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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what checks his Department has in place to measure the standard of work carried out by contractors under the Energy Company Obligations scheme.

    Jesse Norman

    All Energy Company Obligation (ECO) measures are installed in accordance with the appropriate industry standards including PAS 2030 (Publicly Available Specification) and building regulations.

    Ofgem, the scheme administrator, carries out checks to ensure that the relevant scheme requirements have been met and that the energy bill and carbon savings reported by suppliers are accurate. These checks include technical monitoring which verifies that measures have been installed in accordance with the relevant installation standards.

    Ofgem also conducts audits on measures notified to them by suppliers and have a counter-fraud team which works to detect, prevent and deter fraudulent activity. In addition, energy suppliers are required to conduct their own technical monitoring to ensure their measures are compliant.

    Further to this, last year Government commissioned the Bonfield review, an independent review of consumer advice, protection, standards and enforcement for energy efficiency and renewable energy which will be published shortly.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the average hourly earnings of working people in receipt of universal credit.

    Priti Patel

    The information you have requested is not currently available. The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in September 2013. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring data for UC therefore it is not yet possible to give a definitive list of what statistics will be provided in the future. These statistics however will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.

    The latest official experimental statistics on UC and the Departments release strategy can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics.

    “

  • David T. C. Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    David T. C. Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether he plans to amend the draft Wales Bill to enable the National Assembly for Wales to vary income tax without a referendum.

    Stephen Crabb

    At Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, my Rt hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government will remove the need for a referendum to introduce the Welsh Rates of Income Tax. This will be done in the Wales Bill, which will be introduced into Parliament in the New Year.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the functions of the officials from the Home Office and other departments who are now serving in the north of France; whether they will instruct those officials to give priority to finding and assisting refugees there (1) who may be eligible for family reunion in the UK, or (2) for whom the Government have some responsibility, such as interpreters formerly employed by the Armed Forces; and if not, whether they will fund an NGO to do that work.

    Lord Bates

    Border Force officers are deployed to the Northern French ports to undertake immigration and customs functions as part of the juxtaposed controls arrangements with France, whereby elements of border control are completed prior to travel to the UK. Under the treaties which govern these arrangements, Border Force officers can only undertake official functions within defined “control zones” at the ports. Under the terms of the August 2015 UK-France Joint Declaration, Border Force officials additionally visit the migrant camps in conjunction with French officials to inform migrants of the dangers in seeking entry to the UK illegally and the importance instead of seeking asylum in France, and the fact that this is a prerequisite to apply for family reunion. French officials, as the responsible authority, also provide information to migrants during these visits.

    Separate schemes have existed since 2013 to assist interpreters previously employed by the UK Armed Forces. These apply only to those who have remained in Afghanistan and, in recognition of their unique and exceptional service or the danger the interpreters may face because of their work, can lead to relocation to the UK if certain criteria are met.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which national homelessness prevention and reduction schemes received direct funding from central government (a) in 2015-16 to date and (b) in each financial year since 2009-10; and what the cost of these schemes to the public purse was in those years.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Since 2010 we have invested over £500 million to enable local authorities and the voluntary sector to support those vulnerable and at risk of homelessness. Our initiatives have included funding:

    • Crisis – £14 million funding to support their Access to Private Rented Sector scheme, which has helped created 10,000 tenancies.
    • Homeless Link – over £30 million, £20 million of which went to their Homelessness Transitional Fund, which provided support to 115 areas to ensure that more rough sleepers are found quicker and given the help they need.
    • Help for Single Homelessness Fund – £8 million to help improve local authority support for 22,000 single homeless people.

    The Government has provided £470 million funding for homelessness prevention over the last Spending Review period. Salford City Council was allocated the following amounts based on the homelessness prevention funding formula within the Local Government Finance Settlement:

    • 2014-2015: £70,591
    • 2015-2016: £70,319
  • Mary Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mary Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Robinson on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on the case of Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa; and if he will raise that case with his counterpart in the Indian government.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We are aware of Surat Singh Khalsa’s hunger strike and continue to follow developments. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) discussed human rights with Prime Minister Modi during his visit to the UK in November 2015. Mr Modi assured him that his government in India remains committed to diversity and fundamental freedoms. Mr Modi also met a delegation of UK Sikh leaders during his visit and discussed a range of issues affecting the Sikh community in India. I discussed concerns about minority rights with the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh in November 2015 and the British High Commission in India regularly discusses the treatment of minorities, including the Sikh community, with the Indian National Commission for Minorities and with state governments across India. Prime Minister Modi’s visit, including his address at Wembley, highlighted the contribution that Sikh and other religious minority communities make to India, and to UK-India relations. Relations between the Sikh community in India and the Indian government are ultimately an internal matter, but we encourage both parties to resolve their differences through dialogue.

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment the Government has made of the potential effect of a third runway at Heathrow Airport on compliance with EU Air Quality limits.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    On 14 December 2015, the Government formally announced that it accepted the Airports Commission’s case for new runway capacity in the South East, as well as the Commission’s three shortlisted schemes. We continue to consider all three schemes, including a third runway at Heathrow.

    The Airports Commission published a large amount of analysis on air quality, which included an assessment of potential impacts on limit values, in its Final Report, which is available in the libraries of the House.

    In addition, as announced in December, we are testing the Airports Commission’s work on air quality against the Government’s new air quality plan, as recommended by the Environmental Audit Committee.

  • Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when HM Revenue and Customs plans to publish the one-year progress report on implementation of the Accutrace S10 Fuel Marker.

    Damian Hinds

    As stated in the 6 month report, published on 4 November 2015, HMRC will continue to monitor the impact of the new fuel marker and will publish a further report on the first 12 months as soon as the data is available

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of British nationals claiming pensions who live outside the UK and the European Economic Area; and if he will make a statement.

    Justin Tomlinson

    No information is available concerning the number of British individuals who are living outside the UK and inside/outside the European Economic Area who are in receipt of a UK State Pension. This is because the UK State Pension is a contributory based pension, where nationality or citizenship do not form part of the eligibility criteria.

    Information is available on the number of UK State pension recipients who live outside the UK by country; this can be found on the link below to the Department’s Tabulation tool.

    http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/sp/cccountry/ccsex/a_carate_r_cccountry_c_ccsex_nov15.html

    “

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent representations she has received from scientists and policy experts on her policy on the badger cull.

    George Eustice

    Ministers meet regularly with both scientists and policy experts to review all aspects of our comprehensive strategy to eradicate bovine tuberculosis, including badger control.