Tag: Parliamentary Question

Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made in standardising the border control queue measurement system across airports, ferry ports and rail terminals.

James Brokenshire

Guidance on how queue measurements should be taken at UK border controls was updated in November 2015, following a review. This standardises the approach required for measuring queues. This guidance will be placed in the House Library.

01/01/2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-22.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the total contribution from the public purse to Lifetime ISAs in financial year (a) 2017-18 (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20; and if he will make a statement.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government is creating a new Lifetime ISA, providing savers with the flexibility to save towards a first home and retirement at the same time. From April 2017, people aged 18 to 40 will be able to open and save up to £4,000 each year into a Lifetime ISA and receive a 25% bonus from the Government, paid annually after the end of the tax year.

People can make full withdrawals from their Lifetime ISA accounts for a first home purchase (subject to a house price cap of £450,000 UK-wide) or from age 60. These withdrawals will be tax free.

An estimate of the Exchequer impact from this policy was set out in Table 2.1 of the Budget 2016 document. For further information, please see page 9 of the Budget 2016 Policy Costings document: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508147/PU1912_Policy_Costings_FINAL3.pdf

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01/01/2023
Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the role of the PrescQIPP Programme is in relation to clinical commissioning groups.

Alistair Burt

The PrescQIPP NHS Programme currently has no direct role within the Department as it is an independent social enterprise.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) use its materials to improve the prescribing of medicines. These are mainly publicly available for CCGs and Health Boards, with some additional subscription-only content. Their governance and annual work programme is overseen by a strategic oversight group representing the users.

01/01/2023

Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of staff in his Department were (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2015-16.

Mike Penning

The proportion of staff on (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff for each of the financial years requested is included in the table below. Due to changes in the structure of the department in each year, comparisons cannot be reliably drawn between years.

	2010/2011	2011/2012	2012/2013	2013/2014	2014/2015	2015/2016
Proportion of Payroll FTE	98%	98%	98%	97%	95%	95%
Proportion of Non Payroll FTE	2%	2%	2%	3%	5%	5%

The data in the table includes staff from MoJ Headquarters, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, National Offender Management Service, Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, Office of the Public Guardian and the Legal Aid Agency (who are included from the 2013/2014 financial year onwards). The Scotland Office and Wales Office are included in the 2010/2011 financial year and Supreme Court included 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 financial year.

01/01/2023

Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to the concluding observations and recommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the UK’s sixth periodic report in relation to social security and unemployment; and if he will make a statement.

Damian Hinds

In paragraph 73 of the UN recommendations, the UN requested that the UK submits its next period report under the Covenant (inclusive of a response to all the recommendations from this year’s examination) by 30 June 2021; it would therefore not be appropriate for me to pre-empt this report by anticipating what we might say in 2021. In any event, the Government regularly assesses the impacts of its policies and will continue to do so.

01/01/2023
Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) military and (b) civilian Government employees have been employed in the Gulf Strategy Unit in each of the last 15 years.

Ben Gummer

The Gulf Strategy Integrated Delivery Team was established in 2015.

Its remit is to coordinate the Government’s strategic approach to UK engagement with the Gulf States as set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.

It employs three full-time and one part-time Government employees. One is military and three are civilian.

Administration costs were £70,004 in the 2015-16 financial year and the budget for administration costs in the 2016-17 financial year is £423,000. The 2015-16 figure reflects the fact the unit was established later in the financial year.

01/01/2023
Thangam Debbonaire – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to allocate the homelessness prevention grant in proportion to the level of need in each local authority.

Mr Marcus Jones

We have made available over £500 million to local authorities and the voluntary sector to tackle homelessness and since 2010 this has helped local authorities to prevent 935,800 households from becoming homeless.

Since 2010, local councils have had more flexibility over how they spend the money they receive from central government.

The allocation of Homeless Prevention Grant has developed over many years to take account of different kinds of pressures, including rough sleeping and statutory homelessness. We supported the establishment of the National Practitioner Support Service’s ‘Gold Standard’ programme to help improve the effectiveness of local authority homelessness prevention services.

Decisions on funding beyond 2015/2016 will be subject to the forthcoming spending review.

01/01/2023
Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to pages 18 and 19 of his response to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee’s Second Report of Session 2015-16: The Extension of Offensive British Military Operation to Syria, published on 26 November 2015, what his assessment is of the capacity of the 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters referred to (a) taking territory from ISIL, (b) holding that territory and (c) administering it; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Cameron

We estimate that there are around 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters on the ground who do not belong to extremist groups, many of whom are linked to the Free Syrian Army. In addition to these 70,000, there are around 20,000 Kurdish fighters in Syria, who are also playing an important role in combating ISIL. The information we have on individual groups which forms the basis of this estimate is drawn in large part from intelligence. It would not be to the benefit of these non-extremist opposition fighters if we were to make it public to ISIL and the Syrian regime. We have very close intelligence relationships with a range of allies and partners, and share assessments with them as a matter of course.

01/01/2023
Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many illegal money lenders Illegal Money Lending Units prevented from operating in 2015.

Nick Boles

According to the National Trading Standards Annual report 2014/15, the England and Wales illegal money lending teams commenced 365 operations into 756 suspected money lenders in 2014/15.

In the same period 42 individuals were charged or had proceedings instituted against them for illegal money lending in England and Wales. Trading Standards Scotland referred a further 9 individuals to the Procurator Fiscal for illegal money lending in 2014/15.

01/01/2023
Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what further resources from the Local Growth Fund he intends to make available to allow additional road improvements; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department for Transport is contributing over £6 billion to the Local Growth Fund in this parliament. This is already helping to fund over 300 road improvement schemes in Local Enterprise Partnerships’ programmes. Local Enterprise Partnerships will soon have the opportunity to make further bids to the Local Growth Fund for new projects, including a £475m element for very large major transport schemes. The Government will be providing details shortly.

01/01/2023