Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure the accuracy of labour shortages reported by employers before adding professions to the occupational shortage list.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) reviews the Shortage Occupation List when commissioned to do so by the Government.

    The MAC is an independent advisory body consisting of expert labour market economists. It has a clear, published methodology for assessing whether occupations are skilled, in shortage, and whether it is sensible to address those shortages in part through migration, based on a variety of indicators and using national “top down” data as well as “bottom up” evidence from employers.

    The MAC has carried out two full reviews and three partial reviews of the Shortage Occupation List since May 2010. Further information about the MAC’s methodology and the reviews it has carried out are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/migration-advisory-committee

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  • Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will fund training costs of disabled apprentices aged 18 to 24 in accordance with the recommendations of Creating an inclusive apprenticeship offer, commissioned by the Apprenticeships Unit and published in January 2012.

    Nick Boles

    Apprenticeship training for 16-18 year olds is fully funded by Government to provide an incentive to employers. Government also fully funds apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Apprentices aged 19 to 24 without an EHC Plan, who have a learning difficulty and/or disability can be supported through Learning Support.

    Learning Support is provided to help providers to work flexibly and provide support activity to meet the learning needs of their apprentices who have an identified learning difficulty and/or disability. Learning Support also provides funding to meet the cost of reasonable adjustments as set out in the Equality Act 2010.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will discuss with his Russian counterpart the release of the Ukrainian MP Nadiya Savchenko.

    Mr David Lidington

    The UK Government believes that Nadiya Savchenko is being held illegally and has repeatedly called for her release. I have raised our concerns with the Russian Government at Ministerial and Ambassadorial level on multiple occasions, most recently with First Deputy Foreign Minister Titov during a visit to Moscow on 22 December.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much steel by (a) market value and (b) weight has been purchased from each country for the manufacture of the TIDE Class Royal Fleet Auxiliary tankers.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Under European and UK procurement regulations, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) could not contractually mandate the use of particular suppliers. Decisions on the source of steel are a matter for the contractors who take into account the cost, timeliness of availability and the quality of steel used in defence contracts. These considerations allow defence contractors to deliver value for money for the taxpayer.

    The Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability contract to build the four Tide Class tankers was awarded to Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in March 2012. Although UK companies participated in the competition to supply the vessels, none submitted a final bid.

    In January 2015, the MOD awarded a contract worth approximately £15 million to A&P Group Ltd in the UK for the provision of UK customisation, Capability Assessment Trials and Support for all four tankers. The work will be managed by A&P Group Ltd’s Falmouth shipyard.

    Manufacture of the four Tide Class tankers will in total require 44,000 tonnes of steel. Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering source this steel locally in South Korea. The market value of steel depends upon a number of factors, including geographical location and quality. The MOD does not hold information from which the market value of the steel used in the manufacture of the Tide Class tankers could be determined.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his Answer of 9 February 2016 to Question 26570, on planning permission, which local authority made each of those article 4 directions; and what modifications his Department made to eight of those directions.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department has been notified of Article 4 directions for basement developments made by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster.

    The Secretary of State has modified Article 4 directions which remove office to residential permitted development rights for:

    – the London Borough of Richmond; the London Borough of Sutton; Brighton and Hove City Council and Oxford City Council: to exclude those properties which had secured prior approval for the change of use from office to residential before the date the Article 4 directions took effect;

    – London Borough of Camden: to reduce the geographical coverage of the Article 4 direction;

    – Broxbourne Borough Council; the London Borough of Islington and the London Borough of Merton: to exclude those properties which had secured prior approval for the change of use from office to residential before the date the Article 4 directions took effect and to reduce the geographical coverage of the Article 4 directions.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of his Department’s spend on the refurbishment of Drapers’ Hall, Coventry in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government announced a range of investments in arts projects across the country in the 2016 Budget. This included £1 million for the refurbishment of Drapers Hall in the 2017/18 financial year.

  • Lord Mancroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Mancroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mancroft on 2016-04-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which current policy document or guidance, if any, specified a five-year rollout for the prioritised treatment of hepatitis C patients.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England has already published its planning approach to implement National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended treatment during 2016/17. NHS England has committed to produce an operational framework for hepatitis C during 2016/17. This will set out NHS England’s commitment to improving outcomes in hepatitis C across England. The publication date for the document has not been set but we anticipate work to continue during the late spring and early summer.

    NICE Technology Appraisals (TA) 363, 364 and 365 require Operational Delivery Networks to prioritise treatment for patients with the highest unmet clinical need. The National Health Service commitment to 10,000 treatments in 2016/17 reflects the multi-year modelling used by NICE and published in conjunction with the recommendations for TA 364. The NICE recommendations note that treatment decisions are influenced by clinical characteristics such as level of liver damage, genotype, treatment history and comorbidities. The recommendations also record the advice of clinical experts to the committee that a realistic estimate of patients accessing treatment each year is between 7-10,000.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on how many diesel vehicles there were in the UK by (a) Euro 1, (b) Euro 2, (c) Euro 3, (d) Euro 4, (e) Euro 5, (f) Euro 6 emission categories on the most recent date for which figures are available; and how many vehicles there were on that date that did not conform to a Euro emissions standard.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Licensing database does not include the Euro Emission Standard. However, it does contain the year of first registration from which the number can be estimated.

    The estimated number of diesel cars licensed at the end of December 2015 that were first registered during the period of which each of the Euro standards were in place are as follows:-

    Pre Euro 1

    11,083

    Euro 1

    47,336

    Euro 2

    216,309

    Euro 3

    2,191,698

    Euro 4

    3,887,142

    Euro 5

    4,802,451

    Euro 6

    474,970

    There were 296,788 cars that were imports or older cars for which the date of first registration is unknown.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the actual cost of replacing Trident does not exceed the current estimated cost.

    Harriett Baldwin

    As set out in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, we are taking steps to manage the defence nuclear enterprise and ensure the Successor submarines are delivered to time and budget. As part of this, we have established a new Director-General Nuclear to act as single and accountable focal point within the Ministry of Defence for all aspects of the defence nuclear enterprise. We are also establishing a new submarine delivery body for the procurement and in-service support of all nuclear submarines, including the Successor submarines. We have deliberately moved away from a traditional single ‘Main Gate’ approach, to a staged investment approach with multiple control points. This will enable us to better regulate and control programme funding and delivery.

    The rollout of the Successor submarines supports the programme to maintain a Continuous at Sea Deterrent.

  • Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Amanda Solloway on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of spit hoods; and what assessment she has made of the extent of use of such hoods by police forces.

    Brandon Lewis

    The use of ‘spit hoods’, as with any other use of restraint or force, is an operational matter for Chief Officers. The Home Office is clear that all uses of force or restraint must be necessary and proportionate.

    In recognition of the importance of ensuring transparency in how police forces use various means of restraint, the former Home Secretary asked Chief Constable David Shaw to review what data should be collected and published. The review recommended that forces record a range of data in all instances when significant force is used, including restraint techniques and the use of spit hoods.

    The data to be collected includes the age, gender, ethnicity and sex of the subject, the type of force used, reason for the use of force, and the outcome of the incident.