Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Maria Caulfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Maria Caulfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what long-term investment plans the Government has to improve the Brighton Main Line.

    Paul Maynard

    Network Rail is currently developing proposals for potential upgrades of the Brighton Main Line, following the conclusions of the Sussex Route Study, and the London South Coast Rail Corridor Study, both of which highlighted significant capacity and performance constraints. Government will fund Network Rail to develop proposals as necessary.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people owned their own home in each year from 1997 until the last year for which records are available.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The numbers of owner occupier households in England, estimated from DCLG’s English Housing Survey, are provided in the table below


    Number (000s) of owner occupied households, 1997 to 2013-14: England

    1997

    13,629

    1998

    13,817

    1999

    14,091

    2000

    14,340

    2001

    14,359

    2002

    14,559

    2003

    14,701

    2004

    14,678

    2005

    14,791

    2006

    14,791

    2007

    14,733

    2008

    14,628

    2008-09

    14,621

    2009-10

    14,525

    2010-11

    14,450

    2011-12

    14,388

    2012-13

    14,337

    2013-14

    14,319

    Source: English Housing Survey https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/469214/2013-14_Section_1_Households_tables_and_figures_FINAL.xlsx

  • Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking (a) in the short term to provide humanitarian relief to displaced people in Bangui in the Central African Republic and (b) to secure peace in that city.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The Central African Republic (CAR) is facing a severe and protracted crisis that has displaced more than a million people since 2012. Despite the deployment of 12,000 peace-keepers, the country remains marred by sectarian tension, criminal violence, arms proliferation and armed groups.

    In September the UK approved a £7 million uplift in our assistance to CAR and CAR refugees to address rising needs and aid gaps, bringing UK humanitarian funding to £25 million in 2015 and £58 million since 2013. This makes the UK the third largest humanitarian donor to CAR after the US and the EU in 2015. UK funding is enabling partners including the International Committee of the Red-Cross and the Common Humanitarian Fund to provide humanitarian assistance to people in need in Bangui and the rest of the country.

    The UK is also working with and through international organisations to ensure an effective international response to the security crisis in CAR.The UN is a key partner in CAR.The UK contributes to the UN peacekeeping mission (a projected £33.2m this year in assessed contributions).

  • Graham Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Graham Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with bookmakers on the single-staffing of high street betting shops.

    Tracey Crouch

    I meet with the betting industry, Gambling Commission, and other interested organisations regularly. I am aware of the concerns around single-staffing of high street betting shops but expect bookmakers to adhere to their statutory requirements and minimum voluntary standards to protect staff from risk.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the implications for his Department’s policies on devolving Sunday trading regulations are of the findings of the report from Oxford Economics, Economics impact of deregulating Sunday trading, published in September 2015, on losses in sales for the convenience store sector.

    Anna Soubry

    In formulating its final proposals, the Government has carefully considered all the evidence submitted during the consultation process.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of free-flow technology on the Severn Bridge.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government is considering the future of tolling arrangements at the Severn Crossing once the concession ends. I expect to consider the merits of free-flow technology in this context, although no options have yet been developed. To help understand whether this may be worth pursuing, my Department is attempting to estimate the potential traffic benefit of removing the barriers, though this work is not yet complete.

  • Mary Creagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Mary Creagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of how many indebted prepayment meter customers there are in (a) Wakefield constituency and (b) the UK; and what the change in the number of such customers has been over the last five years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Ofgem closely monitors domestic energy supplies’ performance and publishes information on the number of prepayment meters installed for debt in Great Britain each year. The data does not show how many prepayment meters were installed for indebted customers in the Wakefield constituency.

    The table below shows the number of prepayment meters installed to manage debt in GB in 2010 to 2014. Ofgem does not monitor the gas and electricity supply market in Northern Ireland, as it is devolved matter.

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    Gas

    199,964

    184,726

    208,235

    226,999

    195,841

    Electricity

    227,352

    199,483

    211,519

    227,886

    175,348

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to encourage other nations to contribute bilateral donations to the Great Lakes regional appeal.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UN regional refugee response covering Burundian refugees is for $314 million (£216 million) and is currently funded at 27%. DFID has contributed £21.15 million to that appeal since April 2015, to support refugees in Tanzania and Rwanda. We are considering further allocations to address the continuing crisis. DFID is also supporting refugees in the DRC and Uganda through existing programmes and the provision of technical advice. DFID is working closely with other donors to the appeal such as the EU and US, as well as UNHCR and NGOs, to highlight priorities and encourage other countries to donate.

  • Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-06-14.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 20373, what criteria he has used to assess the level of competitiveness in the motor insurance market.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government is committed to ensuring that insurance markets operate on the basis of fair and open competition.

    The Government has established the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to promote competition for the benefit of consumers and investigates any issues that may arise in this respect, including in insurance markets.

    In 2014, the CMA investigated the competitiveness of the UK private motor insurance. It found evidence that there was strong price competition for motor insurance sold via price comparison websites (PCWs), which are responsible for over half of insurers’ new motor insurance business, and that PCWs had increased competition between private motor insurance providers overall.

    Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) data on “net combined ratios” of motor insurers provides further indication that there is strong competition in the private motor insurance market.

    The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills also found that the private motor insurance has high switching rates compared to other markets, providing another indicator of strong competition.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-09-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect on gender equality of school uniforms.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The department has published advisory guidance on school uniform policy. The guidance makes clear that it is for the governing body of a school to decide whether there should be a school uniform policy and if so what that should be. It also makes clear that, when deciding on uniform policy, a school will have to consider its obligations not to discriminate unlawfully, including on the basis of gender.

    The guidance can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform.