The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2015-02-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any employees of Rio Tinto plc were seconded to his Department in the last five years.
Andrea Leadsom
No employees of Rio Tinto plc have been seconded into HM Treasury in the last 5 years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Lloyd on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many electricity customers switched to an independent supplier in each month of 2014.
Matthew Hancock
Ahead of the Government’s ‘Power to Switch’ campaign to encourage people to switch supplier and save money the most recent industry switching data produced by Energy UK and Electralink shows the number of electricity customers switching to in an independent supplier in each month of 2014 to be:
|
Jan-14 |
86,253 |
|
Feb-14 |
90,056 |
|
Mar-14 |
101,002 |
|
Apr-14 |
119,022 |
|
May-14 |
108,904 |
|
Jun-14 |
99,199 |
|
Jul-14 |
82,690 |
|
Aug-14 |
84,107 |
|
Sep-14 |
113,883 |
|
Oct-14 |
114,275 |
|
Nov-14 |
85,741 |
|
Dec-14 |
70,364 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Russell Brown on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what scope joint committees of NHS England and clinical commissioning groups will have to deviate from national service specifications for specialised services in (a) 2015-16 and (b) future years.
Jane Ellison
NHS England is the accountable commissioner and budget holder for all specialised services as set out in the National Health Service Commissioning Board and Clinical Commissioning Groups (Responsibilities and Standing Rules) Regulations 2012, with the Manual for prescribed specialised services providing further detail.
NHS England has achieved significant progress in developing a set of nationally consistent service standards and commissioning policies, which ensure equity of access to high quality services across the board. Those standards and policies will continue to apply for those specialised services which are to be collaboratively commissioned by NHS England and clinical commissioning groups.
NHS England is currently in the process of agreeing the guidance on the collaborative commissioning arrangements which will be in place from 1 April 2015.
NHS England has clarified that where there are collaboratively commissioned services, NHS England will retain the full financial risk for these services for 2015/16. NHS England has advised us that there will be further work conducted over the next year to advise on the range of specialised services for which NHS England should remain the accountable commissioner and budget holder for 2016/17 and future years.
Copies of The National Health Service Commissioning Board and Clinical Commissioning Groups (Responsibilities and Standing Rules) Regulations 2012 and the Manual for prescribed specialised services are attached.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of his Department’s expenditure on diabetes is spent on complications arising from diabetes.
Jane Ellison
This information is not collected centrally.
NHS England has prioritised the prevention of diabetes and will make us the first country to implement at scale a diabetes prevention programme, modelled on our own and international proven experience.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether any former officials in her Department have taken employment with Rio Tinto plc in the last five years.
Justine Greening
Fewer than 5 former DFID officials have taken employment with Rio Tinto plc in the last five year. The exact number has been withheld to protect the identity of those individuals involved. No employees of Rio Tinto have been seconded to DFID in the last 5 years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Attorney General, what recent steps he has taken to promote awareness of the laws on contempt of court among social media users.
Mr Robert Buckland
Where appropriate the Attorney General and I publish online the warnings about potentially prejudicial reporting that Attorneys General had previously only given to the mainstream media. My office also sends tweets warning social media users of the risks of being in contempt of court.
In addition, the Attorney General has recently issued advice to social media users and others that identifying a victim in a sexual offence case is a criminal offence.
We continue to look at whether there is anything more that can be done to raise awareness in this area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding BAFTA receives from his Department and its agencies; and what diversity guidance and requirements accompany that funding.
Mr Edward Vaizey
In April 2014, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) received a grant from Innovate UK of £358,000 for a collaborative research and development project, REVQUAL. This followed an Innovate UK competition on innovation in cross-platform production in digital media, on which information is publicly available: https://interact.innovateuk.org/guidance-for-applicants.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-02-10.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2015 to Question 221932, what estimate he has made of the effect of the reduction in the rate of Supplementary Charge on levels of (a) employment, (b) exploration activity, (c) infrastructure maintenance and (d) decommissioning in the offshore oil and gas industry to date.
Priti Patel
The government recognises the importance of the UK oil and gas industry and its contribution to energy security and the UK economy. We are committed to the future of the industry and creating the right conditions to maximise economic recovery.
At Autumn Statement, the government published a radical plan for the future of the oil and gas fiscal regime and set out a package of measures, including the reduction in the rate of the Supplementary Charge, to tackle the fiscal challenges and ensure the UKCS continues to attract investment, simplify the current system, and remove barriers at all stages of the production life cycle. The package is expected to drive around £7bn of additional investment and 350m barrels of oil equivalent production.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which organisations and individuals responded to his Department’s recent consultation on the proposed zero carbon homes exemptions for small sites; and which such responses were (a) in favour of and (b) against the Government’s proposals to exempt sites of 10 homes or fewer from the allowable solutions.
Stephen Williams
The consultation on ‘Next steps to zero carbon homes – allowable solutions’ closed on 7 January 2015 and we are currently considering responses. We will be publishing a report on the summary of all responses received in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-02-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of comments by United Nations Special Rapporteur Marzuki Darusman that the human rights situation in North Korea can only improve if the Kim family is removed and a new leadership is installed.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We continue to be extremely concerned by reports of gross violations of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). We have repeatedly urged the DPRK authorities to address these violations, including by immediately closing political prison camps. We have also made clear that we will respond positively if the regime demonstrates a genuine willingness to deliver improvements on the ground. However, until and unless such improvements take place we will continue to work with partners to maintain international pressure on the DPRK. We support the work of the Special Rapporteur in monitoring the human rights situation in the DPRK and briefing the UN Human Rights Council as an important part of these efforts.