Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, from what part of his Department’s budget the support package for Redcar steelworkers will be funded.

    Anna Soubry

    The support package will be funded through central budgets.

    As part of this, we have agreed over £40 million of support following proposals put forward by the Task Force chaired by Amanda Skelton, including:

    • £2.42 safety net fund, to support workers with short-term financial challenges;
    • £2.65m skills funding to plug any gaps in skills provision not available via the Further Education Offer;
    • £1.7m to help ensure that the fifty apprentices who were with SSI can continue their apprenticeships with alternative employers;
    • £16.5m Jobs and Skills Fund to help local firms employ former SSI workers or their spouses in full-time or part-time jobs for a minimum of three years;
    • £16m support for firms in the SSI supply chain and wider Tees Valley impacted by the Redcar steelworks closure, to safeguard jobs, provide the stimulus to create new posts and provide expert assistance to help them expand their business; and
    • £750,000 to fund advice and grants to start up a new business.

    All of the requests for spend in 2015/16 have been transferred from Government to the SSI Task Force, which is beginning to implement its planned programme of interventions. This is on top of the up to £3m that has been made available to four Further Education colleges in the region to support re-training activity, and redundancy and final salary payments of former SSI employees.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what budget the Government has allocated to the Independent Commission on Freedom of Information.

    Matthew Hancock

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Sheffield Central on 19 October 2015 to UIN: 10764.

  • Catherine West – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Catherine West – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many prisoners facing the death penalty have been visited by UK diplomatic staff in China during 2015.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    British consular officials routinely visit all British nationals in Chinese prisons. To date, no British national has been sentenced to the death penalty in a Chinese prison since 2009. British officials are not in a position to visit foreign nationals facing the death penalty in China. However, we monitor the human rights situation in China closely, and report on individual cases of concern, including human rights defenders facing the death penalty, through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of how much revenue will be collected annually by HM Revenue and Customs through insolvency litigation funded by third-party funding.

    Dominic Raab

    The Ministry of Justice has not made such an estimate. We are currently considering the way forward for the application of the no win no fee reforms in Part 2 of the LASPO Act 2012 for insolvency litigation.

  • Chris Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Chris Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Green on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his Department is doing to ensure that brownfield land which may have been used by heavy industry is cleaned and prepared for house building in (a) Bolton West constituency and (b) England and Wales.

    Brandon Lewis

    We are supporting the regeneration of brownfield land through a range of measures. This includes up to £400 million to help create Housing Zones which can be used to cover the costs of land remediation, and a £1 billion fund which we intend to create to focus on unlocking homes on brownfield land for additional housing.

    We are also supporting development on brownfield sites through the existing Large Sites Programme, which provides long term loan finance and support to developers, and by releasing enough public sector land for over 150,000 homes by 2020.

    In Bolton the Homes and Communities Agency have been working with the Council and the Joint Venture ‘Horwich Vision’ since 2008 to facilitate the redevelopment of a large contaminated site – the former Horwich Loco Works for housing.

    Through the Housing and Planning Bill the Government will require local planning authorities in England to create and maintain registers of brownfield land that is suitable for housing.

  • Christina Rees – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Christina Rees – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether it is his policy that employers will have to pay the apprenticeships levy if they do not take on apprentices.

    Nick Boles

    My Rt hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will announce further details of the apprenticeship levy at the Spending Review, including the scope and rate of the levy and how it will operate with respect to the Devolved Administrations.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has carried out of the adequacy of parking capacity across local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Local authorities have the power and responsibility to provide adequate parking provision in their area. They are best placed to understand and ensure the parking needs of their local communities are met. It would be inappropriate for Central Government to intervene in this matter. Communities now have the opportunity to challenge local authorities’ parking policies if they think provision is inadequate. This is set out at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-challenge-parking-policies.

  • Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of UK slaughterhouses were inspected in each of the last five years.

    George Eustice

    All approved slaughterhouses are inspected every day they operate. Slaughterhouses are also audited a minimum of once every 12 months, with a greater frequency of audits where deficiencies have been identified during previous audits.

  • Lord Ahmed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2015-10-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have provided any advice to (1) the Palestinian authorities, and (2) the government of Israel, regarding the peace plan or the two-state solution.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK has made clear in conversations with the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government that the best way to achieve a just and lasting resolution that ends the occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians is through negotiations. However, in order to achieve this, there must be an environment conductive to peace. That is why since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government, urging them to use their influence to de-escalate the tensions.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Attorney General, what discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues in the Cabinet Office on the removal from the Ministerial Code of a reference to Ministers having a duty to comply with the law including international law and treaty obligations and to uphold the administration of justice.

    Jeremy Wright

    Information relating to internal discussion and advice is not normally disclosed.