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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if the Government will bring forward proposals for legislation to establish guardianship provisions to assist families in managing the affairs of missing persons.

    Dominic Raab

    I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer on 15 June 2015, which can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-06-08/1400/.

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  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what planning his Department is undertaking on the collation of block chain data; and what discussions he has had with the Bank of England on that topic.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Digital currencies, and the distributed ledger technology that underpins them, have the potential to bring innovative services and products to UK customers and firms – particularly in areas like international transfers.

    The Chancellor announced in March 2015 that the Government will bring digital currency exchange firms into regulation in the UK to help the legitimate industry flourish, and to create a hostile environment for illicit actors. We will publish proposals on this regulatory regime in due course.

    As outlined in Deputy Governor, Ben Broadbent’s recent speech, the Bank of England is also exploring this emerging sector and the implications it could have for monetary and financial stability as part of its broader research agenda.

    Separately, academics at University College London’s (UCL) digital currency research centre have also been looking at how the distributed ledger technology that underpins digital currencies could be harnessed by central banks. The Government is encouraged to see this research from one of the UK’s world-leading universities. However, this a theoretical paper by an independent institution, separate from the Bank of England’s work and from Government policy.

    It is the Government’s ambition to foster the growth of legitimate digital currency firms as part of the wider FinTech ecosystem here in the UK. As part of this, the Government will consider the wider implications of a growing digital currencies sector for the financial services sector and the economy as a whole. Some parts of Government are also looking at how the benefits of distributed ledger technology can be harnessed to deliver greater innovation. However, the Government and the Bank of England do not currently have any plans to introduce a centrally issued digital currency.

    The UK has been rated as having the world’s leading FinTech ecosystem in a recent global benchmarking exercise and attracted c. £524mn in investment in 2015.

  • Margaret Beckett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Beckett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Beckett on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the letter from the National Security Adviser to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy of 10 March 2016, how many GCHQ staff have been (a) recruited to and (b) completed the CyberFirst scheme.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The CyberFirst scheme was launched in 2015 and met its initial target of awarding 21 bursaries, of which 19 have been taken up and committed to by UK students. Eight of the students are in the first year of their degree, ten are in their second year and one student is in the third year of a four year course. The first students will be able to join the department when they graduate in 2017. As announced by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, we will have 1000 students on the scheme by 2020. During summer 2016, five of the students will attend GCHQ Student Technical Internships, seven will attend the various GCHQ summer technical schools, one will start a 1 year industrial placement at GCHQ and six will attend internships in other government cyber operations.

  • Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of policies and programmes aimed at tackling poverty, in the light of the study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Destitution in the UK, which found that over a million people were destitute at some point in 2015.

    Lord Freud

    This Government has introduced a wide range of policies and programmes to transform lives, from the flagship reform of Universal Credit to the Troubled Families Programme and the Pupil Premium. The majority of these programmes are audited

    We know that work is the best route out of poverty. Evidence shows that almost three-quarters of poor workless families who found full employment escaped poverty; and that the highest poverty exit rate of 75% was for children living in families that moved from part to full employment.

    That is why this Government is committed to policies that provide people with the support they need at all stages to get into work, increase their earnings, and keeping more of what they earn.

  • Earl Attlee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Earl Attlee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Earl Attlee on 2016-06-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether draft regulations will be made available under Clause 5 of the Bus Services Bill [HL] relating to the provision of relevant information that a franchising authority may obtain from local bus operators, and if so, when.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Government will work closely with both local authority stakeholders and bus operators to develop sensible proposals that both meet the needs of franchising authorities and do not place unnecessary burdens on local bus operators.

    Policy discussions with key stakeholders were started in May, and policy scoping notes, setting out the policy intent of each of the regulations, were circulated to Noble Peers on 15th June. Our intention is to continue to engage with bus operators and local authorities to produce draft regulations for consultation in the autumn.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what stance they plan to take at the UN General Assembly’s High Level Meeting on Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants on 19 September; and whether they will consult in advance with UK allies.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK fully supported the UN General Assembly’s High Level Meeting on Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants on 19 September, and the New York Declaration on refugees and migrants which was adopted at the meeting.

    We will work with others following the High Level Meeting to achieve specific outcomes that will be better for migrants, for refugees, and for all countries in the migration chain – source, transit and destination.

    In New York, the Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) argued that alongside stepping up our efforts on humanitarian assistance and development, the international community needs to build a more effective policy approach: addressing the root causes of forced displacement, providing proper protection for refugees, and reducing today’s unmanaged population movement.

    At the High Level Meeting, the Prime Minister highlighted the importance of the principle of providing asylum in the first safe country, thereby discouraging dangerous secondary movements; ensuring clarity in the different protections afforded to refugees and economic migrants; and maintaining the rights of all states to control their own borders.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Attorney General, on what date the Serious Fraud Office first received information on allegations of bribery and corruption at Rolls Royce.

    Robert Buckland

    The Serious Fraud Office first received information concerning allegations of bribery and corruption at Rolls Royce in November 2011.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-27.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to restore the cider differential.

    Damian Hinds

    The government recognises that small cider producers are a traditional part of rural economies and its support for small cider producers has helped create a diverse and vibrant market, improving consumer choice and creating jobs. To support the wider industry, at the March 2015 Budget the duty on lower strength cider was cut by 2 per cent.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-11-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports from the Shan Human Rights Foundation that between 9 and 12 November the Burmese Army carried out shelling and aerial bombing of Mong Nawng and that those attacks constitute war crimes.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are concerned by reports of continued fighting in Shan State, including around Mong Nawng and Wanhai, which the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates has displaced approximately 6,000 people since 6 October. Our Ambassador in Rangoon raised our concerns about the conflict in Shan with the Burmese military on 20 November. The UK has played a leading role in supporting efforts to broker ceasefire agreements, funding expert advice to both sides in support of dialogue and peacemaking.

    We welcomed the signing of a ceasefire agreement on 15 October and we continue to urge armed groups who did not sign the ceasefire and the Burmese government to engage in ceasefire talks to bring the conflict to an end.

    The UK has made no assessment of whether these allegations amount to war crimes. Any determination as to whether specific international crimes have occurred is a matter for an international judicial decision rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies. Our approach is to seek an end to all violations and to prevent their further escalation, irrespective of whether these violations fit the definition of specific international crimes.

  • Clive Efford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Clive Efford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Efford on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will request representatives of the British Embassy to attend the public hearing in the case of the imprisoned academic Miguel Angel Beltran scheduled for January 2016 in the city of Bogota.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The British Embassy was notified by the Colombian authorities in August 2015 of the detention of Professor Miguel Angel Beltran, who is held at La Picota prison in Bogotá.

    The United Kingdom cannot interfere in the judicial process of another country. We take every opportunity to encourage the Colombian authorities to allow access for all to legal representation, a fair trial without prejudice and minimise delays.