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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on delivering 750 more charging points in UK towns and cities by 2020 through the Go Ultra Low City scheme.

    Mr John Hayes

    As well as delivering over 750 chargepoints, the Go Ultra Low City Scheme will establish exemplar cities, see local authorities use local powers to encourage uptake, and test new technological solutions. Since the winners were announced in January 2016, the Government has agreed robust delivery plans with all winning cities to deliver the agreed outputs by 2020. Oxford City Council, Milton Keynes, the North East Combined Authority and Nottingham City Council have already begun the process of public chargepoint procurements.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-10-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the introduction of the national living wage on the UK’s international competitiveness.

    Mr David Gauke

    The introduction of the National Living Wage marked an important step towards building an economy that works for everyone. It ensures that low-wage workers are fairly rewarded for their contribution to a growing economy. At £7.20, it is a 50p increase on the National Minimum Wage and means a pay rise for over a million workers aged 25 and over across the UK.

    The impact assessment for the National Living Wage is available at legislation.gov.uk. It covers the direct costs and benefits to businesses and employees, along with the indirect effects of the policy, including the macroeconomic and fiscal impacts.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of assured shorthold tenancies registered with each of the three tenancy deposit schemes; whether each deposit is held under (a) a custodial and (b) an insurance scheme; and how many assured shorthold tenancies there were in England and Wales in each year since each scheme’s establishment.

    Brandon Lewis

    Under tenancy deposit protection legislation introduced in the Housing Act 2004, all landlords who let out property on an assured shorthold tenancy are required to protect their tenants’ deposits in one of the three Government-approved deposit protection schemes.

    Details of the number of deposits protected under each scheme as at March 2015 are set out below:

    Custodial scheme: Deposit Protection Service: 1,170,564

    Insurance Schemes:

    Tenancy Deposit Scheme: 1,135,769
    Deposit Protection Service: 20,944
    MyDeposits: 738,853

    Whilst the Government has authorised three private companies to provide tenancy deposit protection schemes, we do not have a day-to-day role in the running of the schemes, however, we do maintain an oversight responsibility, and the Department holds quarterly monitoring meetings with scheme providers at which any performance issues can be discussed. Over the period that the schemes have been in operation, they have performed at a consistently high level. We have not issued guidance for the schemes who all engage the services of dispute resolution professionals. However, the majority of disputes are resolved in 28 days, which is the performance target set by the Government.

    The number of adjudications per year for each scheme is set out in the attached table, including the percentage of adjudications awarded to tenants and landlords.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce the deficit in the light of statistics from the ONS recording the highest level of borrowing in six years.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The government has made significant progress to date in reducing borrowing – the deficit has more than halved as a share of GDP since 2009-10 and the national debt as a share of GDP is forecast to be falling this year. But the job is not yet done – the deficit remains high among advanced economies.

    At Summer Budget the government announced £17 billion of consolidation measures; £5 billion from tax avoidance, evasion and imbalances in the tax system and £12 billion from welfare reform. The Autumn Statement and Spending Review laid out a further £18 billion; £12 billion savings to overall RDEL spending; £3 billion from the Apprenticeship levy and £3 billion from delivering reforms such as Making Tax Digital and further measures to tackle tax avoidance.

    In their November forecast, the independent OBR predict the deficit to fall in each year of this Parliament, reaching a £10.1 billion surplus by 2019-20.

  • Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the use of illegal sub-contracting employment arrangements in Colombia.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Her Majesty’s Government has not received official reports on the scale of illegal sub-contracting employment in Colombia.

  • Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which particular measures his Department has included in its Road Safety Statement of 21 December 2015 to help reduce the number of cyclists killed and injured every year.

    Andrew Jones

    The government has a manifesto commitment to reduce the number of cyclists and other road users killed or injured on our roads every year and we published our British Road Safety Statement, setting out our priorities in achieving that goal on 21 December 2015.

    The Statement describes a series of actions to be undertaken across government over the short, medium and long term. Several of these contribute specifically to cyclist safety, including:

    • Continue with £50 million investment to deliver Bikeability training in schools, providing the next generation of cyclists with the skills and confidence to cycle safely on local roads
    • Consult on dangerous in-car mobile phone use with a view to increasing penalties for offenders
    • Consult on legislative changes on HGV sideguards
    • Encourage development and implementation of improved HGV design
    • Develop and test new Hazard Perception Test materials to improve learner drivers’ awareness of developing hazards in varying weather and lighting conditions, and broaden the scope of scenarios providing experience of real life situations such as encountering vulnerable road users
    • Our commitment to produce a Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy setting out our objectives, activities and funding available for cycling and walking in England in the long term. The Strategy will be published in the summer and will include details of how the £300m committed in the recent Spending Review will be invested to support cycling and walking.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK rail operators who may lose their franchise as a result of the recently announced proposals to transfer the responsibility for inner suburban rail services in London from his Department to Transport for London maintain and improve their services while this change takes place.

    Claire Perry

    No current franchises will be affected by the proposals, therefore we would not expect to see any operator lose their franchise as a result. The proposed transfer will take place at the start of, or within the, successor franchises.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage older professionals to enter the teaching profession for the first time.

    Nick Gibb

    Career changers are an important source of new teachers and bring relevant knowledge and skills from their previous employment. The number of teachers returning to the profession has increased from 11,710 in 2011 to 14,100 in 2014.

    In 2015/16, 21% of new entrants to initial teacher training (ITT) courses were aged 30 and above. Our marketing campaign, Your Future Their Future, uses a range of advertising to promote teacher recruitment. As part of this we run a month-long ‘New Year New Career’ sub-campaign in January of each year which is dedicated to attracting more career changers to teaching.

    We provide specific support for career changers to make the transition to teaching and particularly for the subjects that are needed the most, which includes:

    • The School Direct (salaried) route, which is specifically targeted at career changers with three years’ work experience and allows them to earn a salary whilst they train to teach.

    • Working with 18 School Direct lead schools to develop and recruit to flexible School Direct (salaried) courses in mathematics and physics, starting in September 2016.

    Career changers can access support including bursaries or scholarships of up to £30,000 tax-free; advice and guidance from the expert advisers on the Get Into Teaching Line; help with arranging school experience to assist with their ITT application; and access to our free Train to Teach events.

  • Mike Weir – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mike Weir – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weir on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will investigate the fitness for purpose of the members’ payments division of the National Consumer Council pension scheme.

    Nick Boles

    The National Consumer Council participated in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS), which is managed by the Cabinet Office. Administration of the PCSPS is contracted out to MyCSP Ltd. MyCSP’s performance in administering the PCSPS is monitored by the Supplier Management team within Civil Service Pensions in the Cabinet Office; the performance of MyCSP is also reported to the Civil Service Pensions Board on a regular basis, which is independent of the Cabinet Office team.

    Contact details for MyCSP are available from the Civil Service Pensions website: www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/contact-us/.

    “

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what reports he has received on the extent of the withdrawal of Russian forces from the conflict in Syria.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Russia withdrew some close air support aircraft and associated engineering capacity earlier this year. However, around the time of their withdrawal, Russia increased its attack helicopter fleet and, therefore, our assessment is that the net effect on Russian deployed capability in Syria has been low.