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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2016 to Question 30624 and with reference to the First-Tier Tribunal General Regulatory Chamber Information Rights decision of 11 March 2016, if his Department will publish the Risk Register prior to the universal credit re-set in 2013.

    Priti Patel

    Following the first tier tribunal decision that the Universal Credit risk register for April 2012 should be released, the document was shared with the requestor.

    The government’s view remains that is not in the public interest to publish risk registers because it will compromise the ability to conduct a full and frank assessment of risks and therefore increase the risk to successful delivery of major programmes.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions his Department has had with the Home Office on the effect of existing legislation on overseas students on steps to increase the number of international students studying in the UK.

    Joseph Johnson

    Officials in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills meet with Home Office officials and representatives from the education sector on a regular basis to discuss a range of issues related to international students studying in the UK.

    The Government is fully committed to controlling migration and supporting the global competiveness of our higher education system. We are delivering this through promoting our universities as places where the brightest and the best of the world’s talent should come to study, whilst tackling immigration abuse where it exists in our education system.

    There remains no cap on the number of genuine international students who can come to study in the UK.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures her Department plans to put in place to improve the processing time for sending documentation including national insurance numbers and biometric residence permits to people who have been granted refugee status.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Details to apply for a National Insurance Number (NINO) are collected at the substantive interview and sent to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if a claimant is granted asylum. DWP aim to return these to the Home Office within seven working days before it is sent to the claimant. Processing for Biometric Residence Permits begins once claimants have enrolled their details. If completed promptly it can be received by them within seven working days of the grant of asylum but delays can occur if a claimant has not enrolled their signature or biometrics prior to the grant of asylum.

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with water suppliers on tariffs for customers who do not elect to pay for services online.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Department has not had any discussions with water companies about their charges or tariffs in the context of payment methods.

    As regulated private businesses, water companies must follow Ofwat’s charging rules and their licence conditions in setting tariffs for customers. Ofwat’s charging rules set out that companies must include a reasonable choice of payment methods.

    Water companies do not generally differentiate between customers that access their account online or pay their water bill by direct debit, and those that choose paper billing and annual payment. However, there are some that offer a discount, reflective of the cost saving, to customers that pay by direct debit. This is an incentive to encourage greater sign up as there are benefits for both the customer and the company.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the risk premium negotiated with EDF energy for the waste transfer contracts covering radioactive waste from Hinkley Point C is; and what advisers her Department appointed to assist in those negotiations.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The waste transfer contracts for the Hinkley Point C power station have been prepared in line with the approach set out in the Waste Transfer Pricing Methodology published in 2011.

    As set out in the methodology, the contracts provide for the setting of a Waste Transfer Price for the provision of a waste disposal service. The Waste Transfer Price will be set at a level over and above estimated costs and include a risk premium to compensate the taxpayer for taking on the risk of subsequent cost escalation.

    In line with the methodology, the contracts provide that the Waste Transfer Price, and hence the risk premium, is not set at the outset but instead is deferred for a specified Deferral Period to enable greater certainty over expected costs. Therefore the waste transfer contracts for Hinkley Point C do not specify a risk premium. Rather, the contracts set out how the Waste Transfer Price, and hence the risk premium, will be determined at the end of the Deferral Period and the approach in the contracts is in line with the published methodology.

    DECC appointed Slaughter and May to provide legal advice in the negotiations on the waste transfer contracts for Hinkley Point C.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost will be of the safe landing modifications required to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth; and what the implications for those additional costs are for the total cost before operational use of that carrier.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The ability of the Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) Aircraft Carrier to support F-35B vertical landings has been incorporated into the design from the outset. The cost of preparing the flight deck was included in the revised cost of £6.2 billion announced by the previous Defence Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Philip Hammond), on 6 November 2013, (Official Report, column 251-254).

    For information on the modifications being made to the flight deck of the QEC Aircraft Carrier, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 June 2014 (Official Report, column 237W) to the right hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson).

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the Government has taken to follow up the recommendations in the Kay Review of UK equity markets and long-term decision making, published in July 2012.

    Anna Soubry

    The Department published a detailed progress report on the implementation of the Kay Review in October 2014.

    The Government’s Productivity Plan, “Fixing the Foundations”, published in July 2015, emphasised the central importance of encouraging long-term business investment as part of an ambitious vision to boost productivity in the UK economy. In particular, the Plan welcomed an initiative by several of the largest institutional investors to develop an Action Plan to support and challenge companies to invest for long-term productivity and growth. The Government is engaging with the Investment Association as it takes forward this work, and is also considering what further steps may be appropriate to encourage a culture of long-term investment on the part of UK companies and their shareholders.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department has programmes to facilitate access to the internet in Malawi.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID’s Digital Strategy aims to ensure that digital processes pervade all of DFID’s work, from communications to policy making and programmes. We want to ensure the poorest and most marginalised people in developing countries benefit from the added value digital can bring, including by giving citizens access to information and services quickly and affordably.

    DFID does not currently directly support programmes to facilitate access to the internet in Malawi. DFID is currently developing programme plans for 2016-21 and is exploring how to support an increased uptake of Information and Communications Technology in Malawi. This will include consideration of whether and how DFID can support an increased uptake of internet-based services as well as an increase in awareness of the potential of internet and digital marketing tools for businesses.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the comment by Peter Wilkinson, Director of Rail Passenger Services at his Department, of 22 February 2016, about future industrial relations between his Department and transport unions is accurate.

    Claire Perry

    The Department for Transport is committed to continuing to work constructively with the Transport Unions in the coming years to deliver the best possible transport services for all passengers, users and taxpayers.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by the Minister of State for the Department for International Development, Desmond Swayne, on 16 March (HC Deb, col 937), whether it is their position that no non-state party is capable of committing genocide under the 1949 United Nations Genocide Convention.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Under Article IV of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III of the Convention shall be punished whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals. Any member of Daesh who has committed an act of genocide is therefore liable to prosecution. Individual criminal responsibility, rather than by organisations or groups, is determined by courts. The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor has set out some of the complicated issues involved in the ICC investigating Daesh in her press statement of 8 April 2015.