The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the in-service dates are for the River-Class Offshore Patrol Vessels currently under construction on the Clyde.
Harriett Baldwin
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given in the House of Lords on 12 September 2016 by my noble Friend the Minister of State for Defence, the right hon. Earl Howe to the noble Lord, Lord West of Spithead to Question HL1533.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will designate airfields as greenfield sites.
Brandon Lewis
National planning policy already requires local planning authorities to take account of airfields’ growth and role in serving business, leisure, training and emergency needs. In March we issued guidance emphasising the need for local planning authorities to have regard to the extent to which an aerodrome contributes to connectivity outside the authority’s own boundaries.
Currently, all airfields, as land that has been previously developed, are regarded as brownfield land.
We will work with the aviation sector to ensure the current policy relating to development on airfields is better understood.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-26.
To ask the Prime Minister, what discussions he has had with the Arab League on the situation in Syria before he published his response to the Second Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, on the Extension of Offensive British Military Operations to Syria, HC 457.
Mr David Cameron
The Government are in regular contact with the Arab League who attended the International Syria Support Group in Vienna on 14 November. Nabil Al-Araby, Chair of the Arab League, participated in a discussion on Syria with UK representatives at the United Nations General Assembly on 30 September. We remain committed to engagement and coordination with regional partners in our efforts to degrade Daesh in Syria.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-07.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department spent on the outsourcing of its compliance review to Concentrix; and if he will make a statement.
Mr David Gauke
The value of the contract was estimated at between £55m and £75m at contract award. Payments to Concentrix are based on the results they deliver, taking into account the quality and accuracy of their work.Concentrix are not paid for any cases where the decision they make is overturned.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) help limit increases in costs for (i) airport parking and (ii) train travel.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Department does not monitor costs for airport parking. Airports are private commercial enterprises operating in a competitive market. Any charges the airport wishes to pass on to passengers or visitors (including car parking) is solely a matter for the airport to manage and justify.
In terms of train travel, we recognise the pressure on hardworking families and have put a stop to above inflation (RPI) increases in regulated fares until 2020, extending the policy of a cap at RPI +0% for regulated rail fares we introduced in 2014. This will save the average season ticket holder £425 in this Parliament and means average earnings are outstripping rail fare increases for the first time in a decade.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in his Department.
Mike Penning
The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out the role of special advisers and describes the range of activities they may undertake. Copies of the Code of Conduct are available in the Library of the House and online at
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-03-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are considering ending Conflict, Stability and Security Fund support for community-level peacebuilding in South Sudan more gradually in order to provide time for organisations which are currently receiving funding to secure alternative sources of support.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Across the Sudan and South Sudan Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF), we have decided to maintain the same level of funding for community-level peacebuilding programmes in FY16-17.
We are not ending CSSF support for community-level peace building in South Sudan. All projects have clearly defined end dates and implementers are aware that there is no guarantee of further funding beyond that date. Sustainability beyond that point is something that implementers are required to analyse as part of their original project plan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 21220, what progress has been made on deciding whether to add Dupuytren’s contracture condition to the list for industrial injuries disablement benefit.
Justin Tomlinson
It is expected that a decision on whether or not to add Dupuytren’s contracture to the list of prescribed diseases will be made shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she has taken to implement the Government’s policy on increasing the involvement of women’s civil society in the development of government policy.
Caroline Dinenage
I greatly value the expertise of women’s civil society and the Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities and I have met with many representatives since taking on our current roles. My officials also frequently consult the women’s sector on policy issues, including policy development, to ensure we benefit from the knowledge and understanding of relevant experts – for example on issues such as the gender pay gap, flexible working and gender diversity of company boards.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans are in place to ensure that a server issue with the universal credit portal does not reoccur.
Damian Hinds
Whenever a service problem is identified the Department always prioritises claimants first ensuring their payments are not interrupted. In this instance the outage impacted only 24 of the 712 Jobcentres across Great Britain and none of the claimants impacted experienced a delay in their payments.
The performance of all systems is continuously monitored on many resilient servers and in the event of an outage an immediate impact assessment is made and appropriate action taken to ensure normal service is resumed at the earliest possible opportunity and the impact on claimants is minimised.
We continually assess the performance of our suppliers, and underlying engineering, to ensure systems are available to meet the needs of claimants and the Department. With the exception of this isolated supplier outage the performance of the UC portal has been higher than expected, however, further improvements to resilience were already under active consideration as part of preparing for UC Full Service national expansion.