The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2016 to Question 27333, which local authorities he has visited in connection with the Northern Powerhouse.
Greg Clark
As part of my Ministerial duties I visit local authorities across the country, including regular visit in connection with the Northern Powerhouse.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will discuss with the European Aviation Safety Agency agreeing a minimum numbers of hours for airline pilots between each flight for EU and non-EU carriers entering EU airspace.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Under the Convention on International Civil Aviation the responsibility for establishing minimum rest periods for airline pilots rests with the state in which an airline is based. The EU cannot therefore impose requirements for rest periods on non EU airlines. Minimum rest periods for the crew of EU airlines are already established by Commission Regulation 83/2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-04-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have used the figure of £50,000 in debates in the House on the pay to stay” high income thresholds (HL Deb 14 March
Baroness Williams of Trafford
The figure of £50,000 has been used to illustrate that there are over 40,000 social rented households with incomes well above average. Households with an income of over £50,000 are in the top 20 per cent of households across all tenures. Social housing should be prioritised to those genuinely in need. There will be households on lower incomes who are more in need of social housing for rent.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-06-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government who is responsible for follow-up health and welfare checks of newborn female babies whose mothers have been victims of female genital mutilation.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is illegal, extremely harmful and it is child abuse. Girls born to mothers who have had FGM are offered the same range of newborn and infant health checks as offered to all families.
In addition to the routine newborn and infant health checks offered to all families as part of the Healthy Child Programme, professionals have safeguarding responsibilities meaning that if they have any concerns about FGM they should take appropriate safeguarding actions, including sharing this with key professionals within the child’s life as part of local safeguarding procedures. In addition, any concerns about potential risk of FGM must be recorded within the child’s Red Book.
A multi-agency approach is essential to protect girls from harm and as such, midwives, health visitors, general practitioners and school nurses amongst others are all responsible for the health and welfare of all children they see, irrespective of whether the mother has had FGM or not.
The document Female Genital Mutilation Risk and Safeguarding Guidance for professionals (Department of Health, May 2016) provides information for health professionals on the specific issues frequently encountered when dealing with FGM. A copy of this document is attached.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Calum Kerr on 2016-09-02.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of large banking institutions charging negative interest rates on the small business sector.
Simon Kirby
The interest rates banks charge on their products is a commercial decision for them. The Government is aware that RBS and NatWest have written to businesses stating that a negative base rate may lead them to introduce negative interest rates, but they have not actually done so as yet. The base rate is set by the Bank of England’s independent Monetary Policy Committee, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer welcomed the decision of the Committee to use monetary policy to support the economy through this period of adjustment. As recent figures on jobs and growth have shown, we enter this period of adjustment from a position of economic strength.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gill Furniss on 2016-10-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will amend his Department’s official guidance to allow court-granted child arrangement orders to be used by HM Revenue and Customs as evidence of children’s living arrangements when assessing applications for tax credits.
Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) already accepts a court-granted child arrangement order as evidence when deciding who has main responsibility for a child but need to consider this alongside any other evidence provided before making a decision. HMRC has amended its guidance in the Tax Credits Technical Manual to refer to child arrangement orders.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2015-11-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 2 November (HL2863 and HL2866), and in the light of the fact that data about the detention of different groups of mental health patients under different segregated regimes, and the number of police call-outs to mental patient wards to deal with incidents involving different groups of mental health patients, are not collected centrally, whether they have any plans to change the way in which they collect data about patients in mental health wards.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department of Health and Care Quality Commission (CQC) currently use a range of processes to monitor the quality of mental health services, including inspections, surveys, notification of the CQC by providers of certain events and analysis of national data collections. As part of this process the Health and Social Care Information Centre reviews of the content and frequency of data collection through the Mental Health and Learning Disability Minimums Data Set.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-04.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) rural and (b) urban areas designated enterprise zones in the most recent round of bidding.
Greg Hands
The full list of successful Enterprise Zones, which is available to view online, was published by the Department of Communities and Local Government following the Spending Review announcement.
www.gov.uk/government/news/the-new-enterprise-zones
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-01-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any of the costs associated with events that he spoke at on 7 January 2016 at (a) St David’s Hotel and (b) Salt Bar were met from the public purse.
Harriett Baldwin
Consistent with all official events, the Chancellor was supported by a small number of officials from his private office and the Treasury press office when speaking at the St David’s hotel and at the two associated visits.
Costs associated with the major economy speech at the St David’s hotel in Cardiff were met within the existing events budget at HM Treasury. Invitations were not issued by the department.
The event at the Salt Bar was not a Government event and so no costs were met by the Treasury and no civil servants attended.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Maynard on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 will be implemented.
Andrew Jones
We aim to bring the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 into force in the Spring, subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.