Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Corri Wilson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Corri Wilson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Corri Wilson on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people with cancer currently in the work-related activity group of employment and support allowance were previously in the support group.

    Priti Patel

    The specific information requested is not readily available, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    The information we do have for Employment and Support Allowance claimants by medical condition, including Neoplasms and phase of claim, is published and available at:

    https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

    Guidance for users can be found at:

    https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

    “

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-03-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the (1) internal diameter, (2) cross-sectional area, and (3) maximum design speed allowable, in each of the HS2 train running tunnels, and what assessment they have made of how those compare to equivalent running tunnels on high speed lines in France.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The design of HS2 tunnels has been considered in three separate groups, namely:

    1. Cut & Cover tunnels,
    2. Bored Tunnels with a maximum nominal line speed up to and including 230km/h,
    3. Bored Tunnels with a maximum nominal line speed of between 231 km/h and 360km/h.

    a, Cut & cover tunnels are twin cell tunnels with each cell measuring 7m wide x 9m high, giving a cross sectional area of 63m2 for a maximum nominal line speed of 360km/h.

    b, Bored tunnels with a maximum nominal line speed up to and including 230km/h have been designed with an internal diameter of 7.55m, giving a cross sectional area of 44.77m2.

    c, Bored tunnels with a maximum nominal line speed between 231 km/h and 360km/h have been designed with an internal diameter of 8.8m, giving a cross sectional area of 60.82m2.

    The cross sectional area of a tunnel is dependent is on a number of factors, including; maximum nominal line speed, tunnel length, railways structure gauge, railway system spatial requirements, aerodynamics including statutory requirements, operations and maintenance requirements including evacuation and safety. The impact of these factors has been assessed when determining the appropriate diameter/cross sectional area of each of the tunnels on the HS2 Phase 1 route. For this reason it is not appropriate to make a direct comparison between HS2 tunnels and those constructed in France or elsewhere in the world.

  • Lord Moonie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Moonie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moonie on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many male and female enlistments in the armed forces there were in the past year.

    Earl Howe

    In the 12 months to 30 September 2015, 12,250 males and 1,330 females joined the UK Regular Armed Forces. In the same period, 380 males and 30 females aged under 18 years left the UK Regular Armed Forces.

    A full breakdown of these figures can be found in, respectively, tables six and 11 of our Biannual Diversity Statistics publication (the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet) at the following address:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-2015

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department plans to collect data on Government funding allocated to brain tumour research.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department does not routinely collect data on government funding for research in specific disease areas or conditions. However, information on spending on research into cancer, including research on brain tumours, is collected by the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI), a UK-wide partnership between the government, charity and industry which promotes co-operation in cancer research among the 22 member organisations.

    Information on all Research Council and Innovate UK research funding is published on the RCUK Gateway to Research (http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/).

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many racehorses (a) died and (b) were destroyed at each of Britain’s 59 racecourses in (i) 2013, (ii) 2014 and (iii) 2015.

    George Eustice

    The Government does not hold information on racehorse fatalities. However, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) publishes annual statistics on their website on the number of racehorse fatalities. The statistics do not record whether the horse died of its injuries or was destroyed at the racecourse and do not differentiate between the different sorts of horseracing, but according to the BHA the numbers of racehorses that died at racetracks for each of the last three years are provided in the table below:

    Year

    Number of racehorse fatalities at British racetracks

    2013

    196

    2014

    189

    2015

    156
  • Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2016 to Question 37587, what progress the Government has made on consulting local authorities to identified a specified number of children refugees to be resettled in the UK in the next year under subsection (1) of 67 of the Immigration Act of 2016.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Local authorities are already caring for more than 4,000 unaccompanied asylum seeking children. The Government has consulted widely and extensively with local authorities across the UK in order to assess their capacity to care for additional unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children.

    The Home Office has also significantly increased the funding available to local authorities that are supporting unaccompanied children and offered additional funding to bolster regional structures for the National Transfer Scheme, which is the mechanism for ensuring there is a more even distribution of unaccompanied children across the UK.

    Between 12 May and 1 October 2016 over 50 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act were accepted for transfer, of which over 35 have been transferred. We continue to work with the French, Greek and Italian authorities to establish the number of children who may be eligible and have seconded UK experts to France, Greece and Italy to support the commitment to transfer eligible children to the UK, where it is in their best interests.

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of agroecology on food production in the developing world; and if she will make a statement.

    Grant Shapps

    DFID supports a number of research programmes that assess the use of agroecology and sustainable intensification of agriculture, such as work with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and the Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Research and Learning in Africa. Research shows that yields improvements are context-based and can vary significantly, according to local agroclimatic potential, effective productivity levels and farmers’ investment capacity.

    DFID believes agro ecological approaches have an important role to play in specific contexts, but does not prescribe technical approaches centrally. DFID supports a wide range of programmes with agro-ecological components, from soil and water conservation and land use management to climate resilience, conservation agriculture and agroforestry. These include, for example, The Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), and Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED). The full range of our programmes can be found on our Development Tracker website.

  • Patricia Gibson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Patricia Gibson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patricia Gibson on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when responses from members of the public to the recent BBC Charter review consultation will be published.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government’s BBC Charter Review Public Consultation closed in October. Over 190,000 people responded to the consultation – the second largest response to any Government consultation. We are in the process of reading and analysing all the responses, and will publish the results once this exercise is completed.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-01-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to BT regarding the case for selling Openreach.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    This is a matter for the independent telecoms regulator, Ofcom, who is currently reviewing the markets for digital communications in the UK and is due to report at the end of this month. Government has made no representations.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what grants and schemes his Department offers to small and medium-sized businesses to encourage innovation.

    Joseph Johnson

    My Department and its partner organisations are working to make the UK the best place in Europe to innovate, patent new ideas, start and grow a business. Innovate UK delivers a range of programmes to support business-led innovation, including tools specifically designed for early-stage small and medium sized businesses.

    The Spending Review protects, in cash terms, total spending on innovation through Innovate UK. We are also expanding the network of Catapult Centres, which provide valuable innovation support to businesses, and helps turn their ideas into world-beating commercial applications. There are currently nine Catapults with a further two due to open later this year.

    The UK Intellectual Property Office provides a wide range of support to businesses of all sizes through its on-line tools and direct engagement, including an IP audit scheme targeted at high growth SMEs.

    Support is also provided by the Government through R&D tax credits, which now support between 70% and 80% of all business investment in R&D. In 2013/14 there were 18,000 companies using the R&D tax credit schemes, claiming a total of £1.75 billion. In addition, in the area of capital allowances, the permanent level of the Annual Investment Allowance has increased from £25,000 to £200,000 for all qualifying investment in plant and machinery made by business on or after 1 January 2016. 100% relief for capital expenditure incurred in the course of R&D activities is available under the Research & Development Allowance.