Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Drake – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Drake – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Drake on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to lower the level of fees for access to employment tribunals.

    Lord Faulks

    The Justice Secretary is committed to reviewing the impact of the introduction of fees in the employment tribunal system. The Ministry of Justice is currently finalising arrangements for the timing and scope of the review to ensure that the impacts can be properly assessed. An announcement will be made when the review begins, and again when it has been completed, setting out the results.

  • Julian Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Julian Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Smith on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that the staging dates for automatic enrolment for workplace pensions are being effectively communicated to businesses in Skipton and Ripon constituency.

    Steve Webb

    The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has responsibility for educating and enabling employers in order to maximise compliance. TPR is writing to employers 12 months and 1 month prior to their staging date to alert them to their new responsibilities.

    Where an employer provides an email address to TPR they will also receive a series of emails informing them what stage they should be at and signposting guidance and tools that have been provided by the Regulator. This includes an interactive planning tool to assist employers in getting ready, a staging date tool to find out your staging date, and detailed guides. They have also established a customer support centre for employers to discuss any questions they may have.

    An advertising campaign aimed at employers has also been used to raise awareness and guide employers to the regulator’s website to help them in their preparations.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will answer the question asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 11 June (HL Deb, col 418) about what action is being taken to ensure the safety of those reported to have fled the city of Mosul following its capture by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham.

    Baroness Northover

    As of 17 June, following the advance of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) –led alliance in Northern Iraq, the UK is providing an initial £3 million of emergency humanitarian assistance to help displaced civilians. Following an assessment of needs on the ground by DFID humanitarian experts who deployed to Erbil last Thursday 12 June, this includes:

    (i) – Activation of the UK’s Rapid Response Facility (RRF), which provides emergency support via pre-approved organisations in the event of a humanitarian crisis overseas. This initial package of UK support comprises clean water and sanitation, essential medicine, women-friendly hygiene kits and basic household items, which will be provided from £2 million of RRF funding to NGOs in the region.

    (ii) – Protection for vulnerable girls and women through the deployment of dedicated UN safety and welfare teams in key internally displaced person and refugee camp sites and areas, secured through £1 million of funding to the UNHCR.

    The UK will continue to monitor the situation closely and we are considering urgently what other assistance we could provide.

  • Miss Anne McIntosh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Miss Anne McIntosh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Miss Anne McIntosh on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent representations he has received on illegal pump imports into the UK; and if he will make a statement.

    Michael Fallon

    I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

    We have had no representations on illegal pump imports. The National Measurement Office (NMO) is the designated Market Surveillance Authority for the UK for products subject to regulations made under the Ecodesign for Energy -related Products Directive, including those for pumps. It takes an intelligence-led and risk-based approach to market surveillance; any evidence of illegal imports should be sent to the NMO (https://www.gov.uk/placing-energy-related-products-on-the-uk-market) for follow-up and appropriate enforcement action.

    “

  • Baroness King of Bow – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness King of Bow – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness King of Bow on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stowell of Beeston on 6 May (WA 392), with which organisations representing private tenants the Private Rented Sector Task Force has engaged since its establishment.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    The Private Rented Sector Taskforce work closely with my officials in developing our policies in relation to the private rented sector. Together they engage with a wide range of private sector tenant groups including Shelter, Crisis, Generation Rent and its predecessor the National Private Tenant’s Organisation, the National Union of Students, as well as individual private tenant organisations.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-04-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to reduce the amount of stamp duty paid by first-time home buyers.

    Mr David Gauke

    The stamp duty land tax relief for first time buyers in existence between March 2010 and March 2012 was found by HMRC to be ineffective in increasing the number of first time buyers entering the market.

    The Government is instead taking other steps to support those wishing to purchase a home, such as the Help to Buy and NewBuy schemes.

  • Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Seabeck on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many parliamentary questions tabled to his Department in the last parliamentary Session did not receive a substantive answer by the time of the 2014 prorogation; and when each such question was first tabled.

