Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has identified a venue for the installation of the London 2012 Olympics athletics warm-up track.

    David Evennett

    Several parts of the London 2012 warm-up track have been used in athletics venues around the country including Gateshead International Stadium, Birmingham Alexander Stadium, Lee Valley Stadium, Allianz Stadium and Swansea Stadium. A number of other options are being explored for future use of the remaining track.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral Answer of 12 January 2016, Official Report, column 697, what assessment he has made of whether evidence of the reported airstrike in Yemen on a market place in the Hajjah Governorate provides grounds for determining that international humanitarian law has been broken.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    We are aware of allegations regarding a strike on a market on north-western Yemen in Hajjah Governate on 15 March. The MoD monitors incidents of alleged International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations, including this incident, using all available information. The UK has encouraged Saudi Arabia to investigate allegations of breaches of IHL. The Saudi Arabian Government announced on 29 February that they are forming an independent committee to examine military activity in civilian areas in order to minimise possible civilian casualties; assess the Coalition’s rules of engagement; assess accidents, verification and targeting procedures and advise how they can be improved; and provide a clear, full and objective report for each investigation made including conclusions, lessons learnt and recommendations for future actions.

  • Earl Attlee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Earl Attlee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Earl Attlee on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many patents have been applied for by the Ministry of Defence or its agencies in the last 10 years.

    Earl Howe

    The Ministry of Defence and its agencies filed 875 patent applications from 2006 to 2016. This includes patent applications filed in both the UK and abroad.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many Civil Service employees of his Department were based in Coventry in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has 6 civil servants currently based in Coventry. Prior to that, some BIS employees were working on a multi-site basis. To establish which employees had worked in the Coventry office and the proportion of time they had spent in the Coventry office, over each of the past 5 years, would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Lord Temple-Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Temple-Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Temple-Morris on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to allow publicly owned museums and art galleries to impose charges for entry.

    Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

    The Government is committed to maintaining free admission to the permanent collections of major museums and galleries, as set out in ​the 2015 ​manifesto, and government funding to national museums is provided with this condition. ​​DCMS-sponsored museums can and do charge for temporary exhibitions and special events. Charging at other publicly owned museums is the responsibility of the organisations that operate them, for example local councils.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what safeguards the Government plans to put in place to protect customers from fraud and cyber security risks if they use new products and services in an open banking environment.

    Simon Kirby

    Improving the resilience of the finance sector to risks such as cyber security is a priority for the Government. HM Treasury works closely with the financial regulators to drive this improvement; it is their responsibility to supervise banks’ operations. The Financial Conduct Authority has a specific objective on consumer protection.

    The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the final report of its market investigation into retail banking on 9 August 2016. As part of this the CMA requires the nine largest UK banks to develop and adopt an open banking standard for application programming interfaces (APIs) to allow access to customer account information, as set out in the revised Payment Services Directive (PSDII) which will come into force in January 2018. These nine banks are required to deliver open data APIs by Q1 2017, and deliver the full open API banking standard by early 2018. Data protection and cyber security are key considerations in PSDII, and the Government will be consulting on the transposition of this directive shortly.

  • Peter Dowd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Dowd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Dowd on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when post-16 education will be reviewed in Merseyside under the area review process; and if he will make a statement.

    Nick Boles

    The reviews are aimed at delivering a skills system that meets the economic and educational needs of areas whilst also ensuring the long term sustainability of colleges to support productivity. Their purpose is not to secure savings to Government. However, early evidence from the pilot reviews indicates that there is potential for the reviews to secure efficiency savings.

    The second wave of area reviews will start in January 2016 and we aim to announce details within the next few weeks. We are currently looking at the geographies and phasing for other areas and will aim to issue further information on this before the end of the year but in doing this we recognise that the position should remain fluid to take account of the views of local partners and also cases of college failure. We expect all reviews to be completed by March 2017.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on how many occasions a special adviser in his Department accompanied a Minister on an overseas trip since May 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    A special adviser has accompanied a Minister on one overseas trip since May 2015.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to prevent laundered money entering the London housing market.

    Mike Penning

    The Government is committed to protecting the integrity of our financial system and to ensuring that the UK is a hostile environment for illicit finance, to protect our national security and promote growth. The Government is also committed to ensuring that we maintain a robust and proportionate anti-money laundering regime.

    Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is the anti money laundering supervisor of estate agents and takes a robust, intelligence led approach to ensuring compliance with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 (the Regulations). An estate agent should not operate as such unless they are registered with HMRC under Regulations. It is an offence to carry out relevant business without registering with HMRC and the Estate Agency Business (EAB) may be penalised or face criminal prosecution if they fail to do. All those dealing with property transactions in the UK are regulated for money laundering purposes, including banks, the legal and accountancy sectors, and estate agents, and are required to report suspicious activity to the National Crime Agency. The Suspicious Activity Reports regime is currently being reviewed to make it a more effective mechanism for identifying money laundering and terrorist financing.

    The National Risk Assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing was published on 15 October 2015. This identified the threats and vulnerabilities we face in these areas, and an Action Plan will be published shortly, setting out the steps that the Government will take to address them.

    The Prime Minister made clear in his Singapore speech on corruption last year that the Government is determined to make sure the UK does not become a safe haven for corrupt money. As a first step he asked the Land Registry to publish data on which foreign companies own which land and property titles in England and Wales. The Prime Minister’s Anti-Corruption Summit in May will also consider what more the Government can do to tackle flows of illicit finance at home and abroad.

  • Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-02-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department is making on developing effective management strategies for Marine Conservation Zones.

    George Eustice

    The Government is committed to delivering a ‘Blue Belt’ of well-managed Marine Protected Areas around our coasts. Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) are given legislative protection under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. Under this Act, a consent or licence can only be agreed where there is no significant risk to the conservation objectives of the MCZ, except in exceptional cases and subject to stringent conditions.

    Where fishery management measures are required, Defra is working with the Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authorities and the Marine Management Organisation to identify appropriate fisheries management measures for all Tranche 1 MCZs by the end of this year and, as a result, those site features considered to be at “high risk” are already being protected. For Tranche 2 MCZ sites, appropriate fisheries management measures will be identified by the relevant authority within two years of designation.