Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to provide advice and support to small and medium-sized enterprises to boost their productivity before the introduction of the national living wage.

    Anna Soubry

    Government is committed to providing an environment in which all businesses can manage the transition to the National Living Wage. To help with the transition we are cutting taxes and employer National Insurance contributions in total by over £3 billion a year through the Employment Allowance and Corporation Tax.

    SMEs will benefit from an ACAS produced online productivity tool designed to help organisations take simple steps to improve workplace relations, raise staff engagement and boost productivity. In addition, businesses can continue to benefit from a range of general support services including:

    • Access to local support through Growth Hubs which join up local resources and are being rolled out across the country.
    • The Business Support helpline and the’ My Business Support Tool’ on GOV.UK which help businesses find the support they need quickly.
    • British Business Bank programmes which are supporting £2.4bn of finance to over 40,000 smaller businesses.
  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34792, how the £4 million allocation from LIBOR fines that have been allocated for mental health support is being divided between emergency services; and what proportion of that funding will be allocated to (a) firefighters, (b) police officers and staff and (c) paramedics and ambulance staff.

    Mike Penning

    The LIBOR funding allocated to support emergency services staff and volunteers was allocated to a variety of charities covering all the emergency services. The Police and Fire Service treatment and rehabilitation centres and the Air Ambulance Services Charity are among the charities in receipt of LIBOR funding and they support retired as well as serving personnel. Information is not held centrally on proportions of funding allocated to each emergency service or to retired emergency services workers.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Pensions Regulator will now update its rules on defined benefit (DB) schemes to clarify the legal responsibilities of DB trustees.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Parliament has given the Pensions Regulator operational independence from the Government. It would not, therefore, be appropriate for the Government to comment on such matters. However, we can confirm that the Regulator provides clear guidelines for pension scheme trustees on the requirements for a well-run and well-funded defined benefit scheme, to enable them to meet their legal obligations. These guidelines include a detailed online learning programme for trustees. Trustees must also appoint the right people, including actuaries, auditors, and other appropriate advisers, to help them run their scheme. The Government keeps the Regulator’s role and remit under review.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on opening up school facilities to the local community for use outside the school day.

    Nick Gibb

    Schools play an important role in supporting their local communities and often make land available in various ways for a variety of community uses alongside their core education purpose.

    We support these efforts and the academy funding agreement contains a specific provision stating that “the Academy Trust must ensure that the academy is at the heart of its community, promoting community cohesion and sharing facilities with other schools and the wider community”.

    Decisions on making specific facilities available are for the individual school.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects to publish the Local Government Settlement; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government published an historic four year local government finance settlement on 8 February 2016 which was debated by Members of the House on 10 February. We published a technical consultation which confirmed the approach for 2017-18 on 15 September. Councils across England applied for the four year offer by 14 October and the Government will respond as soon as practicable. We intend to publish in the normal way a statutory provisional settlement for 2017-18 that honours the Government’s commitment to the four year offer later this year.

  • Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to work with credit reference agencies on addressing benefit fraud and error.

    Justin Tomlinson

    We already use credit reference agency data in the Fraud and Error Service on a case by case basis to support investigations, for example once high suspicion has already been identified which could be via a Hotline allegation or staff referral for example. In debt recovery the use of credit reference agency data enables us to have more informed discussions with the debtor and to reach agreement on rates of repayment that are sustainable for the debtor and meet our needs.

  • Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the number of Palestinian civilians, including children, killed in the Occupied Territories by Israeli Forces and by settlers, whether they will call on the government of Israel to review its policy on the use of lethal force and to eliminate all impunity for the use of excessive force.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK has repeatedly raised with the Israeli government our concerns about incidents of settler violence and intimidation, including the importance of the Israeli authorities bringing extremist settlers to justice and providing adequate protection for the Palestinian civilian population. Our Ambassador in Tel Aviv raised our concerns over the use of force, including lethal force, most recently on 19 November with the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs and Public Security. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv also raised the issue of force with the Head of the Civil Department of the Israeli Office for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Civil Department on 24 November, and the Israeli National Security Council on 18 November.

  • Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to allow local authorities to retain business rates generated by new-build nuclear power stations.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Local authorities in England already retain 50% of the busines rates generated by nuclear power stations. In October, we announced that by the end of this Parliament, local govenrment would be allowed to keep 100% of their local business rates. We will be developing the details of the new scheme over the coming months in discussion with local government and other interested parties.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any personnel from Reaper Squadrons 39 or 13 are currently embedded with US forces.

    Penny Mordaunt

    No personnel directly from 39 Squadron or 13 Squadron are currently embedded with the US armed forces. However, from the Reaper force as a whole, there are currently six Royal Air Force personnel embedded with the United States Air Force.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to include group B Strep (GBS) in future work relating to the National Maternity Review.

    Ben Gummer

    The aims of the National Maternity Review were to develop proposals for the future shape of modern, high quality and sustainable maternity services across England. The key proposals aim to improve safety and experience of care for women and their families.

    The Government has made clear that maternity care is a priority and on 13 November 2015 announced an ambition to reduce by 50% stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and neonatal brain injuries by 2030. This includes harm and death caused by Group B Streptococcus.

    Following the publication of the National Maternity Review we are working with NHS England to establish a governance structure for the maternity work programme which will include engagement with a broad range of charity partners.