UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Judd – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Judd – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2014-06-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that any extension of the mutual defence agreement with the United States is designed to assist the fulfilment of the purposes of the non-proliferation treaty and to fulfil the undertaking in that context given by the existing nuclear powers.

    Baroness Warsi

    We are committed to the goal of a world without nuclear weapons and firmly believe that the best way to achieve this is through gradual disarmament negotiated through a step-by-step approach within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The UK has a strong record on nuclear disarmament and continues to be at the forefront of international efforts to control proliferation, and to make progress towards multilateral nuclear disarmament. The UK-USA Mutual Defence Agreement is, and will continue to be, in full compliance with our obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

  • Lord Noon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Noon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Noon on 2014-06-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of proposed cuts in counter-terrorism funding and personnel in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

    Baroness Warsi

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Counter Terrorism Programme Fund (CTPF) is the main fund for terrorism-related assistance to foreign countries used by the FCO Counter Terrorism Department. This is complemented by other budgets used for counter-terrorism related activities and the tri-departmental (FCO, Department for International Development and Ministry of Defence) Conflict Pool, as set out in the Written Ministerial Statement on 24 June 2014, Official Report, column WS107-108. We constantly monitor and review our projects, programmes and diplomatic engagement as our part of the wider Government efforts on counter-terrorism, to ensure our resources are having the maximum possible impact in the right places as the global security environment changes. It is not the case that important activities have ceased or are now under-funded.

    The FCO’s work on counter-terrorism goes well beyond CTPF – it is at the heart of our diplomacy across our overseas network, particularly in areas of instability. We have, for example, recently: opened an embassy in Mogadishu to support our work on stability and security in Somalia; brought together key players on Nigeria to secure much needed assistance to tackle the threat from Boko Haram; and continued our work to stop terrorists getting their hands on money to fund their activities through leading efforts on disrupting financial flows from sources such as ‘Kidnap for Ransom’.

  • Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlie Elphicke on 2014-06-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 197W, on Mapeley, whether HM Revenue and Customs reviewed these commercial provisions following the raising of financial concerns by Mapeley in November 2001.

    Mr David Gauke

    There have been no material changes to the relevant commercial provisions in the STEPS contract. A copy of the contract can be viewed on the National Archive website at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/freedom/steps-contract.htm

    “

  • Mark Williams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Mark Williams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Williams on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help the tourism industry retain its role as a key provider of skills and training for the UK workforce.

    Mrs Helen Grant

    The Government has recently launched a new Tourism Council, whose remit is jobs, skills and enterprise. The Council is a partnership between Government and industry and will be jointly chaired by myself, Matthew Hancock MP, the Minister for Skills and Enterprise, and Simon Vincent, Chair of the Hospitality Guild and Hilton President, Europe, Middle East and East Africa. In March, the Prime Minister announced that there will be two new apprenticeship Trailblazers for Tourism and Hospitality.

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what mechanisms his Department has put in place to monitor the amount of available capacity in the UKOP, GPSS and MLP UK pipeline systems.

    Michael Fallon

    Both the UKOP and MLP pipeline systems are privately owned and operated. Currently there are no statutory provisions that require private pipeline owners and operators to make available commercial information on spare capacity.

    The GPSS is a government owned pipeline and DECC is able to obtain information regarding available capacity on request.

    Following the recent cross- government review of the role of both the UK refining and import sectors in UK, and in recognition of pipe-line access being cited as an issue by some stakeholders, the new independently chaired Midstream Oil Government and Industry Task Force will take forward further work on this issue.

  • Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Greatrex on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of his Department’s consumption in kWh of (a) gas and (b) electricity in each month since June 2010; and what the cost of such consumption has been in each such month.

    Mr David Lidington

    I attach a table which shows the monthly consumption and the annual cost of electricity and gas for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s UK estate. To provide a breakdown of monthly utility costs from June 2010 would incur a disproportionate cost.

  • Chris Bryant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chris Bryant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to Healthy Start vouchers and vitamins to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    We plan to provide access to Healthy Start for pregnant women, new mothers, and children under four in the lowest earning families receiving Universal Credit. Our intention is to ensure that a broadly similar number, and range, of Universal Credit families will qualify as currently do so through income based benefits and tax credits.

    The current annual delivery cost of Healthy Start throughout the United Kingdom (vouchers, vitamins and administration) is approximately £100 million. We estimate that if eligibility were extended to pregnant women, new mothers, and children under four in all families claiming Universal Credit it would increase the total spent annually to around £290 million.

  • Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what financial provision her Department has made to cover the (a) ongoing legal costs of and (b) costs of a potential settlement resulting from the binding arbitration process brought by Raytheon Systems Ltd.

    Karen Bradley

    Ongoing legal costs will be met from departmental resources, although no
    specific financial provision has been made for this or for the costs of a
    potential settlement. The costs of a potential settlement have been recognised as a
    contingent liability in the Home Office accounts since 2011-12.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost was of each (a) prison place and (b) prisoner in the case of (i) male and (ii) female prisoners in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Department routinely publishes average costs per prisoner and prison place, based on actual net resource expenditure for each private and public sector prison and in summary form for the whole of the prison estate in England and Wales on an annual basis after the end of each financial year. This includes a breakdown of these costs by prison category and individual prison within each category, and separately by prisoner gender.

    The most recently published figures are for financial year 2012-13 which give an average annual Overall cost per place of £36,808 and average annual Overall cost per prisoner of £34,766. An average annual cost per male prisoner of £34,306 and £44,746 per female prisoner, based on Overall resource costs, is also published.

    The information for financial year 2012-13 is available in the Cost per Place and Prisoner and Supplementary Information files on the Department’s website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201213

    Figures for 2013-14 will be published alongside the Management Information Addendums to the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts in October 2014.

    Continuing to reduce prison unit costs is one of the key targets for the Department. Between 2009/10 and 2012/13 prison unit costs (based on Overall prison costs) have reduced in real terms by 16% per place and 13% per prisoner.

    “

  • Chris Bryant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Chris Bryant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to repayment of children’s welfare loans to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out in Scotland.

    David Mundell

    The Scottish Government is responsible for defining the entitlement criteria for these passported benefits. They will need to consider the current eligibility criteria and make arrangements to ensure that they can continue to deliver these benefits as Universal Credit is introduced.

    There is ongoing engagement between the Scottish Government and the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that any solution is simple, fair, easy to understand and affordable.