Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Biography information for Lisa Nandy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Biography information for Lisa Nandy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Lisa Nandy on Transport.

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    Stephen Hammond

    Open access operators have helped to provide innovative services for passengers and grow new rail markets – often generating excellent passenger satisfaction scores. The additional competitive pressure generated by open access operators can also help improve the experience of passengers of franchised services.

    These beneficial impacts must be balanced against the potential to abstract passenger revenue from franchised operators. This abstraction primarily manifests itself as a cost to Government in the form of diminished value of the franchises when they are tendered.

    To mitigate this problem, the Office of Rail Regulation ("ORR") applies the "not primarily abstractive test", which aims to ensure that applicants for open access routes will generate at least 30 pence of new revenue for every £1 of existing revenue abstracted from franchised operators. The ORR considers that if the open access operator generates any less new revenue, the benefits of their operation would not outweigh the costs. Our policy is to support the application of the not primarily abstractive test when open access applications are assessed.

  • John Healey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the grant per property was for new affordable housing under the National Affordable Housing Programme, by region, in each year since the inception of the Programme.

    Kris Hopkins

    Average grant allocated per property for the National Affordable Housing Programme, which operated from 2008-09 to 2010-11, broken down by Homes and Communities Agency operating area, is set out below.

    Operating area

    2008/09

    2009/10

    2010/11

    East and South East

    £42,692

    £45,165

    £39,793

    London

    £83,376

    £89,381

    £72,092

    Midlands

    £40,961

    £40,005

    £41,942

    North East, Yorkshire and the Humber

    £39,392

    £37,113

    £42,744

    North West

    £44,519

    £42,060

    £44,484

    South and South West

    £45,284

    £49,430

    £47,273

    Source: Homes and Communities Agency

    Since 2011, the new Affordable Rent model allows for new affordable housing to be delivered with a lower grant cost to taxpayers.

  • Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson on Work and Pensions.

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    Mike Penning

    The information you have requested is not available.

  • Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effects of amending the Furniture and Furnishing (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 on the number of house fires.

    Michael Fallon

    BIS is currently exploring options for a revised match test in the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. It will not have a material effect on the fire safety of UK domestic upholstered furniture, but could lead to a small overall decrease in house fires as it will include currently unregulated materials in products which can contribute to the ignitability of furniture. The test will also reduce the levels of flame retardant chemicals in UK furniture. These contribute to smoke toxicity when burned and can have adverse effects on human health and the environment when they break down into constituent parts. These changes should bring savings to the industry of £30-50 million a year.

  • Biography information for Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Biography information for Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Alex Cunningham on Health.

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    Jane Ellison

    Regulations for making it an offence to smoke in private vehicles carrying children are being drafted at present.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-04-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much in income tax relief was added to the personal pensions of higher rate taxpayers in 2013-14.

    Mr David Gauke

    Figures for 2013-14 are not yet available.

    The latest available estimates (from 2011-12) of the number of people receiving income tax deductions for their personal pension contributions and the value of deductions by different income levels can be found in Table 3.8 at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/276037/tables3-1_3-11.pdf

    “

  • Biography information for Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Biography information for Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Luciana Berger on Health.

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    Norman Lamb

    NHS England recognises that the number of adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) is gradually increasing over time. The growth in numbers is taken into account by NHS England as part of its annual commissioning process and will be considered in the ongoing development of its five year specialised commissioning strategy.

    Information concerning the number of people living with CF in each of the last four years is not available. In the following table we have provided the number of CF patients (adults and children) cared for by specialist centres in England in each of the last three years. This data has only been collected since the introduction of the tariff for CF services in 2011.

    Year

    Patients

    2011

    7,291

    2012

    7,620

    2013

    7,778

    We would expect all CF patients to have a CF specialist in charge of their care and, as part of the ongoing support they receive, to be assessed at specialist centres.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-04-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of building information modelling in reducing the total cost of ownership for complex infrastructure assets; and if he will make a statement.

    Danny Alexander

    The 2011 Government Construction Strategy set a target that all publicly procured construction will require fully collaborative 3D Building Information Modelling (BIM) (with all project and asset information, documentation and data being electronic) as a minimum by 2016.

    Infrastructure UK is working closely with the government and industry groups implementing BIM on new projects. Early adopter projects include the Ministry of Justice Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institute which has demonstrated an overall saving of around 20% with BIM as part of suite of efficiency measures deployed on the design and construction of the project. (A case study from Cookham Wood is attached to this response).

    Major projects and clients are now implementing BIM on new infrastructure projects. It is still too early to draw conclusive evidence of whole life benefits. However High Speed 2 has made a specific commitment to deploy BIM and the Highways Agency are piloting BIM on the new A556 trunk road project from which evidence of benefits will be collated.

  • Biography information for Thomas Docherty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Biography information for Thomas Docherty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Thomas Docherty on Defence.

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    Mr Philip Dunne

    The UK remains committed to the Joint Strike Fighter programme, and the next Main Gate investment decision will be made in due course. The UK has already taken delivery of three F-35B aircraft and has one aircraft currently in production. It remains on track to enter service in 2018.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the radio spectrum is earmarked for (a) military purposes, (b) radar purposes and (c) public service broadcasting.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Officials have consulted Ofcom who hold such information. Ofcom advise that they do not hold such information for bands below 87.5MHz, but have provided information for bands from 87.5MHz-30GHz.

    Ofcom has identified the proportion of spectrum accessed for public sector uses (not limited to the military), defined as all spectrum bands used by the public sector with Crown immunity (i.e. without need for authorisation by Ofcom). For the purpose of this analysis, this category includes all aeronautical uses of spectrum.

    Crown use of spectrum as a % of total weighted spectrum

    87.5 MHz

    30 GHz

    54%

    26% of the total weighted spectrum in the 87.5MHz to 30 GHz is allocated for radiolocation services/radar.

    Ofcom cannot provide specific information with regards to spectrum in use for public service broadcasting as the national allocation of frequencies does not distinguish between public service broadcasting and non-public service broadcasting. The table below provides information with regards to the proportion of total weighted spectrum in use for terrestrial broadcasting, split into TV and radio.

    Terrestrial broadcasting spectrum as a % of total weighted spectrum

    TV

    Radio

    87.5 MHz

    30 GHz

    8%

    7%

    1%