Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Ramsbotham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Ramsbotham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ramsbotham on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment has been made of the success of the current system of press regulation in preventing children being named before being charged, following the identification before charges were brought of the child convicted of stabbing Vincent Uzomah and the child accused of fatally stabbing Bailey Gwynne.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government is committed to a strong, independent and effective self-regulatory system for the press that commands the confidence of both the public and the industry.Following the Leveson Inquiry, and with cross-party agreement, Government has now delivered the framework for a new system of independent press self-regulation: the Royal Charter has been sealed and the Press Recognition Panel has been appointed, opening for business in September of this year. We must now give this new approach time to become established.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help credit unions compete in the personal loans and savings market.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government has taken significant steps to help credit unions compete in the personal loans and savings market. These include increasing the maximum interest rate that credit unions can charge on loans from 2% to 3% per month; investing £38m in the sector through the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Credit Union Expansion Project; ensuring that universal credit and pensions payments can be paid into any credit union account; providing £500,000 to help armed forces personnel access credit union services; and changing legislation to allow credit unions to admit corporate members.

    The Government has also provided £650,000 to fund the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ‘LifeSavers’ project. This project forms partnerships between primary schools and local credit unions, raising awareness of the credit union movement and encouraging more junior savers to become members.

    In addition the Government has also introduced an amendment to the Bank of England Bill 2015 to support financial mutuals. It amends the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority’s General Regulatory Principles to ensure that both regulators take account of the differences between mutual societies and other types of firm (where appropriate) whenever they are discharging their general objectives.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department attended the Scottish Steel Task Force meeting on (i) 29 January 2015, (ii) 13 November 2015, (iii) 26 November 2015, (iv) 11 December 2015 and (v) 14 January 2016.

    Anna Soubry

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was not present at the first meeting of the Scottish Steel Task Force which took place on 29th October 2015. However, BIS was represented by a Grade 6 level official at the meetings on 13 and 26 November 2015 and 14 January 2016, as well as at the most recent meeting on 4 February 2016. Officials from the Scotland Office have attended all meetings of the Task Force. There was no meeting on 29 January 2016.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much funding and how many full-time equivalent staff have been allocated to the Forced Marriage Unit in (a) each financial year since its foundation and (b) 2015-16 to date; and how many cases have been reported to that unit in each of those years.

    James Duddridge

    The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp out the brutal practice of forced marriage. Our joint Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Forced Marriage Unit leads efforts to combat it both at home and abroad, through their work on policy, outreach, and casework.

    The Forced Marriage Unit was established in 2005 with six staff, including four FCO staff, a Home Office policy advisor, and an external secondee. The composition and structure has slightly changed over time to reflect the caseload and changing outreach requirements, with the team currently consisting of two joint heads of unit, four caseworkers, and a support officer.

    Figures on the number of cases reported to the Forced Marriage Unit, via its public helpline and email inbox, are published on GOV.UK on an annual basis and already includes data for 2012-2014. Data for 2015 will be published shortly. Figures for 2005-11 are provided below.

    Year Total number of cases
    2011 1,468
    2010 1,735
    2009 1,682
    2008 1,618
    2007 262
    2006 197
    2005 152

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the oral contribution by the Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise on 28 October 2015, Official Report, column 476, if his Department will extend the remit of the Lord Davies review of diversity on boards to include ethnicity.

    Anna Soubry

    To complement the work on Women on Boards, Sir John Parker has established a business led diversity initiative to end mono-cultural boards in the FTSE 100 boards by 2020.

    The Government has also asked Baroness McGregor-Smith to undertake a review examining the issues faced by business in developing BME talent from recruitment through to the executive level. She will be reporting findings by the end of 2016.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what support his Department provides to air cadet units in West Sussex to participate in (a) gliding and (b) other flying activities.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    We are strongly committed to gliding and flying in the Air Cadet Organisation. Our immediate priority is to get cadets back flying again, after a gap of about two years. That will start again this year, and should be fully delivered by 2018.

    The cadets of West Sussex glide with 615 Volunteer Gliding Squadron (VGS) at RAF Kenley and this will continue. This VGS is being expanded as a regional hub, with a project under way to deliver a new operations and accommodation block.

    They will also continue to undertake Tutor Air Experience Flights with 6 Air Experience Flight based at RAF Benson.

  • 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 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2016 to Question 38401, whether she plans to publish her response to the School Teachers’ Review Body report on teachers’ pay from September 2016 and the draft 2016 School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions document for consultation and information before 14 July 2016.

    Nick Gibb

    We will continue to consider carefully the report from the School Teachers’ Review Body and its recommendations. We will publish the report, together with our response and a draft revised School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document, as soon as we have completed our consideration of it.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with her Cabinet colleagues on preventing self-employed adults with violent or sexual convictions providing extracurricular classes or sessions to children where there is no governing body for that sport or activity.

    Edward Timpson

    Schools are aware of their responsibilities in ensuring that any self-employed individual who is providing extra-curricular classes or sessions on their behalf has been subject to the necessary and appropriate checks, which could include checking individual status with the relevant sports or activity governing body.

    If those checks reveal convictions for violence the school will then determine the appropriateness or otherwise of allowing that individual to continue to provide classes or sessions.

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

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding her Department has allocated to the Troubled Families Programme for (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education has not allocated any funding to the Troubled Families programme for 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2015 to Question 13612, what the total monetary value is of the debts written off since 2010.

    Justin Tomlinson

    In 2014-15 overpayments in the benefit system have fallen to a record low. In the same period the Department has recovered over £1.3bn of debt and has written off less than 0.3% (£0.4bn) of the value of all benefit payments.
    Overpayments are written off for a variety of reasons including cases where the debtor is deceased with no estate. The total value of debts written off from 2010 to 2015 is less than 0.3% (£1.8bn) of the value of all benefit payments during that period.