Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in council housing rents on new council housing and the existing stock.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Our decision on social rent reductions was based on the need to put welfare spending on a sustainable footing, whilst protecting the most vulnerable. The housing benefit bill for the social sector in England rose by a quarter over ten years, reaching £13.2 billion in 2014/15. We believe that local authorities and private registered providers will be able to find and make efficiencies to accommodate the new rent settlement. The Government remains committed to delivering 400,000 affordable housing starts by 2021.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2016 to Question 44301, United Nations: finance, how much his Department contributed voluntarily to the missions referred to in each of the last five years.

    Alok Sharma

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office pays the UK’s assessed contributions for Special Political Mission thematic cluster I, which covers special and personal envoys and advisers of the UN Secretary General. This is paid as part of our contribution to the UN Regular Budget, which is mandatory under the UN Charter.

    The UK Government has also, on occasion, provided additional targeted voluntary funding. Information about these discretionary payments is not held in a single consolidated form, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The Government identifies and monitors the value and impact of providing the voluntary funding on a case-by-case basis.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how he plans to define (a) disability and (b) employment for the purposes of measuring the Government’s progress towards halving the disability employment gap.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Progress against the disability employment gap commitment is a key factor in progress towards full employment. This is consistent with the Government’s manifesto commitment which said ‘as part of our objective to achieve full employment, we will aim to halve the disability employment gap’. The annual report on progress towards full employment will include an update on the Government’s progress towards halving the disability employment gap.

    Disability is defined in the Equality Act 2010: “A person has a disability if (a) [they] have a physical or mental impairment, and (b) the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on [their] ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”

    Employment in the UK is measured by the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Statistics on disabled employment are published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics, based on internationally agreed definitions.

  • 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 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of (a) GPs and (b) clinical commissioning groups have plans in place to identify unavoidable deaths.

    Alistair Burt

    The question asked about ‘unavoidable deaths’. Data on the proportion of general practitioners (GPs) and clinical commissioning groups that have plans in place to identify unavoidable deaths is not collected centrally.

  • Mike Wood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Mike Wood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Wood on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the potential contribution to energy efficiency and low carbon energy from buildings markets to (a) improving infrastructure and (b) implementing the Government’s (i) long-term economic plan, (ii) obligations under the Climate Change Act 2008 and (c) commitments to relieve fuel poverty.

    Andrea Leadsom

    There is huge potential for buildings to contribute to our goals on reducing carbon, tackling fuel poverty, keeping bills down and driving economic growth. The UK’s housing stock accounts for around 30% of our energy consumption and a further 20% from non-domestic buildings. Collectively, once electricity emissions are taken into account, buildings make up around one third of our greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing building emissions is therefore key to meeting our Climate Change Act commitment of an 80% green-house gas emissions reduction by 2050.

    Government is acting to harness this potential. A reformed domestic supplier obligation from April 2017, which will run for 5 years, will upgrade the energy efficiency of over 200,000 homes per year tackling the root cause of fuel poverty. Our extension of the Warm Home Discount to 2020/21 at current levels of £320m per annum will also help vulnerable households with their energy bills.

    Alongside this, we have set new minimum standards in law which will, from April 2018, require privately rented buildings to reach a standard of at least energy efficiency band E before they can be let.

    In 2014 a total of 96,510 businesses were active in the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy sector, employing 232,500 full-time equivalent (FTEs) employees generating £45.3 billion of turnover. Over half of these businesses work in the production and supply of energy efficiency products.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has accrued to the public purse from the taxation of coal in each of the last five years.

    Damian Hinds

    It is not possible to disaggregate tax receipts by commodity therefore, a figure for the revenue accrued by the Exchequer from taxes levied on coal cannot be provided.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to protect intellectual property rights and research being conducted at Manchester University’s National Graphene Institute.

    Joseph Johnson

    The UK has one of the most innovative economies and the best IP environment in the world. The Intellectual Property Office offers guidance to all Universities on how to manage and protect their IP assets. In addition, the Government provides a framework and guidance on information security for organisations including universities. Universities are independent and autonomous institutions and it is a matter for individual institutions to determine how they apply guidance.

    Government wants to increase university income from collaboration and commercialisation to £5bn by 2025. The University of Manchester is one of the world’s most successful universities in this respect, working with over 40 partners at the forefront of the graphene revolution.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2016 to Question 29629, if the Government will make it its policy to introduce targeted sanctions against individual members of the Maldivian government if the recommendations of the Commonwealth Action Group are not implemented in the next 12 months.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Following its meeting on 20 April, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) set a revised deadline of September for clear and measurable progress to be delivered in the six areas of concern, identified at their previous meeting in February. It will be for CMAG to assess what progress has been made by September and to decide what collective action may be required. If CMAG assesses sufficient steps have not been taken, the UK will carefully consider appropriate bilateral action to help support reform efforts in the Maldives.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is making to help prevent the displacement of Bedouin people in southern Israel; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We have been encouraging the Israeli authorities and Bedouin communities to find a satisfactory solution to this issue, respecting the equality of all of Israel’s citizens.

  • Lord Lingfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Lingfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lingfield on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to address delays in the production of education, health and care plans in cases where (1) plans are produced by a local authority outside the timescale specified in regulations, and (2) plans are not produced for the start of a new school or academic year where a young person is transferring to a new stage of education at the age of (a) 16, and (b) 18.

    Lord Nash

    Local authorities are responsible for fulfilling the statutory duties on special educational needs (SEN) and disability placed upon them by the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice. This legal framework sets out clearly the process and timescales for producing Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans; and the process for determining the school placement of children and young people with EHC plans.

    Local authorities must issue final EHC plans within 20 weeks of commencing an assessment. Data published in May showed that 59.2% of EHC plans were issued on-time, excluding exception cases. Some areas are managing 100%. We have emphasised to local authorities that, where there are delays, they need to communicate clearly about them with families.

    The SEND Code of Practice is clear that EHC plans must be issued in sufficient time prior to a child or young person moving between key phases of education, to allow for planning and, where necessary, commissioning of support and provision at the new institution. The Children and Familes Act 2014 (Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) (No.2) Order 2014, as amended by the Children and Families Act 2014 (Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2015, require local authorities to prioritise the review of statements of SEN or Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) for children and young people approaching the end of an educational phase.

    Young people aged 19-25 are only able to draw on high needs funding from the Education Funding Agency where they have an EHC plan. Because some local authorities may not complete all the necessary transfers from LDAs to EHC plans by 1 September, EFA-funded institutions can continue to deliver programmes to 19-25 year olds where the young person has a Learning Difficulty Assessment and is receiving high needs funding, and where the local authority is in the process of an EHC assessment but has not finalised the EHC plan.

    The Department does not set targets for the performance of individual local authorities. The Department monitors very closely nationally-published data on local authority performance on SEN and disability and provides support and challenge as appropriate.