Tag: Jim Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2016 to Question 41418, whether she plans to start making projections of the cost of energy imports by the UK; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not currently have plans to produce projections of the cost of energy imports by the UK.

The government is committed to making sure consumers have secure, affordable and clean energy. Keeping the cost of energy imports low will be important in helping achieve this goal.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has (a) made to and (b) received from universities on the implications of the outcome of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.

Joseph Johnson

The Government has met a number of stakeholders since the referendum for meetings that included discussion of EU issues. The Government continues to work closely with the higher education sector[1] and to listen to their feedback on the implications of the referendum outcome. The Government will continue to engage with the whole HE sector on these important issues and welcome their valuable input.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/statement-on-higher-education-and-research-following-the-eu-referendum

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the human rights conditions in prisons in Iran; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Iran does not allow British officials access to Iranian prisons and as such we are unable to make an assessment of their human rights conditions. The UK recently supported the renewed mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and regularly calls on Iran to allow them access to the country to carry out their work. Iran has also been identified as a Human Rights Priority Country and the UK regularly calls on Iran to uphold its international human rights obligations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, when he plans for the UK to initiate Article 50; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robin Walker

The Prime Minister has made it clear that we will not be triggering Article 50 before the end of 2016. She has said that we won’t be triggering Article 50 until we have a UK approach and clear objectives for negotiations. It is in everyone’s interest that we establish this before we trigger Article 50.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-14.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total value of the contract between his Department and Concentrix; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has, to date, spent circa £30 million with Concentrix for service delivery under the contract. HMRC, under appropriate procurement transparency mandates, published anticipated spend details on Contracts Finder of between £55-75 million pounds at the start of the contract.

Final spend with the supplier will be dictated by contractual considerations around delivery of specific service campaigns. Such considerations are commercially sensitive at this time and cannot, in this instance, be disclosed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of full-time equivalent officials in his Department who are employed on cases where tax credits have been stopped by Concentrix; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) currently has around 700 full-time equivalent (FTE) officials employed across a variety of Concentrix related activity.

Concentrix only record the number of awards that have been amended, which could be stopped, reduced or increased. HMRC is unable to breakdown the FTE data to show those staff employed specifically on cases where awards have been stopped by Concentrix.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many civil servants working in his Department have opted out of the EU Working Time Directive.

Mr Robin Walker

As a new department we are currently in the process of migrating a large number of civil servants onto our HR systems from across government. As a result we do not hold this information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of public-access defibrillators located in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and if he will make a statement.

David Mowat

No estimate has been made of the number of public-access defibrillators located in Coventry, the West Midlands and England or of the number of people who have taken part in coronary pulmonary resuscitation training delivered by the National Health Service.

We recognise that better provision of defibrillators and increasing the number of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation could help save more lives of those who have a cardiac arrest outside a hospital setting.

That is why the Chancellor announced in the budget in March that the Government is making available another £1 million to make public access defibrillators and coronary pulmonary resuscitation training more widely available in communities across England. This builds on last year’s funding of £1 million, which provided almost 700 more publicly accessible defibrillators in communities across England and increased the numbers of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Details on how this second tranche of the funding can be accessed will be available in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many primates were imported into the UK for scientific research purposes in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Mike Penning

The Home Office have previously published data on the numbers of non-human primates imported and used for scientific research in PQs 222873 (05 Feb 2015), 182703 (20 Jan 2014), 80687 (22 Nov 2011) and 76262 (25 October 2011). The numbers of non-human primates imported into the UK for scientific research were: 2,071 in 2010; 1,771 in 2011; and, 1,557 in 2012. This data was gathered from information supplied by project licence holders when requesting permission to import.

On 1 January 2013, the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 was amended to transpose European Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes. The amended legislation has no requirement to request prior permission to import non-human primates acquired from overseas breeding centres. Therefore, the Home Office does not hold the information requested for 2013 and 2014. The published Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain provide information on the sources of non-human primates used in experimental procedures for 2013 and 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance and support her Department is providing to food sovereignty movements in developing countries; and if she will make a statement.

Grant Shapps

DFID supports strengthening household food security through improving agricultural productivity and improved incomes from agricultural production, building resilience against climate change and linking smallholder farmers to markets and supply chains. We help with a context-specific range of programmes, which all contribute to the inclusive and more sustainable economic growth that will lift poor people out of poverty.

The UK Government believes that a key element in strengthening food security is to encourage diverse sources of supply. We will not support approaches that undermine open markets and free trade, which allows consumer choice and options for a healthier diet, and so does not specifically support food sovereignty movements in developing countries.