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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans the Government has to ensure that places where repeater transmitters are situated receive a full Freeview service.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Ofcom estimates that 98.5% of UK households have access to 17 channels including those from the public service broadcasters (PSBs) on the digital terrestrial TV (DTT, or Freeview) platform, and that approximately 90% of UK households are also able to receive additional commercial DTT channels. Around 1.5% of UK households cannot easily receive DTT services with less than 0.5% not able to receive DTT services at all. However, DTT, cable and satellite digital television services together cover practically 100% of UK households, so that in all but the most exceptional of cases, everyone should be able to get digital television by one means or another. As well as subscription services, digital satellite TV offers non-subscription reception options for a one-off equipment and installation cost, but with no on-going monthly payments.

    We have had no discussions with Freeview or Digital UK, who manage the DTT platform, about extending services and there are no plans to require broadcasters to improve the DTT coverage levels agreed for digital television switchover in 2006.

    Purely commercial DTT services are not subject to the ‘near-universal’ coverage requirements which apply to PSB DTT services, and while the operators of the commercial DTT services were given the opportunity to extend their networks at the time of digital switchover, the operators determined that it was not commercially viable for them to build-out their services to additional transmitter sites.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the maximum is a prisoner can earn per (a) week, (b) month and (c) year from working while serving a custodial sentence.

    Jeremy Wright

    Maximum rates of pay for prisoners are not set centrally. Governors have responsibility for setting rates of pay in each establishment, which should reflect regime priorities. NOMS Prisoners’ Pay policy is set out in Prison Service Order 4460, a copy of which is held in the House of Commons library.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people registered as self-employed claimed tax credits in each of the last five years.

    Nicky Morgan

    The following table is based on finalised tax credits administrative data for each financial year. The latest data available is 2011-12.

    Tax Year

    Number of families in receipt of tax credits containing at least one member identified as self-employed

    Thousands

    2007-08

    820

    2008-09

    860

    2009-10

    910

    2010-11

    950

    2011-12

    910
  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, who the members were of Sir Cyril Chantler’s Review team working as part of the Standardised Packaging for Tobacco Independent Review; and what the cost was of commissioning expert advice from (a) Dr Yanzhong Wang and (b) Professor Catherine Pope as part of this review.

    Jane Ellison

    The members of Sir Cyril’s team are named, and their roles noted in the acknowledgements on page 9 of Sir Cyril’s report. The costs of commissioning expert advice from Dr Wang and Professor Pope were £12,000 (plus VAT) and £3,000 (plus VAT) respectively.

  • Gerald Kaufman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gerald Kaufman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 17 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr A A Dada Shzadeh.

    James Brokenshire

    A Home Office official replied to the Rt. Hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on
    2 May 2014.

  • Dr Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Dr Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Matthew Offord on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the number of applicants who seek a national insurance number and claim welfare benefits within six months of receipt.

    Esther McVey

    The information requested is available up to December 2013 and can be found at:

    https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk

    Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

    https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm

    “

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Francis Maude

    Staffing is kept under review but I have no plans to move Cabinet Office staff to Brighton.

  • Nia Griffith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Nia Griffith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nia Griffith on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many acres of land are covered by solar farms in (a) Carmarthenshire, (b) Llanelli constituency, (c) each constitunecy in Wales and (d) each county in Wales.

    Gregory Barker

    DECC does not have data on the area of land covered by solar farms. There are currently 2 solar sites in Wales supported under the renewables obligation (totalling 12.2MW) and 2 sites (totalling 5MW) under the feed-in tariff scheme (FiTs) that are classified as ‘Stand-alone’ and are over 1MW in size. Information below country level is not available for sites in the Renewables Obligation. The sites accredited under FiTs are located in Monmouthshire.

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much in budgeting loans was spent in each region of the UK in each of the last six years.

    Steve Webb

    Table 1 provides the Budgeting Loan expenditure in each region of Great Britain in the financial years from 2008/09 to 2013/14.

    Information regarding annual expenditure for Social Fund schemes in Northern Ireland is a matter for Northern Ireland office and is not included in the figures below. Figures are therefore given for Great Britain and not the United Kingdom.

    Table 1: Budgeting Loan expenditure by region between 2008/09 and 2013/14

    Budgeting Loan Expenditure per Region (£ million)

    2008/09

    2009/10

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    East of England

    28.4

    30.3

    27.9

    29.1

    30.0

    27.6

    East Midlands

    30.4

    34.8

    33.1

    33.2

    34.2

    30.5

    London

    64.0

    64.9

    58.9

    57.5

    54.0

    47.7

    North East

    31.2

    34.3

    31.9

    32.6

    33.8

    31.2

    North West

    69.6

    72.4

    65.1

    65.3

    69.0

    62.8

    Scotland

    49.0

    51.9

    48.5

    48.3

    49.2

    44.5

    South East

    36.3

    38.1

    36.6

    37.1

    37.7

    33.7

    South West

    24.6

    27.1

    23.9

    23.5

    23.3

    21.3

    Wales

    28.7

    30.8

    27.9

    27.8

    28.3

    26.9

    West Midlands

    49.1

    53.1

    49.3

    48.5

    48.7

    45.3

    Yorkshire and the Humber

    43.5

    44.4

    43.0

    44.6

    47.1

    44.7

    Total

    454.9

    482.3

    445.9

    447.5

    455.3

    416.3

    Notes

    1. The information provided is (internal)Management Information. Our preference is to answer all Parliamentary Questions using Official / National Statistics but in this case we only have Management Information available. It is not quality assured to the same extent as Official / National statistics, nor does it include the same depth of information. For example the MI does not include expenditure on applications which were processed clerically and have not been entered on to the Social Fund Computer System.

    2. All figures have been rounded to the nearest £100,000. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Nigel Dodds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent assessment she has made of the contribution of sports-related tourism to the economy of Northern Ireland.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    Northern Ireland has organised a number of world class sporting events which bring huge benefits, for tourism and the economy (sometimes providing a return against investment of 5:1) as well as also encouraging people to participate in sport.

    The return of the Irish Open to Royal Portrush in 2012 for the first time since 1953 attracted some 130,000 spectators and was beamed into 350m households. Golf tourism is particularly valuable as it contributes more to the economy with the average spend per trip being £300-£450 compared to the other visitors to Northern Ireland who spend some £188 per trip. I look forward to Northern Ireland hosting the Irish Open again in 2015 at Royal County Down and 2017 at the Lough Erne Resort which was also the location for the 2013 G8 summit.

    The World Police and Fire Games in 2013 (the third biggest sporting event in the world) brought a direct economic boost of £7.34 million to the Northern Ireland economy. It has been reported that this figure could rise to £25m once longer-term benefits to the tourist industry resulting from return visits, the positive media coverage received for Northern Ireland internationally and future international events that will come as a result of the games, are included.

    I am advised for example, that one corporate sponsor of the WPFG decided to locate its international conference in Northern Ireland instead of another location in Europe directly as a result of the success of the Games.

    It is estimated that the Grande Partenza of the Giro d’Italia cycle race that commences in Belfast on 9 May (and featuring 200 riders from over 30 different countries and their technical teams and sponsors) will be seen by 775m people in 174 countries. The Giro d’Italia is expected to attract 140,000 visitors to Northern Ireland and generate £2.5m of economic activity and £10m worth of worldwide media publicity as it showcases the stunning scenery of Northern Ireland to the world.