Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the cost per megawatt hour of electricity is from the (a) Hunterston B, (b) Heysham 1&2, (c) Torness, (d) Hatlepool, (e) Sizewell, (f) Dungeness B and (g) Hinkley Point C power stations.

    Andrea Leadsom

    As EDF own Hunterston B, Heysham 1 and 2, Torness, Hartlepool, Sizewell and Dungeness, the cost per megawatt hour is a matter for them. Under the proposed Contract for Difference for Hinkley Point C, the Strike Price (in 2012 figures) is £92.50/MWh fully indexed to the Consumer Price Index.If Sizewell C receives a CFD (or equivalent), or advances to first nuclear island concrete pour for the project, prior to the commissioning of the first reactor at Hinkley point C, the Strike Price for Hinkley Point C will be reduced to £89.50/MWh. This reduction is provided for on the assumption that EDF will be able to share ‘first of a kind’ costs of EPR reactors across Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C sites.

  • Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps UK embassies are taking to promote religious freedoms.

    Mr David Lidington

    Through our network of Embassies and High Commissions, the Government regularly urges governments across the world to protect the right of all individuals to practise their religion or belief free from persecution or discrimination.

    We promote this freedom bilaterally by raising individual cases with governments and by seeking to influence them to remove discriminatory legislation or practices. We also promote religious freedom in multilateral fora by working together with our international partners

    For example, in Burma, we have raised our deep concern at the rise of hate speech and religious intolerance with the Burmese authorities and will continue to do so, both publicly and in private. We have supported a number of projects, including developing relationships between Burmese youth and different religious communities, and arranging exchanges between activists on religious freedom in Burma and Indonesia. In Iraq, we are funding a project to prevent intolerance and violence towards religious communities by strengthening the ability of youth and civil society to advocate the right to freedom of religion or belief.

    Promoting freedom of religion or belief is a priority for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights and Democracy Programme. Since 2011, 35 projects have been funded in 12 countries.

  • Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what grants the Church Commissioners have given to churches in (a) Devon and (b) Cornwall from the Roof Repair Fund in each of the last five years.

    Mrs Caroline Spelman

    The Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund grants are distributed by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, on behalf of the Government. There has been one round of grants to date, announced in March 2015,

    (a) 22 churches in Devon were offered grants totalling £1,199,700

    (b) 7 churches in Cornwall were offered grants totalling £492,700.

    A second round to distribute a further £25 million allocated by the Treasury is currently open, with applications closing on Friday, 26 February.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2015 to Question 10523, whether hon. Members of both Houses have the same levels of access to consolidated texts related to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) as members of the (a) European Parliament, (b) German Parliament, (c) Scottish Parliament, (d) Welsh Assembly and (e) Northern Ireland Assembly; and what the Government’s policy is on the provision of a reading room for hon. Members of both Houses to scrutinise the consolidated texts of documents.

    Anna Soubry

    The European Commission shares classified documents relating to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with Members of the European Parliament via a reading room. Following pressure from Member States, the Commission and the US have agreed that national parliamentarians should have similar access to classified TTIP documents, including consolidated texts, via reading rooms in national ministries. Restrictions placed on these rooms include that they are only accessible to officials of Member State central governments and Members of Member State national Parliaments.

    The UK intends to establish such a reading room in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. This will give equivalent access to documents for hon. Members of both Houses to that afforded to Members of the European Parliament.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on preparations for the UN General Assembly debate scheduled for April 2016 on Road Safety as a result of the Second Global Conference in Brasilia in 2015.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department for Transport has been working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to arrange for a UK representative to attend the UN General Assembly debate scheduled for April 2016 on Road Safety as a result of the Second Global Conference in Brasilia in 2015. I expect that the UK representative will be Lord Robertson of Port Ellen and I intend to meet with him shortly.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to improve national minimum wage enforcement in the shipping industry.

    Nick Boles

    The application of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for seafarers continues to be considered by the cross-Government working group which is reviewing the implementation of the Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011.

    The Government is working with key stakeholders through this working group to agree and finalise revised guidance on the NMW for seafarers which will be published in spring 2016.

    The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone who is entitled to receive the NMW does so, and we have committed to increasing the enforcement budget again this year in order to secure that aim. HM Revenue and Customs will investigate all NMW complaints from workers.

  • Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-05-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the terms of the review of HS2 being undertaken by Sir Jeremy Heywood; and when that review is expected to conclude.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    As is normal for large projects, the Cabinet Office’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is conducting assurance of the HS2 programme as it proceeds into its delivery phase. It is standard practice for this to include a small cross Government team, and not unusual for the Cabinet Secretary to take an interest on projects of this scale. ‎

    The IPAs role on the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio is to provide expertise in infrastructure and the financing, delivery and assurance of major projects, to support more effective management and delivery across government. The assurance exercise is expected to feed into the next steps on delivery.

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 5 of Employment and Support Allowance Work Capability Assessments: Mandatory reconsideration registrations, decisions and outcomes statistics, published in June 2016, how many of the mandatory reconsideration decisions not received by his Department’s decision-maker were appealed at the First Tier tribunal; and how many of those appeals were successful.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information is not available at this time.

    The data is being collated and will be published in due course.

  • Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will bring forward proposals to bring prison officers’ retirement age into line with that of staff in the police force, fire service and armed forces.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Like other Civil Servants, and the wider workforce, Prison Officers can now choose to retire at their State Pension Age (SPA) should they wish to do so, unless they have a protected lower pension age allowing them to retire at age 55, 60 or 65.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people over the age of 18 diagnosed with (a) Asperger’s syndrome and (b) autism there are in (i) St Albans, (ii) Hertfordshire and (iii) England; and what care his Department provides for people diagnosed with those conditions.

    David Mowat

    Information on the number of people diagnosed with autistic spectrum conditions is not collected centrally.

    Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning health services for their local population. In doing so, they should have regard to best practice and guidance such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline Autism spectrum disorder in adults: diagnosis and management and the Government’s Think Autism strategy.