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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the Environment Agency did not deploy mobile pumps to York when the fixed pumps in that area were insufficient.

    Rory Stewart

    All 8 of the fixed pumps at the Foss Barrier were fully operational during the onset of flooding in York. The capacity of these pumps is sufficient in all but the extreme conditions which were experienced in December 2015. It is an assessment that the speed and the rise of the water level of the Foss would have overwhelmed the capacity of any potential temporary pumps, particularly given the design of the barrier, which restricted the area available for pumps.

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) assaults and (b) serious assaults on prisoners by other prisoners were recorded at HMP Cardiff during each of the last three years.

    Andrew Selous

    Statistics for assaults on prisoner on prisoner are published on an annual basis by calendar year in the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin annual assaults tables (see table 3.15 at the link below). https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/495430/safety-in-custody-assaults-dec-2014.xls. Figures for 2015 are due for publication on 28 April 2016.

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  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect on children whose refugee shelters in Calais are due to be demolished by the French government.

    James Brokenshire

    The UK is working closely with the French Government on all aspects of the migrant situation in Calais; however the management of the migrant camps in France is the responsibility of the French Government. They have recently increased capacity in heated container accommodation for vulnerable groups in the Calais camp, where women, children and the sick and injured are given priority.

    Both the UK and France are clear that the right course of action is to move migrants away from Calais and for genuine refugees to be offered protection within the French asylum system. That is why as part of the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK has provided £3.6million (or €5 million) per year for two years to help provide support and facilities for migrants at centres elsewhere in France.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people he assumed would use the Lifetime ISA in order to estimate the cost to the Exchequer of that policy.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Lifetime ISA is a voluntary product. For further information on the costing of this policy, please see page 9 of the Budget 2015 Policy Costings document: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508147/PU1912_Policy_Costings_FINAL3.pdf

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  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many free schools were delayed in opening in each year since 2010.

    Edward Timpson

    Since the free schools programme began, 81 free school projects have had their opening date deferred. In each case there was a need to balance the risk of opening on the planned date against all the elements that must be in place to ensure that a free school is successful when it opens. Our guidance makes clear that allowing a free school project to enter the “pre-opening” phase does not guarantee that the school will open on the date originally planned by the proposer group, or open at all.

    Free schools offer excellent value for money. The National Audit Office found in 2013 that free schools were built 45% more cheaply than other school building programmes. The free schools that are already open will provide over 150,000 new places.

  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will review the (a) commissioning framework and (b) tariff payment for bereavement care for families who have suffered a stillbirth or neonatal death.

    Ben Gummer

    A report in 2015 on Term, singleton, normally-formed, antepartum stillbirth from Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK found that 60% of parents currently receive a good standard of bereavement care but this is not the case for everyone and we are continuing to consider the actions that should be taken to improve bereavement care across England.

    NHS England has established a Maternity Transformation Programme Board, this will bring key partners together to oversee the implementation of a broad range of policies to deliver significant improvements to maternity care in England, including implementation of the recommendations of Better Births, Improving outcomes of maternity services in England (2016). The Transformation Programme includes work on supporting local transformation of maternity services, promoting best practice for safer care, increasing choice and reforming the payment system.

    In Delivering the Forward View: NHS planning guidance 2016/17-2020/21 localities have been asked to produce “Sustainability and Transformation Plans” to show how local services should transform and ensure they are sustainable over the next five years. As part of this, local health economies have been asked to plan how they will transform their maternity services in line with the vision outlined in Better Births, Improving outcomes of maternity services in England. NHS England will be reviewing how well commissioners are planning for delivery of this vision in signing-off plans; and how well those plans are being put into action and on an ongoing basis through its Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Assessment Framework, and annual Ofsted-style rating of each CCG on its commissioning of maternity services.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of implementing the recommendation of the Civil Aviation Authority that night flights at Heathrow Airport be banned between 11.00pm and 6.00am on the two runways at that airport.

    Mr John Hayes

    We are aware of no such recommendation from the Civil Aviation Authority.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-10-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of proposed increases to electricity network costs on manufacturers.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The Government published in November 2014, an estimate of the projected electricity networks costs for households and small, medium and large businesses users, in Annex D of the ‘Estimated impacts of energy and climate change policies on energy prices and bills’. These estimates reflect the eight year price control settlements that run from 2013 to 2021 (electricity transmission) and 2015 to 2023 (electricity distribution), as approved by the regulator, Ofgem.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/384404/Prices__Bills_report_2014.pdf

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  • Dawn Butler – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Dawn Butler – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2015-10-27.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the average annual amount by which working families affected by changes to tax credits will be compensated by the increase in the level of the minimum wage.

    Damian Hinds

    This Government is committed to moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society. As the Chancellor made clear on [Monday / 26 October], the Government will set out at Autumn Statement how we plan to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits, saving the money we need to save to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.

    The Summer Budget offered a new deal for working people. A new National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 per hour from April 2016, will directly benefit 2.7 million low wage workers, and up to 6 million could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution. The new National Living Wage will boost pay for those currently earning the National Minimum Wage by £4,800 a year by 2020 when the National Living Wage is expected to rise to over £9 per hour.

    To help working families keep more of what they earn, the personal allowance will increase to £11,000 in 2016-17 and £11,200 in 2017-18. The government has committed to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 which will mean that a typical basic rate taxpayer will see their income tax cut by £1,205 a year compared to 2010.

    The government set out its assessment of the impacts of the Summer Budget policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July 2015.

  • Lord Laird – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Laird – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-11-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current level of HM Treasury’s outstanding statutory debt in relation to the Dunfermline Building Society; how much has been paid by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme towards that debt; and whether any assets have been retrieved or sold since the Society went into administration.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    In March 2009, Dunfermline Building Society (DBS) was entered into special administration under the Banking Act 2009. As part of the resolution, HM Treasury provided just under £1.6 billion to enable the transfer of the core DBS business to Nationwide Building Society. The remainder of DBS is currently being wound-down by KPMG affiliated administrators.

    Most of the estate has been wound-down and the remaining commercial book is expected to run-off over the next 1-2 years, at which point the administration will be complete. In 2014, the remaining residential mortgage portfolio was sold by the administrators to Arbuthnot Latham and Co. As of 31 March 2015, HM Treasury has received just over £1 billion from the DBS estate.

    The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ‘Contribution Regulations’ allow the Treasury to recover any shortfall from the estate from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), subject to a cap, via an interim levy on industry. In October 2014, the FSCS made the first payment to HM Treasury with respect to DBS, of £100 million.

    HMT expects to recover the amount in full.