The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-09-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of how many people will benefit directly from the implementation of the national living wage.
Nick Boles
The Office for Budget Responsibility estimate that the National Living Wage will benefit 2.7 million low wage workers by 2020 – http://cdn.budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/July-2015-EFO-234224.pdf
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2015-09-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department is making of the location to be chosen for the manufacture of the Army’s multi-terrain pattern uniforms.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a number of contracts to supply Multi-Terrain Pattern clothing for the UK Armed Forces. The MOD is required to comply with all legislation and relevant Government policy. Subject to these conditions the MOD does not restrict the geographical location of manufacture, however, it does expect contractors to carry out regular and appropriate inspections to provide assurance that sub-contractors’ facilities and ways of working meet the MOD’s contracted terms.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2015-09-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations her Department has received on amendments to the Hunting Act 2004.
Rory Stewart
The Government has received representations from a wide range of interested parties both for and against any repeal or amendment to the Hunting Act 2004.
The measures proposed in the draft Hunting Act 2004 (Amendment) Order 2015 would not remove the ban on hunting. Given this we judged that more consultation would not have been likely to add to the information available to us.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2015-09-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with NHS England regarding the (a) commissioning of continence services and (b) guidelines for continence services.
Jane Ellison
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets representatives from NHS England on a regular basis to discuss a wide range of issues, including the commissioning of local NHS services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-09-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the contribution of refugees to the UK economy.
Richard Harrington
There are no current plans to undertake an assessment of the contribution of refugees to the UK economy. In September 2014, the Home Office published a report on the labour market characteristics of UK residents born abroad, which highlighted that the employment rate at that time was lowest among those who came originally as a refugee (47% for non-EEA).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2015-09-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what her policy is on the purchasing of abortion medication on the internet; and what recent representations she has received on this subject.
Mr Ben Wallace
Any proposal to reform the law on abortion in Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is also for the Northern Ireland Executive to determine what support women receive to travel to Great Britain to have an abortion. Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office have received no recent representations on the purchasing of abortion medication on the internet.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2015-09-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department provides to disabled young people who are required to take traineeships or unpaid work experience under the Earn or Learn policy.
Priti Patel
Jobcentre Plus will help meet the costs of any reasonable adjustments where appropriate to enable the young person to participate in a work experience placement. Certain expenses, such as child care costs and travel can also be reimbursed.
Young people participating in a traineeship can qualify for existing financial support, including the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund, Free Meals, and Learning and Learner Support funding for 19 to 24 year olds. Access to Work is also available for the work experience placement of their traineeship if they have a disability or health condition that affects their ability to do a job, or means they have to pay extra work-related costs.
Any policy changes under the Youth Obligation will be set out in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-09-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether there is a process to allow hon. Members to view (a) limited and (b) other classified (i) Council and (ii) other EU documents on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; and if he will make a statement.
Anna Soubry
My officials are liaising with the Clerks of both the Commons and Lords European Scrutiny Committees to explore the scope and methods by which this information can be shared while still preserving the confidentiality of sensitive documents.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2015-09-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the British Virgin Islands government’s progress towards implementing a central register of beneficial ownership; and what steps he is taking to ensure that that government publishes a timetable for that implementation by November 2015.
Mr David Gauke
The international standards on anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing, including transparency of legal persons, are set by the Financial Action Task Force. The British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands are members of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and are subject to mutual evaluations of their AML/CTF regime through this body.
At the December 2014 Joint Ministerial Council, the UK and the Overseas Territories committed to continue to work together in raising international standards to tackle money laundering, tax evasion, illicit finance and corruption, leading by example given the importance of our financial centres to the international financial system. In March, the Minister for the Overseas Territories and I wrote to the Premiers of the BVI and Cayman Islands asking them to set out plans and a timetable for the implementation of central registers of company beneficial ownership, or similarly effective systems, by the November Joint Ministerial Council.
Any system should meet the following three criteria: UK and domestic law enforcement and tax authorities must be able to access company beneficial ownership information without restriction, subject to relevant safeguards; these competent authorities should be able to quickly identify all companies that a particular beneficial owner has a stake in, without needing to submit multiple and repeated requests; and companies or their beneficial owners must not be alerted to the fact that an investigation is under way.
The UK Government continues to engage actively with the BVI and Cayman Islands to emphasize the importance of this agenda and to offer any technical support that might be required.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-09-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Deposit Protection Service; and what plans he has to strengthen protections for tenants’ damage deposits.
Brandon Lewis
The Department has a governance role in ensuring that all Tenancy Deposit Protection schemes perform to high standards.
The Deposit Protection Service is required to submit monthly key performance indicators and provide annual updates of their management and financial plans to the Department, in accordance with the Service Concession Agreement we have with them.In addition, the Department holds quarterly monitoring meetings with the scheme operators at which any performance issues can be discussed. Since the schemes began in 2007, the Deposit Protection Service’s performance against the benchmarks set by our key performance indicators has been consistently high.
Safeguards are already in place to ensure that tenants’ deposits are protected. All landlords and agents are required to protect a deposit and provide the tenant with certain prescribed information within 30 days of taking the deposit. At the end of the tenancy, the deposit should be returned to the tenant if they have honoured the terms of the tenancy agreement. If the landlord and tenant do not agree how the deposit should be apportioned, they can use the free Alternative Dispute Resolution service offered by the schemes.