Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much in Schedule 4 and Schedule 8 compensation payments Network Rail paid to train operating companies in each year from 2009-10 to 2015-16; and what Schedule 4 payments Network Rail received from train operating companies in that period.

    Claire Perry

    This information is published on Network Rail’s website – http://www.networkrail.co.uk/transparency/datasets/ – covering the years 2011-12 to 2014-15. 2015-16 is not yet available and the Department does not hold this information for the years 2009-10 or 2010-11.

    The Schedule 8 values are net of compensation payments due from train and freight operating companies. The net payment agreed with individual operators is arrived at through a process of attribution of delays where many factors are taken into consideration and compensation amounts are incurred both ways.

    Network Rail does not receive compensation payments under schedule 4.

    “

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how to achieve legally binding targets for air pollution should the third runway at Heathrow proceed.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Airports Commission published a large amount of analysis on air quality, which included an assessment of potential impacts on limit values, in its Final Report, which is available in the libraries of the House.

    In addition, as announced in December, we are testing the Airports Commission’s work on air quality against the Government’s new air quality plan, as recommended by the Environmental Audit Committee.

  • Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they keep statistics of how many British citizens have been excluded from travelling to the US under HR158 of the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015; and if so, how many have been so excluded; and whether they are aware of any British Parliamentarians being refused entry under that rule.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    US immigration processes – including the collection of statistics – are a matter for the US authorities. A number of Members of Parliament have raised this issue on behalf of their constituents and we are aware of at least one Parliamentarian affected by the new legislation. We have raised the importance of clearly communicating changes to immigration policy with the US administration, and remain in close contact with the US Embassy in order to avoid inconvenience to British nationals travelling to the US.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the UN Secretary-General’s report on Children and Armed Conflict, published in April 2016, what steps he is taking to ensure that Saudi Arabia and other Coalition states cooperate with the UN to develop and implement an Action Plan to end and prevent such violations.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We note the announcement by the UN Secretary General on 6 June that removed the listing of the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition from the report’s annex, pending the conclusion of a joint review by the UN and the Saudi-led Coalition on the cases and numbers cited in the text. We welcome co-operation between the UN and Saudi Arabia to look in to this matter.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will meet with Millom Without Parish Council to discuss options to ensure that the North West Coast Connection Project does not affect the landscape of the west of the Lake District National Park.

    Jesse Norman

    As my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be responsible for determining the application for consent for the proposed North West Coast Connection Project, it would not be appropriate for him to meet with Millom Without Parish Council to discuss the merits of the project.

    The application for this project is expected to be submitted by National Grid to the Planning Inspectorate in 2017. During the pre-application stage, the Parish Council and other interested parties can get involved in the consultation process. When the application is lodged, the Parish Council will be able to make representations on it. The Planning Inspectorate can provide advice about the planning process for the project and advice about the process in general is available on its website: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/application-process/the-process/

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  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of changes to tuition fees on the breadth of course provision offered by universities.

    Joseph Johnson

    The breadth of a higher education institution’s course offering is a decision for the institution itself, rather than Government, though it will inevitably be constrained by the need to cover the cost of that provision. The cap on student tuition fees has been frozen since 2012, which has meant that the maximum fee providers can charge has fallen in real terms, from £9,000 to £8,500.

    The Teaching Excellence Framework will mean that those providers who can demonstrate a suitably high standard of teaching quality will be able to maintain their fees in line with inflation.

    This is expected to be worth over £1 billion per year to the sector, ensuring the sector can continue to provide a world leading and diverse higher education system that promotes social mobility and the country’s economic success.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many licences the Government has secured for off-patent drugs in each of the last five years.

    George Freeman

    The Government does not normally apply for medicines licenses, which is rightly an obligation of the company who has developed the drug. The Secretary of State is the United Kingdom licensing authority for medicines and cannot become a routine applicant to himself nor can he become a routine participant in pharmaceutical markets which holders of licenses are obliged to do. The Government has not secured any licenses for off-patent drugs in the past five years.

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what criteria his Department used to select sites for HM Revenue and Customs regional offices.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the planned locations of its future Regional Centres based on a number of key principles that will enable it to deliver more for less. In addition to cost, HMRC has taken account of the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, and the need to retain the staff and skills it requires to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

    HMRC estimates that Liverpool will be home to between 2,800 and 3,100 full time equivalent employees. Consolidation into the Regional Centre is expected to begin in 2019-20. HMRC plans to open the Regional Centre in Cardiff in 2019-20. It is likely that the office at Plas Gororau in Wrexham will close in 2020-21. HMRC will be holding one-to-one discussions with each of its people to discuss the next steps.

  • 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 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions her Department has had with the operators of the Brae Alpha platform following the gas leak on 26 December 2015 that resulted in the shutdown of that platform.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The incident on 26 December 2015 was a safety-related incident at an offshore oil and gas installation, the regulation of which falls within the Health and Safety Executive’s statutory remit under the Offshore Safety Directive.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether there have been any unintentional violations of international humanitarian law carried out by Saudi coalition forces in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are aware of reports of alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by actors to the conflict and take these very seriously. It is important that all sides conduct thorough and conclusive investigations into all incidents where it is alleged that IHL has been breached. As the Saudis themselves announced on Sunday, they have mechanisms in place to investigate alleged incidents and to learn lessons if things go wrong. The Ministry of Defence also monitors incidents of alleged IHL violations using available information, which in turn informs our overall assessment of IHL compliance in Yemen. At this stage, looking at all the information available to us, we have not assessed that there has been a breach of IHL by the coalition, but continue to monitor the situation closely, seeking further information where appropriate.