    Mr Francis Maude

    One Parliamentary Question, which was tabled the day before prorogation, did not receive a substantive answer

  • 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 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many applications he has (a) received and (b) approved for the disposal of allotment sites in each year since 2010 in England; and in what local authority each such site was located.

    Stephen Williams

    Further to the Allotments Act 1925, applications for consent to dispose of allotment land are submitted to the Department by local councils (parish councils and principal authorities). The table below shows the breakdown of applications since May 2010.

    Granted

    Withdrawn

    Refused

    May 2010- March 2011

    18

    6

    0

    2011-12

    17

    5

    0

    2012-13

    15

    2

    1

    2013-14

    17

    1

    4

    2014-15 to date

    1

    1

    0

    To place this in context, the Secretary of State granted 34 allotment disposals in 2007, granted 22 in 2008 and granted 18 in 2009, whilst only 2 were declined, which is a greater rate than under this Administration.

    I observe that the rt. hon. Member has been quoted in the media attacking such consents. He would have been wiser however to have undertaken a closer examination of the 68 individual consents granted to the local councils since May 2010.

    The table below provides some context to help explain why there was a reasonable case by the representative local bodies for changing the statutory status of the land.

    In January 2014, my Department published Allotment Disposal Guidance: Safeguards and Alternatives replacing the previous guidance from 2002. The new guidance strengthens allotment protection, as the requirement for waiting lists to be taken into account must now be rigorously applied to all that council’s waiting lists, not just the waiting list for the site to be disposed of. This aims to ensure that poorly maintained sites are not used to justify disposal. Ministers will be closely monitoring to ensure that this new guidance is followed.

    Notwithstanding, I have taken the opportunity to analyse these previous cases in the table below. The National Allotment Society was consulted in every case, and nine out of ten decisions were consistent with advice from the National Allotment Society (where advice was given); the remaining cases where the advice diverged related to land not actually in use as allotments, requiring a judgement call on whether it was realistic to bring the land back into productive use.

    Having analysed these approvals, I can note that half of the land disposed was not actually in use as allotments. Moreover, in every case where existing allotment plot holders were displaced, evidence from local authorities indicates that alternative plots were made available to them.

    More new plots were proposed to be created and/or vacant sites proposed to be brought back into use than the number of proposed disposals of in-use allotment plots. Consequently, the statutory disposal process overseen by the Secretary of State since May 2010 should have resulted in an increase in allotment provision not a reduction. This reflects this Government’s commitment both to supporting local communities grow their own food and to protecting important community assets.

  • Harriet Harman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Harriet Harman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Harriet Harman on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent estimate he has made of the amount of philanthropic giving to arts and heritage organisations in each region and constituent part of the UK; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    In 2011/12, according to Arts & Business, overall philanthropic giving to the cultural sector grew by 7.6% on the previous year to £660.5 million. The breakdown of this total shows £536 million of private investment in culture in London and £125 million in the non-London English regions. Although London is always likely to attract a greater proportion of philanthropic giving, there are many examples of arts organisations successfully encouraging philanthropy and private investment across the country. DCMS has been working closely with Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund and the cultural sector, through the £100 million Catalyst scheme, to help improve fundraising capacity and ensure organisations have the skills required to cultivate philanthropy.

  • Sir Menzies Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Sir Menzies Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Menzies Campbell on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether military training given to the Burmese Army by UK advisers advises soldiers to refuse orders that could result in human rights abuses.

    Mr Mark Francois

    This issue was covered in a panel discussion during the export version of the Managing Defence in the Wider Security Context course that was delivered in Burma, in January 2014, by a mixed civil-military team from the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom and one of their academic providers, Cranfield University. The discussion sat within a lecture on Rules of Engagement. An international law academic from Cranfield University, who specialises in the law of armed conflict, set out the legal position with regards to obeying illegal orders and the consequences of disobeying them.