The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the suitability of the Honeywell TCAS II collision warning system for use in Typhoon fighter aircraft.
Mr Philip Dunne
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 10 March 2016 to Question 30090.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-05-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the Fourth Report of the Home Affairs Committee, on Reform of the Police Funding Formula, HC 476.
Mike Penning
We will respond to the Home Affairs Select Committee’s report as soon as we are in a position to do so.
We have noted the Committee’s recommendations and are taking them into account as we consider the options for how best to take forward the work on the police funding formula.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the NHS England Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group plans to make an announcement on the recommendations of the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group.
George Freeman
The Specialised Services Commissioning Committee is due to meet at the end of June 2016. The recommendations of the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group will be announced after that meeting.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the net pay deductions from the salaries of Ministry of Defence fire fighters and fire officers reflect the full difference in the value of pension benefits accrued compared with staff of similar grades working for local authorities.
Mark Lancaster
The Net Pay Deduction (NPD) for Fire Officer grades, or abatement in the case of Fire-fighters, is the adjustment to the salaries of Defence Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) personnel to allow for the differences between their pension arrangements and those of Local Authority Fire and Rescue Service ("LAFRS") employees.
For Fire-fighter grades the abatement figure is a comparison of member contribution rates between the Civil Service Pension Schemes and the Local Authority Fire Pension Schemes. The abatement calculation makes allowance for the impact on the value of pension benefits which arises because MOD Fire-fighters pensions are based on an abated salary. The calculation of the abatement ignores differences in pension benefits accrued between the schemes being compared.
For Fire Officer Grades the NPD has been calculated primarily by considering the differences in member contribution rates between the different pension schemes.
The current NPD is 5.9% of pre-tax basic pay. In practice, an adjusted NPD, equal to 3.54% of pre-tax pay, is applied to Fire Officer salaries; this does not reduce the tax payable by the officer. For Fire Officers the NPD does not affect the salary used for pension purposes, so both pension benefits and member contributions are calculated based on salary before application of the NPD. The current NPD rate was introduced in 1993 and according to available information the calculation of the NPD ignores differences in pension benefits accrued between the schemes but may have taken account of wider pay issues.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans the Government has to allow the road rescue industry to use red lights when recovering broken down vehicles.
Andrew Jones
There are no plans currently to allow the road rescue industry to use red lights when recovering broken down vehicles. There are a range of existing measures available to make rescue vehicles visible and warn others of their presence such as the use of roof mounted amber beacons and retro-reflective material to the side and rear.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Teverson on 2015-11-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are considering making further reductions in the maximum university visa refusal rate in relation to Highly Trusted Sponsor status.
Lord Bates
Highly Trusted Sponsor status was replaced with Tier 4 Sponsor status in April 2015.
The maximum permitted visa refusal rate for Tier 4 sponsors was reduced from 20% to 10% in November 2014 to make sure that the colleges and universities who directly benefit from student migration help prevent abuse, and to ensure that institutions are only offering places to genuine students with an appropriate level of English.
Since the new rate was introduced, visa applications from students wishing to study at the UK’s world-class universities have continued to rise. Latest figures show that visa applications from university students are now 17 per cent higher than they were in 2010, and visa applications to Russell Group universities are 33 per cent higher than in 2010.
We will continue to keep the visa refusal rate under review but we have no imminent plans to change the maximum permitted rate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-12-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department has spent on advertising the Right to Buy scheme in each month of 2015.
Brandon Lewis
My Department has run two targeted campaign bursts during 2015 to make sure eligible council and housing association tenants are aware of their opportunity to buy their home at a discount, through the Right to Buy scheme and to give them up-to-date information on changes to the discount rates and eligibility criteria.
We are currently in the middle of a burst of the campaign so figures for October and November are provisional and may not reflect all costs incurred. The monthly breakdown of invoiced expenditure for 2015 is:
January – £5,100
February – £68,600
March – £299,300
April – £0
May – £100
June – £0
July – £200
August – £600
September – £64,700
October – £155,000
November – £171,200
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Benyon on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to incentivise small-scale on-farm anaerobic digestion systems.
George Eustice
Defra and DECC officials are working together on a review of the support for renewable energy schemes through both Feed in Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive. This includes the support for farm-scale anaerobic digestion. Consultations on the schemes will be published in the coming months.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will ensure that all proposed Local Government Pension Scheme asset pool governance structures have an equal number of scheme member representatives.
Mr Marcus Jones
The governance structures of the new pooling arrangements are matters to be determined locally and submitted as part of the detailed proposals we have asked funds to submit by 19 July.
The pool governance structures should provide funds with the assurance that their investments are being managed appropriately by the pool, in line with their stated investment strategy and in the long term interests of scheme members.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the recommendations on page 13, paragraph 2, of the Mental Health Taskforce report, published in February 2016, what steps he is taking to ensure all local areas have a multi-agency suicide prevention plan.
Alistair Burt
We welcome the recommendation by the independent Mental Health Taskforce that every area should have a local suicide prevention plan in place delivered through multi-agency groups.
We will be working with Public Health England to engage and support local authorities that do not have a local multi-agency suicide prevention plan to put one in place.
I will be meeting soon with Departmental officials and our delivery partner organisations on suicide prevention to explore ways in which we can work together to re-invigorate the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, including improving local delivery of its aims.