Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Written Statement of 10 February 2016, HCWS520, when he expects the Review of the Homes and Communities Agency to be published.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Spending Review underlined the priority this Government attaches to our ambition to build a million homes this Parliament and to double the number of new homeowners. Building on the successful contribution the Homes and Communities Agency made in the last Parliament, the Review will ensure that they are well-placed to deliver the Government’s objectives.

    In line with Cabinet Office guidance, the Review will consider a range of options in looking at how the Agency can operate in the most effective and efficient way.

    We will be seeking evidence from a wide range of sources, including the Agency itself, and will provide an opportunity for interested stakeholders to contribute views. Once this evidence has been collected and conclusions drawn, the Review will report as soon as possible.

  • Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Cox on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks of the Minister of State for the Department for International Development, Mr Desmond Swayne, on 16 March (HC Deb, col 937), whether non-state actors can be guilty of genocide, subject to a referral to the International Criminal Court from the United Nations Security Council.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Under Article IV of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III of the Convention shall be punished whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals. Any member of Daesh who has committed an act of genocide is therefore liable to prosecution. Individual criminal responsibility, rather than by organisations or groups, is determined by courts. The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor has set out some of the complicated issues involved in the ICC investigating Daesh in her press statement of 8 April 2015.

  • Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what statutory duty there is on individual general practitioners to provide notice of closure of a GP practice to NHS England or clinical commissioning group.

    Alistair Burt

    GP Contract regulations require a practice to give NHS England written notice of their intention to terminate their contract. Where the contract is with a partnership, the contract terminates six months from the date of the notice. In the case of a single handed practice, the contract terminates three months from the date of the notice.

    There is no specific statutory duty on NHS England to notify patients of the closure of a practice however the National Health Service Act 2006 requires NHS England to ensure the provision of primary medical services throughout England.

    However, NHS England take the closure of a practice very seriously and will look to engage with patients at the earliest opportunity.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when his Department plans to publish its Skills White Paper.

    Nick Boles

    The Government is implementing reforms to the skills system to ensure we have the technical skills that the economy needs. We are considering when and how to publish details of our plans for further reform of the skills strategy.

  • Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2016-06-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs’ draft report on the proposal for a regulation on securitisation and creating a European framework for simple, transparent and standardised securitisation; and whether he supports the Committee’s proposal to increase risk retention from five per cent to 20 per cent based on a vertical slice of securitised assets.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government welcomed the development of international and EU standards to revitalise the regulatory framework for securitisation by encouraging the use of simpler and more transparent products. We agree with the Bank of England that a well-functioning and stable securitisation market will benefit financial stability and the wider economy. We support the Basel standards for securitisation, set with the intention of enhancing financial stability, which see features such as tranching and synthetic structures as being legitimate activity. We also support the need for all securitisations to adhere to appropriate rules on transparency and investor due diligence, and that they must be afforded sensibly calibrated capital requirements. Following the financial crisis it was Basel, working with the Financial Stability Board and the International Organization of Securities Commissions which, set the 5 percent risk retention standard.

    In the development and delivery of policy, Treasury Ministers and officials are in regular contact with relevant institutions, regulatory authorities, other governments, industry and other civil society groups including think tanks such as Finance Watch.

  • Chris Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chris Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Green on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled, Chancellor steps up industry engagement, published on 7 September 2016, what plans he has to engage with the bio-tech and pharmaceutical industry as part of that industry engagement.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Treasury regularly engages with businesses from all sectors and values the opportunity to hear their views.

    Over the next month, the Chancellor will be meeting with over 80 representatives from businesses of all sizes, and from a wide variety of sectors and regions, including the bio-tech and pharmaceutical industry.

  • Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gill Furniss on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to keep records of the (a) number of people who have their tax credits erroneously suspended by Concentrix, (b) number of people who subsequently have those tax credits reinstated and (c) length of time it takes HMRC to subsequently process those payments.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) collects a wide range of data in order to process a claim. However, this data is not currently held in a form that is accessible for bulk requests without incurring disproportionate costs. For that reason, HMRC is currently focused on resolving outstanding Concentrix cases, but will be preparing analysis which will be made available in due course.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Leader of the House, how many civil servants in his Office are members of trades unions; how much working hours facility time is claimed by each such civil servant; and what the cost of that facility time is to his Office.

    Chris Grayling

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matt Hancock) on 4 November 2015, to Question UIN 13734.

    “

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what open data requirements apply to the BBC (a) generally and (b) to the publication of or making available licence fee payment numbers by region.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The BBC has a duty under the Charter to observe high standards of openness and transparency. The BBC is also subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The BBC has a Memorandum of Understanding in place with the Open Data Institute and the Open Knowledge Foundation to support to the BBC in its aspirations to open up data where this is appropriate.

    The BBC does not collate licence fee income by region, so cannot publish this information.

  • 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 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been charged with trying to escape from a prison van in each of the last five years; and how many such people have avoided recapture.

    Andrew Selous

    The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not hold data about the number of people charged with trying to escape from vehicles operated by NOMS or by contractors.

    NOMS has implemented a range of measures in recent years to improve the security surrounding prisoners on escort. Between 2010-11 and 2014-15, 23 prisoners escaped from vehicles operated by NOMS or by contractors. All were re-captured.

    Overall, the number of escapes from prison escorts almost halved from 102 between 2005-06 and 2009-10, to 59 between 2010-11 and 2014-15.

    The table below gives the numbers and details of the escapes for each of these years.

    Escapes from escorts while entering or leaving vehicles1 or en route to or from venue

    Response

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    ENTERING VEHICLE

    0

    0

    0

    2

    2

    LEAVING VEHICLE

    0

    1

    1

    1

    0

    VEHICLE EN ROUTE FROM VENUE

    0

    2

    0

    1

    0

    VEHICLE EN ROUTE TO VENUE

    1

    6

    1

    3

    2

    TOTAL

    1

    9

    2

    7

    4

    (1) Vehicles primarily refer to prison vans used for escorting prisoner but do include other vehicle types

    The table below provides information about escapes which have taken place from prison escort and private escort contractors from 2005/06 to 2014/15. The table includes escapes from courts but not those escapes of less than 15 minutes’ duration and covers the full duration of the escort process.

    KPI Escapes1 from Prison Escort2 and from Private Escort Contractors (PECS)3 from 2005/06 to 2014/15

    2005 /06

    2006 /07

    2007 /08

    2008 /09

    2009 /10

    2010 /11

    2011 /12

    2012 /13

    2013 /14

    2014 /15

    KPI Prison Escorts Escapes

    8

    6

    2

    4

    3

    1

    2

    0

    2

    1

    KPI Contracted Out Escort (PECS) Escapes

    17

    19

    16

    15

    12

    10

    13

    9

    9

    12

    KPI Category A Escapes during Escort

    –

    –

    –

    –

    –

    –

    1

    –

    –

    –

    1) The definition of a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Escape if (i) the prisoner is at liberty for 15 minutes or more before recapture or (ii) a prisoner escapes and is charged with another criminal offence.

    2) Escaping the control of escorting prison service staff.

    3) Escapes from the secure vehicles or supervision of contracted prison escorts. This includes escapes from court where contracted prison escort staff have been notified.

    “