Tag: Neil Coyle

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of whether the Government’s Go Ultra Low scheme to deliver 750 more charging points in UK towns and cities by 2020 will reach its target.

Mr John Hayes

As well as delivering over 750 chargepoints, the Go Ultra Low City Scheme will establish exemplar cities, see local authorities use local powers to encourage uptake, and test new technological solutions. Since the winners were announced in January 2016, the Government has agreed robust delivery plans with all winning cities to deliver the agreed outputs by 2020. Oxford City Council, Milton Keynes, the North East Combined Authority and Nottingham City Council have already begun the process of public chargepoint procurements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how he plans for the two per cent council tax precept to fund care services to be monitored to ensure funds raised are used for disabled people, older people, and carers seeking social care and support from local authorities.

Mr Marcus Jones

Details of how the two per cent social care precept will operate will be confirmed alongside the provisional local government finance settlement in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of planned changes to pay and allowances on the morale of the armed forces.

Penny Mordaunt

The new pay model being introduced in April 2016 will be simpler, transparent, and more efficient. It responds to Other Ranks’ dissatisfaction with the current model, retains incremental pay, and no one will take a cut in core pay on transition to the new pay model.

I fully expect this to be positive for morale overall.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will uprate the income threshold for carer’s allowance in line with the forthcoming increase in the minimum wage.

Justin Tomlinson

The earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance which is not linked to the number of hours worked is currently £110 per week (net of certain expenses). It was increased to £110 in April 2015 – an increase of nearly 8%, which far outstripped the growth in earnings.

The Government keeps the earnings limit under review and keeps under consideration whether an increase in the threshold is warranted and affordable.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to improve the university complaints procedures for victims of sexual assault.

Joseph Johnson

Sexual assault is a serious criminal offence and we expect all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to have robust policies in place to prevent incidents and support victims. All HEIs have a requirement to ensure rigorous procedures are in place to handle complaints. Where complaints cannot be resolved, students can access the complaints handling service provided by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.

The Government asked Universities UK to establish a taskforce to explore what more can be done by the higher education sector to prevent, and respond effectively to, incidents of violence and sexual harassment, hate crimes and other forms of harassment. The taskforce is expected to report its findings in the autumn.

The Government looks forward to receiving the taskforce’s final report in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what reasons the food and drink industry does not meet his Department’s criteria for inclusion on its list of creative industries.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Government fully recognises the importance of the food and drinks sector to our economy, and appreciates that there is a creative element to work in this sector. The definition of the Creative Industries since 2013 has been based on a Creative Intensity approach, which measures the proportion of jobs within an industry that are classified as creative. The proportion of these jobs in the ‘food and drink’ industry was below the 30 per cent threshold set in 2013, and was therefore not included in the Creative Industries Economic Estimates.

Earlier this year, this Department carried out a consultation on our Economic Estimates for the Creative Industries, which included asking whether we should review the sectors included within the Creative Industries based on the existing Creative Intensity approach. We published our response to this consultation on 9 June, which stated that we will continue to review the Creative Intensities on an on-going basis to ensure they remain relevant. The Standard Occupational Classifications (SOC) which underpin this work are currently being reviewed, however, and we will wait for the outcome of that review before deciding whether and when to make any changes to the occupations which contribute to the Creative Industries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timetable for publication is of the Freud Review into housing benefit changes and their impact on supported accommodation.

Caroline Nokes

The Secretary of State has confirmed that the Government expects to make an announcement on the way forward for supported housing in early autumn.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the judgment in the case of R v Secretary of State [2015] EWHC 3382 (Admin).

Justin Tomlinson

The Government is considering the judgment and will set out its position in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans his Department has to publish a national strategy for English for speakers of other languages for England.

Nick Boles

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Home Office, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities and Local Government work together to support the policy ambitions of state-funded ESOL: to enable unemployed people on benefits to get the skills they need to get into and stay in work; and to support the integration of long-standing migrant communities and particularly those individuals most at risk of isolation from services and wider society.

There are no plans to publish a national strategy. We fund ESOL through the Adult Education Budget, and colleges and training providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use this budget to meet the needs of their local communities. It is therefore their responsibility to plan which ESOL courses they deliver locally, within their resources.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to deliver hyper-speed broadband coverage in urban areas.

Mr Edward Vaizey

As announced at the 2016 Budget, the Government intends to support the development of the ultrafast market by establishing, in partnership with the private sector, a new broadband investment fund to support the growth of alternative network developers by providing greater access to finance. Ofcom also recently announced its strategy to promote large-scale roll-out of new ultrafast broadband networks as part of its Digital Communications Review. The Government is committed to ensuring that ultrafast broadband should be available to nearly all UK premises, as soon as practicable. We are proposing to take action in a number of areas which will help support existing commercial investment plans and encourage the ultrafast market to develop further, including reforming the Electronic Communications Code, the statutory framework governing rights of access to private land; implementing the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive to help reduce the cost of rolling out high speed broadband; reviewing the effectiveness of the fixed planning changes introduced in England in 2013 to determine whether they should be made permanent; and encouraging and supporting innovative approaches in street works which can lower the cost and speed up deployment of faster broadband.