Tag: Laurence Robertson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2016 to Question 27899, what recent assessment she has made of the food security situation in Ethiopia.

Mr Nick Hurd

Responding to the food security situation in Ethiopia is a top priority. DFID has already committed £40 million to provide food aid to 3.8 million people in 2016, as part of its overall £113 million response since the onset of the drought last July.

Across the country, 18 million people are in need of food assistance. Failed rains and the El Niño effect have caused the worst drought in Ethiopia in 30 years. This has resulted in reduced crop yields and numerous livestock deaths – increasing the country’s dependence on food aid.

Plans are in place to provide monthly food rations until June from various sources, including the UN, donors, and the Government. The Government of Ethiopia has committed over $381 million (~£269 million) so far, which is its largest ever response to a drought. However, systems are currently stretched and the scale of the crisis means that further resources are needed to meet monthly food distribution needs from June onwards. We continue to work closely with the Government of Ethiopia to support their leadership of the humanitarian response.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on the financial deficit of that Trust.

Mr Philip Dunne

Department of Health ministers have had no recent meetings or discussions with representatives from Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust regarding its financial deficit over the last six months.

On 17 October 2016 NHS Improvement announced Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has entered Financial Special Measures.

The Financial Special Measures programme launched by NHS Improvement provides a rapid turnaround package for trusts and foundation trusts which have either not agreed savings targets (also known as control totals) with local commissioners, or planned to make savings but deviated significantly from this plan.

As part of financial special measures, each trust agrees a recovery plan with NHS Improvement. The trusts also get support from – and are held accountable by – a Financial Improvement Director appointed by NHS Improvement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to continue with the visa scheme which allows Filipino nurses to come to the UK to work on its current basis; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

Tier 2 of the Points Based System for immigration – the skilled work route – allows non-EEA workers to fill graduate level occupations, and is the main route used by Filipino nurses wishing to work in the UK.

In June 2015, the Government commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on restricting Tier 2 to genuine skills shortages and jobs which require highly-specialised experts, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers. The MAC has now reported and the Government is currently considering the MAC’s advice.

In October 2015, the Home Secretary agreed, exceptionally, to place nurses on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) as an interim measure, pending a full review of the evidence by the MAC. The MAC will advise separately on whether nurses should remain on the SOL by 15 February and we await their recommendation with interest. Skilled jobs which are not on the SOL may still qualify for Tier 2, provided the sponsoring employer has carried out a Resident Labour Market Test.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department is doing to deliver the full pension entitlement for those people in Northern Ireland who started work at the age of 14.

Justin Tomlinson

Following the fundamental reforms of the National Insurance scheme in 1975 the law provided that only paid contributions and credits from the year in which a person reached age 16 to the year before the one in which they reached state pension age should count for the purposes of entitlement to the state pension. The Government has no plans to review the position reached by Parliament and which has been in place for the past 40 years, since 1975.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects the Birmingham to Bristol rail line to be electrified.

Claire Perry

Electrification of the railway line between Birmingham and Bristol is one of the schemes under consideration by Network Rail as part of the industry electrification strategy. We expect Network rail to publish a draft strategy for consultation in early 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the merits of refunding money lost by farmers under the modulation scheme to farmers who are taking part in the trial badger cull scheme.

George Eustice

The Government decided to transfer 12% of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Direct Payments (Pillar 1) budget to the Rural Development (Pillar 2) budget in England with effect from the 2014 Scheme year. The transfer is irreversible. Farmers in England are also able to apply for Rural Development Programme environmental schemes or for grants to help improve their competitiveness or grow their business.

Delivery of the badger control policy is led and funded by farmers and landowners. Defra has published details of the resultant costs it incurred in 2013 and 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-04-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether a self-contained annex to a house will be assessed separately from the entire residence for the purpose of calculating stamp duty at the point of sale; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

The Government recognises the concerns raised around the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) treatment of self-contained annexes and agrees that the new higher rates of SDLT should not apply to a purchase of a main residence.

The Government is amending the Finance Bill to exempt annexes from the higher rates of SDLT when purchased in the same transaction as a main residence. In this case, the transaction will be treated as only involving one dwelling and SDLT at the standard rates will apply. An annex will be defined via objective criteria. It must be within the grounds of the main home and worth no more than a third of the total transaction value.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to answer the letters from the hon. Member for Tewkesbury dated 20 July and 21 October 2015.

Michael Fallon

I apologise for the time taken to respond to the hon. Member’s letters. I will write to the hon. Member shortly on this issue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-21.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has taken to reduce the number of unnecessary customer calls to HMRC telephone lines.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs has deployed a Demand Management approach since 2010 to reduce unnecessary telephony demand. This approach includes reengineering business processes, improving forms and guidance to provide greater clarity for customers and introducing a “Once and Done” approach on calls, where possible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Bourne Report on the incidence of bovine TB in badger cull areas been updated since 2014.

George Eustice

Cull zone results published in the Independent Scientific Report on the Randomised Badger Culling Trials (RBCT) (chaired by Professor John Bourne) were last updated with data up to March 2013. There are no plans to do any further analysis of TB incidence in the RBCT areas