Tag: Gregory Campbell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions she has held with the Chief Electoral Officer on steps to ensure that the count of the Northern Ireland Assembly elections in May 2016 is carried out efficiently and is not subject to undue delays.

Mr Ben Wallace

The Northern Ireland Office is in regular contact with the Chief Electoral Officer. I am confident that he is taking all necessary steps to ensure the Northern Ireland Assembly elections, including the count, are delivered as efficiently as possible. Single Transferable Vote counts by their nature take longer than those in “first past the post” elections, and the Chief Electoral Officer’s primary consideration has to be the accuracy of the count. However, he has put in place a number of measures to improve the speed of the count, including testing for count staff and modifications to the process for verifying ballot papers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will discuss with his counterparts in the devolved administrations how to maximise the practical steps being taken across the UK to increase female participation in sports.

David Evennett

The Government is determined to get more girls and women playing sport and to remove any barrier that prevents women and other under-represented groups from taking part in sport and wider physical activity. In December we published a new cross-Departmental strategy for sport and physical activity, ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’, which sets out a new vision for a successful and active sporting nation.

While grassroots sport is a devolved matter, we recognise the complicated landscape of reserved and devolved powers around responsibility for sport and physical activity. To help improve co-ordination and sharing of best practice among the the devolved administrations and the UK Government, the ‘Sport Cabinet’ will be re-established. It will bring together the four sports ministers who represent Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and both England and the UK as a whole.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will discuss with the European Commission the need for co-operation throughout the EU on tackling the spread of bluetongue disease.

George Eustice

Discussions are continuing with EU Member States and the European Commission on tackling the spread of Bluetongue disease, including seeking expert opinion from the European Food Safety Agency on the most appropriate control strategy. Further information on the current control strategy for this disease can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bluetongue-gb-disease-control-strategy and https://www.dardni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/dard/bluetongue-control-strategy.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what change there was in the number of (a) full-time and (b) part-time employees of HM Revenue and Customs in Northern Ireland between 2010 and 2015.

Mr David Gauke

As of 31 March 2010, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) employed 1500 full-time and 640 part-time staff in Northern Ireland.

As of 31 March 2015, there were 1,050 full-time and 620 part-time staff.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people automatically enrolled into workplace pensions between October 2012 and October 2013 have since withdrawn from that scheme.

Justin Tomlinson

The Information requested is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Research from 2013 shows that between nine and ten per cent of automatically enrolled workers had opted out of their pension scheme. Our latest figures show that since the roll out of automatic enrolment, nearly 6 million people have now been automatically enrolled, and opt outs have remained much lower than were originally anticipated. We expect that around nine million workers will be newly saving or saving more by 2018. The Department is doing further analysis into workplace pension participation and opt out rates.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will seek a meeting with the new President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, on reducing corruption in international football.

David Evennett

The government is committed to tackling corruption in sport. I have no plans to meet with Mr Infantino at this stage. I am, however, happy to work with all sports bodies, including international federations, to discuss reducing corruption and promoting good governance in sport.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will raise with the responsible Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive the ways in which the National Citizen Service will be promoted in Northern Ireland in the next five years immediately after the forthcoming elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Mr Rob Wilson

T​he ‘Northern Ireland Executive‘ has committed to ​continue to deliver National Citizen Service (NCS) over the next three years​ and has appointed a provider to deliver the programme – Co-operation Ireland. ​The ​marketing and promotion of NCS in Northern Ireland will be the responsibility of Co-operation Ireland. ​

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to (a) improve the transparency of car hire firms and (b) ensure people hiring cars are not incorrectly charged for damage to such cars.

Nick Boles

There is already consumer protection legislation in place that protects consumers when dealing with traders, including car hire firms. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) prohibit traders from engaging in unfair commercial practices, such as providing false or deceptive information or descriptions to consumers or leaving out material information.

Local authority trading standards services and the Competition and Markets Authority enforce the CPRs, and breaches of the legislation can be reported to the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 03454 04 05 06 in the first instance.

In addition, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (CCRs) require traders entering into distance and online contracts to provide consumers with a range of pre-purchase information in a clear and comprehensive manner, including any additional costs and how they will be calculated.

Finally, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) provides a wide range of protections for consumers, including restricting the use of unfair terms in consumer contracts. Under the CRA, an ‘unfair term’ is defined as one which, contrary to the requirements of good faith, causes a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations under the contract to the detriment of the consumer. If a court decides a term is unfair, it will not be binding on the consumer.

A term, such as the price and the main subject matter, may be exempted from the assessment of fairness if it is transparent and prominent (expressed in plain and intelligible language and legible) and brought to the consumer’s attention in such a way as the average consumer would be aware of it.

The consumer protection legislation referred to implements EU legislation which applies in all other member states.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people earning less than £11,000 per year are full-time employees.

Chris Skidmore

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2016 to Question 48064, on child sexual abuse independent panel inquiry, how much public money the Government has allocated to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse to date.

Sarah Newton

On 12 March 2015 the former Home Secretary established the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse under the Inquiries Act 2005. The Inquiry is independent of the Government and is responsible for the management of its own budget and the publication of its own financial reports.

The most recent financial report was published by the Inquiry on 15 September 2016. It is available at https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-documents/808/view/2015-2016-Inquiry-Financial-Report.pdf

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