs in each of the last five years.
George Freeman
The Government does not normally apply for medicines licenses, which is rightly an obligation of the company who has developed the drug. The Secretary of State is the United Kingdom licensing authority for medicines and cannot become a routine applicant to himself nor can he become a routine participant in pharmaceutical markets which holders of licenses are obliged to do. The Government has not secured any licenses for off-patent drugs in the past five years.