The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Thompson on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department plans to reduce the Big Lottery Fund budget for Scotland.
Tracey Crouch
In line with the arms’ length principle of lottery distribution, the Big Lottery Fund itself decides how much of its funding to allocate to Scotland and to each of the other home nations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dubs on 2015-12-16.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider providing a 24-hour mental health helpline for serving soldiers.
Earl Howe
Combat Stress provides a free 24-hour service for the entire military community (Service personnel, veterans, and their families) when seeking confidential and safe help and advice about Service-related mental health issues. The MOD is the single biggest contributor of funding to Combat Stress.
In addition, the MOD has a contract with the Big White Wall, a 24-hour online community which provides safe, anonymous support to anyone struggling with mental health issues. It is free for all serving personnel, veterans, and their families.
There are no plans for MOD to provide an additional mental health helpline.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she plans to provide funding for carbon capture and storage projects in the next Contracts for Difference allocation round.
Andrea Leadsom
Under the Contracts for Difference (Definition of Eligible Generator) Regulations 2014, Contract for Difference allocation rounds are limited to renewable technologies. The next allocation round for less established technologies is expected to take place by the end of 2016. We are currently working with HM Treasury to finalise the budget for future allocation rounds and will set out more information in due course.
Contracts for Difference for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) are issued only on direction from my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 24142, how much is owed in child maintenance arrears by non-resident parents whose CSA liability has ended as a result of the proactive or reactive CSA case closure process.
Priti Patel
The information requested on case closure arrears is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-03-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 22 January 2013 (WA194–5) and by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department of Health, Mr George Freeman, on 8 March (HC29426), what control the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has over the contents of any external website, such as that maintained by the Francis Crick Institute; what prior examples they can provide in which (1) either centre 0157 or 0206, or (2) any other licensed centre, has immediately and voluntarily altered the publication on their websites of clinical success rate data or information on costs in response to a request from the HFEA to do so; and what assessment they have made of how any expectations that licensed centres would comply with such requests might be affected by the Francis Crick Institute’s claim that it is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as a private body that has hitherto not provided copies of the patient information and consent forms directly for that reason.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) Code of Practice, at section 4.5, sets out the obligations on a licensed treatment centre regarding information provided on its website; other relevant marketing communications; and in relation to associated satellite and transport centres. This is in line with the Advertising Standards Authority Code. This guidance does not apply to licensed research centres.
Assessment of the websites of licensed treatment centres is made during inspections undertaken by the HFEA, or in response to ad hoc instances where information has come to us suggesting breaches of these requirements. There have been a number of examples where clinics have voluntarily and immediately amended the content of their websites and it would not be proportionate to set out all such examples. The HFEA has no statutory powers relating to the costs of treatment.
The fact that the Francis Crick Institute is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act 2000 has no impact on the HFEA’s expectations of licensed centres’ websites.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much of the Local Growth Fund has been earmarked for (a) housing loan finance and (b) flexible grant funding.
James Wharton
The £12 billion Local Growth Fund includes £2 billion for housing loan finance and up to £7.1 billion of flexible grant funding.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-05-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the potential effect of reductions in capital gains tax rates announced in the Budget 2016 on (a) the prevalence of converting income into capital gains and (b) income tax receipts.
Mr David Gauke
Budget 2016 announced reductions in the basic rate of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to 10% and the main rate to 20%, excluding gains on residential property and carried interest. The purpose of these changes is to encourage individuals to invest in companies, helping them to access the capital they need to expand and create jobs.
The estimated cost of this measure was published at Budget 2016 and provided in the table below:
Table 1: Total estimated Exchequer impact of Budget 2016 CGT basic and main rate reductions
|
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
2019-20 |
2020-21 |
|
|
£m |
-105 |
-630 |
-605 |
-670 |
-735 |
The costing in Table 1 includes an estimate of the impacts on CGT, Income Tax and Stamp Duty Land Tax receipts. The total estimated Exchequer cost accounts for behavioural responses, including greater realisation of gains, and increased incentive to take capital gains relative to income. This can include a wide range of behavioural changes. The impact on Income Tax is only one aspect of this costing.
No separate estimate was made of the impact on CGT receipts of converting income into capital gains. Finance Bill 2016 contains provisions to strengthen anti-avoidance rules to prevent opportunities for people to shift income to capital in order to gain a tax advantage, through making changes to the Transactions in Securities Rules and introducing a new Targeted Anti Avoidance Rule.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with representatives of gyms on ensuring that the fitness levels of new members is assessed before they use such gyms.
Tracey Crouch
I meet regularly with ukactive, an organisation with members and partners across the UK active lifestyle sector, and others in the gym and physical activity sector. Whilst arrangements made for new members are for leisure providers to determine, our Sport Strategy, Sporting Future, published last December, highlighted the importance of giving those getting involved in sport, particularly for the first time, the best possible experience.
In addition, ukactive’s Code of Practice – which is designed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of health and fitness operators and customers – also stipulates that providers must offer all facility users an exercise induction, and many physical activity, fitness and leisure operators require all new members to sign a ‘Health Commitment Statement’.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-15.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will postpone the proposed implementation date of the secondary market for annuities in April 2017 until an appropriate tax code for pensioners is finalised.
Simon Kirby
To date, the Government has published the following consultation documents in relation to the secondary market in annuities policy:
Creating a secondary annuity market – March 2015
Creating a secondary annuity market: response to the call for evidence – December 2015
Creating a secondary annuity market: tax framework – April 2016
Creating a secondary market for annuities – secondary legislation – April 2016
These consultations have now closed. The Government will respond shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what specific changes are needed to her Department’s policies to ensure that the UK meets the EU target of 15 per cent of energy to be sourced from renewable sources before 2020; and what the timetable is for implementing each of those changes.
Andrea Leadsom
We continue to make progress towards our renewable energy target of 15% final energy consumption by 2020. Provisional figures show 6.3% of final energy consumption came from renewable sources for 2013 and 2014, against a target of 5.4%.
Progress on renewable electricity generation has been particularly strong with over a quarter of electricity generated, between April and June this year, coming from renewable sources.
The Spending Review will be announced on 25th November, and a Department for Transport consultation will be running next year on increasing the amount of renewable transport fuel. We will carefully consider the impacts of both on the UK’s progress towards the renewables target of 15%, including whether there will be a role for trading.