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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the total cost of Trident renewal over the lifespan of the Successor-class submarines, including in-service costs and decommissioning.

    Earl Howe

    As stated in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, our latest cost estimate for manufacturing the four submarines of the Successor submarine programme is £31 billion, plus a contingency of £10 billion. This includes an assessment of the likely inflation over the lifetime of the programme and the risks appropriate for a project at this stage.

    Once the new fleet of ballistic missile submarines comes into service, we expect that the in-service costs of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, which include the costs of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, basing and disposals, will be similar to the current system, at around six per cent of the defence budget.

    While we have no plans to replace the current Trident D5 missile, we are participating with our US partners in a programme to extend their lifespan to the 2060s. The estimated cost is around £250 million.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what new measures she is implementing to encourage take-up of teacher training.

    Nick Gibb

    The latest published figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show that teaching remains a hugely popular profession; nearly 28,000 people have been recruited to postgraduate teacher training courses in England in 2016/17, with several weeks of the recruitment cycle remaining.

    Our 2017/18 teacher recruitment marketing campaign will commence in the autumn and will feature a new television advert, alongside print, online and social media advertising. Forty recruitment events will take place across the country, and teaching will be promoted also at over thirty graduate fairs where our advisors will meet students, setting out the benefits of a career in teaching.

    To support recruitment in 2017/18, we will also be announcing a new package of financial incentives, including bursaries and scholarships to attract top graduates in priority subjects such as physics and maths, in early autumn.

    In addition, we are spending up to £67 million on a programme of measures to upskill the existing maths and physics teaching workforce, and increase the number of new maths and physics specialists entering teaching. This package aims to recruit up to 2,500 new teachers and upskill up to 15,000 existing teachers over the term of this parliament.

  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how the Government plans to use regulatory powers to ensure that an adequate broadband service is provided.

    Matt Hancock

    The Government is creating a regulatory environment that supports the market in delivering world-class broadband services and has taken a number of steps to support this aim. As part of the Digital Economy Bill, we are introducing a broadband Universal Service Obligation to be implemented by 2020. This will give everyone the legal right to broadband at a minimum speed of 10 Mbps.

    We are reforming the Electronic Communications Code to cut costs and simplify the process of building mobile and broadband infrastructure on private land. We are making permanent the relaxations in the rules for deploying fixed broadband infrastructure in all areas except Sites of Special Scientific Interest that we introduced in 2013. This will also cut deployment costs for communications providers and speed up broadband roll-out. Similar planning relaxations are being made in relation to the deployment of mobile infrastructure.

    As of 31 July this year, the Communications (Access to Infrastructure) Regulations 2016 gave rights to Communications Providers to share passive infrastructure across utility, transport and communications sectors which is designed to reduce the cost of broadband deployment.

    In addition, building regulations have also been amended to introduce a requirement from January 2017 for all new buildings, and major renovations, to include in-building physical infrastructure to support superfast broadband connectivity. The Government has also put in place industry agreements with developers for fibre connections to be made available to all new build housing.

    The Government continues to review the regulatory landscape to identify further opportunities for reform.

  • Lord Naseby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Naseby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Naseby on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish annually a list of Alternative Investment Market companies that qualify for Inheritance Tax relief.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) do not have a list of Alternative Investment Market companies that qualify for Business Property Relief.

    The claim to the relief will depend on the circumstances of each case. Shares in a company might no longer qualify for Business Property Relief if the company went into liquidation or moved to a full listing on the UK Stock Exchange after publication. Any information provided by HMRC about a company may become out of date quickly raising the risk that relief is claimed incorrectly.

  • Lucy Frazer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lucy Frazer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Frazer on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential savings to the public purse offered by biosimilars.

    George Freeman

    A biosimilar sub group of the Pharmaceutical Market Support Group is working to help the National Health Service achieve benefits from the new biosimilar molecules and to encourage uptake. This work is supported by other activity including the Hospital Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation Project work stream of the Lord Carter NHS Productivity & Efficiency Programme and initiatives from NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and manufacturers. Work has focused on identifying efficiency opportunities for specific molecules and as a result a collective assessment of potential savings to the public purse has not been compiled.

