Tag: Parliamentary Question

Lord Oates – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current food security situation in Ethiopia.

Baroness Verma

We are extremely concerned about the impact of the current drought on the food security situation in Ethiopia. A joint Government of Ethiopia and UN assessment is underway and we are in touch with our UN and Non-Governmental Organisation partners on the ground to determine the extent of need.

In October, the Government of Ethiopia announced that about 8.2 million people are in need of emergency food aid, up from the 4.5 million estimated in August. The number of severely malnourished children under five years old admitted to therapeutic feeding programmes this year has increased notably.

Britain has acted quickly and decisively by providing emergency support for 2.6 million people. This includes food aid for 2.1 million people for a month. The Government of Ethiopia has also committed its largest ever response to a drought. The international community will need to work hard with the Government of Ethiopia to prevent the crisis from worsening in the coming months.

DFID is at the forefront of resilience work to reduce the impact of crises in developing countries. In Ethiopia, DFID’s Productive Safety Nets Programme (PSNP) has helped turn desert land into land that can be farmed again.

01/01/2023
Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many apprenticeships were available in the (a) food and (b) tourism sectors in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2015.

Nick Boles

Apprenticeship starts by academic year and the framework of the apprenticeship is published at the FE data library (first link) as a supplementary table to a Statistical First Release (second link):

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/477738/apprenticeships-starts-by-sase-framework.xls

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01/01/2023
Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the evidential basis that underpinned the decision on the allocation of funding to Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Leeds flood defence scheme in 2011.

Rory Stewart

A proposal for a £188 million flood alleviation scheme for central Leeds was submitted to Defra in January 2010. The proposal was analysed and a number of concerns were identified. As a result of that analysis the Environment Agency agreed to work with Leeds City Council to consider alternatives. The City Council subsequently submitted a bid for the first phase of a phased scheme. We have committed £33 million to better protect Leeds City Centre, benefitting thousands of homes and businesses. No bid has yet been made for further phases.

Whenever an exceptional event happens it is important to review what happened and how to prepare for the future, and the Environment Agency will be doing this following the recent flooding incident. The flood response in Yorkshire will be overseen by Transport Minister Robert Goodwill, who has been appointed as Flooding Envoy to the county and will track progress on recovery and identify lessons learnt.

Work has also already started on the National Resilience Review, which is considering forecasting and modelling, resilience of key infrastructure and the way we make decisions on flood expenditure. The Review is being delivered by a cross-Government team and will be published in the summer.

In response to the flooding, £40 million of funding has been committed to repair flood defences. Construction of the new flood defences is already underway. The Secretary of State will be discussing this issue and the future resilience of the city with Leeds MPs shortly.

01/01/2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of competition in the car insurance market; and if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on competition in that industry of a 10 per cent cap on market share.

Harriett Baldwin

This is a 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.

01/01/2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people aged under 18 have been referred to the Channel programme in each year since 2011.

Mr John Hayes

Channel has been operational nationally since April 2012. The Home Office does not currently publish data on the Channel Programme.

01/01/2023
Rehman Chishti – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage greater diplomatic co-operation between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan is crucial for the security and prosperity of both countries. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runneymede and Weybridge, visited Afghanistan and Pakistan last month and urged their leaders to work closely together, including on the reconciliation process.

01/01/2023
Lord Marlesford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Marlesford on 2016-04-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what academic studies have been conducted into the financial case for bat bridges over roads, and what assessment they have made of the conclusions of those studies.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Highways England are not aware of any studies conducted into the financial case for bat bridges. Work in 2015 undertaken by Leeds University, on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), did look at the effectiveness of bat bridges.

Highways England have reviewed the study and met with Natural England and DEFRA to discuss the conclusions of the report.

While the conclusions of the Leeds University work are based on limited sample size, the authors conclude that the effectiveness of crossing structures increases with their size, connectivity and similarity to natural features. They also conclude that wire bat bridges do not provide effective mitigation.

01/01/2023

Baroness Burt of Solihull – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-06-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many civil servants within the Department for Business Innovation and Skills have (1) been recruited into the department (a) from within the civil service, or (b) from outside the civil service, and (2) left to (a) other posts within the civil service, and (b) other roles outside of the civil service, in each of the last five years.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The total number of civil servants within the Department for Business Innovation and Skills HQ (BIS) who have (1) been recruited into the department (a) from within the civil service, or (b) from outside the civil service, and (2) left to (a) other posts within the civil service, and (b) other roles outside of the civil service, in each of the last five years are shown in the tables below.

Recruited to BIS

Year of joining	Joined from outside the Civil Service	Joined from within the Civil Service	Grand Total
2011-12	185	190	375
2012-13	243	208	451
2013-14	186	186	372
2014-15	158	198	356
2015-16	170	145	315
Grand Total	942	927	1869

Left BIS

Year of leaving	Left the Civil Service	Moved to another part of the Civil Service	Total
2011-12	338	154	492
2012-13	253	101	354
2013-14	205	120	325
2014-15	244	157	401
2015-16	364	273	637
Grand Total	1404	805	2209

01/01/2023

Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-09-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the potential effect of the planned closure of HM Revenue and Customs offices in Scotland on the administration of the Scottish rate of income tax.

Jane Ellison

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) plans to create two new regional centres in Scotland in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 2019-20, accommodating between 5,700 and 6,300 full time equivalent posts by 2025. As work is transferred to the regional centres HMRC plans to close ten offices in Scotland by 2020. The changes are part of a ten-year transformation programme to deliver better public services at lower cost to the taxpayer. Scotland has 12 per cent of HMRC’s total workforce and that will not change with modernisation.

HMRC believes that its responsibilities will be unaffected by the changes. Staff are receiving guidance and training to deal with any enquiries relating to the Scottish rate of income tax, as with any other tax issues.

01/01/2023
Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will release some revenue support grant funding for local authorities to help councils affected by sudden increases in need once 100 per cent of business rates income is devolved to local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones

We recently conducted a consultation on our approach to the implementation of 100% Business Rates Retention. This consultation included questions on how to take account of changes in need over time, how to manage volatility in business rates income and how to distribute funding between different tiers of government. My officials are currently considering the 454 responses we have received to this consultation and we will publish a summary of the responses and our proposed way forward in due course. In the meantime, we will continue close collaboration with the Local Government Association, other groups representative of local government, and individual local authorities, in taking this work forward.

01/01/2023