Tag: Parliamentary Question

Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-17.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to implement the University College London RSCoin proposal.

Harriett Baldwin

Digital currencies, and the distributed ledger technology that underpins them, have the potential to bring innovative services and products to UK customers and firms – particularly in areas like international transfers.

The Chancellor announced in March 2015 that the Government will bring digital currency exchange firms into regulation in the UK to help the legitimate industry flourish, and to create a hostile environment for illicit actors. We will publish proposals on this regulatory regime in due course.

As outlined in Deputy Governor, Ben Broadbent’s recent speech, the Bank of England is also exploring this emerging sector and the implications it could have for monetary and financial stability as part of its broader research agenda.

Separately, academics at University College London’s (UCL) digital currency research centre have also been looking at how the distributed ledger technology that underpins digital currencies could be harnessed by central banks. The Government is encouraged to see this research from one of the UK’s world-leading universities. However, this a theoretical paper by an independent institution, separate from the Bank of England’s work and from Government policy.

It is the Government’s ambition to foster the growth of legitimate digital currency firms as part of the wider FinTech ecosystem here in the UK. As part of this, the Government will consider the wider implications of a growing digital currencies sector for the financial services sector and the economy as a whole. Some parts of Government are also looking at how the benefits of distributed ledger technology can be harnessed to deliver greater innovation. However, the Government and the Bank of England do not currently have any plans to introduce a centrally issued digital currency.

The UK has been rated as having the world’s leading FinTech ecosystem in a recent global benchmarking exercise and attracted c. £524mn in investment in 2015.

01/01/2023

Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children with (a) a Statement of Special Education Needs and (b) Education, Health and Care Plans were educated at home in each of the last five years.

Edward Timpson

The transition period from statements to Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs) runs until April 2018. Every local authority has published an individual Local Transition Plan setting out the timings for transfers to the new system. We are monitoring local authority progress and published figures about transition up to January 2015, returned by local authorities, in the Special Educational Needs in England Statistical First Release of May 2015[1]. We will publish the figures up to January 2016 in May 2016.

The Department does not collect information on the number of children who are home educated. Some local authorities choose to maintain registers so that parents can voluntarily register children being educated at home.

The number and proportion of school pupils who had a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an EHCP in each of the last five years is as follows:

x	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Pupils with statements or EHCPs	224,210	226,125	229,390	232,190	236,165
Pupils on roll	8,123,865	8,178,200	8,249,810	8,331,385	8,438,145
Incidence (%)	2.8	2.8	2.8	2.8	2.8[2]

The number of permanent and fixed period exclusions received by pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs in each of the last five years for which data is available is as follows:

x	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
Fixed period exclusions	37,140	36,740	35,640	32,210	33,190
Permanent exclusions	420	430	380	330	330[3]

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2015

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

“

01/01/2023

Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on the introduction of abortion up to birth.

Jane Ellison

The Abortion Act 1967 sets out that an abortion may be carried out after 24 weeks gestation only where:

― the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman Section 1(1)(b); or

― the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated Section 1(1)(c); or

― there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped Section 1(1)(d).

In England and Wales it is accepted Parliamentary practice that proposals for changes to the Abortion Act come from backbench members and that decisions are made on the basis of free votes. The Government has no plans to review this legislation.

01/01/2023
Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential effect of the single-tier state pension on the level of income of widows.

Richard Harrington

Under the new State Pension over three million women stand to receive an average of £11 a week more State Pension by 2030.

Around four percent of women reaching State Pension age in the first ten years following implementation will be affected by ending access to a derived basic pension while still married and/or when widowed. The proportion falls to two percent or less for succeeding cohorts. We are not able to provide an impact specifically on widows as the analysis does not separately identify the proportion of those who are affected only while married because they predecease their spouse.

01/01/2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many civil servants working in his Department have been seconded from other government departments; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Jones

All departments are equipping themselves with the resources they need to get the best deal for the UK. The Department for Exiting the European Union now has over 250 staff plus the expertise of over 120 officials in Brussels, and we are still growing rapidly.

The term ‘secondment’ to refers to an interchange of staff between the Civil Service and an external organisation as such we have not brought any secondees into the Department from elsewhere in the Civil Service. All joiners from other Government departments have been on a loan basis, which refers to an interchange of staff between Civil Service departments or Agencies.

01/01/2023
Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent representations he has received on the use of plastic bank notes; and if he will make a statement.

Harriett Baldwin

The Bank of England is the issuing authority for banknotes. Following research and a public consultation in 2013, the Bank decided that new polymer £5 and £10 banknotes would come into circulation at the end of 2016 and 2017 respectively. In September 2015, the Bank announced that the next £20 note will also be printed on polymer after considering further developments in banknote technology.

01/01/2023
Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-11-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make representations to the government of China about not returning to North Korea nine refugees transferred to China from Vietnam; what assessment they have made of conclusions by Human Rights Watch that, should those refugees be repatriated, they will be at grave risk; and what assessment the British Ambassador in Pyongyang has made of the fate of other refugees returned to North Korea.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are aware of the situation and are discussing the case with the relevant authorities. We raise the issue of non-refoulement with the Chinese government regularly, including at the last UK-China Human Rights Dialogue.

01/01/2023
Clive Efford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Efford on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Colombian authorities about reducing the practice of locating military bases in rural villages.

Mr Hugo Swire

The government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) reached a number of agreements in September 2015, which I welcomed at the time. These agreements included one on rural development.

I also welcomed the commitment made by both sides to sign a final peace deal by the end of March 2016. We continue to offer advice to the government of Colombia on implementation of the Peace Process and the potential role of the military in the post conflict phase.

01/01/2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many local authorities have applied for funding from the permanent pothole fund since the announcement of that fund in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015; and how many applications for such funding his Department expects to be approved in (a) 2015-16 and (b) the 2015-20 Parliament.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport is providing over £6.1 billion funding to local highway authorities in England between 2015 and 2021 for local highways maintenance. This includes repairing roads that might be damaged due to severe winter weather. This funding includes £50 million per annum from 2016 to 2021 for a dedicated Pothole Action Fund as announced in the recent Spending Review.

The Department for Transport is currently working up criteria on how the Pothole Action Fund will operate and an announcement will be made in due course on this. Therefore no applications have yet been submitted nor have any decisions been made on how this funding will be allocated.

01/01/2023
Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Prime Minister, which hon. Members have security clearance for access to 10 Downing Street.

Mr David Cameron

It has been the practice of successive Governments not to comment on security issues.

01/01/2023