The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make representations to the Office for National Statistics on including a separate ethnicity box for Sikh in the (a) 2021 census and (b) 2017 test questionnaire.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, by what date his Department plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West of 9 June 2016, reference ZA4209, on delayed correspondence received by NHS Improvement.
Ben Gummer
NHS Improvement replied to the email of 13 May that it received from the hon. Member on 28 June 2016.
In April 2016 NHS Improvement brought together Monitor, NHS Trust Development Authority, NHS England’s Patient Safety team, the National Reporting and Learning System, NHS England’s Advancing Change team and its Intensive Support Teams.
NHS Improvement advise that they are strengthening their regional presence and refining their processes, including how they respond to queries. Their aim is to respond to letters and other correspondence from hon. Members within the Whitehall standard of 18 working days.
The Department has no record of having received an email from the hon. Member on 9 June 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Army Reserves successfully passed the annual mandatory training test in 2015.
Harriett Baldwin
Military Annual Training Tests (MATTs) are a series of 10 tests which members of the Army undertake to ensure that individuals remain competent and proficient in basic military skills and attitudes. The number of MATTs individual members of the Army are required to take varies depending on the role or specialism they are in, whether Reserve or Regular. For example those working in HQ or specialist/professional roles are not required to undertake all MATTs. Those Reserves failing to pass the MATTs they are required to take risk not qualifying for their annual training bounty.
The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-11-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which companies were prosecuted by the Financial Conduct Authority or the Financial Services Authority for issues relating to money laundering in each of the last five years.
Harriett Baldwin
This is an operational matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who are operationally independent from Government. The question has been passed on to the FCA. The FCA will reply directly to the honourable member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that people under the age of 16 are paid for employment; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of legal protection of children under the age of 16 who are employed.
Edward Timpson
There are legal safeguards for children of compulsory school age who are employed. These safeguards include the nature of the work that they may be asked to do, the maximum hours they may work, and the safety of their working environment. Local authorities and the Health and Safety Executive are responsible for ensuring compliance with the relevant legislation.
Minimum wage legislation does not apply to children under 16.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many disabled social housing residents have moved out of their property in each year since 2009-10.
Brandon Lewis
The number of disabled social housing tenants (including housing association tenants) who have moved out of their property in each year since 2005-6 is shown in the attached table.
These figures show that the number of social tenants who have moved has fluctuated over time, but the proportion of social renters who have moved has remained relatively constant.
The reasons for these moves are not known although we expect some disabled social tenants will have moved to better (e.g. adapted) accommodation. Some will have moved from a different tenure i.e.from owner occupation or the private rented sector), while others will have moved from another social housing property.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms in the (a) Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement and (b) EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) apply to local authorities in the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Anna Soubry
The investment protection provisions of trade and investment agreements such as the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will typically apply to the acts of local authorities but claims under the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms of those agreements may only be brought against the UK or the EU.
The question of investment protection and ISDS provisions in TTIP is still under negotiation. The Government wants any such provisions to reflect the right of governments to act in the public interest and deter investors from making unnecessary and speculative claims.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-03-08.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many self-employed people claimed (a) child and (b) working tax credits in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) 2014-15.
Damian Hinds
The latest information for 2013-14 recipients can be obtained from the ‘Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: finalised annual awards – 2013 to 2014’ publication. It is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-and-working-tax-credits-statistics-finalised-annual-awards-2013-to-2014
The equivalent information for 2014-15 will not be available until May 2016.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that Ofsted is able to assess the effectiveness of schools under proposals for all schools to become academies.
Nick Gibb
Academies are already subject to inspection by Ofsted under the same framework that applies to maintained schools. The White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, sets out the intention that the Department will also publish new performance tables to show how well multi-academy trusts are leading their schools. This will be in addition to school-level inspection results and performance data. The White Paper is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/educational-excellence-everywhere
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-05-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax avoidance cases the General Anti-Abuse Rule Advisory Panel made decisions on in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016 to date.
Mr David Gauke
The General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR) was introduced in July 2013, and only applies to abusive tax arrangements entered into from this date.
This means that it will first apply to income tax returns for the tax year ending 5 April 2014, which must have been filed with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by 31 January 2015.
For cases to be tackled by the GAAR, HMRC must first enquire into tax returns once they are received, and gather all relevant facts. It is therefore still early in the process of litigation action for cases to be tackled by the GAAR.
The GAAR Advisory Panel is an external body separate to HMRC. Their independent role means that they do not report the number of meetings held to HMRC.