The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what sentences were handed down to people convicted of each type of terrorist offence in the last year for which information is held.
Mr John Hayes
The attached table provides data on the sentences received by persons convicted of terrorism-related offences in the year ending December 2015, broken down by the primary offence for which they were convicted.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been paid in fines by Govia Thamelink Railway to his Department to compensate for poor performance in each of the last three years.
Claire Perry
Govia Thameslink Railway’s (GTR’s) provision of services for the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise only began on 14 September 2014, with Southern services included from 26 July 2015.
There is an incentive/penalty regime in place and this has seen just over £2 million levied against GTR in respect of their Cancellation and Short-Formation performance benchmarks.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what budget has been allocated under the Public Duty Cost Allowance for civil servants after leaving office.
Ben Gummer
The Public Duties Cost Allowance is to assist former Prime Ministers with the costs of continuing to fulfil duties associated with their previous position in public life. A copy of the policy and guidance on the allowance is in the Library of the House. The costs are a reimbursement of incurred expenses for necessary office costs and secretarial costs arising from their special position in public life. The allowance is not paid to support private or parliamentary duties. Civil servants are not entitled to claim this allowance.
Current recipients of the allowance are published in the Cabinet Office Annual Reports and Accounts. Previous recipients have included Lady Thatcher; the current recipients who are former Prime Ministers are Sir John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. I also refer the Hon. Member to my answers to him of 9 September 2016 to (UIN 44045, 44048, 44049, 44053, 44054, 44055, 44056).
The Public Duties Cost Allowance rate is currently set at a limit of £115,000 per annum. When originally introduced, the Government stated that it would be the equivalent in amount to the Parliamentary Office Costs Allowance. I would note that that allowance is now known as the Parliamentary Staffing Allowance, determined by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and that is currently set at the rate of £148,500 per annum.”
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Parminter on 2016-10-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made, and when they plan to implement their commitment in the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests to work on new procurement policies to limit the consumption of commodities associated with deforestation.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Joint Statement on REDD+ by the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway made at the United Nations Climate Summit on 23 September 2014 in support of the New York Declaration on Forests contains a commitment that:
“We will work with other consumer countries to promote national commitments that encourage deforestation-free supply chains, including through public procurement policies to sustainably source commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef and timber“.
The Government Buying Standard for food and catering was amended in October 2012 to include a new requirement to procure palm oil, palm kernel oil and derivatives from sustainable sources. All food and catering products bought by central Government must meet these sustainability requirements.
The Government’s Timber Procurement Policy also requires central Government Departments, Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies to procure timber and timber products that are both legal and sustainable.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Helic on 2015-11-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of public threats made in Burma against the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Government supports the Special Rapporteur, Professor Yanghee Lee, and deplores the hateful and threatening language that has been used against her by MaBaTha monk Wirathu. We have also called for Burma’s Ministry of Religious Affairs to take action on the matter. I was able to convey my sympathy and concern to Professor Lee in person during her visit to London in March. Last week, we publicly reiterated our support for Professor Lee and her mandate at the UN General Assembly in New York, at a dedicated session discussing her most recent report on the Human rights situation in Burma.
Unfortunately, statements like those of Wirathu are symptomatic of a troubling rise in intolerance, discrimination and hate speech in Burma. We have repeatedly raised our concerns over this trend, both bilaterally and in company with our international partners. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), did so with senior Burmese government ministers during his visit to Burma in July and, most recently, with Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin in September in New York.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Williams on 2015-11-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department plans to respond to the Eleventh Report from the Treasury Committee, Session 2014-15, Conduct and competition in SME lending, HC204.
Harriett Baldwin
The Government response, which was published on 21 December 2015, is available on gov.uk.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of delays in the publication of the hepatitis C framework on (a) all people and (b) members of the South Asian population in England with hepatitis C.
Jane Ellison
No such assessment has been made.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much public sector funding was spent on facilitating higher risk green investment in each of the last five years; and what estimate he has made of the likely spend of this type in each of the next five years.
Anna Soubry
Government funding for green innovation is provided for private sector led technology R&D through grants, procurement approaches and to a lesser extent equity interventions. Additionally, DECC, Research Councils and InnovateUK are involved in European programmes that can leverage significant funding from the EC while ensuring cross border collaboration.
Government spent ~£1.3billion on low carbon innovation for the period 2011-15. In addition, the Low Carbon Networks Fund which is funded by network operators is expected to allocate ~£440m over the period 2010-15. See table 1 attached:
Separately, the British Business Bank has three main programmes for supporting early stage technology investment, including in the clean technology area: the Enterprise Capital Funds targeted at early stage venture capital investment; the UK Innovation Investment Fund (UKIIF) which supports creation of viable investment funds targeting UK high growth technology-based businesses; and the Venture Capital Catalyst Fund, launched in 2013.
As part of the recent Spending Review, it was announced that the department for Energy & Climate Change will double its innovation program to £500 million over the next five years.
UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) also invests in innovative green projects, though it does so on fully commercial terms and is focused on technologies ready for deployment at full commercial scale and capable of attracting additional investment from mainstream finance providers. Details of all GIB’s investments to date can be found on the company’s website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department is assessing potential alternatives to the Microgeneration Certification Scheme to which the Renewable Heat Incentive is linked.
Andrea Leadsom
The Department is in the process of working with the microgeneration industry to establish the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) as a legal entity that will operate independently of the Government. There is an established process for alternative schemes to MCS to come forward through the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and equivalent accreditation bodies in the EU. For example, through this process the Solar Keymark product scheme for solar thermal products has been recognised and treated as equivalent to MCS. In addition, the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) regulations give Ofgem the power to determine scheme equivalency; and they are currently finalising this process for equivalent schemes to be considered in specific reference to the RHI.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many inflammatory bowel disease services have defined referral pathways in place to ensure that appropriate support is offered from a psychologist or counsellor with specialist knowledge of that condition.
Jane Ellison
This information is not collected. The organisation of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) services is a local matter.
IBD is the collective name used to describe ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. To support commissioners to deliver local services for people with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published the best practice guidance ‘Crohn’s Disease Management in Adults, Children and Young People’, in October 2012 and ‘Ulcerative Colitis Management in Adults, Children and Young People’ in June 2013.
Both guidelines mention providing access to psychological support and the role it can play in patient care. In addition, patient education and patient information support are also highlighted as priorities for implementation. Commissioners should have regard to NICE guidance when delivering local services. The guidance can be found at the following links:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/CG152/chapter/Key-priorities-for-implementation
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg166/chapter/Key-priorities-for-implementation
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