Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrea Jenkyns on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The Government is committed to the success of the nuclear deal and we welcome the steps taken by Iran to comply – including decommissioning centrifuges and removing the core from Arak and exporting 90+% of its stock of enriched uranium – leading to Implementation Day on 16 January. We fully support expanding our trade relationship with Iran and are encouraging businesses to take advantage of the new opportunities that are available. Foreign Minister Zarif’s recent visit to London marked a significant step in our relationship with Iran.

  • Lord Turnberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Turnberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 17 February (HL5889), whether they intend to collect data on the payments made to EU immigrants for their children living in their home countries.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Around 7m people are receiving Child Benefit. To extract and collate the value of all payments made to EU migrants for children living outside the UK in the format requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    Information relating to the number of Child Benefit claims paid to families with children living overseas is available in the Government publication , “The best of both worlds: the United Kingdom’s special status in a reformed European Union”. This publication is available on Gov.uk

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether regulations are in place to ensure that (a) town councils, (b) parish councils and (c) local communities have access to itemised expenditure on any associated administrative, legal, design, preparatory or maintenance works associated with individual highways infrastructure works within their areas on which Section 106 contributions have been spent.

    Brandon Lewis

    Section 106 agreements are negotiated and agreed between a local planning authority and a developer and/or landowner along with other interested parties in the land, such as mortgage providers. National planning policy makes clear that Section 106 requirements, modifications and discharges should be transparent and available for inspection.

    Local planning authorities are expected to use all of the funding they receive through planning obligations in accordance with the terms of the individual planning obligation agreement. This is to ensure that new developments are acceptable in planning terms; benefit local communities and support the provision of local infrastructure.

    Planning decisions should be based on Local Plan policy unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Representations from interested third parties may constitute material considerations. Town councils, parish councils and local communities can influence infrastructure and other considerations in Local Plans through the consultation process.

    The Community Infrastructure Levy was introduced to provide a faster, fairer and more transparent approach to collecting developer contributions toward infrastructure. The Government launched a review of the Levy in 2015. This review will consider a range of issues, including the relationship between the Levy and Section 106 planning obligations.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will place in the Library copies of his letter to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield of 4 May 2016 on local government and ethical procurement.

    Matthew Hancock

    I will place this correspondence in the Library as requested, following the end of the pre-referendum period.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which power stations are equipped with black start capability; and how many such stations are in each constituent part of the UK.

    Andrea Leadsom

    National Grid is responsible for maintaining a Black Start capability for the Great Britain national electricity transmission system and contracts with certain large power stations to provide this service within defined geographic zones.

    For both security reasons and due to commercial sensitivities, information on which power stations have black start contracts is not publicly available.

  • Craig Tracey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Craig Tracey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Tracey on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, in relation to the sub-national population and household projections, if he will review with the Office of National Statistics, the methods of recording and counting of students as an element of the population in local authority areas having significant student populations.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    DCLG uses the Office of National Statistics (ONS) population projections to produce the household projections. Students are not counted as a separate population in the ONS mid-year population estimates or the ONS population projections. The ONS maintains responsibility for how these statistics are produced, and DCLG have no plans to review the methods used to produce these statistics.

  • Drew Hendry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Drew Hendry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what effect the spending reductions agreed between his Department and HM Treasury will have on investment in (a) road, (b) rail, (c) air, (d) ports and ferry services, (e) active and sustainable travel and (f) freight facilities.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government will provide full details of the Spending Review outcome on 25 November.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse was of the negotiations on the TransPennine Express rail franchise agreement.

    Andrew Jones

    The costs of the project to procure the TransPennine Express rail franchise, to the end of November 2015, were £6.9M. Forecast costs to project completion, including project mobilisation, are expected to add a further £0.6M to this, making an estimated total of £7.5M by the end of the project. These figures include adviser costs (financial, technical and legal advisers), pay costs for the project team, “non-pay” costs (such as staff training, travel, bidder day seminar, consultation materials, etc) and VAT where applicable. The costs of procuring this franchise however need to be set against the context of a deal whereby the Government will receive £400million in premiums over the life of the franchise, compared to the previous situation where the franchise was subsidised. In addition, the franchise will deliver a transformation in services, with, for example, an overall capacity boost of nearly 70% across the region during the morning peak and doubling the number of Manchester to Newcastle services from December 2017.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) employees and (b) employers have taken advantage of savings to National Insurance contributions from salary sacrifice schemes for occupational pensions in each of the last five years.

    Damian Hinds

    Department for Work and Pensions has published estimates on salary sacrifice available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-pension-provision-survey-2013 Estimates are not available for the number of active members who take advantage of these schemes or the loss to the National Insurance Fund.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to start the consultation on introducing legislative change to require transparency of the beneficial ownership of all UK properties.

    Matthew Hancock

    Further to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member in November to UIN 17111, I can confirm that a consultation will be launched shortly.