Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Philip Hollobone – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Philip Hollobone – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has for replacement of the HST 125 trains on the Midland mainline.

    Claire Perry

    The Department considers that franchisees are normally best placed to procure the rolling stock that they require to deliver the necessary levels of service and capacity. We expect the competition for the next East Midlands long-term franchise to deliver those improvements to the rolling stock that are required.

  • Nic Dakin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect on the academic performance of sixth form students of the use of unconditional offers of places by universities.

    Nick Boles

    It is for individual higher education institutions to determine their own admission arrangements. No assessment has been made of the effect on the academic performance of sixth form students of the use of unconditional offers of places by universities.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations her Department made to the recent meeting of the EU Fisheries and Agriculture Council; and for which species support was given at that meeting for quotas exceeding those recommended by scientific advice.

    George Eustice

    At the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council in December 2015 the UK Government supported quota setting in accordance with three high level objectives: to increase the number of stocks fished at sustainable levels, in particular the number fished at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) in 2016; to follow the available science, notably that from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES); and to minimise discards in line with the landing obligation.

    With respect to stocks with full MSY assessments, the UK supported total allowable catches (TACs) higher than the ICES advice for Farn Deeps Nephrops and Eastern Channel sole, because new management measures had been developed which, when implemented, should deliver MSY by 2017 and 2019 respectively.

  • Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which operating costs were included by her Department for full operation of a hydropower scheme for the purposes of modelling its feed-in tariff scheme.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The operating costs included for hydropower schemes aim to capture those costs faced by a developer that are strictly related to the operation of a hydropower plant; this is consistent with the approach taken across other support mechanisms, including the renewables obligation (RO).

    The detailed consideration of operating costs is set out in the impact assessment accompanying the response to the feed-in tariffs review.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486084/IA_-_FITs_consultation_response_with_Annexes_-_FINAL_SIGNED.pdf.

  • Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Indonesian counterpart on freedom of access by journalists to West Papua.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We welcome the Indonesian government’s commitment to improving the situation in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua. President Joko Widodo has visited 3 times since his election, most recently spending New Year in Papua. During his visit in May 2015, he granted clemency to a number of prisoners and announced the lifting of travel restrictions for foreign journalists and international organizations. Since then, a number of foreign journalists have successfully visited and reported from Papua and West Papua. Our Ambassador in Jakarta last visited Papua in January. As well as raising these issues, he also discussed ways to ensure the sustainable and equitable development of the provinces with members of the police, and religious and community leaders.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent progress has been made in preventing members of the Islamic State/Daesh from travelling across the border between Syria and Turkey.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK and Turkey work in close partnership to stop foreign terrorist fighters and extremist travellers from crossing the border between Syria and Turkey, including through practical cooperation between our police and security forces.

    The Turkish authorities are taking significant measures to prevent illegal crossings from Turkey to the conflict zone, including the deployment of additional personnel. Physical security at border crossings between Syria and Turkey is improving, although sections of the border remain porous.

    Between January and December 2015, 913 foreign nationals who are members of Daesh were arrested in Turkey, 435 of whom were caught passing to Syria.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of (a) UK firms based in Wales that trade with other EU member states and (b) people employed by those firms.

    Anna Soubry

    HMRC Regional Trade Statistics on the number of firms trading with the EU are publically available through the UKTradeInfo website.

    HM Treasury has published estimates of the number of UK jobs linked to EU exports broken down by region. These are available through the GOV.UK website.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to table 1.5 of HM Revenue and Customs’ document, Measuring tax gaps, published in October 2013, how much revenue was lost as a result of the tax gap in (a) tax evasion and (b) the hidden economy in each year since 2009-10.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs published its latest tax gap estimates on 22 October 2015 in Measuring tax gaps 2015 edition. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470540/HMRC-measuring-tax-gaps-2015-1.pdf

    The tax gap by behaviour is set out in Figure 1.6 (page 11) and Table 1.5 (page 19). As behaviour estimates are made using management assumptions and judgement, they should be used as a broad indication.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK (a) flight crew, (b) ground crew and (c) intelligence analysts have served on US P-8 Poseidon aircraft under the Seedcorn exchange programme; and what the cost to the UK public purse has been of deploying those people since the start of that programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Seedcorn programme in the US on P8 aircraft started in 2012 with 20 personnel involved and has remained at 20 for each subsequent year (allowing for minor fluctuations during transitory periods). As the Seedcorn programme is an aircrew initiative, no ground crew or intelligence analysts have served on US P8 under it.

    The total cost of the Seedcorn programme since inception is some £14.1 million. It is not possible to break out actual costs for personnel by location and aircraft type.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the examination boards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland collect data on the number of private candidates who sit GCSE and A-Level examinations.

    Nick Gibb

    These questions are a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have therefore asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write directly to the Hon. Member. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House libraries.