Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed public sector exit payments cap on public sector employers’ flexibility to restructure their workforce.

    Greg Hands

    The Government maintains that £95,000 is a significant amount of money for anyone to be receiving for an exit, while the large majority of exit payments are already significantly below the level of the cap. Voluntary redundancy and workforce restructuring is not contingent upon access to six-figure exit payments. As such, we do not expect the cap to have a widespread impact on the take-up of voluntary redundancy, and believe the cap will enable public sector employers to retain the tools to effectively make organisational changes to their workforce whilst offering those made redundant generous provisions for loss of employment.

    The consultation on the public sector exit payment cap ran from 31 July to 27 August 2015, and received over 4000 responses. These responses included representations from public sector organisations. The Government will publish draft regulations and invite comment on them in due course.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many (a) Arabic speakers with an operational level (C1) examination pass and (b) Mandarin Cantonese speakers were employed by his Department in (i) 2001 and (ii) 2010.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    I refer my rt hon. Friend to my answer of 10 February 2016 (PQ 25484).

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review the possible consequences for financial stability of the consolidation of central clearing houses.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    European Regulation No 648/2012 (EMIR) establishes a strict supervisory framework for CCPs, which in the UK are regulated by the Bank of England.

    EMIR’s requirements – which continue to apply in the event of a merger or change of control of a CCP – include that a CCP must be sufficiently well-resourced to withstand extreme market events, including the simultaneous default of its two largest clearing members.

    In the event of a qualifying change of control the Bank of England must under EMIR also assess the suitability of the proposed acquirer and financial soundness of the proposed acquisition.

    Copies of the Bank of England’s 2016 report on supervision of financial market infrastructures were laid before Parliament on 4 March and are available in the House library.

  • 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 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of Amnesty International’s report Trapped in Greece: an avoidable refugee Crisis of April 2016, in particular concerning the EU and the Dublin III Regulations on Family Reunion.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    There is no official estimate of the number of children in Calais; this is primarily a matter for the French authorities. It is only possible to assess whether an individual has links to the UK that could enable a transfer on family unity grounds once they make an application for asylum in France.

    Once an asylum claim is lodged in another Member State, the Dublin Regulation procedure requesting the UK to take charge of a child on family unity grounds can take place very quickly, often in a matter of weeks, subject to consideration of the evidence in each individual case.

    Since February 2016 the UK has accepted 30 requests from France under the Dublin Regulation to take charge of asylum seeking children on family grounds of which 23 have already been transferred to the UK. We are working closely with the French Government and NGOs, including on a joint communications campaign to inform migrants of their options and we provided a senior UK asylum official to the French Government who has put processes in place to support an efficient procedure.

  • Andrew Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has set a timetable for returning foreign national offenders remaining in UK prisons and communities to their countries of origin.

    James Brokenshire

    We aim to deport foreign national offenders at the earliest opportunity. We have removed 30,000 foreign national offenders since 2010, including 5,692 in the year 2015-16: the highest number since records began.

  • Tommy Sheppard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tommy Sheppard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tommy Sheppard on 2016-07-20.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to process tax credits claims for terminally ill people; and if he will consider introducing a fast track system as applied to claims for other allowances.

    Mr David Gauke

    HMRC provide a tailored support service for vulnerable customers. If a customer who is terminally ill advises HMRC that they require extra help, HMRC’s ‘Needs Enhanced Support’ team will help the customer throughout the claims procedure, accelerating the process where appropriate.

    There are no current plans for HMRC to introduce a specific fast track service for tax credit customers who are terminally ill.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has made an estimate of the effect on smoker mortality levels as a result of people giving up smoking by using electronic vaping devices in each of the last three years.

    Nicola Blackwood

    No such estimate has been made.

    The Government recognises that e-cigarettes can help some smokers quit and the evidence indicates that they are considerably less harmful to health than cigarettes. Data on the long term harms of these products is not available and it is not clear how many users will go on to give up vaping as well. Smokers who continue to use tobacco alongside vaping will not benefit from the harm reduction offered by sole use of e-cigarettes.

    Data from Action on Smoking and Health indicates that around 2.8 million adults in Great Britain currently use electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). Of these e-cigarette users, approximately 1.3 million are ex-smokers while 1.4 million continue to use tobacco alongside their e-cigarette use. In 2014, two thirds of e-cigarette users continued to use tobacco and one third were ex-smokers. This indicates that, of those using e-cigarettes, an increasing proportion no longer use tobacco and are only vaping.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2015 to Question 11045, what the evidential base is for the statement in that Answer that the planned removal of drugs from the Cancer Drugs Fund would have no or minimal impact on survival rates for certain cancers; and what his definition is of minimal impact in that context.

    George Freeman

    NHS England is responsible for the operation of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). NHS England has advised that its expert CDF clinically-led panel considers that none of the drugs removed from the national CDF list on 4 November 2015 represent a cure for patients as they are given with palliative intent.

    With respect to any impact on survival duration, the panel considered the drugs provided either no or a small to modest proven effect on survival and hence the panel considered their removal would have a minimal impact.

    Information on the decisions made on individual drugs is available in the relevant decision summary published in NHS England’s website at:

    www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/cdf/cdf-drug-sum/

    “

  • Lord Moynihan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Moynihan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moynihan on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action is being taken by the World Anti-Doping Agency in Russia, Argentina, Ukraine, Bolivia, Israel and Andorra, and what assessment they have made of the specific measures, timetable and budget required for determining whether France, Belgium, Greece, Mexico and Spain meet the necessary standards required to send teams to the Olympic Games in Rio.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Compliance Review Committee is set to review responses from Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Israel and Ukraine. If they are judged to have taken the necessary corrective action, WADA’s Foundation Board will be in a position to declare those countries compliant. WADA had its first meeting with the Russian National Anti-Doping Organisation on 26 November to discuss the first steps towards Russia achieving compliance in the future. All six countries, currently on WADA’s ‘watch-list’, have until 18 March 2016 to resolve compliance issues, otherwise they will be declared non-compliant.

    It is then for the International Olympic Committee and the relevant international sporting federation to decide whether a non-compliant anti-doping programme would prevent a country from competing at an Olympic Games.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many US Coast Guards are currently serving in the Royal Navy in a permanent position.

    Penny Mordaunt

    There are currently 14 US Coast Guards serving in the Royal Navy, with a further five undergoing training. An additional two US Coast Guards are providing the personnel management support for these individuals.