Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what average time her Department took to respond to freedom of information requests in each year since 2005.

    George Eustice

    The Government publishes statistics on the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 within central government, including on timeliness.

    The published figures can be found at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.

    “

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the regulations introduced in April 2015 which ended unsupervised stakes above £50 on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in betting shops.

    Tracey Crouch

    The Government, along with the Gambling Commission, is in the process of evaluating the effects of ending unsupervised stakes over £50 and we will publish the results in due course

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reason his Department sets an age limit for the receipt of funding for Masters degrees; and if he will make a statement.

    Joseph Johnson

    The new loan to support Master’s study has an upper age limit to ensure the scheme overall is affordable and offers value for money. The new postgraduate loan will be repaid from earnings on an income contingent basis, in this case 6% of earned annual income above the threshold of £21,000. We are therefore limiting eligibility to cover those likely to continue in employment and enter repayments.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following his recent visits to France and Italy, whether there are plans for President Rouhani of Iran to visit the UK.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are gradually expanding our bilateral engagement with Iran, and reopened our Embassy in Tehran in August last year. This was a major step towards normalising our relationship with Iran. There are no fixed dates yet for President Rouhani to visit the UK, but we hope that we will be able to welcome him in the future. We welcomed Foreign Minister Zarif’s visit to the UK from 4-5 February, the first bilateral visit of an Iranian Foreign Minister in over ten years.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the prevalence of reckless driving.

    Andrew Jones

    The Road Safety Statement published on 21 December 2015 outlines what the Department is currently doing to improve road safety. For example, we are currently consulting on increasing the penalty points and financial penalty for those who commit the offence of using a mobile phone whilst driving.

    We have previously introduced fixed penalty notices in order to assist the police in dealing more effectively with careless driving. This would enable more people to be offered rehabilitative education to combat such behaviour.

    Britain is a world leader in road safety, but we are always striving to improve. For example, from 2 March 2015 it has been an offence to drive with certain drugs in your body in excess of official limits. I have provided £1million to further increase enforcement during the THINK! campaign that commenced on 29 February and will run through March thus coinciding with the 1st anniversary of the commencement of the new offence.

    Sentencing and enforcement policy issues are matters for the Ministry of Justice and Home Office respectively.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has held discussions with academics and charities in receipt of grants from his Department on the potential effect of the anti-lobbying clause on their work.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department is currently rolling out the new anti-lobbying clause in its grant agreements and will monitor any feedback on the effect it may have on recipients.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect on LGBT rights in Bangladesh of the murder of Xulhaz Mannan in Dhaka.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Human rights are universal and should apply equally to all people. On Monday 25 April I said publicly that I was deeply saddened by the senseless murders of Xulhaz Mannan and Tanay Fahim and called for the killers to be brought to justice. Same sex relations in Bangladesh are illegal, however the Foreign and Commonwealth Office work to uphold the rights and freedoms of LGBT people in all circumstances. In 2015 we funded a project promoting social justice and dignity for LGBT groups in Bangladesh.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what the budget was for the out-of-hours taxi service for armed police officers working in the House in each of the last five years; and on how many occasions that service was used in each of those years.

    Tom Brake

    Prior to 1 April 2016 the House paid for all Metropolitan Police Staff (MPS) required by business to stay until 11pm or later. This included police officers, armed police and civilian security officers. Data is not held according to job role and, therefore, it is not possible to provide the data in the format requested.

    Following a change that the MPS put in place to the police officer rosters as well as the new police contract which came into effect on 1 April 2016, police officers, including armed officers, no longer use late night transport paid for by the two Houses.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with cystic fibrosis in receipt of disability living allowance have been invited to claim personal independence payments (PIP); and how many such people have been awarded PIP for (a) 16 to 18 year olds and (b) people over 18.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Department intends to provide detailed breakdowns of DLA to PIP reassessment outcomes in due course. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 16 November 2015 to Question 13604, what proportion of the deposits handed back in each of the schemes and for each of the years listed in the Table of Adjudications were subject to adjudication by their respective deposit protection scheme.

    Gavin Barwell

    The three Government approved Tenancy Deposit Schemes in England help ensure that tenants are treated fairly at the end of their tenancy through protecting deposits.

    A deposit can be protected in a custodial scheme where the deposit is paid (submitted) and held by the scheme until the end of the tenancy. The scheme will pay the deposit back (return) to the tenant if they have fulfilled all their obligations at the end of the tenancy. A deposit can also be protected in an insured scheme, where the landlord or agent holds the deposit and pays it back to the tenant at the end of the tenancy. The deposit is not submitted to or returned by the scheme.

    The figures available for the number of deposits protected for tenants in Greater London since 2011, are set out in Table 1, and for deposits submitted and returned in Table 2.

    Table 1 – tenant’s deposits protected in Greater London

    Year

    Total number of deposits protected

    2011-12

    434,031

    2012-13

    398,635

    2013-14

    453,200

    2014-15

    499,098

    2015-16

    545,937

    Table 2 – tenant’s deposits submitted and returned in Greater London

    Year

    Number of deposits submitted

    Number of deposits returned

    2011-12

    74,202

    55,550

    2012-13

    77,709

    62,341

    2013-14

    82,613

    67,583

    2014-15

    88,465

    70,105

    2015-16

    90,849

    76,305

    The differences between the number of deposits submitted and returned are due to different lengths of tenancies, cases going through the dispute resolution process, and the protection of more deposits as the private rental market continues to grow.

    Overall, 98 per cent of all deposits protected in England since the launch of the tenancy deposit scheme in 2007, are returned to the tenant at the end of their tenancy.