The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with the devolved administrations on her Department’s priorities.
Sir Desmond Swayne
DFID Ministers have met Scottish Government Ministers on two occasions in the past year. DFID officials have met officials of the devolved administrations to discuss respective priorities on a number of occasions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to support a role for Chinese companies in the construction or ownership of new nuclear power stations in the UK.
Jesse Norman
It is for the private sector to fund build and operate new nuclear power stations. We welcome proposals by qualified companies for new nuclear power.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-10-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the power conferred on Ofcom to regulation offensive communications sent in the UK on (a) the internet and (b) social media platforms.
Matt Hancock
We are aware of concerns about offensive content on social media. Where this is the case Government expects social media providers to have robust process in place and act promptly when abuse is reported. The UK has strict laws governing such content, which apply equally online and offline.
Ofcom does not regulate offensive communications on either the internet or social media platforms. The Communications Act 2003 requires Ofcom to set standards to ensure that generally accepted standards are applied to the content of television and radio programmes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the likelihood of the Government’s net migration target being met.
James Brokenshire
Uncontrolled mass immigration increases pressure on public services and can drive down wages. That is why our ambition remains to cut net migration to sustainable levels. We continue to work across government to reduce net migration outside of the EU and seek reform in Europe to reduce the pull factor behind EU migration.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will assess the practicality of putting in place standard blocks to child pornography on the internet similar to those obtained by members of the BPI British Recorded Music Industry Ltd on material where access would cause commercial damage.
Karen Bradley
Reports of Indecent Images of Children (IIOC) can be made to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) which is an industry funded body. In 2014 the IWF processed 74,119 reports, of which 31,443 were confirmed as depicting illegal content. The IWF can proactively search the Internet for IIOC and this has vastly increased the number of webpages being taken down.
100% of UK-hosted webpages confirmed by the IWF as containing IIOC were removed within four days, although most were taken down within two hours. 84% of webpages hosted outside the UK, and confirmed by the IWF as containing IIOC, were removed within 10 days. This material has been removed permanently, rather than simply having access to it blocked. The IWF also provides a list of webpages containing IIOC, primarily hosted outside the UK, to enable companies to block or filter them for their customers’ protection. This approach uses the same technology used by ISPs to block access to copyright-infringing websites.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the legal requirements to have a governing body for (1) a maintained school, and (2) an academy school, and whether a school of either kind can abolish its governing body.
Lord Nash
Section 19 of the Education Act 2002 requires every maintained school to have a governing body, constituted in accordance with regulations.
Under the Academies Act 2010, an academy is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is therefore required under the Companies Act 2006 to have members and a board of trustees or directors.
It is not possible for a maintained school to abolish its governing body or an academy trust to abolish its board of trustees, however, it is possible for a group of schools to be governed by one governing body or academy trust.
When two or more maintained schools federate they operate under a single governing body, but each school remains a separate legal identity. In a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT), individual academies do not have a separate legal identity and are all under the control of the trust board. Whether the board establishes local governing boards for each academy, and the range of functions delegated to any such boards, are both a matter for the board to determine – but in all cases the board remains accountable for the academies in the MAT.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of additional jobs and (b) amount of additional housing resulting from a Victoria High Speed 2 station location.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Analysis of the Sheffield City Region station options was published in the ‘Engineering options report; West Midlands to Leeds’ dated March 2012. This included analysis of several station sites around the city centre.
The current estimated difference in cost between locating a High Speed station at Victoria and Meadowhall is £680m. Previous work on the cost of options at Victoria and other city centre sites are not comparable to the current estimate given above. With regards to the Meadowhall station, following the 2013 public consultation, no significant changes have been made to the original station design therefore there have not been any changes in cost.
When recommending a station location HS2 Ltd. uses a number of criteria, including;
Potential options were sifted by HS2 Ltd. according to these criteria. To support and challenge this approach, external stakeholders and advisors from the Department’s Project Representative Team were involved in reviewing the process and outcomes where appropriate. Further information about the appraisal process can be found in the 2012 ‘Options for phase two of the high speed rail network’ report and 2013 ‘Appraisal of Sustainability’ report. Both of these documents are available on the government website.
Analysis undertaken by HS2 shows that the introduction of the Sheffield Meadowhall HS2 station could support up to 5,400 jobs and up to 300 residential units, while a HS2 station at Victoria could support an estimated 9,000 jobs and 900 housing units.
Finally, I can confirm that Department for Transport officials have received a copy of Sheffield City Region’s study into connectivity for a city centre High Speed 2 station at Victoria which Network Rail was involved in.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-03-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of increasing the state pension age on savings.
Justin Tomlinson
The projected increase in the number of people working as a result of the rise in State Pension age provided for by the Pensions Act 2011 was estimated to generate a significant increase in gross employment earnings. Under this new timetable the peak increase compared to the previous timetable would be £5.0 billion in 2022/23 (in 2011/12 prices).
At an individual level, working longer and saving into a private pension will, on average, increase lifetime pension income. Taking into consideration the additional employment income, individuals’ lifetime income will be improved if they work longer. Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that the rise in women’s State Pension age from 60 to 62 has been accompanied by increases in employment rates for the women affected.
Research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in 2011 showed that an increase of one year in the average effective working life is estimated to result in additional annual national output worth up to one per cent of GDP. In the same research, it was estimated that real GDP would be six per cent lower than it otherwise would have been by 2030, if plans for raising the state pension age (according to the Pensions Act 2007) were not implemented.
The increase in labour supply as a result of the Pensions Act 2011 was also estimated to boost GDP above the projected baseline of the previous timetable. GDP could be between £7 billion and £9 billion higher in 2022/23 (in 2011/12 prices); in the period 2016 to 2026, the increase in labour supply due to the increase in State Pension age could boost national output by £70 billion (in 2011/12 prices).
More information on both impacts can be found in Annex A of the Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment at::
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pensions-act-2011-impact-assessment
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of neonatal deaths in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK in each of the last ten years; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what further steps the Government plans to take to reduce the incidence of drownings of refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean.
Mr David Lidington
The Government’s focus is on addressing the root causes of irregular migration so as to reduce the need for people to make perilous journeys to Europe. We have taken action to tackle smugglers and save lives at sea: HMS Enterprise is deployed as part of the EU’s counter migration operation, Operation Sophia. The UK has rescued almost 18,000 people, and disrupted suspected people smugglers, in the Mediterranean since 2015. At the G7 Summit in Japan on 27 May, the Prime Minister announced that the UK will work on a plan to boost the capability of the Libyan coastguard to stem the flow of illegal migration across the Mediterranean into Europe. Once a detailed plan has been agreed with the Libyan authorities, the UK will send a training team to assist in its implementation, and as soon as the relevant permissions and UN Security Council Resolution are in place, we will deploy a naval vessel to the South Central Mediterranean.