The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the trends in the number of bus reliability public inquiries held by the traffic commissioners since 2010.
Andrew Jones
No assessment has been made of the trends in the number of public inquiries held by the Traffic Commissioners into bus punctuality since 2010.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that police officers are aware of the outcome of prosecutions in which they have been involved.
Mike Penning
Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, through its IT systems, passes data onto the police national computer so that records of convictions and sentences can be maintained by the police.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reasons the Government took the decision to close the Manufacturing Advisory Service.
Anna Soubry
As part of the Spending Review settlement, we decided to wind down the national delivery of the Business Growth Service (BGS) including the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS).
The BGS used substantial taxpayer resources, £85 million a year, which was distributed through a network of contractors and subcontractors. When it did eventually reach businesses, businesses would have to provide half the cost of advice themselves, despite the substantial taxpayer funding being provided.
The Spending Review protected our economic security by taking the difficult decisions to live within our means and bring down our debt. The most important way we can help manufacturers is to continue to secure a strong, growing economy.
Where we do use taxpayers money, we have targeted it where it will help businesses the most.
We have extended the doubling of Small Business Rate Relief by another year, meaning 405,000 small businesses will pay no rates at all while another 200,000 small businesses will pay reduced rates. Next year we’ll be extending the Employment Allowance from £2,000 to £3,000, meaning thousands of small businesses will pay no jobs tax.
We’re providing further funding to Growth Hubs to help businesses at the local level and away from Whitehall.
We continue supporting our world leading research-led and advanced manufacturing sectors such as life sciences, defence, aerospace, automotive and chemicals to grow, export, and attract and retain inward investment. We are supporting industry with an extra £1 billion in aerospace and automotive R&D and investing £6.9 billion in the UK’s research infrastructure.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-02-22.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have had with (i) arms manufacturers, (ii) tobacco manufacturers and (iii) representatives of the Israeli embassy since the period covered in the Cabinet Office’s most recent ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings data release.
Harriett Baldwin
Departments publish details of Ministers meetings’ with external organisations routinely on Gov.uk.
Details of meetings held during the period October – December 2015 will be published in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-03-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Supreme Court’s judgment in UBS AG & Anor v Revenue and Customs [2016] UKSC 13 (9 March 2016), what steps his Department has taken against Deloitte for designing and marketing the tax avoidance scheme rejected by the court.
Mr David Gauke
It is not possible for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to provide details of any action taken in connection with these organisations.
In the March 2015 Budget, the Government challenged the accountancy and tax professional bodies to improve how they deal with their members who promote tax avoidance schemes.
The professional bodies have responded positively to this challenge and are working with HMRC to agree a new standard to which their members will need to adhere.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hywel Williams on 2016-04-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what meetings (a) he and (b) his predecessor had with Ministers of the Welsh Government (i) wholly and (ii) primarily about Tata Steel’s intentions for the Welsh steel industry.
Alun Cairns
My predecessor, the Rt hon Stephen Crabb MP, and I have, and continue to conduct regular meetings to discuss Tata Steel, and the Welsh Steel Industry with Cabinet colleagues, UK Government Ministers and Welsh Government Ministers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects his Department’s Propriety and Ethics team’s investigation into the activity of civil servants to report.
Mike Penning
As I said to the House on 14 March, the rules around former civil servants taking up employment in the private sector are made very clear when they leave the Department. Under no circumstance should they exploit privileged access to government contracts or sensitive information which could be used to influence the outcome of commercial competitions. The investigation has now reported and found that it was unlikely any intellectual property belonging to, or confidential information relating to, the MoJ or NOMS was compromised as a result of former staff gaining employment with TDPi. Nevertheless, we have strengthened internal procedures and increased awareness of the Business Appointment Rules within the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) so as to make departing civil servants and their new employers aware of their obligations under the Rules. My officials have written to TDPi reminding them of their obligations under the Civil Service Code.
Over the last six months, we have improved our commercial capability, more than doubling the senior commercial experts monitoring work with the private sector. The investigation found no evidence of improper culture or general lack of professionalism in relation to how NOMS staff interact with suppliers or contractors.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that suitable brownfield sites are prioritised for development over greenbelt sites under the proposed Housing Delivery Test.
Brandon Lewis
We are still considering responses to the proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, including on the housing delivery test.
The Government has put in place the strongest protections for the Green Belt. The Framework is clear that inappropriate development will not be allowed unless there are very special circumstances, and that Green Belt boundaries should be adjusted only in exceptional circumstances, through the Local Plan process. The Framework also encourages development of brownfield land, and we have undertaken to ensure that 90 per cent of brownfield land suitable for housing will have planning permissions for new homes in place by the end of this Parliament.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of employer enquiries to the Employer Checking Service resulted in a response confirming that the subject of the enquiry had the right to work in each of the last five years.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The proportion of checks to the Employer Checking Service resulting in a response confirming that the subject of the enquiry had the right to work, by calendar year are as below:
2011 41.2%
2012 43.8%
2013 51.1%
2014 56.6% 56.0%
2015 61.4% 58.2%
2016 (to date) 67.3%
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department’s policy is on the maximum travelling time for applicants to personal independence payment assessments; and what proportion of such assessments have complied with that maximum time in the last 12 months.
Justin Tomlinson
The requirement placed on the providers delivering Personal Independence Payment assessments is that claimants are not expected to travel more than 90 minutes by public transport to attend assessments. We expect them to minimise travel times wherever possible but, in scheduling appointments, they need to balance both keeping journey times down and ensuring claimants are assessed in a reasonable time period. To increase capacity and reduce journey times the providers have been opening new assessment centres across the country.
The information requested about the proportion of such assessments having complied with the maximum time in the last 12 months is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.