Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    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.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paul Monaghan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    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.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    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.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Matthew Pennycook – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether it is her policy to allow alternatives to in-home displays to be used in the smart meter rollout.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Energy suppliers are required to offer their domestic customers an In Home Display (IHD) where they install a smart metering system, enabling consumers to visualise how much energy they use, when they use it and how much it costs them in near real time. There is strong evidence that IHDs are instrumental to energy savings, as set out in the Smart Metering Impact Assessment and the findings of the Early Learning Project published in March 2015. IHDs facilitate a significant proportion of the expected benefits of the smart metering programme (some £4.3 billion).

    Energy suppliers are able to offer their customers, where they so choose, other engagement tools in addition to the IHD. However there is a lack of evidence on the enduring consumer benefits of alternative engagement tools within Great Britain. The Government is currently consulting on proposals to allow suppliers to undertake, with the Secretary of State’s approval on a case by case basis, trials of alternative energy use engagement tools to IHDs. This will help DECC to gather evidence on the performance of other approaches, to understand if the IHD requirement remains optimised for the costs and benefits accruing to consumers.

    The consultation can be found on the following weblink:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/smart-meter-in-home-display-licence-conditions.

    “

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress he has made in reforming the Data Access Advisory Group; and what plans there are to update the Caldicott principles.

    George Freeman

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has developed proposals to establish the Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD), which will replace the current Data Access Advisory Group (DAAG). The new group will have an expanded remit, which is designed to drive improvements in decision-making in respect of data releases, specifically through increasing transparency, accountability, participation, quality and consistency.

    HSCIC has recentlyconcluded a consultation with the public and key stakeholders on the draft Terms of Reference for IGARD.The consultationran from 16 June to 31 August 2015. Forty-three organisations and individuals responded via the online web form, by electronic document and by letter. These responses will inform the process of managing the transition from DAAG to IGARD.

    Revised Caldicott principles were outlined in the Government’s response to the Caldicott Review Information: To Share or Not to Share published in September 2013. This document is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/caldicott-information-governance-review-department-of-health-response

    There are no plans to update these principles.

    “

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department’s policy is for the handling and release of patient data over the next five years; and what principles have informed that policy.

    George Freeman

    The Personalised Heath and Care 2020 National Information Board Framework for Action published in November 2014 outlined the Governments policy for handling and release of patient data over the next five years. The document is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personalised-health-and-care-2020

    The principles supporting this policy were outlined in Dame Fiona Caldecott’s Information Governance Review published in March 2013. The document is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-information-governance-review

    “

  • David Burrowes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Burrowes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 8 September 2015 to Question 47 by the Minister of Immigration to the Home Affairs Committee, how many Syrian refugees will be accommodated in order to meet the UNHCR requirement for 130,000 vulnerable Syrian refugees by 2016.

    Richard Harrington

    As the Prime Minister announced on 7 September, the Government will expand existing resettlement schemes to resettle 20,000 Syrians in need of protection during this Parliament. This is in addition to the thousands who receive protection in the UK under normal asylum procedures and through the refugee family reunion route. The UK is making a serious and substantial contribution to resettling vulnerable Syrian refugees. We will continue to work with the UNHCR and play our full part in helping these vulnerable people.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the reasons were for which each emergency protection order was granted to a local authority in England and Wales in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013, (e) 2014 and (f) January to March 2015.

    Caroline Dinenage

    This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will place in the Library correspondence he has received from Essex County Council and Brentwood Council on changes to councillors’ eligibility for the Local Government Pension Scheme.

    Kris Hopkins

    Brentwood Borough Council did not send in a response to the consultation on “Taxpayer-funded pensions for councillors and other elected local office holders”. A copy of Essex County Council’s response is attached.

    This differential interest no doubt reflects the fact that Brentwood Borough Council did not have any councillors in the Local Government Pension Scheme (a consequence of the decision of my hon. Friend, the Member for Great Yarmouth, when he was leader of the Council not to join the scheme), whereas Essex did. Non-participating councils tended not to respond to the consultation.

    Prior to the consultation, only 16 per cent of councillors were actually members of the scheme and only 55 councils actually responded. The majority of Councils and Councillors submitted no objection to the Government’s proposal to end Councillor’s access to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

    Such taxpayer-funded local government pensions have now been abolished, subject to practical transition measures introduced as a result of the consultation. These reforms will save taxpayers’ money, strengthen the independence of councillors, and reflects that the fact that councillors are not salaried employees of the council. Nothing prevents councillors from contributing to their own private personal pension, receiving tax relief like any other member of the public.

    The suggestion by some that these changes would discourage people from running for election has not been borne out. In last year’s London borough elections, all candidates nominated in the knowledge that there would be no taxpayer-funded pensions if they were elected; yet more candidates ran for election in London in 2014 than in 2010 (source: London datastore).

    I suspect that the council tax-paying public would be less than impressed at the Labour Party’s calls to reintroduce such taxpayer-funded pensions.

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what risk rating was placed on a collision involving a Tornado and another aircraft in (a) 1991, (b) 1998 and (c) 2010.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The risk rating placed on a collision involving a Tornado for the years 1991 and 1998 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. For 2010 the risk placed on a collision involving a Tornado classifies the severity of Mid Air Collision as ‘Catastrophic’, and the likelihood as ‘Remote’. Nevertheless, we have initiated a programme to fit Tornado aircraft with a collision warning system, which is currently being trialed on two aircraft and a third has been fitted for further development. On current planning, we intend to introduce this capability in stages from later this year.