Tag: Gregory Campbell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many people owned shares in Royal Mail at (a) the launch of the share offer and (b) 1 January 2016.

Anna Soubry

At the time of Royal Mail Initial Public Offering (IPO) in October 2013, approximately 16% of the company was sold to 690,000 individual investors through a retail offer. A further 10% of the company was awarded to the company’s eligible UK employees with approximately 147,000 employees receiving shares.

Since the IPO, shareholders who purchased shares through the retail offer have been free to trade their shares. The Government does not hold records of these share dealings. Royal Mail has responsibility for maintaining a register of shareholdings in company.

The shares awarded to employees have been held in trust by Royal Mail’s Share Incentive Plan (SIP) to enable the employees to benefit from tax and national insurance advantages. Employees will be able to sell shares from October 2016. Eligible UK employees were also awarded a further 1% of the company’s shares in October 2015 and a further 1% award will be made later this year. These shares will also be held in the Royal Mail SIP for 3 years before they can be sold.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the statistical trends set out in the Answer of 11 January 2016 to Question 20933, what plans he has to tackle drug use in prison.

Andrew Selous

We take a zero tolerance approach to drugs in prison in England and Wales. We recently introduced tough new laws which will see those who smuggle packages over prison walls, including new psychoactive substances, face up to two years in prison. Those who involve themselves in the distribution of drugs in our prisons should know that they could face prosecution and extra time behind bars.

We have a comprehensive range of security measures and searching techniques in place to detect drugs, and to prevent smuggling into prisons. We are also piloting the use of body scanners to reveal drugs concealed within the body. If successful, we will use these to complement existing tactics to prevent the smuggling of illicit drugs.

In addition, there is a wide-ranging programme of work being undertaken by NOMS and its partners to tackle the use of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), which we know are having a particularly destructive effect in prisons. This includes legislation to control the supply, possession and conveyance of any NPS into a prison. We have also trained more than 300 dogs to specifically detect NPS as well as piloting mandatory drug testing of prisoners for psychoactive substances in 34 prisons. We are evaluating the effect of the test and will continue to monitor prisoner drug use so that we can continue to support meaningful interventions and provide an effective testing regime.

We are also working with the Department of Health and others to improve our understanding of the risks NPS present for offenders and to provide appropriate information, guidance and support to offenders and those working with them in prison.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what Armed Forces Day events in Northern Ireland during June 2016 his Department plans to support.

Mark Lancaster

Armed Forces Day events provide opportunities for the nation to show their support of the Armed Forces. These events are community-led and can come in many different forms, from the national event through to local events organised by councils, ex-service organisations, community groups and schools. These events can be followed on Twitter using #SaluteOurForces.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not directly support specific Armed Forces events; other than the national event which will be held this year in Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, on Saturday 25 June. We do invite local authorities and community organisations to consider hosting an event and to apply for funding from the Ministry of Defence.

Part-funding applications have been received for the Northern Ireland Regional Armed Forces Day event, which is scheduled to take place in Antrim on 18 June. Events will also be hosted in Articlave, Portglenone and Belfast on 25 June.

As events are registered by their organisers, they will be published on the Armed Forces Day website: www.armedforcesday.org.uk

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Northern Ireland University Air Squadron has reached its capacity of student places planned when it was set up.

Mark Lancaster

Of the 24 student places available, 14 are currently filled.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total cost to the public purse has been of all (a) salaries, (b) transport, (c) hotel stays, (d) redundancy payments, (e) pension entitlements and (f) all other associated costs since the announcement of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Sarah Newton

On 12 March 2015 the former Home Secretary established the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse under the Inquiries Act 2005.

Its remit is to look at the extent to which state and non-state bodies have failed in their duty to protect children from sexual abuse. The Inquiry is independent of the Government and is responsible for the management of its own budget.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will hold discussions with each of the devolved administrations on ensuring that the roll-out of superfast broadband benefits people across the UK uniformly.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Government’s superfast broadband programme is aimed at achieving availability of superfast broadband to 95% of UK premises by December 2017. The funding allocations to the English local authorities and the devolved administrations have been made on the basis of maximising overall UK coverage,and the Phase 2 allocations that were made in February 2014 also had a minimum allocation for each devolved administration based on the Barnett formula.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-11-24.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the change in expenditure has been on working tax credits between 2013 and 2015.

Damian Hinds

The information requested is available from the HM Revenue and Customs Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 (Note 6.1 – page 153). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the animal licensing review will include a review of how to tackle internet sales of rare animals.

George Eustice

The proposed review of local authority licensing of animal activities will encompass the Pet Animals Act 1951 which regulates the selling of pet animals, including the sale of animals on-line.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people in Northern Ireland were (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for their part in offences connected with fuel laundering between 1 January and 30 June 2015.

Damian Hinds

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is not a prosecuting authority. Where cases do proceed to the criminal courts in Northern Ireland the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPSNI) carries out the prosecution.

HMRC’s records do not differentiate between the forms of fuel fraud it investigates and so they cannot identify arrests and convictions solely for fuel laundering. In the period between 1 January and 30 June 2015, there were 4 successful prosecutions and convictions relating to oils fraud.

HMRC fights fraud on a wide range of fronts, from special units performing thousands of roadside checks to raiding laundering plants. The UK has recently introduced, jointly with the Republic of Ireland, an improved new marker for rebated fuel, which will make it much harder to launder marked fuel and sell it at a profit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of progress in implementing the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Action Plan.

Mr David Gauke

The G20 Leaders endorsed the package of measures developed under the ambitious G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project at the Antalya Summit, 15-16 November 2015.

The UK has already taken action to implement two of the internationally agreed BEPS outputs with domestic legislation to introduce country-by-reporting and rules to address hybrid mismatches.

Several BEPS outputs need to be implemented through changes to double tax treaties. Over 90 countries are working with the OECD to develop a Multilateral Instrument, which will simultaneously update their bilateral treaties. The UK chairs the group, which is scheduled to complete its work by the end of 2016.

The G20 has called on the OECD to develop a framework by early 2016 to monitor the implementation of the BEPS project globally involving all countries that commit to implement the BEPS outputs.