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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.159 of Budget 2016, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the freeze in petrol and diesel duty on (a) carbon emissions by cars and (b) the environment.

    Damian Hinds

    The Government took a wide number of factors into account when considering the case for a further duty freeze, including the impact on carbon and emissions. The data shows that carbon dioxide and air pollutant emissions from the road transport sector have continued to fall since 2011 when Government cut fuel duty by 1 penny per litre and froze it. This information can be found here in Table TSGB0308: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/tsgb03

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  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress his Department has made on reaching its target of £1 trillion a year in exports by 2020.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government has a clear strategy for increasing both the value of UK exports, as well as the number of British exporters. This is set out in the Government’s evidence to the BIS Select Committee inquiry into Exports in January 2016. Progress in delivering against the target is reported by the ONS.

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  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the terms of reference and the membership of the Prevent Oversight Board.

    Mr John Hayes

    There are no plans to publish the terms of reference or the membership of the board.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the failures identified by the Care Quality Commission in the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust were first drawn to his Department’s attention.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Department’s attention was first drawn to issues in relation to South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAMB) NHS Foundation Trust’s NHS 111 service in autumn 2015.

    In March 2015, NHS England convened a risk summit meeting involving all partners following the suspension by SECAMB of their unofficial call-handling project. NHS England commissioned an external investigation which was published on 5 November 2015, while an initial report was shared with families involved with the SECAMB’s project in September 2015.

    Monitor, the then independent regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts (now part of NHS Improvement), announced on 28 October 2015 that it was taking action against SECAMB. Monitor’s requirements included the development of three reviews. The first; a forensic review of the project itself undertaken by Deloitte was published on 15 March 2016. Second, the Trust has commissioned an independent expert to lead a patient impact review following the call-handling project, which will be finalised shortly. Third, the Trust is required to undertake a full governance review and this will take place once the substantive board is in place.

    In the meantime NHS Improvement are working closely with the Trust to support it in addressing known governance, operational and quality issues.

    The Government has no plans to set up an inquiry.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to assist the government of Malawi with minimising the risk of corruption in the distribution of aid funds.

    James Wharton

    The UK does not provide any direct financial aid to the Government of Malawi. DFID has a zero tolerance approach to corruption and rigorous checks are in place to protect taxpayers’ money.

    DFID has an active programme of work in Malawi designed to tackle the root causes of corruption and protect the poorest from its effects. Through support provided to the Malawian law enforcement agencies since 2013, the UK has helped to convict those guilty of corruption-related offences to a total of 125 years in prison. DFID is also working with the Government of Malawi to strengthen its public financial management systems and increase the accountability of public officials.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servants in his Department are members of trades unions; how much working hours facility time is claimed by each such civil servant; and what the cost of that facility time is to his Department.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) no longer holds data on employees who are members of Trades Unions (TUs), following the removal of automatic TU subscription-fee deductions from employees’ salary in January 2015.

    The MOD makes certain facilities available to civilian employees who are accredited representatives, but not paid officials of, TUs recognised by the Department. The amount of time off and the purposes for which it is allowed is in accordance with the ACAS Code of Practice Time off for Trade Union duties and activities. This is recorded as facility time (FT).

    In FY 2014-15 some 9,865 staff days were spent on FT at a cost of £1.13 million, which is significantly lower than comparable figures for FY 2011-12 when an estimated 27,060 staff days were spent on FT at a cost of £3.65 million. The number of Departmental staff who were recorded as being 100% FT has also fallen from 53 in 2013 to zero in 2015.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of (a) the extent to which UK pension funds are investing in fossil fuel and high carbon industries and (b) the potential effect of climate change on the stability of the UK pension sector; and if he will make a statement.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Investment of UK pension funds is a matter for the trustees of the scheme. Trustees are required to take advice on investment from a suitably qualified person to ensure they are appropriate. Trustees make investments according to a statement of investment principles they prepare after taking advice. The statement will set out the extent to which the trustees take into account environmental considerations when making investments.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much in horserace betting levy payments were received in (a) statutory and (b) voluntary payments from each betting operator in each of the last three years.

    Tracey Crouch

    Details of Levy payments are held by the Horserace Betting Levy Board. Section 28 (10) of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963 bars the Levy Board from disclosing the statutory contribution of individual bookmakers. The Levy Board has adopted a similar approach to contributions made by voluntary means, providing information about collective totals only. The table below sets out collective totals for each year for both statutory and voluntary payments.

    (£m)

    Statutory payments

    Voluntary payments

    Total

    2012/13

    66.751

    7.572

    74.323

    2013/14

    70.115

    7.904

    78.019

    2014/15

    60.090

    11.593

    71.683

    Source: Horserace Betting Levy Board

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents relating to safety of children in secure training centres and young offender institutions have been raised by Barnardo’s advocates with (a) Youth Justice Board monitors and (b) local children’s safeguarding boards in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

    Andrew Selous

    Although youth offending is down, reoffending rates are far too high and the care and supervision of young offenders is custody is not good enough.

    That is why the Justice Secretary has asked Charlie Taylor to conduct a review of youth justice. He will report back later this year with recommendations on how to improve the treatment of young people in our care.

    The Table below is based on quarterly information provided to the Youth Justice Board by Barnardo’s and includes all safeguarding issues raised with a Barnardo’s advocate. When a safeguarding issue is raised with a Barnardo’s advocate, they will make a referral through the establishment’s safeguarding process, which is agreed with the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). The YJB monitors continually check whether referrals are being made when they should be. Cases can also be directly referred to the LADO by any member of staff, a Barnardo’s advocate, or a YJB monitor.

    Table 1: Number of safeguarding incidents reported to Barnardo’s advocates in STCs and under-18 YOIs: July 2013-June 2015

    July 2013 to June 2014

    July 2014 to June 2015

    STCs

    29

    26

    Under-18 YOIs

    172

    208

    Notes:

    • The July 2014 to June 2015 data include Hassockfield STC and Hindley YOI which were decommissioned part way through this period
  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of how many disabled people will move into work as a result of changes to the employment and allowance work-related activity group; and what research he has conducted into the effects of those changes.

    Priti Patel

    The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the welfare policies in the Bill on 20th July last year.

    Whilst the policy is intended to provide the right incentives to help individuals back into work, it is not possible to quantify based on behavioral changes which are difficult to assess.