Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on accumulated pension wealth on the lifetime allowance basis.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government does not hold its own records on total accumulated pension wealth, only on pension contributions. For the purposes of the Lifetime Allowance, officials have used data from the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey, which includes estimates of pension wealth.

    The Government assessed the effects of changes to the Annual Allowance and Lifetime Allowance by considering how many people would have to reduce their saving in response to these reductions. This methodology was agreed with the OBR.

    The reduction in the Lifetime Allowance will affect only 4% of savers currently approaching retirement. The Lifetime Allowance will be reduced to £1 million from April, but the average pension savings of someone approaching retirement is only £85,000.

    Just 1% of savers make contributions of £40,000 per year, the level of the Annual Allowance since April 2014. The average saver contributes £6,000 per year.

    The introduction of the Tapered Annual Allowance for individuals who earn over £150,000 in April 2016 will impact less than 2% of people saving into a pension.

    The Government laid out its modelling on the effect of changes to the Annual and Lifetime Allowances on pension contributions in its policy costings documents at the March and Summer Budgets 2015.

    For changes to the Lifetime Allowance, the Wealth and Assets Survey was used to estimate pension wealth, and this was projected forward using assumed pension contributions and estimates of the real rate of return on pensions savings taken from the OECD and the Government Actuary’s Department.

    For the Tapered Annual Allowance, modelling used estimates from the Survey of Personal Incomes, HMRC operational data on personal pension contributions, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, and the Occupational Pension Scheme Survey.

  • Lord Truscott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Truscott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of the experience in Oklahoma in the US, they plan to commission a detailed study into the potential correlation between fracking in the UK and more frequent earthquakes.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Waste water re-injection in the US has been linked to seismic activity, but this technique has not been proposed in the UK and the Environment Agency will not permit re-injection of waste water into any formation at this stage.

    In the UK, we have over 50 years’ experience regulating the onshore oil and gas industry. Our regulator regime is robust and we have strong controls in place to mitigate the risk of any seismic activity in the UK.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Prevent strategy.

    Mr John Hayes

    As part of the Prevent Strategy we have trained over 450,000 frontline workers in spotting signs of radicalisation. In Channel, hundreds of people have been successfully provided with support. 130 community based projects were delivered in 2015, up from 70 in 2014, reaching over 25,300 participants. Our local coordinator network has dramatically increased its reach, working with over 2,790 different institutions and engaging nearly 50,000 individuals over the course of 2015.

    Following referrals from the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit, social media providers removed 58,000 pieces of illegal terrorist material in 2015, compared with 46,000 in 2014. This brings the total to 140,000 since February 2010 when the police Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit was set up.

    We report on Prevent delivery annually through the CONTEST Annual report. The next report will be published shortly.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children in England who are categorised as Children in Need due to abuse or neglect have been (a) referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and (b) received treatment from CAMHS in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    This data has not been collected centrally. However, in February this year for the first time the Health and Social Care Information Centre began collecting a range of data about children and young people’s use of secondary mental health services via the new Mental Health Services Dataset. This includes data on whether children and young people using services are looked-after and are, or have been, subject to a child protection plan. Data quality and quantity will take time to build, but we expect a range of national reports to be developed during the course of 2016.

  • MiDavies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    MiDavies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the Italian model of cardiac screening for young people involved in sport.

    Jane Ellison

    There are a number of questions relating to the effectiveness of the Italian programme that are not available in published literature. The screening programme had been asked previously to provide unpublished data and information but have not to date done so. I wrote to the Italian government again in February 2016 with no response received. Departmental officials will continue to follow this up.

    The most recent review of risk of sudden cardiac death reviewed published evidence and literature relating to a variety of programmes including that in Italy;

    http://legacy.screening.nhs.uk/suddencardiacdeath

    “

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse has been to date of the area-based review of post-16 education in the Liverpool City Region.

    Robert Halfon

    Area reviews are designed to deliver a further education system that meets the economic and educational needs of areas, whilst also ensuring the long term sustainability of colleges to support productivity. The Department and its agencies are undertaking this work without any additional staffing. Additional costs have, therefore, been minimal. Where they have arisen, they have been met by reprioritising existing resources. This has included providing access to additional advice and support from the Further Education and Sixth Form College Commissioners and their teams.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on the Future Combat Air System.

    Harriett Baldwin

    As set out in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), we are working in partnership with the UK defence industry and our closest allies to understand and develop the technologies that will be required for future combat air systems (FCAS). No decisions have yet been made as to what this system will consist of, nor the platforms and capabilities that it will include. We are focussing now on developing the core technologies that any such system will require. To do this we have developed and are implementing the FCAS technology initiative. This programme includes the development of an advanced unmanned combat air system (UCAS) demonstrator in partnership with France, bilateral projects with the United States (US) to mature other key technologies and a national programme to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in the combat air sector.

    In Amiens in March 2016 we agreed to transition to the next phase of the UK/France UCAS programme in 2017 and to develop the full-scale demonstrators by 2025. In addition to the current projects we are in discussions with the US and other allies to understand areas of mutual interest for further collaborative work.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what value of projects received investment through the Infrastructure Investment Forum (a) in 2015 and (b) since the Forum’s launch.

    Greg Hands

    The Insurers’ Infrastructure Investment Forum was set up the to give members of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) a direct communication link to Government, exploring ways to maximise opportunities for insurance fund managers to invest in UK infrastructure debt instruments via the capital markets.

    In 2013 a group of 6 insurers agreed to aim to invest £25bn in UK infrastructure over the next 5 years. They have already invested over £5bn and are on track to meet their target.

    In 2015 InfraRed Capital Partners and Prudential have each taken 45% stakes in the £1bn Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to widen access to the digital economy for young people.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    This Government is ensuring that young people can participate in the digital economy. The new computing curriculum was launched in schools in September 2014, supporting young people to be digitally confident, and reformed digital apprenticeships are providing more opportunities for young people to gain the digital skills employers value. This Government has also launched a new digital degree apprenticeship, giving young people from all backgrounds high-level digital skills training alongside on-the-job experience.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department’s planned expenditure on grant-in-aid to Arts Council England is for (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, (c) 2018-19 and (d) 2019-20.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    DCMS secured an excellent settlement in the latest Spending Round that highlights the important contributions our sectors make in job creation, helping grow our economy, and bringing arts and culture to communities across the UK. Arts Council England’s overall settlement over the Spending Review period maintains the current resource budget in cash terms – £354,042,000 in 2016/17; £350,724,000 in 2017/8; £357,593,000 in 2018/19 and £359,307,000 in 2019/20.