The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wes Streeting on 2016-01-22.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings have taken place between officials of his Department and the Financial Conduct Authority since May 2015.
Harriett Baldwin
Treasury Ministers and officials meet regularly with the Financial Conduct Authority to discuss relevant regulatory issues.
As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Treasury’s practice to provide details of all such discussions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to eradicate new psychoactive substances across the prison estate; and if he will make a statement.
Andrew Selous
We take a zero tolerance approach to drugs in prison and there are already a range of robust measures in place to detect drugs, including the use of search dogs and intelligence-led searches. More than 300 dogs have received specialist training to detect NPS. We recently introduced tough new laws which will see those who smuggle packages over prison walls, including new psychoactive substances, face up to two years in prison. Those who involve themselves in the distribution of drugs in our prisons should know that they will face prosecution and extra time behind bars.
We have begun a pilot to test for the use of psychoactive substances, and in April 2016, we plan to introduce widespread mandatory drug testing of prisoners for psychoactive substances. Those who are found to have used psychoactive substances will face sanctions under prison rules, including by having days added to their time in custody.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to limiting the proportion of places that schools can allocate using religious admissions criteria, in line with the cap that currently exists for free schools.
Lord Nash
The Government greatly values the contribution that existing church and faith schools play in our education system, including those of free schools, and we have no plans to change their admission arrangements since they are providing places for the communities they serve.
Not all faith schools choose to allocate places by faith. It is for the admission authority of the school to decide whether or not to include faith-based priorities within their oversubscription criteria.
When constructing faith-based oversubscription criteria, including deciding how membership or practice of the faith will be determined, admission authorities must have regard to the guidance of their relevant religious authority and their arrangements must comply with the statutory School Admissions Code.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Leader of the House whether she will encourage Government ministers to provide full answers to Written Questions from members of the House rather than providing references to third-party sources.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
As Leader of the House, I am responsible for encouraging departments to give timely answers to Questions for Written Answer (QWAs), a duty I take very seriously.
The House has set out clearly (most recently in agreeing the Procedure Committee’s 5th Report on the 2014-5 Session) that all answers to QWAs should be complete and comprehensible, and as such should not rely on references to external documents or webpages. I will continue to make this guidance clear to Ministers. Whilst it is for individual Ministers to account to the House for the content of the answers they provide – with Ministers providing personally signed answers to members as part of this direct accountability – any member is welcome to inform me of any particular concerns about a response they have received.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will respond to the findings of the report entitled Oilseed rape and neonicotinoids, by 38 Degrees, published in September 2015.
George Eustice
The report by 38 Degrees questions the need for neonicotinoids to protect oilseed rape and argues that no emergency authorisation for this use of neonicotinoids should be granted in 2016.
Emergency authorisation is a procedure set out in law. All applications for emergency authorisation in the UK, including those for neonicotinoids, are decided according to the criteria in the legislation following an expert assessment of the scientific data. Two recent applications were assessed on that basis and were found not to meet the criteria for authorisation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the travelling public of proposed reductions in spending on public transport in Ribble Valley.
Andrew Jones
It is for Lancashire County Council, as the transport authority for Ribble Valley, to decide how to allocate funding for public transport, in consultation with its districts and communities. The County Council has received £6.054m from the Integrated Transport Block for 2016/17. In addition, £1.86m of Bus Operators Services Grant (BSOG) has been provided to support bus services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2016-09-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the value of agricultural produce imported from the Republic of Ireland in the last year for which figures are available.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
In 2015, according to the latest HMRC data, the UK imported approximately £4 billion of goods relating to food, animal feed and drinks, as detailed in the table below:
UK imports of food, feed and drink from Republic of Ireland, 2015.