    In an era of significant economic, demographic and technological challenge it is crucial that patients get the best quality outcomes from medicines. Recent research has given clear evidence that competition between different biological medicines, including biosimilar medicines, creates increased choice for patients and clinicians, and enhanced value propositions for individual medicines. As the range of biosimilar medicines increases, it is important that the NHS plans for their timely, appropriate and cost effective introduction. NHS England in its role as system leader is undertaking a programme of work to support decision makers, such as commissioners, clinicians, pharmacists, patients and others in their consideration of the optimal use of biosimilar medicines.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the extent to which the level of student debt affects the outcome of students’ applications for a mortgage.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Mortgage Market Review, introduced in April 2014, requires mortgage lenders to assess individuals’ ability to repay their loans. The Council for Mortgage Lenders has advised that individuals who have a student loan and are earning over the relevant repayment threshold may have higher committed expenditures and lower net incomes and this could mean they are unable to borrow as much as an equivalent individual who is not repaying a student loan.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the NHS’ budget is spent on research and campaigns on (a) gender-specific cancers and (b) fertility treatment.

    George Freeman

    National Health Service revenue expenditure was £110.6 million in 2014/15.

    The Department funds the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to provide a health research system in which the NHS supports outstanding individuals working in world-class facilities, conducting leading-edge research focused on the needs of patients and the public. Information on total NIHR spend on research on gender-specific cancers and on fertility treatment is not available. Spend on research funded directly by the NIHR is categorised by Health Research Classification System (HRCS) health categories including ‘cancer’ and ‘reproductive health and childbirth’. There are no HRCS health sub-categories, such as for gender-specific cancers or fertility treatment.

    NHS England has advised that information on campaigns spending by NHS organisations is not collected centrally.

    Public Health England (PHE) has run gender-specific campaigns on breast cancer in women over 70, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer in black men as part of Be Clear on Cancer. Information on media spending for these campaigns in each of the last three complete financial years is shown in the table.

    2012/13 £ million

    2013/14 £ million

    2014/15 £ million

    Breast 70+

    0.50

    1.48

    –

    Ovarian

    0.44

    0.57

    –

    Prostate

    –

    –

    0.07

    Source: PHE

    Notes:

    Figures are net plus agency fees and commissions (rounded to nearest £10,000). Figures exclude VAT and Central Office of Information fees.

    Media spend includes expenditure for advertising on Television, Radio, National Press, Regional Press, Out of Home (Outdoor), Cinema and Digital.

  • Ian Liddell-Grainger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Ian Liddell-Grainger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Liddell-Grainger on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what her Department’s policy is on the future development of tidal lagoons in the UK.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government recognises the potential that exists in harnessing tidal energy around the coastline of the UK.

    That is why we are commissioning an independent strategic review to assess the case for tidal lagoons and consider whether they could represent value for money for the consumer.

    Government will carefully consider the recommendations from the review before making decisions on future development of tidal lagoons.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the criteria are for payments to be made from the Contingency Fund.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The criteria for access to the Contingencies Fund are set out in the Treasury publication “Supply Estimates: a guidance manual” which can be found on the gov.uk website. The Contingencies Fund enables the Treasury to make repayable cash advances to departments for urgent services, in anticipation of provision for those services being provided by Parliament.

    The main criteria against which any application is judged is genuine urgency in the public interest and – in cases of new services – near certainty that any related Bill will become law. However, not all advances are dependent upon the passage of enabling legislation: existing legislation may already exist. Advances are generally made in anticipation of the relevant Supply and Appropriation Act.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times he has attended public meetings of the Transport Committee since his appointment.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Attendance at Committee meetings is a matter of public record. Transcripts of appearances can be found in Hansard and on Committee web pages.