Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Cash on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on the (a) costs and (b) margins of combined cycle gas turbine plants of (i) Supplementary Balancing Reserve and (ii) other Black Start ancillary support subsidy contracts to coal plants.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Supplementary Balancing Reserve and Black Start contracts are two important services developed to support National Grid in managing security of supply. Responsibility for these services rests with OFGEM.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what recent assessment the Commission has made of the security arrangements for screening mail received by hon. Members of each House of Parliament.

    Tom Brake

    A procurement process for a new contract for screening mail received by hon. Members is currently underway. A full review of the security arrangements and contract specification forms part of that process. This review is based on advice from the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) as well as on a national standard specification for mail screening (PAS 97:2015).

    Following an incident, the Parliamentary Security Department has recently revised and reissued guidance to Members and staff on what to do following receipt of a suspicious letter or package.

    We do not comment in public on details of security arrangements. The Deputy Director of Security (Delivery) would be happy to discuss these arrangements in more detail with the hon. Member.

  • Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-09-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of which specific rail service improvements the new East Anglia rail franchises would deliver for (1) Stansted Airport, and (2) Cambridge.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Under the new franchise agreement passengers travelling to and from Stansted Airport will benefit from new trains with free Wi-Fi from February 2019, and a minimum 12.5% reduction in anytime return fares and anytime single fares on the Stansted Express by early 2017. Almost all hourly services between Norwich and Cambridge are to be extended to provide a direct service to and from Stansted Airport.

    Cambridge Station will similarly benefit from new trains with free Wi-Fi from February 2019. Additional train services are an earlier first service from Cambridge to Norwich and an additional evening service from Norwich to Cambridge.

    Cambridge Station will be provided with a significant refurbishment. This will include construction of a pavilion to include a customer waiting area, train information displays and ticketing offices and ticket vending machines at the entrance to the station. Cambridge will also be provided with 1000 additional secure cycle spaces.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on jobseekers of the requirement to search and apply for jobs within a 90-minute travel radius.

    Priti Patel

    Before requiring a JSA claimant to apply for a job within a 90 minute travel radius, a Work Coach will always take a claimant’s personal circumstances into account, including local travel arrangements and only require a claimant to apply for a job within a 90 minute radius if it is reasonable to do so. No recent assessment has been made of the effect on jobseekers of the requirement to search and apply for jobs within a 90 minute travel radius.

  • Keith Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of the number of lorries travelling through Calais to the UK were scanned by lorry body scanners in each month of 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    To ensure the integrity and security of the UK border, Her Majesty’s Government cannot provide port specific statistics.

    Border Force operates a multi-layered search regime using a range of interventions to screen all freight vehicles entering the UK through the juxtaposed ports. This includes the use of specialist technologies such as Passive Millimetre Wave Imaging devices, heartbeat monitors and carbon dioxide detectors as well as physical searches by sniffer dogs, Border Force staff and specialist search contractors.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support is provided to universal credit claimants who do not have (a) online access or (b) the capability to apply online.

    Priti Patel

    For those Universal Credit claimants who do not have online access, computers and free Wi-Fi are available through DWP and their delivery partners. Where claimants have limited, or no, capability to apply on-line, ‘assisted digital’ support is available alongside telephone and face to face support.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests for the transfer of an asylum application from other EU countries the UK has (a) received and (b) accepted in the last 12 months.

    Karen Bradley

    An answer is still being prepared. We are currently extracting the data and need to ensure it is correctly quality checked to give the Hon. Member an accurate response and I will write to the honourable Member when it is finished.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many journeys have been made by each government minister using the Government Car Service since May 2015; and how many such journeys have been made for the transportation of a red box.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government Car Service provides a Departmental Pool Car service to its customers. Departments manage the use of the vehicle by their Ministers and individual trips are not recorded.

    In addition, GCS offers a small pre booked service. The IT system used for this service is in the process of renewal and so the information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kramer on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people paid capital gains tax on personal possessions in each of the last five years, and what was the total amount of tax paid.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Information is not available on the number of people paying Capital Gains Tax on specific types of possession, or the total amount of tax paid on gains of specific type of possession. Capital Gains Tax payments are not separated into personal possessions. However, the Government publishes information about total amount of Capital Gains Tax paid each year and the total numbers of individuals accruing liabilities.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer of 11 May 2016 to Question 36451, if she will make it her policy to publish dates of meetings held between the Inter-Ministerial Group on Oil and Gas and representatives from that industry since May 2015.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The members of the Inter-Ministerial Group are fully engaged with this industry and use this to inform the group’s work.