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Tag: Nicholas Soames

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-03-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to record the departure of non-EU students as they leave the UK at the end of their studies.

    James Brokenshire

    The Office for National Statistics long-term international migration data
    include estimates of the numbers of students leaving the UK. At the request of
    the Home Office and other migration statistics users, the ONS has improved its
    methodology with an aim to identify emigrants who had originally arrived as
    students. This has assisted in assessing the contribution of students to
    overall net migration. It is estimated that 49,000 non-EU migrants, who had
    previously immigrated for study, had emigrated from the UK in the year ending
    September 2013.

    HM Government has made a commitment to reintroduce exit checks. By 2015, we
    will have checks in place on those who leave the UK by scheduled international
    air, sea and rail services. Introducing exit checks will improve our ability to
    confirm departure and to identify those who have failed to leave the UK when
    they should have done so.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-04-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many months of imports the UK’s reserves can cover; and if he will make a statement.

    Nicky Morgan

    The UK has not operated an exchange rate targeting monetary policy regime since 1992. Rather, foreign exchange reserves are currently held on a precautionary basis, to be used in the event of unexpected shocks.

    Latest data shows that the value of the reserves is $110.9bn, up from $71.2bn in June 2010. UK imports averaged £44.4bn per month over 2013.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on the role of local authorities in the commissioning of probation services within their areas; and if he will make a statement.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Offender Management Act 2007 places the responsibility for the provision of Probation Services on the Secretary of State for Justice. Under the Act, the Secretary of State may make contractual or other arrangements with any other person for the making of the probation provision. The process of commissioning probation services will be informed by engagement with co-commissioning partners including, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Local Authorities. Contracts will be responsive to changing demands and priorities at local and national levels.

    During the Transforming Rehabilitation Programme, we have undertaken extensive engagement at a national and local level with PCCs and Local Authorities. As part of this process, we have established a national PCC Reference Group and a Local Authority Reference Group which have proved to be useful forums to engage with those PCCs and Local Authorities which are most interested in our reforms and enabled them to scrutinise the commissioning and delivery of the Programme. PCCs and Local Authorities, together with other key local stakeholders have also been able to provide structured advice on what works locally via the creation of competition local advisory panels.

    No organisations are prohibited from bidding in the competition. However, to bid successfully to own and run Community Rehabilitation Companies, they will need to meet the criteria we set, which will include the ability to take on the necessary financial risk under our proposed payment by results mechanism.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will update the Defence Strategic Guidance to reflect the Russian annexation of the Crimea.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The 2010 National Security Strategy and the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) set the top level political direction and guidance for UK Defence. Defence Strategic Direction (DSD) translates this top level direction into broad priorities for Defence but it does not set specific goals, or relate to specific missions, activities or threats, and it would not be appropriate or practical to update DSD in the face of each individual crisis or threat.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-04-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of building information modelling in reducing the total cost of ownership for complex infrastructure assets; and if he will make a statement.

    Danny Alexander

    The 2011 Government Construction Strategy set a target that all publicly procured construction will require fully collaborative 3D Building Information Modelling (BIM) (with all project and asset information, documentation and data being electronic) as a minimum by 2016.

    Infrastructure UK is working closely with the government and industry groups implementing BIM on new projects. Early adopter projects include the Ministry of Justice Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institute which has demonstrated an overall saving of around 20% with BIM as part of suite of efficiency measures deployed on the design and construction of the project. (A case study from Cookham Wood is attached to this response).

    Major projects and clients are now implementing BIM on new infrastructure projects. It is still too early to draw conclusive evidence of whole life benefits. However High Speed 2 has made a specific commitment to deploy BIM and the Highways Agency are piloting BIM on the new A556 trunk road project from which evidence of benefits will be collated.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he intends to formally abolish probation trusts.

    Jeremy Wright

    Probation Trusts ceased operating at the end of 31 May 2014. The majority of offenders are now being supervised by staff working in 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies while high risk offenders and those who have committed the most serious offences are being supervised by the National Probation Service. The new structure was tested thoroughly prior to the transition, with staff and cases beginning transfer into the new structure prior to formal transition on 1 June. Formal dissolution of the Probation Trusts will take place following audit of their 2014/15 accounts in the autumn of 2014.

    The leadership of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) remain committed to maintaining morale through the effective leadership of change and continued positive engagement across the organisation. Throughout this significant change programme regular communication has been provided across NOMS to keep people informed about the reforms. We understand the challenges large scale reforms such as this can pose, and we are working closely with probation staff to make sure they can raise any issues quickly. Probation staff at all levels are working hard to implement these vital reforms on the ground and we will continue to support them throughout this process.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many spare (a) generator step-up transformers and (b) transmission transformers are held in the UK.

    Michael Fallon

    Electricity generation in the U.K. is privatised and the decisions on spare step-up transformers are for the individual generator businesses. Electricity transmission operations in the U.K. are private, regulated businesses. Decisions on spare transmission connected transformers are matters for the transmission businesses, to meet the licence conditions under which they operate; they form an important component in the provision of reliability of supply. The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not hold data on generator step-up transformer or transmission connected transformer quantities held as spares by industry.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to extend the Duty Holder Concept Regulations to apply to (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department.

    Anna Soubry

    Under the policy introduced across Defence, a Duty Holder is an official (military or civilian) who owns, manages and is accountable for risks to life of people in his or her area of responsibility. Senior Duty Holders, who head the Department’s Top Level Budget areas and Trading Fund Agencies, are required by the Secretary of State’s Policy Statement on Health, Safety & Environmental Protection to refer to him any risks that they consider cannot be reduced as low as reasonably practicable.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many unfilled posts of each grade there were in the Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust in each month since January 2012.

    Jeremy Wright

    The information requested is not held centrally.

    Vacancies were managed locally by probation trusts which have now ceased to exist.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which companies manufacture (a) generator step-up transformers and (b) transmission transformers in the UK.

    Michael Fallon

    The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not hold comprehensive data on generator step-up and transmission connected transformer manufacturers in the U.K. The transformers used in the privatised electricity industry are sourced from manufacturers such as Alstom Grid based in Staffordshire, among others in the UK and globally.