Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Nigel Adams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Nigel Adams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 2 August 2016 to Question 42624, what the evidential basis is for the conclusion that a decrease in the prominence of copyright infringing websites in search engine results has resulted in a decrease in infringement.

    Joseph Johnson

    Publically available research from industry clearly shows a decrease in traffic to the most high profile Bit Torrent indexing websites following changes to search engine algorithms to demote websites which have been the subject of large numbers of copyright infringement notices. While it is not possible to say exactly how this equates to changes in infringement, traffic levels to these websites are likely to be highly correlated with levels of infringing activity.

    The work of the Ministerial roundtable group on search and copyright is supported by research from OFCOM, which gives the group a periodic snapshot of the prominence of copyright infringing websites in search results for various search terms.

  • Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students have studied at least one arts subject at A-level in Manchester, Withington constituency in each of the last five years.

    Nick Gibb

    The number of A level examination entries (including arts[1] subjects) by local authority and state funded schools are published in the A level and equivalent results statistical first releases (SFR)[2],[3],[4],[5],[6].

    The information requested by parliamentary constituency is not available.

    [1] Arts subjects are included under the categories Art and Design, Media, Film and Television Studies and Music.

    [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/revised-a-level-and-equivalent-examination-results-in-england-academic-year-2011-to-2012 (Table 12a)

    [3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-level-3-results-england-2012-to-2013-revised (Table 13a)

    [4] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-level-3-results-2013-to-2014-revised (Table 13a)

    [5] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-level-3-results-2014-to-2015-revised (Table 13a)

    [6] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-level-3-results-2015-to-2016-provisional (Table 10)

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  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the closure of Goodwood Court medical practice in Hove on patient access to primary care in that town.

    Ben Gummer

    We are advised by NHS England that Goodwood Court Medical Practice in Hove closed in June 2015 after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) took immediate action to remove the practice’s registration with the regulator. This was in order to protect the safety and welfare of patients following the findings of a CQC inspection at the practice.

    NHS England subsequently agreed an interim contract with doctors from the Charter Medical Centre to ensure ongoing care could be provided to affected patients following the closure of the Goodwood Court practice.

    The current arrangements with Charter Medical Centre, for the care of former Goodwood Court patients, are due to come to an end on 31 March 2016.

    NHS England has recently written to patients and local stakeholders asking for their views which will help to inform future care for patients of Goodwood Court.

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with education and training providers in (a) Wrexham and (b) Cardiff on future capacity to train HM Revenue and Customs staff.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the planned locations of its future Regional Centres based on a number of key principles that will enable it to deliver more for less. In addition to cost, HMRC has taken account of the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, and the need to retain the staff and skills it requires to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

    HMRC estimates that Liverpool will be home to between 2,800 and 3,100 full time equivalent employees. Consolidation into the Regional Centre is expected to begin in 2019-20. HMRC plans to open the Regional Centre in Cardiff in 2019-20. It is likely that the office at Plas Gororau in Wrexham will close in 2020-21. HMRC will be holding one-to-one discussions with each of its people to discuss the next steps.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive 2000 on how floods have been controlled in the UK.

    Rory Stewart

    Implementation of the Water Framework Directive is devolved within the UK.

    Implementation of the Directive promotes, through river basin planning, an integrated approach to managing water and promotes local decisions in catchments to take account of the particular circumstances. Where parts of rivers are managed for certain uses (including flood protection), they are formally designated as ‘heavily modified’ and the management of those rivers must take account of those uses. In England, 1,105 of 3,767 rivers are designated as heavily modified; 781 of them because of their important role in providing flood protection.

    Many of the actions needed to protect and improve the quality of the water environment (for instance restoring peat land, wetland creation and sustainable management of soils) also help to reduce flooding. The Directive also promotes sustainable flood risk prevention and flood management schemes. Consideration of natural flood management measures to slow, store and filter flood water can deliver additional social and environmental benefits when used along with traditional hard defences, and can increase resilience of communities to extreme events, both floods and drought. The ‘Slowing the Flow’ project in Pickering is an example of this.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the most effective way to implement the use of rapid diagnostic technology for the purpose of accurately diagnosing infections in hospitals.

    Ben Gummer

    An expert group has been looking at how we can improve access to rapid diagnostic testing as part of the implementation of the UK Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy. The group is currently formulating its conclusions and intends to start working with stakeholders to implement improvements across the system from 2016; a part of this work will include an economic analysis to support the rapid adoption of new tests.

    The Department has been feeding this work into the Accelerated Access Review, which will make recommendations to Government on speeding up access to transformative new medicines and technologies, including diagnostics, for National Health Service patients. The review is due to report in April 2016.

  • Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Murrison on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have withdrawn more than the 25 per cent tax-free allowance from their pension fund as a lump sum since 2014.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs does not have information on all types of taxable pension payments taken since 2014. However, information on the taxable element of pension flexibility lump sums taken since April 2015 is collated and published quarterly. This also provides details of the number of people who have taken these payments. The publication can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/flexible-payments-from-pensions.

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  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2016 to Question 30689, when his Department plans to publish the declaration of actual or potential conflicts of interest made by Paul Newby for the role of Pubs Code Adjudicator.

    Anna Soubry

    The appointment panel satisfied itself there were no conflicts of interest when they made recommendations to ministers in relation to the appointment of the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

    The Department does not intend to publish any information provided by candidates during this appointment process.

    In due course and as is usual practice, the Adjudicator’s office will publish a register of interests.

  • Baroness Berridge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Berridge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Berridge on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to respond to anti-Ahmadiyya hate literature in the UK in the light of recent reports that leaflets endorsing the execution of Ahmadi Muslims were found in Stockwell Green mosque on 10 April.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Religiously motivated hate crime and hate speech has absolutely no place in British society. This Government is clear that everybody should be free to live their lives free from fear of attack simply because of what their beliefs are, and that tragic events such as the recent murder of Asad Shah in Glasgow will not be tolerated. We have a strong legal framework in place against discrimination on the basis of religion, and criminal penalties for offences such as racially or religiously aggravated assault and criminal damage. Those who perpetrate hate crimes of any kind will be punished with the full force of the law. This Government has done more than any other to tackle anti-Muslim hatred. As of 1 April 2016, police forces in England and Wales are disaggregating religious hate crime data to reveal the true scale and nature of the problem. The Government also plans to publish its new Hate Crime Action Plan in the summer, which will set out our approach to tacking all forms of hate crime, including Islamophobia. This will build on the success of ‘Challenge It, Report It, Stop It’, which was published in 2012 and updated subsequently in 2014.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional coastal patrol vessels she plans to commission.

    James Brokenshire

    Border Force recently announced that it will purchase additional patrol vessels to complement the work done by its cutters and enable a greater level of flexible response.