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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lucy Frazer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lucy Frazer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Frazer on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to undertake the review of shared ownership announced in the report, Proposals to streamline the resale of shared ownership properties, Consultation: summary of responses, published in March 2015.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Government carried out an internal review of Shared Ownership policy last year. Following this, the Autumn Statement confirmed £4.1 billion for 135,000 new Help to Buy: Shared Ownership starts by 2021. It also raised the income cap on Shared Ownership in England from £60,000 to £80,000, removed restrictions on who can buy Shared Ownership homes, enabled existing shared owners to climb the Shared Ownership ladder and removed restrictions on how many bedrooms Shared Ownership buyers can purchase.

    The prospectus for the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016 to 2021 was launched on 13 April 2016 and invites applications for up to £4.7 billion of funding to increase the supply of new shared ownership and affordable homes.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect of active service on the mental health of (a) drone operators and (b) conventional pilots.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Government is committed to improving the mental health of our Armed Forces and has long recognised that Service life can cause stress. Support to all personnel (including pilots of Remotely Piloted Air Systems) is continually improving. We provide pre- and post-operational stress management training; a wide range of psychiatric and psychological treatments; and initiatives such as Decompression, Trauma Risk Management (TRiM), and post operational stress management. Measures are in place to increase awareness at all levels of the risk of mental health disorders and indicators to help identify these.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward proposals to change surrogacy law to give single parents with children born through surrogacy the same rights as couples.

    Jane Ellison

    The Government has accepted the judgment by Sir James Munby from the High Court. We will be looking to update the legislation on Parental Orders, and are now considering how best to do this.

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of indefinitely vacant properties.

    Gavin Barwell

    Our strong record on the economy has created a strong buoyant housing market where owners of empty properties are bringing these homes back into use without government intervention. As a result the number of empty properties are at their lowest since records began.

    Local authorities have powers and incentives to tackle empty homes. Through the New Homes Bonus they earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. Councils may also charge up to 150% council tax for homes empty over two years. We have extended permitted development rights to make it easier to convert property from business to residential to give life to thousands of empty buildings.

  • Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time was for the completion of pre-employment checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service in each of the last three years in (a) the UK and (b) Manchester Withington constituency.

    Sarah Newton

    In the last 12 months (1 October 2015 – 30 September 2016), the proportion of disclosure applications which took longer than 60 days was as follows: (a) the UK – 5.4%, (b) Manchester – 3.9%, (c) Manchester Withington – 2.8%. The Disclosure and Barring Service is reliant on police forces completing their checks in a timely manner and is working closely with those forces whose performance does not meet turnaround time targets. The average time taken in days to process disclosures checks in the last three years is as follows:

    Time Period

    Average waiting time – United Kingdom

    Average waiting time – Manchester Withington

    Oct-13 to Sep-14

    13.4

    12.0

    Oct-14 to Sep-15

    14.4

    12.1

    Oct-15 to Sep-16

    15.5

    12.6

    The average processing time for applications to the DBS for each police force area in England from 1 October 2015 to 30 September 2016 is set out in the table below. This shows the average number of days each application took from the point at which the application form was received to the date the certificate was issued, broken down by the applicant’s geographical police force area. This information reflects all applications sent to the DBS, of which a proportion are sent to police forces for consideration for disclosure.

    Police Force Area in which applicant lives

    Average time taken in calendar days

    Metropolitan

    28.1

    Cumbria

    11.5

    Lancashire

    11.6

    Merseyside

    12.1

    Greater Manchester

    14.1

    Cheshire

    11.1

    Northumbria

    13.9

    Durham

    11.9

    North Yorkshire

    14.1

    West Yorkshire

    12.7

    South Yorkshire

    19.8

    Humberside

    12.2

    Cleveland

    13.5

    West Midlands

    10.3

    Staffordshire

    9.6

    West Mercia

    11.9

    Warwickshire

    9.4

    Derbyshire

    14.1

    Nottinghamshire

    11.7

    Lincolnshire

    10.5

    Leicestershire

    9.4

    Northamptonshire

    17.9

    Cambridgeshire

    10.1

    Norfolk

    9.1

    Suffolk

    9.9

    Bedfordshire

    11.6

    Hertfordshire

    14.8

    Essex

    14.2

    Thames Valley

    16.1

    Hampshire

    14.2

    Surrey

    14.1

    Kent

    15.8

    Sussex

    11.9

    City of London

    11.9

    Devon & Cornwall

    11.3

    Avon And Somerset

    10.7

    Gloucester

    10.7

    Wiltshire

    10.2

    Dorset

    26.8

    For a breakdown of how long police forces take to process applications they receive; this information is regularly published on the DBS website and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-performance

  • Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the conduct of the recent elections in Burma.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    I refer the hon. Member to my Written Ministerial Statement titled, Update on Elections in Burma, of 20 November.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) which UK terrestrial broadcasters produce annual original homemade content for children, and (2) how much those broadcasters spend annually on such content.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Ofcom’s 2015 report into the future of public service broadcasting included an assessment of the amount of UK originated Children’s television programming by the public service broadcasting channels.

    In 2014, the BBC spent £84 million on children’s television programming. The combined spend of ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 was £3 million.

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

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effect equipment gifted to the Lebanese armed forces between 2012 and 2015 on that country’s ability to secure its border with Syria against (a) the spread of the Syrian conflict, (b) the movement of Hezbollah fighters supporting the Assad Regime and (c) the movement of Daesh fighters.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The UK is committed to the security of Lebanon, including helping the Lebanese state secure its borders. From 2012-2015 we used over £30 million to help the Lebanese army raise and equip three Land Border Regiments (LBRs) deployed along the border with Syria. The project provides the LBRs with border towers, non-lethal equipment, mentoring and training. This has had a direct effect in mitigating contagion from the war in Syria. The border regiments successfully repel frequent attacks by Daesh on Lebanese territory. 75% of the Syria-Lebanon border will be under state control by March 2016, and the rest will be further secured with the establishment of a fourth LBR in financial year 2016-17.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) completing and (b) implementing further education area reviews.

    Nick Boles

    Government will produce an evaluation of the area review programme and its potential to impact on groups protected by the Equality Act 2010. The reviews do not however, mandate action, and colleges are independent corporations, so it will be for each college’s governing body to assess the potential impact on groups protected by the Act, as part of its decision to accept or reject any recommendation requiring a change to their provision.

    Each area review steering group will consider relevant data relating to current courses delivered within their area, assess the relevance of these courses to local learner and employer needs and determine how current and future demand can be best met through the recommendations of the area review.

    Individual area reviews are expected to take about four months, the timescale being dependent on the number of colleges and complexity of the local issues involved in each area. The overall review process has been divided into five waves of area reviews and is scheduled to be completed by March 2017

    We expect the costs of completing an area review to be met within existing budgets, with minimal additional costs to the colleges, local authorities or LEPs involved. The Departments and their agencies will undertake this work with no additional staffing. Additional costs will be minimal.

    The costs arising from the recommendations of each review will be explored as part of the process. We expect the colleges, alongside local authorities and LEPs with devolved skills budgets, to consider how these costs can be met locally. Where there are costs that cannot be met, but which are essential to the successful implementation of the review, we have announced a facility for transitional funding to support this. We will provide more detail in due course.

  • Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the announcement of 8 July 2013 on introducing a reward scheme for civil servants in his Department, what estimate he has made of the total value of rewards awarded to date.

    Brandon Lewis

    Of the 40 ideas submitted only 4 were rewarded with vouchers amounting to a total cost of £150.