Tag: Parliamentary Question

Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-01-05.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the annual running cost is of the Council of Economic Advisers; and what office space that council is allocated within the government estate.

Harriett Baldwin

Members of the Government’s Council of Economic Advisers meet every day to discuss the design and formation of government policy. Details of the Council’s membership and remuneration are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-adviser-data-releases-numbers-and-costs-december-2015. The Council operates from HM Treasury. Running costs cannot be disaggregated from the department’s budget.

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January 1, 2023

Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding for cycling (a) London and (b) each of the cities which received Cycle City Ambition Grants received in 2014-15; and what the average level of such funding other areas received in that period.

Mr Robert Goodwill

CYCLE FUNDING FOR LONDON

The Department for Transport provides the Greater London Authority with a substantial transport grant for Transport for London (TfL). It is for TfL and ultimately the Mayor of London to decide how best to prioritise spending the grant.

CYCLING CITY FUNDING

CYCLING CITIES GRANT RECIPIENTS	Region	2013/14 capital (£m)	2014/15 capital (£m)	Total Funding Allocation for 2014-15 (£m)
Newcastle City Council	North East	5.7	–	5.7
Cambridgeshire County Council	East of England	2.2	1.9	4.1
Bristol City Council	South West	1.6	6.2	7.8
Manchester (Transport for Greater Manchester)	North West	20.0	–	20.0
Birmingham City Council	West Midlands	17.0	–	17.0
West Yorkshire ITA (covering Leeds and Bradford)	Yorkshire and the Humber	18.1	–	18.1
Norwich City Council	East of England	1.1	2.6	3.7
Oxfordshire County Council	South East	–	0.8	0.8
Total Cities Grants		65.6m	11.5m	77.2m

In 2014-15 the Department for Transport awarded the Cycling Cities Ambition grants to improve and develop cycling facilities and infrastructure. Some of the cities received their funding upfront in 2013-14 under the Cities Deal arrangement. Only four cities received funding in 2014-15.

REGIONAL FUNDING

REGIONS RECEIVING CYCLE FUNDING	2014/15 – DfT £m	2014/15 – Total (DfT + Local Contribution) £m
East Midlands	3.6	13.4
East of England	4.7	19.3
North East	4.3	17.5
North West	8.7	34.1
South East	10.0	37.8
South West	8.1	37.1
West Midlands	7.3	25.7
Yorkshire & Humber	5.3	28.2
Total Regions Average Funding	52.0m	213.1m

The 2014-15 figures include some funding streams, such as the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, which benefit a range of locations across England and cannot be easily disaggregated. The figures above therefore contain elements of funding which also benefit the eight cycle cities.

January 1, 2023

Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much and what proportion of his Department’s overseas development assistance budget his Department spent was subject to the International Development Act 2002 in each of the last three years.

Mr David Lidington

All of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocation has been subject to the International Development Act since its enactment. This has amounted to: £321 million in financial year 2013/14; £344 million in financial year 2014/15 and is estimated to be over £400 million for the financial year 2015/16.

January 1, 2023
Mary Creagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2016-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of people who have purchased homes under the Help to Buy scheme were from BAME communities since the introduction of that scheme.

Brandon Lewis

The Department does not collate this information centrally.

January 1, 2023
Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what research HS2 Ltd has (a) produced and (b) commissioned on the geological effect of the construction and operation of High Speed 2 in Eddisbury constituency.

Mr Robert Goodwill

HS2 Ltd has commissioned from a mining engineer (in consultation with the Cheshire Brine Subsidence Compensation Board) a study of the saltfield, which applies to Cheshire including the Eddisbury constituency.

HS2 Ltd. has commissioned from Heriot-Watt University a modelling of the geodynamic effects of high speed railway operation, which applies route wide including the Eddisbury constituency.

January 1, 2023
Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses in Stafford constituency.

