Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland executive about (a) the licensing of road hauliers and (b) tackling transportation of illicit fuel.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office have not had any direct discussions with the NI Executive about (a) licensing of road hauliers and (b) tackling transportation of illicit fuel. Matters relating to (a) the road hauliers and (b) tackling transportation of illicit fuel are for the DVA and HMRC respectively.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions her Department has had with the Arctic Methane Emergency Group on ways to mitigate methane emissions from disruption of methane hydrates caused by climate change in the Arctic.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department has had no such direct discussions with the Arctic Methane Emergency Group. The best practical way to limit methane emissions due to the destabilisation of methane hydrates is to keep the rise in global temperatures as low as possible. The UK government’s recent push to secure an ambitious global climate deal was rewarded on 12 December in Paris, where the world witnessed a historic step forward to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. A global agreement of 195 countries, including the world’s largest emitters, have now committed to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change

  • Jason McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jason McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jason McCartney on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions the Minister for Public Health has had with mental health charities on the importance of public mental health interventions.

    Alistair Burt

    The Minister for Public Health has not held any recent discussions on this subject.

    Promoting good mental health is a key strategic objective of Public Health England’s (PHE) public mental health programme, alongside preventing mental illness and improving the lives of those living with mental illness. PHE is working with the National Health Service, local authorities and other partners to help more people have good mental health, improve the physical health and wellbeing of those with mental illness, and ensure few people as possible suffer avoidable harm.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what functions are delegated to each specialist contractor hired by her Department to advise regional school commissioners.

    Edward Timpson

    Invitation to tender including the contract was published on contracts finder on GOV.UK on 12 August 2015 at:

    https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/fcbd797d-c613-47f5-8853-79f2ad7d74a9

    “

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-03-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made to date on negotiating with the European institutions for permission to apply a zero-rate of VAT on women’s sanitary products.

    Mr David Gauke

    I have written to the European Commission and other Member States setting out our strong view that Member States should have full discretion over what rate of VAT they can apply to these products, and that this should be considered in the context of the Commission’s Action Plan on VAT.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether education will be exempt from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    We have protected public services, including education, in all of our trade agreements and will continue to do so in the EU-US free trade agreement, also known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). This is non-negotiable.

    The Government remains committed to providing the best quality education for all children and young people. TTIP will not change this. The government of the day, not our trade partners, will always set the rules governing how the education system is run.

  • Lord Aberdare – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Aberdare – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Aberdare on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what role the new Institute for Apprenticeships will have in regulating the quality of apprenticeships, and what powers it will have to undertake that role.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The role of the Institute for Apprenticeships will be to ensure the quality of apprenticeship standards.

    Apprenticeships will only attract funding from government or the levy if they are against an approved standard or framework. Each standard will contain a plan for how the apprenticeship will be assessed. Although this will be approved by the Institute, the Institute will not assess the apprenticeship training itself: the register of training providers is owned by the Skills Funding Agency and Ofsted will continue to inspect providers.

    The Institute will, however, need to ensure there is consistency between the levels of assessment being applied, as part of its role in approving standards and assessment plans.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department’s distributed ledger technology benefits payments trial, whether restrictions are placed on where benefit recipients can spend their benefits payments; whether benefit recipients’ spending will be tracked; what information is given to benefit recipients taking part in that trial about the potential risks to their privacy; what incentives are provided to benefit recipients to take part in that trial; what data analysis is being carried out as part of that trial and how that analysis complies with Government guidelines on conducting data science projects; and when his Department plans to publish the privacy impact assessment on that trial.

    Damian Hinds

    The DWP works continuously with industry partners to identify and test new innovations that could save taxpayer money, safeguard information and better protect payments to customers.

    The DWP is undertaking some small scale research involving blockchain technology which is expected to last 3-6 months with the results available in the last quarter of 2016. It uses a private permissioned distributed ledger to allow participants to store their transactions, including payments from DWP. Those transactions can then be viewed securely on a mobile application so that they can, if they wish, monitor and allocate their spending into categories, check their available balance and plan future spending. There are currently about 12 people in the trial which we expect to increase to around 24 people by the close.

    The participants in the trial have complete control over their data and how it is used; the government does not receive or see any of that data. The DWP takes privacy and security extremely seriously and this will form part of the learning from the trial.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the conclusion in the Flood Resilience Review, published in September 2016, that a 20 to 30 per cent increase in winter rainfall is possible over the next 10 years.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The National Flood Resilience Review identified that over the next 10 years we could see extreme rainfall events that could be up to 20-30 per cent higher than recent past extreme rainfall events.

    The Environment Agency will use 20 and 30 per cent extreme rainfall scenarios with local detailed models used to design new flood risk management schemes.

    The scenarios will also be considered for wider flood incident planning and operational readiness that might be needed by relevant responders.

  • 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 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of disability living allowance applications for children diagnosed with ADHD have been rejected in each of the last five financial years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The requested data is not available.