Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they are giving to producers of biodiesel made from waste products.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) provides double rewards for biofuels derived from wastes.

    The Department concluded a post-implementation review of the RTFO in April 2014. Evidence from the review indicates that double rewards for biofuels from wastes, which were introduced under the RTFO in 2011, have encouraged a strong market for biodiesel from used cooking oil in the UK.

    Since the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) was established waste based biofuels have risen from 12% of total biofuel supply in the first year of the obligation 2008/09, to 50% according to the data for 2014/15 (Biofuels Statistics obligation year 7 2014/15 – Report 5).

  • Callum McCaig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of whether the policies outlined in her speech at the Institution of Civil Engineers on 18 November 2015 will ensure the UK meets the fourth Carbon Budget.

    Andrea Leadsom

    My Rt. hon Friend,the Secretary of State announced in November, this Government is committed to taking pragmatic action to meet the fourth carbon budget whilst ensuring that energy is secure and bills remain low. Measures announced in her speech – including the intention to replace unabated coal with new gas, nuclear and renewables; increased competition; concerted action on heat; and support for innovation – are all in line with this commitment.

    Our new emissions reduction plan will be published towards the end of 2016 and will set out our proposals in full.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the target for new recruits to the Royal Navy Reserve has been met in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    The Maritime Reserve (MR) is a vital component of the Naval Service’s capability and consists of the Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Marines Reserve.

    Centrally held data for the MR recruitment targets does not go back 10 years. Since the Future Reserve 2020 Programme was established in July 2012 the MR have achieved their targets each year.

  • Simon Hart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Simon Hart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target timescale is for people leaving prison from application to receipt for universal credit; and how many and what proportion of applications take longer than that timescale.

    Priti Patel

    Prisoners are supported and advised whilst in prison on which benefits they can claim and how to make a claim and we are developing arrangements to enable them to make advance claims to Universal Credit.

    Appropriate support measures for prison leavers with mental health issues will be considered following the initial claim interview.

    Universal Credit is assessed and paid calendar monthly in arrears. Prison leavers will receive payment within the timescale of 5 weeks from the date of claim.

    Prison leavers who are in financial need can apply for an advance payment of up to 50% of their total Universal Credit award following their initial interview.

    The information requested in relation to the timescales for applications is not readily available for publication. To quality assure this information according to the standards of the UK Statistics Authority would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2016 to Question 31677, what the penalties are for an employer who has issued a Certificate of Sponsorship but does not adhere to the stated job description and salary.

    Mike Penning

    Guidance for sponsors specifies that UKVI will revoke the licence of a sponsor who has issued a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) but has not adhered to the specified job description and/or salary. However, prior to the consideration of revocation action, UKVI will suspend the licence and allow the sponsor the opportunity to make representations against the matter(s) identified. UKVI does have residual discretion to apply a lesser sanctions depending on the severity of the matter(s) and the mitigating circumstances presented by the sponsor; these sanctions include downgrading the licence rating and issuing a time limited action plan or reducing the sponsor’s CoS allocation or setting the allocation to zero.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times Capita Translation and Interpreting has met its key performance target since it has been contracted to provide courtroom interpreting services; and how many fines that company has incurred for missing those targets over that period.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The key performance target under the Language Services contract relates to successful completion of service requests for the provision of interpreters. The contract sets out a 98% target completion rate. The success rates for the first six months of the last financial year 2015/16 are 96.4 percent (Q1) and 97.3 percent (Q2). In addition the rate of complaints over this period was at its lowest level at just over 1 per cent.

    Service credits can be imposed on Capita in line with the terms of the contract when performance falls below the contractual level of 98% success rate. From the beginning of the contract in January 2012 until September 2015 Capita TI has paid Service Credits on 44 occasions.

    We are absolutely committed to further improving performance to ensure a standard of language services that meets the needs of all those who use the service in the justice system.

    The contract has delivered significant improvements so far and we now have a system that is robust, sustainable and able to deliver a quality service at an affordable level. Since we introduced a new interpreting contract in 2012 we have spent £38m less on language service fees.

  • Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Key Stage 1 children in (a) Barnsley East constituency, (b) Barnsley and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber were in classes of more than 30 children in the academic year beginning September (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2013, (iv) 2014 and (v) 2015.

    Nick Gibb

    Information about the number of pupils in infant classes with more than 30 pupils is available at school level in the underlying data of the ‘schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistics.[1]

    Information on class sizes for the academic year beginning September 2015 is not yet available and is due to be released in June 2016.

    [1] Data from January 2011 is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2011 in the file called ‘School_level_classes_2011’ within the underlying data download

    Data from January 2012 is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2012 in the file called ‘School_level_classes_2012’ within the underlying data download

    Data from January 2013 is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2013 in the file called ‘School_level_classes_2013’ within the underlying data download

    Data from January 2014 is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2014 in the file called ‘SFR15_2014_school_level_classes_UD’ within the underlying data download.

    Data from January 2015 is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015 in the file called ‘SFR16_2015_Schools_Classes_UD’ within the underlying data download.

    “

  • Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will estimate the number of school places that will be available in Yorkshire and Humber in each of the next five years.

    Edward Timpson

    The department collects information from each local authority (LA) on the current number of school places and LA’s firm plans for the delivery of additional places over the next three years, through the annual school capacity survey (SCAP).

    As at May 2015 there were 475,707 primary places and 375,888 secondary places at maintained mainstream schools across Yorkshire and Humber. At that point in time LAs across Yorkshire and Humber reported they had firm plans for delivery of an additional 17,919 places by 2017/18. The number of new places for which LAs have firm plans for delivery, through academic years 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 is available in table A7 of the attached and is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-capacity-academic-year-2014-to-2015

    The data represents a snapshot in time and LAs will have delivered and developed plans for many more new places since.

    “

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will introduce a statutory maximum temperature on (a) stationary aircraft and (b) aircraft in flight.

    Mr John Hayes

    The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has requirements in the aircraft certification specifications regarding the ventilation requirements of aircraft cabin, but no maximum temperature has been identified. It would be for EASA to introduce any changes to these safety requirements, based on robust evidence base.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what provisions her Department has made for (a) child and adolescent friendly spaces and (b) other psycho-social support for children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK is the third largest donor to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is providing basic education and protection for over 230,000 children in Gaza.

    As part of the UK’s humanitarian response to the 2014 conflict, DFID activated its £3 million Rapid Response Facility which included support to Handicap International, Plan International and International Medical Corps to provide psycho-social support, child protection and mental health support to children in Gaza.

    DFID also provided support to the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) who have cleared all UNRWA and 21 Palestinian Authority schools of unexploded ordnance allowing 250,000 students to return to school.