The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether bids can continue to be made by British cities to become European capital of culture after the vote to leave the EU.
Matt Hancock
DCMS is currently reviewing the impact of the referendum result on the UK’s ability to participate in this competition, and will provide clarity to all interested cities once we are in a position to do so.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-10-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many duplicate jobs were removed from Universal Jobmatch in each of the 12 months to August 2015.
Priti Patel
The Government does not collect this information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2015-11-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the proposals to site a new reservoir at Abingdon in order to deal with projected population increases in the south east of England are still under consideration.
Rory Stewart
Thames Water has identified in its water resources management plan that new reservoir storage, such as at the Abingdon site, is one of the options it is evaluating in order to maintain a secure water supply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Ellman on 2016-01-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations he has made to the Danish government on the death of Stephen O’Malley since the adjournment debate of 25 November 2015.
Justin Tomlinson
A transcript of the debate was passed to the Danish authorities, via the Danish Deputy Chief Prosecutor, on 27 November 2015.
The Danish authorities have since confirmed that their State Attorney is reviewing the case, and is expected to make a decision on whether to re-open the case or agree that the original findings were correct, in January 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the implications of the cancellation of presidential elections in Haiti.
Mr Hugo Swire
The postponement of the second round of the Presidential elections in Haiti is regrettable and given the uncertainty about what happens once President Martelly’s mandate comes to an end on 7th February. The international community is pressing the Haitian authorities to set a date for the postponed second round of the Presidential elections as soon as possible. Our Embassy in Port-au-Prince continues to monitor the situation closely.
We reiterate our support for the EU Election Observer Mission’s view that the first round of the Presidential elections was credible and that a second round with the top two candidates should have taken place. It is therefore important that all sides work together to agree a date for the second round as soon as possible.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2016 to Question 25590, whether his Department has received a request from the Kurdistan Regional Government for replacement ammunition rounds for British-gifted heavy machine guns; and if he will make a statement.
Penny Mordaunt
The Kurdish Regional Government has made a number of recent requests to Her Majesty’s Government for further assistance, including for ammunition. These requests are currently under consideration and as set out in my Answer of 3 February 2016 to Question 25590. Should a decision be taken that we can provide further assistance, this would be notified to Parliament in the normal way.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering on 2016-03-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will permit zero rating for church repairs following the decision of the EU Council to allow member states to set a VAT rate of zero.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
Under consecutive governments renovations and repairs have been subject to the standard rate of VAT.
The government provides grant aid to support certain church repairs and maintenance projects through the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme which makes £42 million of government support available per year and the Listed Places of Worship roof repair fund worth £55 million in total. More details of these are available online.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many times she has attended public meetings of the International Development Committee since her appointment.
Mr Desmond Swayne
Ministerial attendance at public meetings of the International Development Committee is a matter of public record. Details can be found online at http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/international-development-committee/formal-minutes/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-05-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the total cost of Trident renewal over the lifespan of the Successor-class submarines, including in-service costs and decommissioning.
Earl Howe
As stated in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, our latest cost estimate for manufacturing the four submarines of the Successor submarine programme is £31 billion, plus a contingency of £10 billion. This includes an assessment of the likely inflation over the lifetime of the programme and the risks appropriate for a project at this stage.
Once the new fleet of ballistic missile submarines comes into service, we expect that the in-service costs of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, which include the costs of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, basing and disposals, will be similar to the current system, at around six per cent of the defence budget.
While we have no plans to replace the current Trident D5 missile, we are participating with our US partners in a programme to extend their lifespan to the 2060s. The estimated cost is around £250 million.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-07-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what new measures she is implementing to encourage take-up of teacher training.
Nick Gibb
The latest published figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show that teaching remains a hugely popular profession; nearly 28,000 people have been recruited to postgraduate teacher training courses in England in 2016/17, with several weeks of the recruitment cycle remaining.
Our 2017/18 teacher recruitment marketing campaign will commence in the autumn and will feature a new television advert, alongside print, online and social media advertising. Forty recruitment events will take place across the country, and teaching will be promoted also at over thirty graduate fairs where our advisors will meet students, setting out the benefits of a career in teaching.
To support recruitment in 2017/18, we will also be announcing a new package of financial incentives, including bursaries and scholarships to attract top graduates in priority subjects such as physics and maths, in early autumn.
In addition, we are spending up to £67 million on a programme of measures to upskill the existing maths and physics teaching workforce, and increase the number of new maths and physics specialists entering teaching. This package aims to recruit up to 2,500 new teachers and upskill up to 15,000 existing teachers over the term of this parliament.