Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many diplomatic staff are based at the British Embassy in Tehran; and what change there has been in the number of such staff since the announcement of the reopening of that Embassy in 2015.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    There are currently 7 UK diplomatic staff based at the British Embassy in Tehran, including the new Charge d’affaires who arrived at Post on 31 December 2015. This is a significant increase from the 2 UK diplomatic staff that were based in Tehran before the formal reopening last year. We anticipate further additions to the number of Embassy staff in due course.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the expenditure has been on the new National Living Wage advertising campaign to date.

    Nick Boles

    As of 26 January 2016, £378,826.28 had been spent on building awareness of the National Living Wage

    The total budget allocated for the National Living Wage advertising campaign is £4.95 million. The campaign will end at the end of April and we expect to come in under budget.

    It is important workers know their rights and that employers pay the new £7.20 from April 1 this year. The campaign will tell people about their entitlements and is targeted at those that need it most.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has in place to provide accommodation for service personnel posted in Cyprus at short notice.

    Mark Lancaster

    British Forces Cyprus has available Service Family Accommodation and Single Living Accommodation that can be used for short notice posting of Service personnel. If the demand is in excess of that available at any one of the specific locations, temporary solutions would be adopted.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) proposed future Right to Buy replacement houses in the development and planning stage and (b) properties expected to be sold under the Right to Buy scheme in each of the next three years.

    Brandon Lewis

    Working with the National Housing Federation, the Government has secured an agreement with the housing association sector to give their tenants the opportunity to buy their home with an equivalent discount to the Right to Buy. This will deliver the manifesto commitment to extend the benefits of Right to Buy to 1.3 million tenants. Under the terms of the agreement housing associations will deliver an additional home through new supply nationally for every home sold – increasing overall housing supply.

    Under the reinvigorated Right to Buy we are firmly committed to making sure that for every additional home sold an additional one will be provided. There is a rolling 3 year deadline for local authorities to deliver additional affordable homes through new build or acquisition under the reinvigorated Right to Buy, and so far they have delivered well within sales profile. By December 2015 there had been 4,594 starts and acquisitions, delivering more than a one for one replacement on the 3054 sales following the first year of reinvigoration.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department plans to take to enforce the new £35,000 settlement threshold for Tier 2 skilled workers.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office published a full impact assessment on the changes to Tier 2 settlement rules when they were laid before Parliament on 15 March 2012. The impact assessment is available on the gov.uk website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117957/impact-assessment-tier2.pdf.

    Alternative routes available for Tier 2 workers unable to meet the minimum earnings threshold would depend on their individual circumstances. For the most part, economic migrants who wish to change their basis of stay in the UK are expected to leave and re-apply for an alternative visa from their home country. However, in-country switching is permitted in some categories, for example into Tier 1 routes aimed at high value migrants.

    Tier 2 migrants who apply for settlement and do not meet the requirements will be refused. Those who do not qualify for an alternative route and have reached the maximum period of limited leave allowed under Tier 2 should make plans to leave the United Kingdom. Any migrant who has over stayed the validity of their visa or otherwise failed to regularise their stay in the UK may be removed if they refuse or fail to leave of their own volition. They may also be liable to prosecution under the Immigration Act 1971.

  • Crispin Blunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Crispin Blunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Crispin Blunt on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Oral Answer of 14 June 2016, Official Report, column 1617, on EU Prisoner Transfer Directive, to which EU member states the 102 prisoners transferred from England and Wales under the EU prisoner transfer agreement have been transferred.

    Andrew Selous

    The information requested is provided in the table below.

    MEMBER STATE TO WHICH TRANSFER HAS TAKEN PLACE

    NUMBER OF PRISONERS TRANSFERRED

    Belgium

    7

    Czech Republic

    4

    Denmark

    1

    Italy

    3

    Latvia

    5

    Lithuania

    1

    Netherlands

    44

    Poland

    3

    Romania

    15

    Slovakia

    13

    Spain

    5

    Malta

    1
  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of which policy areas in her Department will be affected by the UK vote to leave the EU.

    Rory Stewart

    The vast majority of DFID’s work is not done via the EU. We remain committed to spending 0.7% of our national income on development assistance, and to achieving the UN’s Global Goals and ending extreme poverty by 2030. We will continue to help countries in the developing world leave aid dependency behind to become our trading partners of the future.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of additional teachers that will be needed to accommodate the predicted population rise over the next 25 years; and if she will make a statement.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education uses the Teacher Supply Model (TSM) to estimate the demand for qualified teachers in active service within state-funded schools in England each year using a range of assumptions including projections for the numbers of pupils in schools. The TSM then estimates the number of postgraduate Initial Teacher Training (ITT) places required in England to meet this demand, given the number of entrants expected through routes other than the Newly Qualified Teacher route; for example through returning to teaching.

    The TSM estimates the number of postgraduate training places required one year in advance and is updated each year to take account of the most up-to-date data – for example, the population projections published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) – which means our estimates change each year. As with any long-term forecast, the further into the future the forecast the more uncertain the estimates become. For this reason, the department does not produce 25 year forecasts of teacher demand. The forecast period of the current TSM provides the department with estimates of the broad trend in likely future demand for teachers which is sufficient for our policy development needs.

    The 2016/17 version of the TSM, which was used to inform the 2016/17 ITT recruitment process, along with a user guide explaining the methodology in detail, is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-supply-model.

    “

  • Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s planned expenditure is on television recruitment campaigns for the (a) Royal Air Force and (b) Royal Air Force Reserve in (i) 2015-16, (ii) 2016-17, (iii) 2017-18, (iv) 2018-19 and (v) 2019-20.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The expenditure, or planned expenditure, of each Service on television recruitment campaigns in Financial Year (FY) 2015-16 is as follows:

    Naval Service – planned expenditure has not been finalised but is currently forecast to be £4.3 million for Regular personnel and £0.72 million for Reserves.

    Army – planned expenditure is £0.94 million for Regular personnel and £0.65 million for Reserves.

    Royal Air Force (RAF) – planned expenditure has not been finalised but is currently forecast to be £3.46 million. It is not possible to differentiate between Regular and Reserve spend as the majority of RAF advertisements are targeted towards both cadres.

    Plans for expenditure in FY 2016-17 and onwards have not been finalised.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects to respond to the letter of 27 October 2015 from the hon. Member for Leeds North West about the It’s Personal campaign.

    Jane Ellison

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State responded to the hon. Member’s letter of 27 October 2015 on 24 November 2015.