The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment the Regulatory Policy Committee has made of the devolution of Sunday trading rules.
Anna Soubry
The Government’s estimates of the economic impact will be independently scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee and their assessment will be published in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kramer on 2016-03-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect to have balanced the structural deficit excluding capital expenditure.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The measure of the structural deficit that excludes capital is the ‘Cyclically-adjusted current budget’ (CACB). According to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s November 2015 ‘Economic and fiscal outlook’, the CACB is forecast to reach a surplus by 2017-18 of 0.5 per cent of GDP.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to increase the funding available for disability sports which are not currently paralympic sports.
David Evennett
Government recognises the importance of sport and physical activity to disabled people who take part at both grassroots and the elite level. Our new sport strategy, ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’, published in December 2015, emphasises the importance of getting people active, particularly those groups currently under-represented, including disabled people.
Sport England is investing over £170 million in England to get more disabled people playing both Paralympic and non-Paralympic sports; and it will shortly publish its own strategy for England, following a wide public consultation, setting out how it intends to deliver against the government’s sport strategy, including how it will promote grassroots sport and physical activity for all.
Elite disability sport is funded by UK Sport whose role it is to ensure that the resources available to support Paralympic athletes are targeted to maximise medal success.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s news story of 27 April 2016, Update on a new clause to be inserted into grant agreements, what guidance his Department has given to departments which have already inserted an anti-lobbying clause into grant agreements made with organisations since the start of the current financial year.
Matthew Hancock
As I made clear in the House on 27 April, we are committed to protecting taxpayers’ money from being wasted on government lobbying government. We are pausing the implementation of this clause into grant agreements, pending a review of the representations made.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had in recent months with (a) Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and (b) Nottingham University Hospitals Trust on potential financial support from his Department to cover the costs of Sherwood Forest’s PFI arrangements.
George Freeman
The Department has not received an application for Private Finance Iinitiative financial support associated with the proposed Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust long term partnership.
The Department has taken part in a brief initial discussion with Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust’s advisors and NHS Improvement in relation to the process, timescales and other relevant issues associated with the long term partnership. However financial plans for the long term partnership have not yet been put forward to the Department to enable formal financial discussions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the military (a) capabilities and (b) asset levels in Northern Ireland to deal with the threat level.
Mike Penning
Both the adequacy of military capabilities and asset levels in Northern Ireland are continually reviewed with the Northern Ireland Office and civil authorities, who lead on security in Northern Ireland, to ensure our support is proportionate, effective and efficient. Policing and security remains the responsibility of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Security Service and therefore this includes our support to civil authorities. For example, support routinely provided in Northern Ireland includes explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and Defence are currently undertaking an enhancement of military vehicles used for the provision of this support.
I am withholding further information on assessments as its disclosure would prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of our armed forces.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-11-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff of the Financial Conduct Authority and the Financial Services Authority worked on money laundering enforcement in each of the last five years.
Harriett Baldwin
This is an operational matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who are operationally independent from Government. The question has been passed on to the FCA. The FCA will reply directly to the honourable 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 Timms on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding of the report, Halving the Gap, published by Mencap in December 2015, that the proposed change in employment and support allowance to claimants in the work-related activity group is likely to move those claimants further away from the labour market rather than closer.
Priti Patel
The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in Bill on 20th July and we will review all reports which relate to the Welfare Reform and Work Bill.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of local authority social housing residents have access to the internet at home.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The Government is on target to deliver access to superfast broadband for 95% of UK premises by December 2017, and to extend coverage beyond that as far as possible. As the Prime Minister announced last autumn, the government proposes that by the end of this parliament people should have a legal right to request access to a good level of broadband speed, no matter where they live.
The honourable member will be pleased to hear that in her Great Grimsby constituency, 96 per cent of homes and businesses can already access superfast broadband – and it is estimated that coverage will rise to98 per cent by the end of 2017. Additional funding sources, including the £129 million of gainshare funding that BT will return in response to the high levels of take-up being achieved, will allow coverage to be extended further in Great Grimsby and the rest of the area covered by the North Lincolnshire broadband project.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff in his Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.
Joseph Johnson
If staff are on a detached duty or overseas postings they can claim for certain travel expenses. Out of 2514 employees in BIS HQ, fewer than 20 employees are paid reasonable extra travel costs. These are paid for a limited period.
There are no BIS policies that allow the payments of car allowances or subsidised health insurance to employees. However BIS has a legal obligation to honour contractual arrangements when staff join through a TUPE transfer including car allowances and subsidised health cover. Due to TUPE transfers, there are fewer than 20 employees paid car allowances or subsidised health cover. These benefits would not be renewed for new employees.
As the number of payments are so low, exact numbers have not been provided to ensure that individual employees are not identifiable.
The requested information is not held by BIS in respect of non-Departmental Public Bodies.