Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many illegal money lenders Illegal Money Lending Units prevented from operating in 2015.

    Nick Boles

    According to the National Trading Standards Annual report 2014/15, the England and Wales illegal money lending teams commenced 365 operations into 756 suspected money lenders in 2014/15.

    In the same period 42 individuals were charged or had proceedings instituted against them for illegal money lending in England and Wales. Trading Standards Scotland referred a further 9 individuals to the Procurator Fiscal for illegal money lending in 2014/15.

  • Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what further resources from the Local Growth Fund he intends to make available to allow additional road improvements; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department for Transport is contributing over £6 billion to the Local Growth Fund in this parliament. This is already helping to fund over 300 road improvement schemes in Local Enterprise Partnerships’ programmes. Local Enterprise Partnerships will soon have the opportunity to make further bids to the Local Growth Fund for new projects, including a £475m element for very large major transport schemes. The Government will be providing details shortly.

  • Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if the Government will bring forward proposals for legislation to establish guardianship provisions to assist families in managing the affairs of missing persons.

    Dominic Raab

    I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer on 15 June 2015, which can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-06-08/1400/.

    “

  • Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of community cohesion in view of the reduction in discretionary spending available to local authorities in London.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Britain has a claim to be the most successful multi-faith, multi-racial democracy in the world. Nowhere exemplifies this more than London – a thriving global city with a

    diverse population.

    It is up to the councils in London to decide what to spend their money on and reforms are giving them more powers over their budgets than ever before.

    The Community Life Survey 2014/15 reports that 89 per cent of people in London feel that their local area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on

    well together. Full data is available (attached) from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447015/Community_Life_Survey_2014-2015_csv.csv/preview

    But we are not complacent. The Prime Minister has asked Louise Casey to carry out a review on how to boost opportunity and integration in the most isolated

    communities in Britain, the findings of which will inform a new Cohesive Communities programme.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-04-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the businesses and sectors which have failed to sign up to the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme; what steps his Department is taking to ensure that such businesses sign up to that scheme; and what steps his Department is taking to exclude from the market those businesses suspected to be trading fraudulently and which did not register by the 31 March 2016 deadline.

    Damian Hinds

    From April 2017, HMRC will be making publicly available details of alcohol wholesalers who are approved. From then, retailers who buy from unapproved wholesalers will be liable to a fine.

    HMRC is now assessing the applications it has received against the scheme’s approval criteria. The number of applications received are lower than HMRCs initial estimate of 21,000 businesses that could be wholesaling alcohol. There could be a number of reasons for this, and HMRC is currently comparing the applications received with original expectations and encouraging businesses that have not applied to do so, to mitigate penalties and the likelihood of enforcement action.

    Where businesses have been purposefully fraudulently trading, HMRC will take action. It is too early to report outcomes of any investigations into illicit trading that HMRC are undertaking since the introduction of the scheme.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the potential number of short-term EU migrants who are expected to enter the UK to live and work in each of the next five years.

    James Brokenshire

    It has been the practice of this Government not to make such forecasts. There are numerous different factors that can affect migration flows. Projections of UK’s population are published by the independent Office for National Statistics. http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationprojections

    As projections, these do not take account of the potential impact of Government policies or economic conditions. ONS produce estimates of short term migration for England and Wales https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/shorttermmigrationestimatesforenglandandwalesmid2014estimates

    The majority of those coming as ‘short term migrants’ were for the reason “other” (which includes activities such as: holidays and travelling; visiting family and friends; and working holidays).

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the timing of the announcement on the rate for NHS-funded nursing care for residents of care homes in 2016-17 on the management of those care homes.

    David Mowat

    The Department appreciates the importance of timely communication of the rate of National Health Service-funded Nursing Care for care homes.

    The new rate will be paid on an interim basis whilst further work is done to review the element of the rate for agency nursing staff (which could lead to a reduction to the rate from 1 January 2017) and to consult on introducing regional variation from April 2017.

    The rate for 2017/18 will be published following completion of work which is being done by the Department.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent measures the Government has undertaken to ensure that people with mental health conditions are properly supported into work.

    Penny Mordaunt

    We are investing significant resources in improving provision to help people with mental health conditions back to work. This includes funding to increase the coverage of the Talking Therapy services by 600,000 people per year to 1.5million by 2020 and investment in a number of voluntary initiatives and trials to test different types of support, with a view to taking forward those that have the most impact.

    In addition we will shortly be publishing a Green Paper on work and health to seek views on what will work to deliver real lasting change for disabled people and those with a health condition. Mental health will be a key focus of our Green Paper as we know that people with mental health conditions fare poorly in the labour market.

    Our aim is to help transform the lives and prospects of disabled people and those with a health condition and contribute to building a society and an economy that works for everyone.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of recruitment levels of new teachers; and if she will make a statement.

    Nick Gibb

    Teaching continues to be a popular career; there are now more teachers in England’s classrooms than ever before. In November 2014 there were 454,900 full time equivalent teachers, an increase of 5,200 from the previous year and 13,100 from 2010.

    Data from the end of the recruitment cycle showed that we exceeded our target for the recruitment of primary teachers, and made good progress in secondary recruitment, including in several key subjects like English, mathematics, physics and chemistry, where recruitment finished ahead of the previous year.

    We recognise that teacher recruitment is becoming increasingly challenging as the economy continues to strengthen and competition for new graduates intensifies, which is why we are focused on attracting more top graduates and career changers into the profession, particularly in those core academic subjects that help children reach their potential. We have recently announced a package of generous financial incentives for the next recruitment round; this includes tax-free bursaries worth up to £30,000 and the opportunity to earn a salary whilst training.

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on the introduction of flexible rail season tickets; and if he will make a statement.

    Claire Perry

    The introduction and roll-out of part-time season tickets will give people who commute part-time a better deal than they currently have access to. We have challenged the rail industry to develop proposals for pricing and delivering more flexible season tickets for those who work or commute part-time which could also attract new customers onto the railway.

    We are making progress on delivering more flexible tickets. For example, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) have a franchise commitment to introduce carnet style tickets on their smartcards which is subject to the Secretary of State’s approval. We expect GTR to meet its obligations and are working with them to ensure they are delivered.