Tag: Parliamentary Question

Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the provisions in the Trade Union Bill on industrial relations within the civil service.

Matthew Hancock

Modernising the law governing Trade Unions will improve industrial relations. We have already seen the benefits in the Civil Service of reforming facility time, where we have delivered a saving to the taxpayer of over £52million, and the majority of departments have removed the outdated system of collecting union dues by check off. These benefits will now be delivered across the public sector.

01/01/2023
Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions since 1 January 2014 explosives stored at the Atomic Weapons Establishment have been found to be wrongly labelled; on what date it was discovered that such explosives were wrongly labelled; and what (a) types and (b) quantities of explosives were involved in each such case.

Michael Fallon

Since 1 January 2014, there have been two occasions on which anomalies have been discovered in the labelling of explosives at the Atomic Weapons Establishment. In each case a small discrepancy was discovered through the checking and accounting process in place. In neither case were any explosive licence limits exceeded, and there was no requirement to notify the Authority or the Regulator.

On 14 August 2015, it was identified that a container labelled as containing 0.054 Kg of explosives actually contained 0.063 Kg.

On 6 January 2016, it was identified that a container labelled as containing 0.10716 Kg of explosives actually contained 0.0872 Kg.

The explosives concerned were Hazard Type 1.

01/01/2023
Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many BDUK funded (a) ducts and (b) poles are currently being accessed by communications providers other than BT.

Mr Edward Vaizey

BT and other suppliers with funding from BDUK are obliged to provide wholesale access to all new ducts and poles built using public subsidy, in line with the requirements of the BDUK European State aid approval.

Communications providers report on the details of the infrastructure they access to local authorities and devolved administrations, who are responsible for managing Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) contracts.

01/01/2023
Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many heavy rail vehicles built before 1999 have not been refurbished to comply with (a) RVAR 10 and (b) PRM TSI regulations; and what proportion of the national heavy rail fleet meets those requirements.

Claire Perry

The total heavy rail fleet comprises 12,610 vehicles. Of these vehicles, 7,903 are either built or refurbished to be compliant with the applicable accessibility standards. This is 62.7% of the fleet. The equivalent proportion as at March 2010 was 45 per cent.

Within those figures there are 6336 vehicles built pre-1999 in service. Of that figure, to date 1,628 vehicles have been refurbished to meet accessibility standards. We expect all the remaining vehicles to be made compliant, or replaced, by 2020. Some of the pre-1999 fleet will be replaced shortly under new rolling stock programmes such as IEP, and others, such as Pacers will no longer be in service by the 2020 accessibility compliance deadline.

01/01/2023

Lord Harrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2016-03-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many staff in each of the armed services work at the level of interpreter in each language.

Earl Howe

The Armed Services recognise 48 languages for which they declare a capability. The Joint Arms Control Implementation Group is the only unit which employs personnel in the direct role of interpreter. Across the Armed Services a total of 697 personnel are recorded as holding a level of language qualification and currency that is functional or above. These are broken down as follows:

	Army	RAF	Royal Marines	Royal Navy	Total
Functional	160	56	17	31	264
Professional	191	52	17	41	301
Expert	85	27	5	15	132
Total	436	135	39	87	697

The number of languages that Ministry of Defence (MOD) employees could conceivably need to converse in is extremely broad. The MOD employs professional interpreters for more niche languages and has robust strategies in place to ensure the quality of contractors’ interpretation skills.

01/01/2023

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-04-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they keep statistics regarding how many British parliamentarians have visited (1) Sudan, (2) Syria, (3) Iran, and (4) Iraq, in the last five years; and if so, what assessment they have made of how many may be discouraged from visiting those countries in the future due to the implementation of HR158 under the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015 by US authorities.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Figures for the number of British parliamentarians who have visited (1) Sudan, (2) Syria, (3) Iran, and (4) Iraq, in the last five years are not held centrally, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. As Parliamentarians are not obliged to inform the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of their travel commitments, any figures held by overseas posts may not be accurate. The FCO has not made any assessment of the impact of the implementation of HR158 under the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015 by US authorities on travel by parliamentarians to these countries

01/01/2023
Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will suspend arms export licences and reject new applications for arms exports to any parties that risk using them in contravention of international humanitarian and human rights laws.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

All UK export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of all available relevant information at the time of the application. A licence will not be issued if doing so would be inconsistent with any provision of the mandatory Criteria, including the UK’s international obligations and its commitments to enforce UN, OSCE and EU arms embargoes, and where it is assessed there is a clear risk that the items might be used for internal repression or in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law. As part of its assessment under Criterion 2, the Government is required to take account of the risk the items might be used to commit gender-based violence or serious violence against women or children.

01/01/2023
Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of the average annual energy charges paid by (a) existing and (b) new customers in each of the last five years.

Jesse Norman

Average annual domestic bills for gas and electricity and industrial energy prices are published as part of the BEIS’s quarterly energy prices publication. The latest available figures are for the average annual domestic bills in 2015 which are £714 for gas (GB) and £584 (UK) for standard electricity.

The information required to distinguish between existing and new customers is not held by BEIS.

01/01/2023
Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West of 30 August 2016 on the Kingston Centre (Primary PRU), our case reference ZA5075.

Caroline Dinenage

The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System sent a reply to the Hon. Member’s letter on 24 October 2016.

01/01/2023
Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to secure licences for existing off-patent drugs.

George Freeman

The Government does not normally apply for medicines licenses, which is rightly an obligation of the company who has developed the drug. The Secretary of State is the United Kingdom licensing authority for medicines and cannot become a routine applicant to himself nor can he become a routine participant in pharmaceutical markets which holders of licenses are obliged to do. The Government has not secured any licenses for off-patent drugs in the past five years.

01/01/2023