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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the purpose is of the training provided by the UK armed forces to the security and armed forces personnel of Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The UK Armed Forces do not currently provide any training to security and Armed Forces personnel of Burundi or the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    We provide some limited training to the Rwandan Armed Forces, largely at the Rwandan Peace Academy and Staff College and through occasional places at UK staff colleges. This training is in support of security sector reform and effective and compliant Rwandan contributions to peace support and disaster relief operations.

    We also deliver training to the African Union’s Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF), as part of our effort to build the EASF’s capacity to conduct peace support operations. This training includes elements such as protection of civilians and civil and military cooperation. Some Burundian and Rwandan Armed Forces personnel attached to the EASF may attend this training.

  • Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the Government is taking to improve broadband access for small businesses.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government recognises the importance of broadband access throughout the UK for businesses of all sizes. Under the Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme, over 50,000 SMEs across 52 cities took a connection voucher, with around 41,000 businesses already connected to super and ultra-fast broadband.

    The Government is also undertaking a Review into Business Broadband, jointly led by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to explore the barriers faced by businesses, including SMEs, in accessing the affordable, high-speed broadband they need. That Review is ongoing and will report later this year.

  • Chuka Umunna – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Chuka Umunna – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many citizens of other EU countries work in his Department, its agencies and non-departmental public body.

    Joseph Johnson

    56.6% (2380) of the c.4200 staff within core BEIS (former Department for Energy and Climate Change and Business, Innovation and Skills) have voluntarily declared their nationality with 4.5% (106) of that number declaring EU citizenship.

    The nationality data for BEIS’s partner organisations, including arms-length bodies and non-departmental public bodies, is either not available or incomplete.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2015 to Question 12365, what savings have resulted from the police-led prosecution initiative in each year since 2012-13.

    Robert Buckland

    The police-led prosecution initiative has led to a significant reduction in motoring offences prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in magistrate courts, as the following figures indicate:

    Motoring offence cases finalised in the Magistrates Court

    2012-13: 229,875

    2013-14: 171,517

    2014-15: 112,955

    While the reduction has led to a fall in expenditure on these low-level cases, the overall effect on CPS budgets has been cost-neutral. A high proportion of these cases are dealt with as summary first-time guilty pleas, in which the Court requires the defendant to pay the prosecution costs as part of any financial penalty. Therefore, whilst the CPS has benefitted from a reduction in expenditure, it has foregone the receipt of cost awards that are routinely made in motoring offence cases, as these awards are now payable to the police.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2015 to Question 11834, whether the additional £25 million transitional funding announced by the Prime Minister was provided by HM Treasury or from within existing Departmental funds; how much of that funding has been allocated or spent to date; and what new funding for this purpose has been provided in the departmental settlement in the Spending Review 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    The £25 million was announced by the Prime Minister in March 2015, to support transition to a reformed scheme. The money will come from existing departmental funds. We expect to announce our plans for that money once we have a better understanding of what wider scheme reform might comprise following the outcomes of the consultation.

    Funding for specific programme budgets, following the Spending Review, will be set out as part of the normal business planning cycle, as we work on the detail of our central budgets over the coming months.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what Network Rail maintenance, renewal or enhancement works that were planned to be carried out under blockade during the 2015-16 Christmas and New Year period were cancelled or deferred.

    Claire Perry

    Network Rail has advised that of the schemes at the 80 highest priority worksites over the 2015/16 Christmas/New Year period, only one was cancelled – planned bridge works at Old Lodge Lane at Purley, which were cancelled due to high winds.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012 assumed a post-incident release of nuclear materials from the transportation packages.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Ministry of Defence maintains a Defence Nuclear Emergency Organisation (NEO) to respond in the unlikely event of an emergency involving the transport of defence nuclear materials. The NEO organises regular exercises to test the effectiveness of its emergency response planning and arrangements. These include the Astral series of exercises, which are designed to be challenging, and thus simulate the extremely unlikely event of a release of radioactive material from the transport containers. No radioactive materials are used or released to the environment during the exercises. The specific exercise objectives do not require assessments or estimates of decontamination, environmental or other post-incident decontamination costs or of radiological dose uptakes. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) undertook the modelling for each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012.

    I am withholding information about the physical state, mass quantity, release fraction and total released radioactivity assumed for these exercises as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice national security.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on the use of teargas against refugees and migrants at the Macedonian border.

    James Brokenshire

    We continue to work closely with our European partners to address all aspects of the current migration situation as it continues to develop, including regular bilateral and multilateral discussions. There have been no specific discussions on the use of tear gas.

    Public order is a matter for national governments and we expect all our international partners to ensure that migrants’ human rights are fully respected.

    We are clear that protection in the region of origin is often the best solution, including for refugees, and that those reaching the EU should claim asylum in the first Member State they enter (as per EU rules) rather than seeking to travel further across Europe to their destination of choice.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria her Department uses to assess the value for money of each free school’s capital budget.

    Edward Timpson

    Since 2010, we have opened around 400 new free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools. These schools offer excellent value for money. They are being built significantly quicker and cheaper than previous school building programmes. The National Audit Office found in its report in 2013 that free schools were built 45% cheaper than other school building programmes. Almost 200,000 new places will be provided. 25% of the free schools inspected by Ofsted have been judged outstanding compared to 20% of all other schools. We plan to open at least 500 new schools during this Parliament.

    We monitor the programme’s costs to ensure it continues to offer excellent value. A value for money assessment is made prior to a free school application being approved for the pre-opening stage and again before a capital budget is approved. We consider all aspects of the project, including the size of the school and the location of the site. Sites in London tend to cost more to acquire and this is taken into account when considering the value for money offered by London projects.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the change in constitution in Rwanda; and what assessment he has made of whether that change will effect the continued provision of UK diplomatic support to the Rwandan government.

    James Duddridge

    We believe that changes to a constitution for the benefit of an incumbent risk serious damage to long-term stability. We have expressed this view publically alongside international partners, including through my statement of 21 December following the referendum results.

    The UK and Rwanda have a deep and longstanding relationship and we follow developments in the country closely. We will continue to raise these issues in our public and private dialogue with the Rwandan government and work to encourage an open civil society that can contribute to a healthy democratic process.