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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Julie Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Julie Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps he has taken to support women who have been affected by state pension inequalities.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Our pension policies are providing greater choice and dignity for people in retirement, whilst also ensuring the system is sustainable for the future.

    The new State Pension is being introduced for those who reach State Pension age from April 2016. Under our state pension reforms over three million women will gain an average of £11 per week more State Pension by 2030.Around 75 per cent of women (and 70 per cent of men) who reach State Pension age under the new system in the first fifteen years will have a higher value State Pension when compared to the value of the State Pension they would have received under the old system.

    National Insurance credits for those who take time out of work for caring responsibilities will gain the same state pension entitlement as National Insurance contributions through earnings.

    The average woman reaching State Pension age in the new State Pension is also estimated to receive 10% more State Pension over her lifetime than the average man. Women reaching State Pension in the next 40 years will on average receive more State Pension over their lifetime than women ever have before. Women affected by equalisation of State Pension age will be entitled to the same working age in-work, out-of-work and disability benefits as men.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of claims that in 2015 North Korean labourers in Poland were employed to construct a ship that was later deployed on a British offshore wind farm.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are aware of reports of North Koreans working in the construction industry in Poland, but do not hold information on specific ships built by North Korean labourers.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Commission on Acute Adult Psychiatric Care in its report, entitled Old problems, new solutions, published in February 2016.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The Department of Health welcomed the publication of the Royal College of Psychiatrist’s Commission on Acute Adult Psychiatric Care: “Old Problems, New Solutions”. The Department and NHS England have already started to implement some of the key recommendations of the Commission including:

    ― Announcing a national ambition to eliminate inappropriate out of area treatments;

    ― Investing £400 million in crisis resolution and home treatment teams as a safe alternative to hospital;

    ― Designing referral to treatment standards for acute mental health care, identifying effectives pathways of care and clinically appropriate maximum waiting times for treatment by 2020;

    ― Introducing capital schemes to improve the availability of supported housing and working with the Department for Communities and Local Government to address housing and health issues throughout 2016; and

    ― Working with NHS Improvement to address Mental Health Delayed Transfers of Care.

    NHS England accepted the independent Mental Health Taskforce’s recommendation to publish a response to the Commission’s report at the end of 2016/17, which will set out in more detail how we are implementing its recommendations.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to the army has been of teaching children in private schools in the UK and abroad in each year since 2010.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The total spend by the Department on Continuity of Education Allowance in the UK for Army personnel in each financial year since 2009-10 is shown below.

    The Department also funds a range of education provisions overseas for Army personnel. However these are not all defined as ‘private schools’. The cost of this is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

    Financial Year

    Spend by Army (£million)

    2009-10

    62.745

    2010-11

    67.021

    2011-12

    67.669

    2012-13

    62.134

    2013-14

    57.595

    2014-15

    55.960

    2015-16

    54.887
  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the starter homes policy on access to (a) home ownership and (b) affordable rented accommodation in (i) London and the South East and (ii) England.

    Brandon Lewis

    Evidence shows that young first time buyers have been priced out of home ownership. Since the early 1990s, the proportion of under 40s who are homeowners in England has declined by over a third from 62% in 1993/4 to 39% in 2013/14. The Housing and Planning Bill will require local planning authorities to promote Starter Homes and ensure Starter Homes are included on all suitable, reasonably-sized developments in future.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Leader of the House, how many ministerial corrections have been issued in the current session of Parliament by each Department.

    Chris Grayling

    Information on the issuing of ministerial corrections is not collated centrally. However, the information in the table below was provided by Parliamentary Search on 15 December 2015. It should be noted that the information relates to ministerial corrections given in both Houses to answered questions or written statements, as well as corrections to oral answers and other contributions. The information does not contain those occasions when Ministers wish to make a correction in terms which would not comply with the criteria relating to written ministerial corrections and therefore do so by means of a written ministerial statement.

    Department

    Ministerial Corrections

    Attorney General’s Office

    1

    Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    8

    Cabinet Office

    6

    Department for Communities and Local Government

    1

    Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    8

    Department for Education

    8

    Department for Energy and Climate Change

    4

    Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    6

    Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    3

    Department of Health

    16

    Home Office

    10

    Department for International Development

    2

    Ministry of Defence

    7

    Ministry of Justice

    11

    Department for Transport

    6

    HM Treasury

    2

    Wales Office

    1

    Department for Work and Pensions

    4

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-01-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will raise with the EU the issue of (a) the dismissal by the General Court of the EU of first listing challenges brought by individuals on the EU’s targeted human rights sanctions list and (b) imposing such sanctions on North Korea’s suspected human rights violations.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We welcome the EU General Court’s dismissal of challenges brought by individuals listed for violating human rights in Iran. The human rights situation in Iran remains a matter of serious concern. We are also deeply concerned by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) appalling human rights record. We will continue to consider a broad range of policy options whenever we discuss the DPRK with other EU member states. The EU already has autonomous measures against the DPRK in place which complement and enforce UN sanctions, targeting the nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Any new measures or sanctions regime introduced at the EU level must clearly improve the human rights situation. They must also satisfy our ability to defend the legality of the decision.

  • Julian Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Julian Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Lewis on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans the Government has to ensure comparable treatment in respect of (a) immunity from prosecution and (b) prosecution for former service personnel who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and for former members of paramilitary and terrorist organisations during that period.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    Criminal investigations and prosecutions throughout the United Kingdom are matters for the police and prosecuting authorities acting independently of the Government and politicians. If there is considered to be evidence or intelligence of involvement in crime, individuals will be investigated by the police. That applies equally to everyone, without fear or favour.

    As I made clear in my response to Lady Justice Hallett’s report on the so-called ‘On-the-Runs’ scheme established by the former Labour Government there is no immunity from prosecution for terrorists in Northern Ireland. This Government believes in the rule of law and we would not countenance amnesties or immunity from prosecution.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-03-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the percentage of food poverty or insecurity that is caused by state benefits being used for purposes other than to provide necessities.

    Lord Freud

    There has been no such assessment.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Minute to Parliament describing the contingent liability with an indicative value of up to £500 million, as created by the Market Disruption Facility agreed and signed by the Secretary of State and Bazalgette Tunnel Limited on 24 August 2015 in connection with the Thames Tideway Tunnel project was published, in the light of the fact that the potential exposure of the public purse exceeds £300,000; and when a Minute to Parliament was published in respect of the further contingent liability created by the Secretary of State in connection with the same project through his agreement to the Contingent Equity Support Agreement, signed on the same day with the same party, in the light of the fact that the liability could be as great or greater than that in the Market Disruption Facility.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Defra did not submit departmental Minutes on the various limbs of the Government’s contingent financial support package for the Thames Tideway Tunnel because the Secretary of State has statutory authority to give financial assistance for major water or sewerage infrastructure projects under section 154B of the Water Industry Act 1991. This is consistent with the approach set out in HM Treasury’s guidance, Managing Public Money, paragraph A5.4.21 & Box A5.4C.