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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been carried out of the performance of the right to rent pilot in Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government has carried out an evaluation of phase one of the Right to Rent scheme in Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton. This includes assessment of the implementation of the Landlords Checking Service. The findings of the evaluation were published on 20 October and will inform the extension of the scheme. The evaluation can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-right-to-rent-scheme

  • Rosie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Rosie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the difference between the water and sewerage charge per pupil in Lancashire and Kent; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    Water and sewerage charges are set by water companies in line with the overall cap set by Ofwat on the amount that each water company may recover from their customers.

    Water company charges vary across regions to reflect the cost of collecting or abstracting water and treating it to meet water quality standards; building and maintaining pipes to deliver water, remove sewerage and surface water; and treating sewerage to meet environmental standards. Due to the variations in demography and geography these processes and costs vary greatly by region.

    Water charges include a surface water charge to cover the costs of removing and treating rainwater that drains away to public sewers. Some water companies share these costs equally across all their customers; four companies charge their non-household customers according to property size. Charging by this method better reflects the amount of rainwater draining into the public sewer.

    The Government recognised that charging in this way can have a particular impact on community groups with property covering a large site-area and, in 2010, issued guidance to Ofwat and water companies on developing concessionary schemes for these groups. Our recent consultation on draft charging guidance to Ofwat recognised that concerns have subsequently been raised about the impact of site area charging on other groups, including schools. It recognised the importance of organisations taking a more sustainable approach to drainage, but said that area based charging should result in a recognisable benefit to customers as a whole and should not have an unduly negative impact on organisations that provide a wider benefit to society. We are currently considering the responses to this consultation, and whether we should review the guidance on concessionary schemes.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many of the recommendations of the 2011 report on Palestinian children in military custody, funded by his Department, have been carried out.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Since the publication of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office funded independent report on Children in Military Custody in June 2012, there has been some progress on the issue of children held in military detention.

    Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv held roundtable meetings with Israeli officials, most recently on 19 May. These meetings confirmed that progress is being made including a pilot to use summons instead of night-time arrests, changes to standard operating procedures on methods of restraint, and steps to reduce the amount of time a child can be detained before seeing a judge. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv continue to push for further progress with Israeli officials.

    On 2 June, the Minister of State, my noble Friend the right hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns met the Israeli Military Advocate General and the Israeli Ambassador to London where the issue of child detention was discussed. She made clear that while we welcome improvements, we continue to push for the full implementation of changes and to encourage further changes in practice.

  • Dr Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dr Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the Government and NHS employers plan to supplement junior doctors’ salaries for (a) residential and (b) non-residential on call duties in the proposed new contract for junior doctors.

    Ben Gummer

    The concepts of “residential” and “non-residential” on-call do not exist in the current contract for doctors and dentists in training, nor will they exist in the new contract arrangements being proposed. These are colloquial terms used to refer to some of the current working arrangements, which include on-call rotas, partial shifts, full shifts and some hybrid arrangements.

    Currently there are pay banding supplements, on top of basic salary, the levels of which are determined by working hours and patterns.

    Under the proposals for a new contract, banding supplements will end. In their place will be increased basic pay, plus proportionate pay for additional hours, with a premium rate of pay for hours worked in the unsocial hours period. There will also be on-call availability supplements for being on an on-call rota, i.e. being available to return to work but not expected to be on-site for the whole period. These supplements will be a percentage of pay, of different values depending on the frequency of the on-call commitment.

    These proposals are – as in other respects – substantially the same as those agreed when the hon. Member was a Minister.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what length of time her Department retains information about a person after they have been referred to the Channel programme.

    Mr John Hayes

    Information relating to an individual referred to Channel is recorded by the police on the Channel Case Management and Information System (CMIS). The data is subject to the Code of Practice on the Management of Police Information (MOPI).

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the costs and difficulties faced by Chinese visitors and tourists wishing to enter the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    The UK welcomes Chinese visitors and tourists, and our visa service is one of the most flexible and comprehensive on offer in China. We have 12 visa application centres in China, more than any other country, and provide a range of services and fast-tracking options to improve customer choice and experience. We continue to enhance this offer and in recent months have introduced the UK-Belgian Visitor Service, which has streamlined the UK and Schengen visa application processes, and expanded our on demand mobile visa service, to make it easier for Chinese nationals to apply. On 20 October the Prime Minister announced further improvements for Chinese visitors, including piloting the extension of standard visitor visas from six months to two years multiple entry, and plans to introduce a new ten year multi-entry visit visa at the same price. Our mobile visa on demand service will also be further extended to an additional 50 cities. Demand continues to grow, and in the year ending June 2015, the UK issued 377,427 visit visas to Chinese nationals – a 19% increase on the previous year. The UK processes 99% of applications in China within the 15 working service standard, with an average processing time of less than seven days, and 95% of Chinese applicants are successful.

  • 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 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will issue a new impact assessment examining the economic and value for money consequences of Just Solutions international.

    Andrew Selous

    I refer the hon member to the Secretary of State’s statement of 13 October 2015. As has been the practice with successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed. We have no plans to undertake an impact assessment.

  • Keir Starmer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Keir Starmer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keir Starmer on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons the objection in the Euston Area Plan on prioritising local people’s needs adopted by the London Borough of Camden, the Mayor of London and Transport for London in January 2015 is not referred to in the Supplementary Environmental Statement for High Speed 2.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    HS2 Ltd deposited an Additional Provision (AP3) to the HS2 Phase One hybrid Bill and a Supplementary Environmental Statement (SES2) on 16 September 2015. AP3 and SES2 include revised plans for London Euston station.

    SES2 reports on the likely significant environmental effects of updated environmental information and changes that are new but within the powers already being sought under the Bill and within the limits described in it. Changes that go beyond the existing powers and limits described in the Bill are contained in AP3.

    The purpose of SES2 however is not to consider objections to the proposed changes; these are considered through the relevant consultation and petitioning processes.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2015 to Question 228756, when his Department plans to publish statistics on the performance of the Help to Work scheme.

    Priti Patel

    Statistics on Help to Work will be published on 22nd October 2015.

    The first release covers the number of referrals to each of the three interventions in the Help to Work programme and starts to the Community Work Placement element of Help to Work. The statistics can be found at:
    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-work-quarterly-statistics

    “

  • Gavin Shuker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gavin Shuker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Shuker on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    I am aware of concerns about human rights violations on both sides of the Line of Control. We have consistently maintained that any allegations of human rights abuses should be investigated thoroughly, promptly and transparently.