The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lindsay Roy on 2014-04-10.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of how much the reduction in the additional rate of income tax to 45 per cent will be worth each year for a person earning £1 million a year.
Mr David Gauke
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave today to the hon. Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department allocated to the Conflict Pool for South Asia in each of the last three years.
Mr Alan Duncan
The Conflict Pool is funded from an HM Treasury settlement which is separate from and additional to departmental budgets. Details of Conflict Pool allocations are provided to Parliament annually in a Written Ministerial Statement. The statements for Financial Years 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14 are available on the parliament.uk website.
A Statement giving details of Conflict Pool allocations for FY 2014/15 will be laid before the House shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Barnett on 2014-04-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the average interest rate charged to small and medium-sized enterprises by United Kingdom banks.
Lord Deighton
The Government is committed to supporting small and medium sized businesses and recognises their importance to the economy. Since 2010, the Government has introduced a number of schemes aimed at improving access to finance for businesses, including the creation of the British Business Bank and the introduction of the joint Government and Bank of England Funding for Lending Scheme.
Decisions about whether to lend to specific individuals or businesses including the rate of interest charged, remain commercial decisions for banks and building societies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 469W, on Secure Colleges: Leicestershire, what steps have been taken to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the cohort.
Jeremy Wright
The requirements set out within the tender for the design and build of the Secure College pathfinder took into account departmental experience of providing safe custodial environments. The initial design for the Secure College pathfinder was evaluated against these requirements as well as design, operation and security considerations.
The Ministry of Justice will be working with Wates, the preferred design and build bidder, over the coming months to refine the initial design. This will include ensuring that different groups of young people can be accommodated discretely, if needed, within the site.
The safety and wellbeing of young people is central to all plans for the design and operation of the Secure College pathfinder.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2014-04-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there has been an evaluation into the impact on international trade and the United Kingdom economy resulting from changes to the Government Gateway and Identity Assurance programme; and, if so, whether they will publish it.
Lord Deighton
The Identity Assurance programme is at an early stage in development. The programme will be subjected to rigorous consultation and testing. Any relevant documents will be published when available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-18.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which wards, in which town, county and constituency had a postal vote turnout greater than 90 per cent at the last General Election.
Mr Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission does not hold the data requested at ward level.
The Commission collects electoral data at each set of polls. In nearly all cases this is collected down to the level of individual contests, which means that it only holds ward level data for local elections.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2014-04-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the judgment issued on 9 April by Mr Justice Popplewell in Refugee Action v Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether they have any plans to establish an inquiry into the way asylum support rates are calculated.
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
The Government plans to review asylum support rates. That review will take account of the judgment and other information. The review will be completed by 9 August 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the contracts for personal independence payments assessments were awarded to Atos and Capita; and how many applications they were forecast to have processed by (a) March 2014 and (b) March 2015.
Mike Penning
The start date for both ATOS and Capita contracts was the 31st July 2012.
No forecast figures are available for numbers of applications processed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what research and development into the commercial application of robotics his Department funds; and if he will make a statement.
Mr David Willetts
This Department has worked with the Technology Strategy Board’s (TSB) Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Special Interest Group to develop a National Strategy for robotics in the UK, which will identify commercial opportunities in key sectors of the Government’s Industrial Strategy.
The Department and its partner organisations fund research and development into the commercial application of robotics as follows:
BIS
This Department is currently providing funding of £1.5m to support the development of autonomous road vehicles. The consortium (which includes Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the Transport Systems Catapult and other partners) will develop small pod-like vehicles capable of carrying up to 2 passengers and which will ultimately be capable of autonomous operations.
BIS has previously funded a two year automation programme with the British Automation and Robot Association that ended in September 2013. The £600k programme over two years enabled the provision of a one day manufacturing review and diagnostic to small and medium-sized enterprises on the potential to apply robotics and automation in their businesses. The programme also provided the opportunity for more detailed interventions. Over 268 one day reviews were carried out, and more detailed interventions accounted for a further 282 days of advice.
Research Councils
The Research Councils current investment into research related to the commercial application of robotics is £36.5m, which includes a £10m investment through the Natural Environment Research Council into Marine Autonomous Systems.
Technology Strategy Board
The TSB is the prime channel through which Government supports business-led technology innovation. Since 2010 it has invested £8 million in robotics and robotics related projects, helping business develop and commercialise new products and services.
The TSB is arranging an entrepreneur-led overseas delegation to the US in June 2014 to develop the UK’s brand in robotics and to engage with the rapidly growing robotics cluster in San Francisco and San Diego. This creates a real opportunity for UK robotics companies to capitalise on this growth and take a lead in integrating their technologies in a range of markets that could exploit them. The message behind the mission is that the UK is open for business and has innovative robotics companies that are interested in the US market and are ready to engage in dialogue, form partnerships and do business in the international arena.
In addition, the Government (through TSB) has previously funded research and demonstration of civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicles through the £62m ASTRAEA programme over the past seven years. The programme has made possible the ‘unmanned’ flight of a Jetstream 31 from Lancashire to Inverness, clocking up to 2,500 miles in flights between Lancashire and Inverness and around the Irish Sea.
UK Space Agency
The UK Space Agency encourages and supports companies and research organisations to spin-out technology developed through space exploration into non-space sectors. The funding provided by the Agency is for feasibility studies. The relevant studies funded are:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what contingency arrangements have been put in place by the Department’s Child Maintenance Group to ensure that the Child Maintenance Options Service answers all calls promptly and there is a good service; and how often those contingency arrangements were invoked in the last year.
Steve Webb
The Child Maintenance Options service has an effective business continuity plan in place, which includes the ability to divert calls to other trained colleagues and deploy a variety of telephony-based solutions such as Interactive Voice Response.
There were around eight occasions in which contingency measures had to be used in the last year for reasons including brief local power outages, activation of the fire alarm system and occasions where call demands exceeded forecasted volumes.
Steps have been taken to prevent or minimise any reoccurrence of these events, including the installation of an uninterrupted power supply and better forecasting as we fully establish the impact of recent changes such as the use of Child Maintenance Options as a mandatory gateway to the statutory scheme.