The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-01.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that bank dividends are properly taxed.
Harriett Baldwin
Banks are taxed on their dividend receipts according to the same rules as other companies. We have robust anti-avoidance legislation in place to ensure that these rules are not abused, including the General Anti-Abuse Rule which was legislated in Finance Act 2013.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities applied for monies from the Planning Enforcement Fund; and how many such applications were successful.
Brandon Lewis
The Department received six applications for enforcement grants before the deadline for submitting applications and all were successful.
Two grants were made in the financial year 2014-15 to Staffordshire County Council (£8,010) and Stratford-on-Avon District Council (£3,200).
Four grants were made in the financial year 2015-16 to Bath and North East Somerset Council (£7,993.75), London Borough of Camden (£8,184.50), Chelmsford City Council (£2,755) and South Gloucestershire Council (£3,291.66).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-05-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of Tier 2 skilled workers leaving the UK (a) voluntarily or (b) otherwise involuntarily as a result of the new £35,000 income requirement for settlement.
James Brokenshire
The Home Office published a full impact assessment on the changes to Tier 2 settlement rules when they were laid before Parliament on 15 March 2012. The impact assessment is available on the gov.uk website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117957/impact-assessment-tier2.pdf.
Alternative routes available for Tier 2 workers unable to meet the minimum earnings threshold would depend on their individual circumstances. For the most part, economic migrants who wish to change their basis of stay in the UK are expected to leave and re-apply for an alternative visa from their home country. However, in-country switching is permitted in some categories, for example into Tier 1 routes aimed at high value migrants.
Tier 2 migrants who apply for settlement and do not meet the requirements will be refused. Those who do not qualify for an alternative route and have reached the maximum period of limited leave allowed under Tier 2 should make plans to leave the United Kingdom. Any migrant who has over stayed the validity of their visa or otherwise failed to regularise their stay in the UK may be removed if they refuse or fail to leave of their own volition. They may also be liable to prosecution under the Immigration Act 1971.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Miller on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to respond to the findings of the report published by the Children’s Commissioner and the NSPCC in June 2016, on a quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people, to ensure that children are not able to view pornographic material on (a) social media and (b) any other platform.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The Government has noted with interest the findings of this report, and particularly that children were as likely to see pornographic content online inadvertently as they were to seek it out deliberately. This further strengthens the case for the action the Government is taking on the manifesto commitment to require age verification controls for access to online pornography, which will make it harder for children to access this content online. Our preferred approach was set out in our consultation published in February this year. Government is currently finalising our response to this consultation
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-09-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, when her Department last made a formal assessment of the Palestinian National Authority’s adherence to its commitment to ensure that the human rights of all citizens are respected without exception as set out in the Memorandum of Understanding between her Department and that authority; and if she will make a statement.
James Wharton
The last formal assessment of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) commitment to the Partnership Principles, including the PA’s commitment to respecting human rights, was carried out in May 2016. Our assessment is that the PA continues to deliver on the Partnership Principles, even under increasingly fragile and volatile conditions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to implement the family test.
Edward Timpson
The family test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014. The Department for Work and Pensions published guidance for Departments and officials on how the test should be applied when formulating policy which can be found online[1]. The Department for Education follows this guidance.
The family test is an integral part of the policy making process and is applied in a proportionate way in the development of all new policies in line with the family test guidance.
As stated in the guidance, there is no requirement to publish family test assessments. The Department has published the outcome of such assessments on a number of occasions, including as part of the impact assessments of the Childcare Bill[2] and the Education and Adoption Bill[3].
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-test-assessing-the-impact-of-policies-on-families
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childcare-bill-impact-assessment
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-and-adoption-bill-impact-assessment
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2015-12-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s planned expenditure is on television recruitment campaigns for the (a) Royal Navy and (b) Royal Navy Reserve in (i) 2015-16, (ii) 2016-17, (iii) 2017-18, (iv) 2018-19 and (v) 2019-20.
Penny Mordaunt
The expenditure, or planned expenditure, of each Service on television recruitment campaigns in Financial Year (FY) 2015-16 is as follows:
Naval Service – planned expenditure has not been finalised but is currently forecast to be £4.3 million for Regular personnel and £0.72 million for Reserves.
Army – planned expenditure is £0.94 million for Regular personnel and £0.65 million for Reserves.
Royal Air Force (RAF) – planned expenditure has not been finalised but is currently forecast to be £3.46 million. It is not possible to differentiate between Regular and Reserve spend as the majority of RAF advertisements are targeted towards both cadres.
Plans for expenditure in FY 2016-17 and onwards have not been finalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 22318, what estimate his Department has made of the total value of NHS Bursaries issued to medical students in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Ben Gummer
Information of the total value of National Health Service maintenance bursaries issued to medical students in each of the last five complete financial years is shown in the following table.
|
Financial Year1 |
Bursary Expenditure (£)3 |
|
2010/112 |
22,228,317 |
|
2011/122 |
21,887,045 |
|
2012/132 |
22,966,804 |
|
2013/142 |
23,424,694 |
|
2014/152 |
23,235,955 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority
1Covers the period 1 April to 31 March.
2Figures extracted from Annual Report for the respective financial year.
3The NHS Bursary includes the basic maintenance award, all supplementary allowances and one off payments.
NHS Bursaries are available to undergraduate medical students from the fifth year of the undergraduate degree and to graduates from the second year of the four year accelerated degree.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2016-02-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there are any circumstances in which Ministers are entitled to access corporate tax returns submitted to HM Revenue and Customs.
Mr David Gauke
No.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department plans to repair the broken fuel storage tanks at Akrotiri Sovereign Base Area in Cyprus.
Mark Lancaster
A programme is currently in progress to repair or replace the three broken bulk fuel installations at RAF Akrotiri. It is anticipated that all installations will be back in use in summer 2016.
An interim solution is currently in place; the repair or replacement work has had no impact on the unit’s operational output.