The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure car manufacturers incorporate waste bins in the design of their cars.
Andrew Jones
There are no plans to legislate for car manufacturers to incorporate waste bins in the design of their cars. Most cars already have a variety of suitable storage facilities for drivers and passengers to store waste items.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase employment opportunities for people (a) on community sentences and (b) released from prison.
Andrew Selous
Prisons should be places of hard work, rigorous education and high ambition, with incentives for prisoners to learn and for prison staff to prioritise education and work. Dame Sally Coates’ review of education in prisons published on 18 May sets out a clear blueprint for reform of education, with Governors given the tools to ensure education provision meets the needs of their prisoners
Supporting offenders into meaningful employment is a vital aspect of the Government’s approach to rehabilitation. We already work with a wide range of employers in prison through One3One Solutions and engagement by prison Governors. We want Governors to do more and so we are putting the tools to drive this change in the hands of those at the frontline who best know what works. We are keen to increase the number of employers who can provide valuable vocational work for offenders while in prison and who are able to offer them support in preparation for release and employment opportunities following their release. I regularly meet businesses across the country including at a number of successful roadshows across the estate. New businesses are now coming on board as a consequence. The Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending brings together employers willing to employ offenders and we are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to increase the involvement of more businesses. The Prime Minister has announced changes to recruitment practises across the civil service to ensure that people are considered on their merits and not on their criminal conviction and we want to encourage more employers to do the same.
Our reforms to probation services mean that virtually all those sentenced to less than 12 months now receive support both in custody and on release. Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) were created as part of these reforms and manage low to medium risk offenders, including those serving community sentences. CRCs have been given the flexibility to do what they think works to reduce reoffending, which should increase opportunities for offenders to turn their lives around.
Offenders serving community sentences can access services available in the community such as education and training courses; mental health provision and support to obtain employment and accommodation. Where an offender is subject to an unpaid work requirement, they have the opportunity to give back to their local community.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-07-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what facilities are available for (a) lactating mothers and (b) the changing of babies in her Department.
Andrea Leadsom
The Department’s main office at 3 Whitehall Place, London has a private room available for nursing mothers. It has a baby changing table, a specified refrigerator for storing expressed milk, a chair which has been specially designed to provide support when breastfeeding or expressing milk, as well as first aid couches for resting and privacy screens. Our office in Aberdeen also has a private room available for nursing mothers which has a chair and a specified refrigerator for storing expressed milk.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-10-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the capacity of the bus industry to meet the challenges arising from the need to deal with levels of air pollution in cities.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government has introduced several measures to encourage the uptake of environmentally friendly buses.
The Low Emission Bus Scheme (LEBS), announced last year, will provide over £30m to help buy several hundred low emission buses. The winners of LEBS was announced on 25 July, building on the success of the Green Bus Fund, which ran to 2014. Under the Green Bus Fund, £89million of Government funding helped to purchase over 1,200 green buses.
The Government is also encouraging the uptake of greener vehicles through the Bus Service Operators Grant low carbon emission bus incentive.
The Bus Services Bill, which was introduced into the House of Lords on 19th May, will provide local transport authorities with new powers to specify the emission standards to be met by local bus services – including through franchising and, with sufficient support from bus operators, under enhanced partnership arrangements.
The Government has also invested over £26million since 2011 under the Clean Bus and Clean Vehicle Technology Funds for local authorities in pollution hotspots across England to retrofit 1000’s of buses, and other vehicles, with pollution reducing technology. This includes converting some buses to either natural gas or to electric propulsion.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with HM Treasury on the removal of the fuel duty escalator for liquefied petroleum gas as part of government proposals to reduce emissions from road transport.
Andrew Jones
Ministers and officials meet regularly with HM Treasury on a wide range of issues.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-12-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many complaints were rejected by the Financial Ombudsman Service on the grounds of failure to meet the time limits for such complaints in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015 to date.
Harriett Baldwin
The issues raised are a matter for the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) who are operationally independent from Government.
The questions have been passed on to the FOS. The FOS will reply directly to the Honorable Member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of steel used in projects and in equipment procured by his Department in each of the last six years was manufactured in the UK.
Mr Philip Dunne
Steel has been sourced by our contractors from a range of UK and international suppliers, reflecting the need to ensure a competitive price and delivery at the required time and quality, and UK suppliers have made a significant contribution to this.
Supply chains are complex and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not hold a complete, centralised record of steel procurement for projects and equipment, either in terms of quantity or country of origin, over the past six years. But for the largest defence procurement project during this period, construction of the two Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers, some 77,000 tonnes out of a total of 82,000 tonnes of steel used was manufactured in the UK.
Our new Government guidelines, which have been implemented in the MOD, will help UK steel suppliers to compete effectively for future defence projects.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that local authorities, free schools and academies uphold the Armed Forces Covenant in relation to school admissions.
Nick Gibb
All admission authorities and local authorities have a legal duty to comply with the School Admissions Code, which in response to the Armed Forces Covenant, includes a number of provisions intended to ensure that children of UK service personnel are not disadvantaged as a result of their mobility when applying for a school place.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost to local authorities of the English National Concessionary Transport Scheme (ENCTS); and whether the central government grant to local authorities covers the cost of reimbursement of the ENCTS.
Mr Marcus Jones
In 2010-11, £223 million was paid to local authorities as a specific grant to deliver the National Concessionary Transport Scheme. In 2011-12, this funding was incorporated within the Local Government Finance Settlement, from where it has been delivered since. As the settlement distributes un-ringfenced funding to cover a number of services delivered by local authorities, it is not possible to identify the exact level of funding within the settlement specifically for national concessionary transport from the point the funding arrangement was changed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many civil servants were employed at each location by the Student Loans Company in the last year for which figures are available.
Joseph Johnson
Employees of the Student Loans Company are not classed as civil servants. The table below confirms the number of Student Loans Company employees based at each of the Company’s locations at 31 March 2016.
|
Location |
No. of employees (Headcount) |
|
Darlington |
1,413 |
|
Glasgow City Centre |
1,302 |
|
Glasgow Hillington |
75 |
|
Home based |
5 |
|
Llandudno Junction |
125 |
|
Total |
2,920 |