Tag: Kevin Brennan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average fine is for people found guilty of breaking the law by not allowing the transport of blind people and their guide dogs in licensed taxis under the Equality Act 2010.

Dominic Raab

It is an offence under section 168 of the Equalities Act 2010 to refuse to take an assistance dog in a taxi or private hire vehicle. The maximum penalty is a level 3 fine (up to £1,000).

The number of offenders sentenced at all courts (with fines and average fines specifically identified) for failure to comply with a section 168 duty in relation to an assistance dog for a disabled person, in England and Wales, from 2011 (earliest separately identifiable information available) to 2015 can be viewed in table 1.

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for failure to comply with a section 168 duty in relation to an assistance dog for a disabled person, listed by local authority prosecuting the case in England and Wales, from 2011 (earliest separately identifiable information available) to 2015 can be viewed in table 2.

Centrally held data by the Ministry of Justice includes information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. Data on whether a guide dog for the blind or a different type of assistance dog was involved in such a case is not held centrally, or reliably recorded where there is no operational reason to do so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on the Northern powerhouse of the closure of the Business Growth Service.

Anna Soubry

We do not expect closure of the Business Growth Service to have an impact on the growth of Small and Medium sized Enterprises or the Northern Powerhouse.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2015 to Question 902718, what transfer arrangements are in place for the 70 green specialists employed by the Green Investment Bank should they be transferred to the private sector.

Anna Soubry

Private investors will be buying the Green Investment Bank company and employees will continue to be employed by that company. No transfer arrangements are therefore required.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-21.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for which departments and organisations which receive public funding it is his policy that exit payment caps for public sector workers as proposed in the Enterprise Bill should not apply.

Greg Hands

The Government consulted on implementing a public sector exit payment cap in July 2015. The Government response to this consultation was published on 16 September 2015. This response provides detail on the potential impacts of the cap and sets out which organisations the Government intends to capture within scope of the public sector exit payment cap. The final policy is in line with the Government’s manifesto commitment to end tax payer funded six figure payoffs for public sector workers.

The consultation ran from 31 July to 27 August 2015. Over 4000 responses were received. These representations were considered during and after the consultation to inform the Government response that was published on 16 September 2015.

The response document can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464367/Public_sector_exit_payments_response.pdf

An impact analysis was published within the exit payment cap consultation document which respondents had an opportunity to comment on. Further, the Government worked with departments and took into account consultation responses received after the official deadline to inform the impact of a public sector exit payment cap set at £95,000 in different sectors and for different categories of workers. This assessment gave due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The exit payment cap is intended to capture organisations classified as public sector by the Office for National Statistics with few exceptions as identified in the consultation response.

The Government does not expect the cap to have a widespread impact on the take-up of voluntary redundancy.

At the 2015 Spending Review the Government announced it will consult on further cross public sector action on exit payment terms. This consultation will provide a good opportunity to collect further information on the trends in the level of exit payments between the private and public sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans his Department has to ensure that a privatised Green Investment Bank will support the UK’s cities, regions and nations in creating robust low carbon economies.

Anna Soubry

The Green Investment Bank (GIB) can best contribute to UK green policy objectives by doing what it does best – achieving the demonstration effect and mobilising much needed private capital into green sectors.

GIB will continue to perform that role in private ownership – getting more investment into green sectors that are relatively mature but nevertheless suffer from a lack of investment

In private hands, GIB will have access to much more capital than if it remained in Government hands – and will be able to have a bigger impact.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what mechanisms he plans to put in place to measure and monitor (a) value for money for the public purse and (b) the effect on the green economy of a privatised Green Investment Bank; and if he will report regularly to the House on those aspects.

Anna Soubry

Details of why the Government believes moving UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) into private ownership represents the best way to enable the company to deliver its ambitious green business plan and have a greater impact on green investment while minimising burdens on the UK taxpayer are provided in our November 2015 policy statement on the future of GIB and are further set out in the Government’s response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on the future of GIB which was laid in Parliament on 2 February. Both documents can be found on the GIB pages of the GOV.UK website.

The Government has committed to report to Parliament setting out our plans for a sale of GIB and will provide a further report following completion of a transaction and any subsequent transactions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) number and (b) proportion of civil servants will be affected by the Government’s proposed exit payment cap.

Matthew Hancock

To remain the best in the world, the Civil Service needs to respond to both the challenges and opportunities of our times. The Civil Service continues to require new and different skills to respond to the fiscal environment, global competition and changes in technology, whilst at the same time delivering better services more efficiently: in short, doing more for less.

The numbers of civil servants affected by the Government’s action to end six figure pay outs in the public sector will depend upon the terms applicable when the staff leave and which staff are exited.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Leader of the House, how many and what proportion of each Department’s Named Day Questions have been answered on the named day in the most recent period for which data is available.

Chris Grayling

The last submission from the Government on Parliamentary Written Questions performance was sent to the Procedure Committee on 4 November 2015 and covered the 2014-2015 Parliamentary Session. It is available at http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/procedure/Letter-fro.pdf!docid=2617780!.pdf.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many jobs each of the 56 science capital projects his Department has funded since 2007 has created.

Joseph Johnson

BIS’s investment in science capital projects supports the UK’s world class research base, which directly employed around 260,000 researchers in 2013 and delivers a significant return to the economy. Further jobs are supported by investment, for example through construction of advanced facilities or improved Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths skills. However, job creation is not the primary aim of science capital projects, and has not been measured for each project, so it is not possible to provide the information requested.

The Government recognises that research is vital to our wellbeing and future economic success. This is why the science capital budget was increased to £1.1bn in 2015/16 and will rise with inflation to a total of £6.9bn over the period 2015 to 2021.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he takes to monitor the economic effect of projects his Department has funded.

Anna Soubry

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has taken a number of steps to embed systematic monitoring of our policies and programmes, including economic effects. The Department’s vision for monitoring and evaluation is outlined in our Evaluation Strategy, found on the GOV.UK website.

In particular:

1. For all new spending the Department ensures fit for purpose monitoring and evaluation plans are embedded before policy implementation.
2. The Department publishes an updated summary of the monitoring and evaluation coverage for each policy area on an annual basis. The BIS Evaluation Plan 2016 was published in January and is the second annual publication of BIS’s evaluation coverage, also found on the GOV.UK website.