Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans that the national litter strategy will include beach and aquatic litter.

    Rory Stewart

    The Litter Strategy for England will focus on three key themes: education and awareness; punishing offenders; and better cleansing and litter infrastructure, which should lead to a reduction in the amount of litter reaching local areas, including our beaches and the aquatic environment. To develop the Litter Strategy we are working with a range of interested stakeholders, including representatives from the Marine Conversation Society, Thames21 and the Canal and Rivers Trust.

    The UK Marine Strategy Part Three, published in December last year, sets out the actions we are taking to improve the marine environment. It covers measures that contribute to reducing the sources of marine litter, including sources of beach and aquatic litter, and to remove what has already reached our beaches and aquatic environment. Actions related specifically to UK beaches include Defra-funded beach cleaning schemes on priority beaches.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to include provisions in the Modern Transport Bill to (a) develop a licensing regime for the sale of safe driverless vehicles and (b) establish regulations for driverless vehicles in the testing phase.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    At this stage, we have not developed plans for changes to primary road traffic legislation other than relating to motor vehicle insurance for automated vehicles. We have also announced plans to change the Highway Code and regulations to support the safe use of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles launched a consultation on these issues on 11 July.

    We will consider further legislative, regulatory, and guidance changes as ADAS and automated vehicles continue to develop and reach the market, so that people and businesses can safely take advantage of the benefits that they offer.

    We do not consider that legislative change is needed to facilitate testing of automated vehicle technologies; testing of automated vehicle technologies can be carried out on any UK road as long as carried out in line with UK traffic laws and guidance – further details are set out in the Code of practice for testing of automated vehicle technologies – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/automated-vehicle-technologies-testing-code-of-practice.

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  • Baroness Donaghy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Donaghy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Donaghy on 2016-09-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether schools participating in vocational pathways to qualified teacher status as part of the apprenticeship programme will be able to choose to work in partnership with universities that provide initial teacher training as well as with school-centred initial teacher training providers and other school-led providers.

    Lord Nash

    To date we have not received a formal proposal from employers to develop an apprenticeship standard for entry to teaching. There are monthly opportunities for employers to submit proposals to the department for review or, from April 2017, the Institute for Apprenticeships. For existing apprenticeship standards, employers can choose their preferred provider to deliver the training requirements providing they meet the government’s quality criteria and are registered on the Skills Funding Agency’s Register of Training Organisations.

  • Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effect on investor confidence in the UK electricity generation market following the recent announcements surrounding the Renewables Obligation closure and reductions in feed-in tariffs.

    Andrea Leadsom

    We conducted an engagement exercise to better understand the views of stakeholders on the early closure of the Renewable Obligation to onshore wind. To protect investor confidence a grace period was proposed in June, and we have subsequently proposed amendments to this in response to stakeholder feedback over the summer. We consider this will strike the right balance between consumer and industry interests.

    We also ran a consultation on changes to support for small scale solar projects under the Renewable Obligation and one on the feed-in tariff review. We strongly welcomed evidence from the sector during these consultations and we hope this will allow us to improve our understanding of the impact on jobs and investment.

    The measures we announced are about getting costs under control, which is essential to provide the foundations for clean electricity investment in the future. We will still be delivering at or above the EMR Delivery Plan ranges and reaching at least 30% electricity generation from renewables by 2020. So we are still supporting a strong pipeline of projects that are bringing jobs and investment across the UK.

  • Martyn Day – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Martyn Day – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timescale is for reaching a decision on the proposals to add Dupuytren’s Contracture to the list of industrial injuries disablement benefit diseases.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The proposal to add Dupuytren’s Contracture is still under consideration and a decision on this will be made in due course.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps Jobcentre Plus staff are taking to ensure that universal credit applicants are aware that council tax reduction should be claimed separately to universal credit.

    Priti Patel

    When a Universal Credit claimant attends their first interview with their Work Coach they are asked if they pay council tax and if they are already receiving a reduction. If not, they are advised and signposted to make the claim through their Local Authority.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they intend to publish responses to the consultation on the draft Shaw Report on the future structure of Network Rail.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Government has asked Nicola Shaw to undertake an independent report on the future shape and financing of Network Rail and it is up to her whether she chooses to publish the responses to her consultation.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Disasters Emergency Committee regarding openness and transparency in using public donations, in the light of the earthquakes in Nepal in 2015 and previous disasters.

    Baroness Verma

    Funds raised by the British public for the DEC appeal have already reached over £85 million, which includes £5 million in matched funding provided by DFID. UK Government representatives in Nepal’s meet regularly with Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) members to discuss the ongoing earthquake response, recovery and reconstruction efforts.

    The DEC publishes regular updates on the Nepal response on their website and through social media. Information on how funds are being used is also shared directly to donors via email and post. The DEC has also commissioned and published an independent evaluation of the work, which I have attached for ease, of members in Nepal which particularly focuses on the emergency response phase.

    The DEC is planning on producing a ‘one year on’ report which will be published on the anniversary of the earthquake. This will give details of how funds were raised, how they were disbursed to member agencies, how they have been spent and what has been achieved.

  • Lord Steel of Aikwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Steel of Aikwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Steel of Aikwood on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to address the delays in dealing with applications for clearance under section 1044 of the Company Tax Act 2010 by HMRC in Newcastle due to a shortage of resources, in the light of the urgency of some of the outstanding cases.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HMRC must notify its decision on an application under section 1044 Corporation Tax Act 2010 within 30 days of its receipt.

    During the six months from October 2015 to March 2016, HMRC received 1105 clearance applications under section 1044. The average time taken to reply to these applications was 15 days. Decisions on over 95% of the applications were notified within the statutory time limit.

    HMRC monitors the number of clearance applications it receives in this area and the time taken to reply to them to ensure a consistent service.

  • Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Shuker on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of violations of freedom of religion or belief on women; and what his Department is doing to tackle such violations.

    Mr David Lidington

    There are clear examples where the impact of violations of freedom of religion or belief falls particularly heavily on women – such as treatment of women by Daesh. Under the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy, FCO funds projects to defend freedom of religion or belief, including the protection of the rights of women. For example, the FCO recently agreed to fund a project this financial year that tackles gender- based violence and discrimination in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia.