Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether cost comparisons were made between the Boeing C-17 Globemaster and Airbus A400M prior to approval for procurement of the Airbus A400M.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The business case for the acquisition of A400M was approved in 2000 and, I am advised that in accordance with extant Ministry of Defence policy, it was supported by a series of value for money assessments and comparisons, including with the C-17 aircraft.

  • Jeffrey M. Donaldson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jeffrey M. Donaldson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeffrey M. Donaldson on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on the Gateway Project for armed forces veterans; and what plans he has to include Northern Ireland within the scope of that project.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence has explored options for the development of a veterans gateway service to provide a single cross-sector point of access for all veterans. The Armed Forces Covenant Reference Group has recently directed that the Covenant Fund prioritise funding for a pilot project to set up a 24 hours a day single point of contact veterans gateway service in financial year 2016-17 and this will be formally announced shortly. The project’s reach will extend across the UK, including Northern Ireland.

  • Baroness Morgan of Huyton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Morgan of Huyton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Morgan of Huyton on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which university technical colleges are operating in the 2015–16 academic year; and how many students in years 10, 11, 12, and 13 were (1) enrolled in each institution at the date of the October 2015 census, and (2) included in the budget forecast return submitted by each college to the EFA in June 2015.

    Lord Nash

    There are 39 University Technical Colleges (UTCs) open in this academic year, 2015/16.

    The Department for Education does not hold the information requested as budget forecast returns submitted to the Education Funding Agency do not include student numbers on roll. However, each October, the Department publishes the number of pre-16 pupils funded in UTCs which were open as of the start of that financial year. This data is attached and can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/466234/Annex_A_-_Schools_block_Allocations_data_file_2015-16.xlsx

    Data for UTCs which opened after the start of the 2015-16 financial year is due to be published in October 2016.

    The number of post-16 pupils funded in each UTC for the academic year 2015/16 is attached and also available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/468295/YP_FASS_Published_Allocation_Dataset_2015_to_2016-1.xlsx

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  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s policy is on whether gross or net figures for rental income should be used in the calculation for the income threshold under spousal visa rules.

    James Brokenshire

    Under paragraph 20(c) and (cc) of Appendix FM-SE to the Immigration Rules, the gross income from property rental may be counted towards meeting the minimum income threshold for sponsoring a non-EEA national spouse or partner under the family Immigration Rules, provided that the evidential requirements of Appendix FM-SE are met.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to devolve Airline Passenger Duty to the Welsh Assembly or Welsh Government.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The government is considering the case and options for devolving APD to the Welsh Assembly, informed by a review of options to support English regional airports from the potential impacts of APD devolution. At Summer Budget 2015, the government published a discussion paper exploring three options and is carefully considering the responses. An announcement will be made in due course.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what he plans the in-service date to be for each of the nine P-8 Poseidon aircraft.

    Harriett Baldwin

    As previously stated, we expect that the first P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft will come into service in 2019, with the entire fleet being delivered by 2021. We are, as yet, unable to provide details of the in-service date for each UK aircraft as this will only be available once the production contract has been placed with Boeing.

  • Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help strengthen local authority powers to deal with rogue landlords.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Government introduced a package of measures in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to help local authorities crack down on rogue landlords. They comprise civil penalties of up to £30,000 as an alternative to prosecution, the expansion of Rent Repayment Orders to cover a wider range of offences, a database of rogue landlords and property agents and banning orders to prevent serious and prolific offenders from being involved in the renting out or management of private rented properties. In addition, over the past five years, we have have made £12 million available to a range of local authorities to help them tackle acute and complex problems associated with rogue landlords. This has resulted in the inspection of over 70,000 properties with more than 5,000 landlords now facing further enforcement action.

  • Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joanna Cherry on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect on single tier pensions on people contracted out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Contracting out of additional State Pension for Defined Benefit schemes will end on the introduction of the new State Pension from 6 April 2016. The impact on individuals is set out in the Updated impact of the single-tier pension reforms (July 2014) and can be found at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/332996/single-tier-pension-impact-assessment-update-july-2014.pdf

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  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when the decision was made to connect the monitoring and control of the National Grid to the internet; and what risk analysis was undertaken prior to that decision being made.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Cyber security is one of the Government’s top national security priorities. Whilst National Grid is a private company, DECC is working with them on cyber security, as well as broader issues of security and resilience. We are also working with other industry partners, government departments and agencies, to ensure that the risks to the energy sector are understood and that appropriate mitigations are established.

    National Grid has provided the following additional information:

    “National Grid’s Information Security programme has, among other steps, advocated a defence in depth strategy by instituting rigid network segmentation and isolation between our business and SCADA [Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition] systems. Further, National Grid policy does not allow for direct connection between external networks and SCADA systems.”

  • 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 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of claimants of universal credit who will be affected by the changes to benefits taking effect from April 2016.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested is not available.

    However, the latest statistics indicate that the majority of existing Universal Credit claimants will see no change in entitlement as a result of the April 2016 changes. This is either because they are not yet in work or because they are already in work with earnings above the relevant threshold.