Tag: Parliamentary Question

Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department last reviewed its statutory guidance on post-16 transport to education and training.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The statutory guidance for local authorities on post-16 transport was updated in February 2014 following the implementation of Raising the Participation Age (RPA). It was last reviewed in February 2016 and was found to be still up-to-date; there are no immediate changes planned to the guidance.

01/01/2023
Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the annual budget is for food produced for his Department’s offices; and what proportion of food produced for his Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The requested information is not recorded in the format requested and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

My department follows the Government Buying Standard for food and catering to be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/418072/gbs-food-catering-march2015.pdf.

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01/01/2023
Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will review the technical guidance on householder permitted development rights to minimise the visual impact of loft extensions.

Brandon Lewis

Permitted development rights for householders are set out in the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. The rights allow for loft extensions to the rear or side of dwellinghouses. To minimise the impact on the amenity of an area there are conditions limiting their size and appearance. These are explained in the Technical Guidance which was reviewed and updated in April 2016. Where the development exceeds the thresholds, or is to the front of a dwellinghouse, an application for planning permission is required.

01/01/2023
Lord Hughes of Woodside – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hughes of Woodside on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen on 12 September (HL Deb, col 1308), what are the remit and terms of appointment of the anti-corruption champion, and what staffing and financial support arrangements have been put in place to assist him in carrying out his duties.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

The Anti-Corruption Champion, Sir Eric Pickles, is a personal appointment of the Prime Minister. The main elements of the Champion’s role were set out in the UK’s Anti-Corruption Action Plan and include: scrutinising the performance of departments and agencies, as co-chair of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Anti-Corruption; responsibility, along with Home Office Ministers, for approval of the UK’s Anti-Corruption Plan and for parliamentary and public accountability of the Government’s performance against the Plan; responsibility, along with other Ministers, for leading the UK’s push to strengthen the international response to corruption; and a mandate to engage with external stakeholders, including business and civil society organisations. The Champion is supported by the Joint Anti-Corruption Unit.

01/01/2023
Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to respond to its call for evidence on the cost of providing childcare published on 15 June 2015.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The call for evidence is part of the government review on the cost of providing childcare and is one of the sources of evidence that will inform its outcome. The review will inform decisions on funding for early years which will be made as part of the Spending Review on 25 November. The Department published the analysis of the responses to the call for evidence on GOV.UK on 8 October and the report is available online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/childcare-bill-policy-statement

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01/01/2023
Alan Whitehead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Whitehead on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether carbon capture and storage plants that become operational with the assistance of support not provided by her Department will be eligible to receive contracts for difference.

Andrea Leadsom

Contracts for Difference may be awarded to generators who meet the requirements of eligibility set out in the Contracts for Difference (Definition of Eligible Generator) Regulations 2014. A generating station connected to a complete CCS system is an eligible technology under those Regulations. Contracts for Difference for CCS are awarded on direction of the Secretary of State and would be subject to the circumstances at the time, including factors such as the value for money and affordability of a project and competing demands on available budgets.

01/01/2023
Bill Esterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the cost to the UK economy of late payments to SMEs in each of the last five years.

Anna Soubry

The Department does not hold the information required. However, BACS data shows that small and medium businesses are owed a total of £26.8 billion, and the average small business is waiting for £31,900 in overdue payments.[1]

The Government recognises that late payment remains an important issue for small businesses in the UK and is taking significant steps to assist small businesses to recover late payment debts. This is part of a package of measures to tackle late payment. We have also legislated for new transparency measures in the public and private sectors.

The Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 legislated for new reporting requirement on the UK’s largest companies and Regulations will be introduced this year which will compel larger companies to report on payment practices and performance. This information will be published on a six-monthly basis and will be made publicly available.

The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 introduced a requirement for all public-sector buyers to publish annually, from 2017, their liability to debt interest payments. In central government we have gone further and faster. We will be publishing against these requirements quarterly from April this year. This will allow full public scrutiny of payment performance.

Through the Enterprise Bill, currently before Parliament, we will legislate to establish a Small Business Commissioner to give general advice and to help small businesses resolve disputes relating to payment matters with larger businesses.

Tackling late payment is about creating a responsible payment culture where larger companies recognise the benefit of having a sustainable and robust supply chain, and smaller businesses feel able to challenge poor behaviour. Once implemented, the Government is confident that these measures will lead to significant changes in the UK’s payment culture.

[1] BACS Data June 2015.

01/01/2023
Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton on 2016-02-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to encourage GPs to undertake out-of-hours shifts in primary care.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department and NHS England are committed to addressing the issue of increasing medical indemnity costs for general practitioners (GPs), including those working out of hours.

Increasing costs of indemnity cover associated with out of hours work may discourage GPs from undertaking out-of-hours shifts in primary care.

The Department was represented at a roundtable event held by NHS England on 17 November 2015 to develop a shared understanding of how to address rising medical indemnity costs. A range of stakeholders, including the British Medical Association and Medical Defence Organisations, also attended.

On 9 December 2015, NHS England announced a winter indemnity scheme to offset the additional indemnity premium for GPs who wish to work additional sessions for their out-of-hours providers.

Discussions are ongoing between the Department and NHS England on a long-term solution.

01/01/2023

Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 24 January 2013 to Question 139167, how many staff in her Department were in receipt of Continuity of Education Allowance in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; and what the cost to her Department was of providing that allowance for staff based (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas in each such year.

Mr Nick Hurd

The amount spent on Education Allowance by DFID and the number of HCS staff who have benefited from education continuity payments is provided in the table below.

Year	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
Total Number of Employees	43	41	46
Employees in UK	£32,165.55	£8,178.80	£9,337.45
Employees Overseas	£995,609.04	£995,852.61	£1,042,819.56
Cost	£1,027,774.59	£1,004,031.41	£1,052,157.01

01/01/2023

Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with local authorities in Northern Ireland and Scotland about the illegal trafficking of puppies from the Republic of Ireland; and what assessment she has made of the effect on such trafficking of the transfer in Scotland of search powers from Trading Standards to local port authorities.

George Eustice

The Government takes the illegal movement of dogs and puppies seriously and it is committed to working with the Devolved Administrations, delivery bodies, enforcement agencies and non-government organisations to tackle this issue.

Whilst there have been no recent Ministerial meetings on the illegal movement of dogs, Defra’s Chief Veterinary Officer has recently discussed the issue with his Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland counterparts. Additionally, there have been discussions on this issue between other Defra officials and officials within the Devolved Administrations.

Defra has not carried out an assessment of the impact of transferring Trading Standards search powers to local port authorities in Scotland as this is a devolved matter. However, we will continue to work closely with the Scottish Government and other interested parties to ensure that there is a full exchange of ideas and information on combating the illegal importation of puppies.

01/01/2023