|
SITC |
||
|
Division |
||
|
Code |
Description |
£ million |
|
01 |
Meat |
1 384 |
|
02 |
Dairy |
648 |
|
03 |
Fish |
38 |
|
04 |
Cereals |
285 |
|
05 |
Fruit and Veg |
250 |
|
06 |
Sugar |
41 |
|
07 |
Coffee, tea, etc. |
184 |
|
08 |
Animal feed |
188 |
|
09 |
Misc. |
653 |
|
11 |
Drink |
273 |
|
22+S4 |
Oils |
39 |
|
Total |
3 983 |
Defra’s aggregate ‘Food, Feed and Drink’ is composed of the following divisions from the Standard International Trade Classification:
01 Meat: meat from cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, poultry, horses etc.
02 Dairy: includes milk, milk products, and all types of eggs.
03 Fish: All types of edible marine life excluding mammals.
04 Cereals: includes rice, wheat, barley, oats, maize etc.
05 Fruit and vegetables: includes fruit and vegetables, nuts (exc. groundnuts), juices, jams, marmalades etc.
06 Sugar: includes sugar and sugar confectionery (exc. chocolate or cocoa), honey and liquorice.
07 Coffee, tea, etc.: includes all types of coffee and tea, cocoa, chocolate and spices.
08 Animal feed: includes hay, fodder, bran, sharps, and all types of pet or animal food.
09 Miscellaneous: includes margarine, sauces, vinegar, soups, yeasts, cooked/stuffed pasta and baby food.
11 Drink: includes alcoholic drinks of all kinds and natural or artificial waters.
22+S4 Oils: includes animal/vegetable oils, fats and waxes; groundnuts (peanuts), soya beans and seeds.
Source: HMRC
© Crown copyright, 2016
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the starter homes policy on access to (a) home ownership and (b) affordable rented accommodation in (i) London and the South East and (ii) England.
Brandon Lewis
Evidence shows that young first time buyers have been priced out of home ownership. Since the early 1990s, the proportion of under 40s who are homeowners in England has declined by over a third from 62% in 1993/4 to 39% in 2013/14. The Housing and Planning Bill will require local planning authorities to promote Starter Homes and ensure Starter Homes are included on all suitable, reasonably-sized developments in future.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Leader of the House, how many ministerial corrections have been issued in the current session of Parliament by each Department.
Chris Grayling
Information on the issuing of ministerial corrections is not collated centrally. However, the information in the table below was provided by Parliamentary Search on 15 December 2015. It should be noted that the information relates to ministerial corrections given in both Houses to answered questions or written statements, as well as corrections to oral answers and other contributions. The information does not contain those occasions when Ministers wish to make a correction in terms which would not comply with the criteria relating to written ministerial corrections and therefore do so by means of a written ministerial statement.
|
Department |
Ministerial Corrections |
|
Attorney General’s Office |
1 |
|
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills |
8 |
|
Cabinet Office |
6 |
|
Department for Communities and Local Government |
1 |
|
Department for Culture, Media and Sport |
8 |
|
Department for Education |
8 |
|
Department for Energy and Climate Change |
4 |
|
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
6 |
|
Foreign and Commonwealth Office |
3 |
|
Department of Health |
16 |
|
Home Office |
10 |
|
Department for International Development |
2 |
|
Ministry of Defence |
7 |
|
Ministry of Justice |
11 |
|
Department for Transport |
6 |
|
HM Treasury |
2 |
|
Wales Office |
1 |
|
Department for Work and Pensions |
4 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-01-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will raise with the EU the issue of (a) the dismissal by the General Court of the EU of first listing challenges brought by individuals on the EU’s targeted human rights sanctions list and (b) imposing such sanctions on North Korea’s suspected human rights violations.
Mr Hugo Swire
We welcome the EU General Court’s dismissal of challenges brought by individuals listed for violating human rights in Iran. The human rights situation in Iran remains a matter of serious concern. We are also deeply concerned by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) appalling human rights record. We will continue to consider a broad range of policy options whenever we discuss the DPRK with other EU member states. The EU already has autonomous measures against the DPRK in place which complement and enforce UN sanctions, targeting the nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Any new measures or sanctions regime introduced at the EU level must clearly improve the human rights situation. They must also satisfy our ability to defend the legality of the decision.