Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Wills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Wills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have  considered tackling in-built obsolescence in computer software, equivalent to legislation in France under decree 1482, and if not, why not.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Decree 1482 concerns obsolescence in appliances rather than computer software. The Government is not specifically considering obsolescence in computer software but has protected consumers in a different way. Since October 2015 consumers have had new rights under the Consumer Rights Act in relation to digital content including software. Software must be of satisfactory quality which includes remaining functional for the period a consumer can reasonably expect.

    Decree 1482 does not cover internet search engines and the concept of in-built obsolescence in relation to internet search engines is unclear so the Government has no plans to address this issue.

  • Lord Willis of Knaresborough – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Willis of Knaresborough – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Willis of Knaresborough on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the prospective impact on the education and training of Registered Nurses of the UK leaving the EU.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    No work has been undertaken to determine what impact the United Kingdom leaving the European Union would have on the education and training of registered nurses.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of officials of his Department resigned in each of the last six years.

    Mike Penning

    The table below sets out a) the number of and b) proportion of Ministry of Justice staff who have resigned over the past six years.

    Calendar Year

    Total No. Of Resignations

    Proportion

    2010

    2128

    3%

    2011

    1942

    3%

    2012

    1788

    3%

    2013

    1784

    3%

    2014

    2213

    3%

    2015

    2517

    4%

    The information includes staff within Ministry of Justice Headquarters, National Offender Management Service, Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service, Office of the Public Guardian and Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. Scotland Office and Wales Office staff are in scope for the years 2010-2011, UK Supreme Court staff are in scope for the years 2011-2012 and staff within the Legal Aid Agency are included from 2013.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s definition is of a cyber act of war.

    Penny Mordaunt

    There is no set definition for an act of war, cyber or otherwise.

    An "act of war" and "armed conflict" are not defined within the Geneva Conventions. It is a matter of interpretation as to whether the threshold (within the context of surrounding circumstances) between a skirmish and a state of armed conflict has been crossed. Most cyber activity is criminal in nature. A key requirement to determining if there is an armed conflict taking place would be the deliberate intervention of members of a state’s armed forces.

    In determining if ‘cyber’ activity constitutes an armed attack, the UK view is that cyber-attacks can be considered as armed attacks if their consequences are essentially the same as those of a conventional kinetic attack. For example, theft of intellectual property would generally be considered to be a criminal act. However, if cyber-activity was performed on a scale which had sufficiently serious consequences for a developed economy, many States – including the UK – would likely regard this as an "armed attack".

  • John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what EU directives related to his Department’s responsibilities are awaiting transposition into UK law.

    Mr Mark Francois

    The following Directives are awaiting transposition by DCLG into UK law:

    • Elements of Directive 2013/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 amending Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications that relate to architects.
    • Directive 2014/52/EU amending Directive 2011/92/EU on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (“the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive”).
  • Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what permissions have been sought by (a) NATO, (b) the US and (c) any other country to fly remotely piloted aircraft systems in UK airspace in the last two years.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Secretary of State for Transport has not received any requests for such permissions in the last two years.

  • Graham Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Graham Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he had with EMIS Health on data protection.

    George Freeman

    No discussions between My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State and EMIS about data protection have taken place.

  • Lord Young of Cookham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Young of Cookham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Young of Cookham on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they intend to reduce smoking within the NHS as part of implementing the radical upgrade in prevention and public health” called for in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View.”

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Smoking continues to be the leading cause of premature death and health inequality in England, placing a significant burden on the National Health Service.

    The Department remains dedicated to the delivery of effective and robust tobacco control and has committed to developing a new tobacco control strategy to further reduce the prevalence of smoking, working with NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) to identify interventions that will make the best contributions to achieving this.

    Training material and guidance has been developed to support health professionals deliver effective interventions to pregnant women who smoke.

    PHE will continue to support local authorities by developing and distributing information and advice for the commissioning of effective smoking cessation services.

  • Christina Rees – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Christina Rees – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of the findings of the report by Professor Walton, published in December 2015, that the current insolvency litigation regime returns £480 million a year to creditors, including £115 million a year to HM Revenue and Customs.

    Dominic Raab

    Since the passage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) 2012, it has always been the government’s stated intention that the exemption for insolvency cases would be temporary. Commencement of Part 2 of LASPO’s conditional fee (or ‘no win no fee’) arrangement reforms for insolvency, was announced in December and will apply from April this year. The aim of LASPO’s reforms was to control the cost of civil litigation.

    Ministry of Justice Officials discussed Professor Walton’s report with him, but the Ministry of Justice did not agree with his conclusions. Officials have also met representatives of insolvency practitioners who use no win no fee arrangements to fund these cases, as well as those who fund them in other ways.

  • Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what definition is used by HM Revenue and Customs to define an EU migrant family, and for what purposes such classifications are used; and which other government departments use similar definitions and classification, and for what purposes.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    EU migrant family is not a technical term that HM Revenue & Customs use in their calculations.