UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage families with disabled children to access the full free childcare offer.

    Edward Timpson

    In September 2014 the Children and Families Act introduced the biggest reform to the Special Educational Needs (SEN) and disability system for 30 years. These reforms, which apply to early years, were supported across the House and are making a real difference for families.

    This Government is committed to ensuring that all families have access to high quality, flexible and affordable childcare. Parents with disabled children should have the same opportunities via increased choice and access to high quality childcare. Local authorities are required by law to secure free entitlement places for parents that want their child to take them up. This includes the free entitlement to 15 hours of early education for two year olds, where children in receipt of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or who have an Education, Health and Care Plan are eligible.

    From September 2014 all local authorities are required to publish a Local Offer of services for children with SEN and disability, and this must include childcare available in the area. As part of the early implementation phase of introducing 30 hours of free childcare for working parents of three and four-year-olds, we have also encouraged innovative approaches to providing flexible childcare for children who are disabled or have SEN. Early Implementation happens from September 2016, ahead of full roll-out in September 2017.

  • Stephen Hepburn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Stephen Hepburn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Hepburn on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people have been unemployed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside and (c) the North East in each year since 2008.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to work with local authorities to reduce the level of fuel poverty.

    Andrea Leadsom

    We are working with Local Authorities on fuel poverty initiatives in several ways:

    • In March 2015 we announced the £25m Central Heating Fund, a Local Authority competition designed specifically to implement the principles of the fuel poverty strategy. 20 Local Authorities were successful and are now delivering central heating systems to low income households in their local communities. Installing a central heating system can cut the cost of heating a home adequately by over £1,000 a year, making real progress towards our fuel poverty objectives.
    • Also in March last year we distributed £1m to scale up nine existing Local Authority schemes focused on tackling cold homes to improve people’s health. The evaluation of these projects is now underway and we are working closely with the Local Authorities to assess their impacts on health and on fuel poverty, as well as the effectiveness of their different approaches to delivery.
    • Green Deal Communities awarded 23 Local Authorities funding to provide subsidy to householders to install energy efficiency measures, mainly solid wall insulation. Many of these schemes are targeting and providing funding to householders in fuel poverty.
    • We are also interested in the role Local Authorities could play in a future energy company obligation (such as ECO); using local knowledge and working with ECO obligated energy suppliers to identify households in the greatest need. We will be consulting on the design of a supplier obligation in due course.
  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people in receipt of a war disablement pension are also in receipt of the (a) age-related tax allowance, (b) allowance for lowered standard of occupation and (c) unemployability supplement.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence does not hold information on how many people in receipt of a War Pension are also in receipt of the age-related tax allowance, as this is administered by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. However, as at 31 March 2015 (the latest date information is available) there were 41,470* disablement pensioners born before 6 April 1938 who may meet the eligibility criteria to receive age-related tax allowance.

    As at 31 March 2015 (the latest date information is available) there were 116,050 disablement pensioners in receipt of an ongoing pension under the War Pension Scheme. Of these, 10,195 were in receipt of an allowance for lowered standard of occupation, and 6,250 were in receipt of unemployability supplement. All payments made under the War Pension Scheme are tax free.

    These figures can be found on the Gov.uk website at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/war-pension-recipients-index

    * In line with Defence Statistics’ Rounding Policy for War Pension Scheme data, all figures of five or more have been rounded to the nearest five.

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of any increase to the economic risk supervised by the Prudential Regulatory Authority of the proposed merger of the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse; whether obligations of the combined group will fall to the UK taxpayer; and whether there have been any discussions about risk sharing with the government of Germany.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    UK legislation requires central counterparties (CCPs) to develop recovery plans and to have ‘loss allocation’ rules, in order to allocate any losses sustained by the CCP either following the default of a clearing member or due to certain non-default events, so that the CCP can continue to provide its critical functions.

    The Government has also broadened the scope of the UK’s Special Resolution Regime to cover CCPs. When certain conditions are met, this allows the Bank of England to intervene by transferring all or some of the business of a CCP to either a private sector purchaser or to a bridge CCP owned by the Bank of England, or to transfer ownership of the CCP to any person.

    Qualifying changes of control of CCPs are assessed by the Bank of England and I refer the noble Lord to my written answer HL7153 of 1 April 2016.

    “

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to publish (a) CarillionAmey’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and (b) his Department’s assessment of the extent to which those KPIs have been met in each year of the present contract.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence has no plans to publish CarillionAmey’s (CA) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) externally.

    However letters are sent out each month as part of a wider Accommodation performance update to key stakeholders, including the Families Federations. These letters report on the following national housing prime contract KPIs.

    Service Family Accommodation (SFA) allocations;

    Void property preparation;

    Move-in;

    Helpdesk telephone response;

    Reactive maintenance;

    Statutory and Mandatory checks; and

    Stage 1 complaints.

    CA have not met all their KPIs since contract award, however the Department has now installed a comprehensive plan in this and other contracts which CA are responsible for which has meant that as of March the vast majority of national housing prime contract KPIs are now being met or exceeded.

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-05-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider giving the owners of Alternative Tier One instruments capital voting rights in banks which are approaching a contingent convertible conversion point.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government does not have plans to propose changes to Additional Tier 1 (AT1) instruments. These instruments have been designed without voting rights for investors because it is necessary for issuing banks to have the capital readily available in times of stress. Introduction of voting rights before a bank reaches a trigger point could undermine the ability to quickly convert these instruments and secure the capital necessary to prevent additional stress.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has issued (a) an enforcement order, (b) a provisional enforcement order or a remedial plan notice against Govia Thameslink Railway.

    Claire Perry

    No enforcement order has been issued against Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). A remedial plan notice was issued in July 2015 and the Remedial Plan was agreed between the Department for Transport and GTR in February this year.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2016 to Question 44840, on honours: males, if he will take steps to ensure that all future press releases on honours nominations include men when appealing for nominations of people who deserve an honour.

    Ben Gummer

    Anyone can nominate anyone for an honour. The Cabinet Office outreach includes this message in all public communications, including press releases.

  • Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what budget was allocated to the Flexible Support Fund in the most recent financial year for which data is available; and how much of that budget remained unspent.

    Priti Patel

    The budget allocated for Flexible Support Fund in 14/15 was £136m [excluding the support contract which was a further £20m]. Spend was £72m, leaving an underspend of £64m