Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of implementation of the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849 on trade between US and European banks and financial service companies and their UK equivalents which include on their Board a Member of the House of Lords.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Under the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which will be transposed into national law by June 2017, a politically exposed person is one who has been entrusted with a prominent public function domestically or by a foreign country. The Government will publish an Impact Assessment in due course. This will set out the benefits and costs for businesses in a wide range of sectors, including banking and financial services.

    The changes proposed under the Directive should not prevent any individual in this category from gaining or maintaining access to financial services. Board appointments will remain a matter for individual banks and financial services companies in line with relevant codes and regulations. The Treasury regularly raises the Directive with financial institutions and the regulator, and we encourage financial institutions to take a proportionate, risk-based approach when applying these measures.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-05-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether parity of esteem as established in the Belfast Agreement 1998 applies to (1) people temporarily residing in Northern Ireland, and if so for how long such people have to live there for parity of esteem to apply; and (2) people who live outside Northern Ireland but work in the province.

    Lord Dunlop

    As I have explained in my previous replies to the noble Lord, the concept of ‘parity of esteem’ is expressed and defined in the 1998 Belfast Agreement in relation to people living in Northern Ireland. This Government sees parity of esteem as treating everybody in Northern Ireland fairly and with equal respect, just as it is committed to treating people fairly and with equal respect wherever they live in the United Kingdom.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on benefits eligibility of the conclusion in the University of Hull report, entitled Mapping hunger, published in April 2016, that food bank use is highest in areas with people in skilled manual work or where more people are unable to work due to long-term sickness or disability.

    Justin Tomlinson

    This government is determined to move to a higher wage society, introducing the new National Living Wage that will benefit over 1 million workers directly this year, and spending £80 billion on working age benefits to ensure a strong safety net for those who need it most. We are also committed to supporting people with disabilities and currently spend a record £50 billion a year doing so.

    There are no plans to amend our reforms that are ensuring that work always pays and are restoring fairness for hardworking taxpayers. As the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger noted, the reasons why people use food banks can be complex and are frequently overlapping. Their use cannot be attributed to a single cause.

    Our welfare system provides a strong safety net to those who need extra support.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 4.3.2 of the Open Banking Standard report published in February 2016, what assessment the Government has made of the (a) cyber security, (b) data protection and (c) fraud risks an open banking environment introduces.

    Simon Kirby

    The Open Banking Working Group was created at the request of the government to explore options for allowing customers to use their bank data in a safe, secure and efficient manner. The Group published its report in February 2016. The conclusions reached represent the views of the Working Group and are not government policy.

    Subsequently, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued the final report of its investigation into retail banking on 9 August 2016. As part of this, the CMA requires nine leading UK banks to create an open API (Application Programming Interface) to allow access to customer account information as set out in the revised Payment Services Directive (PSDII), which will come into force in January 2018. Informed consent, data protection and cyber security are key considerations in the PSDII, and the government will be consulting on the transposition of this directive shortly.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 11 October 2016 to Question 46555, if he will provide local authorities with an increased level of ring-fenced funding for social care in excess of that provided by the Better Care Fund.

    David Mowat

    Social care continues to be a key priority for the Government. This is why against the context of tough public sector finances the Government has taken steps to protect social care services. However, it is for local authorities to decide how to prioritise their spending based on local priorities and need.

    The Autumn 2015 Spending Review settlement announced that local authorities who are responsible for social care would have the ability to raise additional funding to spend exclusively on adult social care through an annual council tax raise of up to 2% above the existing threshold. This new funding for adult social care will be pooled with additional funding from the Better Care Fund. The Government will be making further funding available to councils for adult social care through an improved Better Care Fund, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019-20.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the number of Christians who have left Iraq in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK Government continues to condemn in the strongest terms the atrocities committed by ISIL in Iraq against all communities, including Christians, throughout the areas under its control. The human rights situation for many living in ISIL-held areas remains of grave concern.

    We do not currently have estimates for the number of Christians who have fled Iraq due to the atrocities carried out by ISIL. We do, however, continue to encourage Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi to ensure all minorities are represented in Baghdad and their rights protected. We welcome the commitments he has made to inclusivity, to protecting Iraqi citizens, addressing human rights abuses and holding those responsible to account. We continue to engage with minority leaders in Iraq. On Monday 10 November, the Minister of State, my noble Friend the right hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns met with Father Pios, a Catholic priest sheltering Internally Displaced Persons in Iraq, and she discussed the situation of Christians in the country.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Charlotte Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the integrated health and social care system in Northern Ireland in formulating policy on how to better integrate health and social care.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department regularly reviews international evidence in relation to integrated health and social care services. While Northern Ireland has had a structurally integrated health and social care system since 1973, and in more recent years has undergone a restructure in an effort to deliver more coordinated and integrated care, academic evaluation of integration in Northern Ireland has been relatively limited to date. Nonetheless, officials continue to monitor new publications on this subject.

    It is important to note that while there is a growing body of evidence from around the world about what works with regard to integration, no country has successfully delivered integration on a universal scale. Moreover, due to fundamental differences in the design of different health and care systems it is not straightforward to apply lessons learnt elsewhere to the English system.

    More generally, the Government recently reemphasised its ambition to integrate health and social care across England by 2020, and will continue to monitor international evidence as policy is formulated with respect to this programme.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will commission an assessment of the implications for the mental and physical health of children conceived through the use of sperm from prolific, unregulated donors, and whether they intend to review the regulation of sperm donation.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    According to media reports, this particular case concerns private arrangements made between individual women seeking sperm for home insemination and the man providing the sperm. There is no third party involved. Such private arrangements between a man and a woman are not regulated. We understand that there is also no evidence to support the claim of up to 800 children having been born.

    It is important that women seeking sperm donation treatment fully understand the benefits of using clinics licensed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

  • Dame Angela Watkinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Dame Angela Watkinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dame Angela Watkinson on 2016-02-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information he holds on the reasons why the Financial Conduct Authority has not made use of the powers granted to it under sections 382 and 384 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to require restitution from parties who by breaking regulatory requirements cause less to others.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The issues raised are a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) who are operationally independent from Government.

    The questions have been passed on to the FCA. The FCA will reply directly to the Honorable Member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

  • John Howell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    John Howell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Howell on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve education in prisons; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrew Selous

    We want prisons to be places of rigorous education and hard work, As Dame Sally Coates will recommend in her impending report, we want to give control of education in prisoners to governors so they can bring in new providers and hold them to account. That’s why we are also protecting the £130m prison education budget in cash terms.