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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Helen Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Helen Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what representations she has received on the probability of electricity shortages during winter 2015-16; and if she will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Ensuring that hardworking families and businesses across the country have secure, affordable energy supplies they can rely on is our top priority.

    National Grid has recently published their Winter Outlook Report with a capacity margin of 5.1% for winter 2015-16.

    National Grid continually assesses the risks to security of supply and system stability across GB. They have confirmed they have all the tools they need to manage the system this winter.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what commercial freedoms she proposes to offer to Northumberland National Park.

    Rory Stewart

    National Park Authorities are engaging with devolution proposals and we believe that with their current powers, National Park Authorities are already well equipped to be a vital part of devolution deals across the country. The North East Combined Authority has set out proposals for a devolution deal designed to drive economic growth and bring jobs and investment to the North East. As part of considering this, we will be discussing with the National Park Authority what we could do for them that might help them in terms of commercial freedoms.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of his Department’s (a) budget and (b) personnel is allocated to promoting human rights, rule of law and democracy in other countries.

    Mr David Lidington

    As the Government set out in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) 2014 Annual Human Rights and Democracy Report, it is difficult to calculate an exact figure for what we spend annually on human rights and democracy work. This is because it is an integral part of the department’s work across the network.

    However, by combining relevant programme spend, grant-in-aid spending, and estimated personnel costs, we were able to calculate a conservative figure of approximately £42.6 million for the financial year 2014-15.

    In terms of personnel, we also set out in the report that approximately 240 full-time equivalents in the FCO work on human rights.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent representations he has received from (a) universities, (b) healthcare professionals and (c) the Royal Colleges on replacing bursaries for nursing, midwifery and allied healthcare service tuition with student loans.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department has received a number of representations from organisations, including Royal Colleges, professional bodies and representatives of universities, about a number of issues relating to healthcare student education funding in England including a potential move from the current system of funding to student loans.

    No decisions have been taken on any changes to the funding of health care education and training in England. The Department will consider all of its expenditure as part of the Spending Review. The Government will announce the outcome of the Spending Review on 25 November 2015.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2015 to Question 10530, what the job titles are of those officials undertaking the assessment of the grant funding for Action on Smoking and Health; and what transparency measures have been built into the assessment process.

    Jane Ellison

    The assessment of the grant application for funding from Action on Smoking and Health is undertaken by members of the Tobacco Control policy team.

    The assessment process is the same for all grants awarded under Section 64 powers. The assessment process uses standard business case criteria and consists of a Strategic Case, Economic Case, Financial Case, Commercial Case and Project Governance.

    The assessment is reviewed by the Department’s Voluntary Sector Grants Hub to ensure that the grant proposal is affordable within Departmental budgets; relevant Efficiency Review Group Controls have been considered;the grant has been assessed as delivering value for money and the grant is considered to be appropriate for the Grant funding route rather than procurement.

    A grant application is currently under assessment and a decision on funding has not yet been made.

  • Vicky Foxcroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Vicky Foxcroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent (a) meetings and (b) correspondence she has had on the setting up of buffer zones around abortion clinics; and if she will make a statement.

    Mike Penning

    I refer the Hon Member to the answers I gave to 5385 and 7247 on 13 July and 22 July 2015. We have also received correspondence from Members of Parliament on behalf of their constituents on this issue. The Home Office has not issued guidance to the police on this matter.

  • Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will meet the organisations who wrote to the Prime Minister about the Feed-in Tariff and its effect on local investment in renewable energy on 21 August and 9 October; and when the Prime Minister will respond to both of those letters.

    Andrea Leadsom

    DECC officials and Ministers have had extensive meetings with stakeholders from across the renewables industry during the feed-in tariff review consultation, including many of the organisations signing the letters of 21 August and 9 October. I held a roundtable in Parliament on Wednesday 21 October, with a wide ranging group of stakeholders. It was a highly productive meeting.

    DECC replied to the letter of 21 August, and will respond to the letter of 9 October in due course.

  • Steve Rotheram – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve Rotheram – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to close the pay gap between disabled workers and other workers.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government is committed to ensuring that all disabled people have the opportunity to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. Work is an important part of this, which is why we committed to halving the disability employment gap in our manifesto – we want to ensure that many more disabled people who can and want to work have that opportunity.

    Equality Act 2010 protects disabled people (and other groups) from discrimination at work, including unequal pay (in relation to the disabled person’s gender) and less favourable treatment, which may require the employer to provide a reasonable adjustment.

    The National Living Wage – which will ensure that all low wage workers, including those with disabilities, can take a greater share of the gains from growth – will come into force from 1 April 2016.

    Disability Confident works with an increasing number of employers to promote the benefits of employing disabled people, encouraging good practice, challenging prejudicial attitudes, increasing understanding of disability, removing barriers, and helping to ensure that disabled people have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.

    Access to Work provides support above and beyond employers’ reasonable adjustments. Every year, Access to Work supports tens of thousands of disabled workers to enter or retain employment and progress in their careers.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will announce their response to the consultation on changes to the NHS tariff objection mechanism.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government’s response to the consultation ‘Fair and transparent pricing for NHS services: A consultation on proposals for revising the objection mechanism to the pricing method’ will be published shortly.

  • Lord Tanlaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Tanlaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tanlaw on 2015-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the prime meridian can be correctly identified and correlated with GPS by the construction (with permission) in Greenwich Park of a suitable marker located at zero longitude.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    As the reference frame for the Global Positioning System (GPS) is established through a mathematical interpretation of satellite radio signals, rather than a physical meridian, it is not conceptually appropriate to represent it in the same way as other meridians have historically been marked at Greenwich.

    We do not see any practical benefit in changing the reference point for UT1 even if it was a decision the UK Government could make unilaterally. Such a change could cause confusion as could use of the term “Greenwich Meridian Time”. In line with the International Telecommunication Union Radio Regulations, all time‑signal broadcasts in the UK transmit. the international timescale UTC, and so any change to UT1 or GMT would have no impact on the time-signal available to the UK public.