Anna Soubry

The Government is working to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business by supporting businesses across the country. In Stafford, 42 Government backed Start-Up Loans have been drawn down since September 2012 with a value of over £218,000. A Regional Growth Fund award of £4m made in 2011 has attracted private investment of £56.5 million, delivering 1,600 jobs. Since May 2010, 26 loans have been drawn down in Stafford, worth over £2.6 million, from the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme. Businesses in Stafford also have access to the Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire Growth Hub which was live from September 2014, which is one of a network of 39 Growth Hubs set up across England.

January 1, 2023
David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether everyone who was registered with Skipton and received the £20,000 lump sum payment will be automatically entitled to the new annual payments.

Nicola Blackwood

The reformed scheme will provide a payment to all those with hepatitis C, even if they have been treated, for the current spending review period. A review of the scheme will take place towards the end of this spending review period.

All those who are currently bereaved partners/spouses and all those who will be bereaved partner/spouses in future will receive a £10,000 lump sum payment and will have continued access to discretionary support. Discretionary support will continue to be available to the bereaved, as well as to infected individuals.

All infected individuals who are registered with Skipton as having hepatitis C stage 1 (nearly 2,500 people) will be eligible for the new stage 1 annual payment.

January 1, 2023
Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce levels of knotweed proliferation; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making house and land owners more responsible for uncontrolled weed growth.

George Eustice

The Department takes the problems caused by Japanese Knotweed very seriously and has taken a number of steps to tackle this invasive plant.

Defra has provided funding of £390,000 for biocontrol work to tackle Japanese knotweed. A psyllid/insect, Aphalara itadori has been identified as a biocontrol agent capable of retarding the plant’s growth significantly and therefore reducing its ability to spread and regenerate. A closely monitored, licensed release programme has been ongoing since 2010 to assess the impact of this psyllid/insect, but as with other biocontrol programme, it can take five to ten years from release to achieve success.

Defra has also provided funding for Local Action Groups (LAGs) to tackle and raise awareness of invasive non-native plants, including Japanese knotweed. Additionally, Defra is currently funding a LAG coordinator to help groups with funding bids and provide advice.

Japanese knotweed is listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to allow the plant to escape or cause it to grow in the wild. Whilst landowners are under no statutory obligation to remove Japanese knotweed from their property, where they are acting unreasonably and allowing Japanese knotweed to cause a nuisance to the local community, local authorities and the police can now issue a Community Protection Notice against them to ensure that appropriate action is taken.

The issue of making land owners more responsible for uncontrolled weed growth.is complex. It could produce disproportionate or inequitable impacts such as the potentially high cost of removal and liability on landowners for clearance as a result of fly-tipping.

January 1, 2023
Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the total value of criminal courts charges (1) issued by the courts, and (2) collected to date; and what estimate they have made of the total cost of enforcement to date.

Lord Faulks

Information on the enforcement of financial impositions is contained within an annex to Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly statistical bulletin published quarterly by the Ministry of Justice.

Data relating to the criminal courts charge for the period April to September 2015 will be published on 17 December 2015. This will separately identify the monetary values of the criminal courts charge imposed and collected since 13 April 2015.

The cost of enforcing the criminal courts charge cannot be separated from the total cost of enforcing all types of court ordered financial impositions. Enforcement action is taken against the total amount an offender owes and offenders are often ordered to pay more than one type of financial imposition.

January 1, 2023
Derek Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department is giving to strengthening water, sanitation and hygiene services in countries affected by Ebola.

Mr Nick Hurd

Prior to, during and following the Ebola outbreak, DFID has provided funding and technical assistance to increase access to water, sanitation services and hygiene education (WASH) in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Between 2012-2016, DFID has committed through our country programmes up to £71.3m for WASH programmes in Sierra Leone and £4.75m for Liberia. We have no bilateral programme in Guinea.

During the Ebola outbreak our existing WASH programmes were adapted to help Sierra Leone and Liberia respond to the crisis. The above figure includes DFID assistance to improve water and sanitation facilities in schools and health facilities as part of our support to the post-Ebola recovery.

The President of Sierra Leone has identified water as one of his top six priorities for the post Ebola recovery period. DFID has committed to support delivery of this agenda and we are working with them to define high quality programmes that will increase access to clean water.

January 1, 2023