Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Nick Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nick Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what cost was incurred by her Department as a result of the withdrawal of the CAP-D programme in March 2015.

    George Eustice

    CAP-D is a 10 year programme designed to enable the Department to implement the most recent CAP reforms. The programme was not withdrawn in March 2015. There had been some performance issues with the online interface that enables farmers to input data directly, but the core of the new Rural Payments system is working well. Over 88,000 farmers and agents have successfully registered on the system.

  • Wayne David – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Wayne David – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wayne David on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prisoners are taking part in drug and alcohol treatment programmes (a) in total and (b) in each prison in England and Wales.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England provides local information for performance monitoring in the restricted access section of the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System website, but does not publish national data centrally.

  • Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what expenditure has been allocated to the Civil Nuclear Constabulary in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-19 and (e) 2019-20.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Civil Nuclear Constabulary is funded by industry through arrangements for it to charge nuclear sites for provision of service to those sites, as set out in the Energy Act 2004. The published Civil Nuclear Police Authority business plan sets out the forecast expenditure up to 2017/18:

    Financial year (£000)

    2014-15 (actual)

    2015/16 (budget)

    2016/17 (budget)

    2017/18 (budget)

    Staff Costs

    71,296

    78,203

    83,700

    87,200

    Non-Staff Costs

    21,392

    28,077

    32,000

    31,500

    Capital Spending

    2,006

    3,364

    4,500

    1,600

    Some costs that are not for provision of service to nuclear sites, such as the cost of redundancies or employment tribunals, and including other factors cannot be charged to industry and are covered by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. In 2015/16, £268,000 has been budgeted to cover such costs by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for £50 notes no longer being issued by central banks in order to help tackle crime.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government is fully committed to fighting all forms of financial crime, including money laundering and terrorist financing. In 2010, UK banks voluntarily withdrew the €500 note from sale in this country on the basis of analysis from our law enforcement agencies regarding its use by criminal groups. Such high denomination notes are attractive to criminals due to their high-value to low-volume ratio.

    By contrast, the highest denomination note issued by the Bank of England is the £50 note whose value is far less than that of truly high denomination notes. Furthermore, the £50 note plays an important role as a reliable store-of-value and enables financial inclusion.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he has had recent discussions with the Scottish Government on the potential for a further independence referendum in the event of the UK leaving the EU.

    David Mundell

    I have had no discussions with the Scottish Government on this subject and do not expect to do so. A clear majority of voters in Scotland voted No in the independence referendum in 2014. That referendum was widely accepted to be a ‘once in a generation’ or ‘once in a lifetime’ event.

    At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

  • Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has for the future role of the merchant navy.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government appreciates the role played by the merchant navy and recognises the need for an adequate supply of UK maritime expertise to meet the nation’s economic and strategic requirements. This includes the demand for experienced seafarers in the shore-based maritime services sector.

    The Department continues to provide support for the training of officers and ratings through the £15m Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) scheme.

    Apprenticeships are at the heart of the Government’s drive to give people of all ages the skills employers need to grow and compete. Maritime is a key part of this with the Maritime Trailblazer which is employer led and has one approved standard for deck ratings and a further three in development for maritime mechanic, maritime caterer and onboard services.

    The Maritime Growth Study, chaired by Lord Mountevans and published on 7 September 2015, recognised the need for more proactive action to replenish and develop the skills needed to maintain the UK position as a world-leading maritime centre. The Government has accepted the recommendations. We have already let a research contract to Oxford Economics to establish the requirement for trained seafarers in the UK. This will assist both government and industry to plan ahead and to make efforts to address priority shortages where gaps are identified. We are also working to address the other skills recommendations including conducting a review of SMarT funding, better links into schools teaching and enlarging the awareness programme to encourage entry into the merchant navy.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the findings of the Armed Forces continuous attitude survey 2015 on dissatisfaction of personnel with service life, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on (a) reforming service pay and (b) service conditions of those findings.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    The annual Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey (AFCAS) is key to our understanding of how Service personnel feel about the issues which affect their lives. The results are briefed to the Defence Board and are used to shape and improve robust, evidence-based personnel policies across Defence.

    AFCAS 2015 showed that levels of satisfaction have decreased by 10 percentage points since 2011 but have stabilised over the last two years. This decline in satisfaction reflects the tough decisions made by Defence on issues such as headcount reductions and pay restraint. However, we recognise that more remains to be done, and will continue to strive to ensure that our Armed Forces feel valued and their contribution and sacrifice is recognised. This is why we continue to develop the New Employment Model (NEM) which aims to produce a modernised offer that reduces the impact of Service life on individuals and their families.

    The change to the core pay model under NEM was initiated in response to Service personnel’s criticisms of the previous pay model, recognised through AFCAS and in feedback from the Armed Forces Pay Review Body. The new pay model is simpler, more transparent and improves the differentiation and targeting of pay. Many personnel will experience an increase in pay as a result of NEM, and no one will take a cut in core pay on implementation of the new model.

    A number of other programmes were also announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, including making the changes necessary to enable our Armed Forces to work flexibly, reflecting the realities of modern life. AFCAS will be a core source of information in assessing the benefits realised through the NEM programme.

    The Department is also in the early stages of developing a new "Offer" for new joiners into the Armed Forces which will meet the expectations of future recruits. It will ensure that our future expenditure on personnel is sustainable and applied in the most efficient way.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has developed proposals that enable academies to be re-brokered with a new sponsor or multi academy trust on the initiative of parents of children in those academies.

    Edward Timpson

    Our White Paper Educational Excellence Everywhere set out the Government’s intention to engage Multi Academy Trusts (MATs), sponsors, academies, dioceses and the wider schools sector to ensure that the academies legal framework for the future can achieve the right balance of intervention, review and stability. This included a commitment to consider how parents at individual schools might be able to petition Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) for their school to move to a different MAT where the school or its MAT is underperforming or in other exceptional circumstances.

    We will be testing and consulting on proposals for the future legal framework with a wide range of stakeholders, including parents, in due course. This engagement will assess the implications of different legal framework models and ensure that any options which are taken forward are fit for purpose.

    RSCs already take action to move academies to new trusts where necessary and parents should continue to escalate any concerns they have about academies to RSCs where the academy trust has not responded sufficiently to their concerns.

  • Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many premature babies were born in (a) England and (b) each local authority in 2015.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Information is not available in the format requested. The gestation length is not recorded on an individual birth record, but on the mother’s delivery episode. Therefore we cannot provide the number of births, as a single delivery may involve multiple births.

  • Lord Bowness – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Lord Bowness – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bowness on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what will be the projected annual running costs for the next three years, including salaries or fees paid to seconded staff and consultants, for (1) the Department for Exiting the EU, and (2) the Department for International Trade.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The budget for the Department for Exiting the European Union will be voted on by Parliament at the Supplementary Estimate and published in line with standard practice.