The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-09-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the national living wage on social care providers.
Alistair Burt
The impact of the new National Living Wage on local authority finances will be considered during the Spending Review as part of an overall assessment of spending pressures on local authorities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck on 2015-09-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether funding allocated to local authorities for resettling Syrian refugees will be restricted to one year.
Richard Harrington
The first 12 months of a refugee’s resettlement costs are fully funded by central government using the overseas aid budget. To ensure that local authorities can plan ahead and continue to respond to the overwhelmingly generous response of the British people, we will also provide additional funding to assist with costs incurred after year one.
We will be working closely with local government to develop the process for drawing down the funding, including to those councils offering help under the scheme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2015-09-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to review the school funding formula to ensure fair funding for schools in rural areas.
Mr Sam Gyimah
We are committed to making schools funding fairer and will come forward with our proposals for this in due course. These will include proposals about how to ensure that schools in rural areas are funded fairly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-09-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports his Department has received of al Shabaab’s activities in the lower Shabelle region of Somalia.
Grant Shapps
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office receives a wide range of reporting on Somalia from our Embassy in Mogadishu and other actors on the ground, including the United Nations and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the media and other open sources. Reporting shows that Al Shabaab continues vigorously to contest the lower Shabelle region. Recent Al Shabaab activities have included the re-occupation of Janaale and Kurtenwarey (alongside the continuing occupation of Jilib) following tactical AMISOM withdrawals from these smaller, more isolated positions in order to consolidate forces and focus offensive efforts elsewhere. These attacks and Al Shabaab’s ability to conduct asymmetric attacks elsewhere in the country – targeting the Federal Government of Somalia, Somali security forces, AMISOM and members of the international community – highlight the significant threat that it continues to pose to Somalia’s security.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-09-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent representations he has received from charities and patients’ groups on the future of the Cancer Drugs Fund; and if he will make a statement.
George Freeman
The Department has received a number of representations on this issue from a wide range of interested parties including hon. Members, noble Lords, patient representative groups and charities, the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare professionals.
This Government is committed to continuing to invest in the Cancer Drugs Fund which has helped over 72,000 people in England to receive the life-extending cancer drugs that would not otherwise have been routinely available to them.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2015-09-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will provide the information on the police formula requested by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands; and how the exemplifications described in Annex A of her Department’s letter of 15 September 2015 will affect that force.
Mr John Hayes
The consultation on police funding arrangements closed on 15 September and the responses are being analysed. The Government will consider these responses carefully to determine what changes, if any, are required. We will continue to engage with policing partners during this process and intend to provide information, including exemplifications of future allocations, as these develop. At this stage final force-level allocations have not been set and will not be determined until we have completed our analysis.
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 each application made by local authorities in England and Wales for emergency protection orders 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.
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.
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.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will publish all documentation relating to the nuclear power investment signed with the Prime Minister of China covering Chinese state companies on 17 June 2014; and if he will publish all subsequent documentation.
Michael Fallon
On June 17 2014, the UK and China signed the Joint Statement on Civil Nuclear Energy Co-operation. DECC was also a co-signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding on Enhancing Co-operation in the Field of Civil Nuclear Industry Fuel Cycle Supply Chain. Both documents are online at:
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