Tag: Philip Davies

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average time taken was between receipt and decision for a planning appeal to be considered by the Planning Inspectorate in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what that time was in each of the last five years.

Brandon Lewis

There are different procedures for determining planning appeals according to the nature and detail of the individual case. In some cases the approach can change during the course of consideration of the specific appeal, eg it could start off as a Written Representation and then change to an Inquiry. This all depends on the documentation submitted and the criteria it fulfils. A change in the approach may involve starting afresh with the new procedure which will impact on the timetable of the appeal

The attached table shows, for the three different procedures, the average time taken, in weeks, to make decisions on planning appeals decided in each year since 2006-07, according to the procedure under which the appeal decision was taken.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff in his Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

Joseph Johnson

If staff are on a detached duty or overseas postings they can claim for certain travel expenses. Out of 2514 employees in BIS HQ, fewer than 20 employees are paid reasonable extra travel costs. These are paid for a limited period.

There are no BIS policies that allow the payments of car allowances or subsidised health insurance to employees. However BIS has a legal obligation to honour contractual arrangements when staff join through a TUPE transfer including car allowances and subsidised health cover. Due to TUPE transfers, there are fewer than 20 employees paid car allowances or subsidised health cover. These benefits would not be renewed for new employees.

As the number of payments are so low, exact numbers have not been provided to ensure that individual employees are not identifiable.

The requested information is not held by BIS in respect of non-Departmental Public Bodies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff in his Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

Mr Robert Goodwill

As a legally compliant employer we do provide healthcare benefits where we have a legal obligation to do so imposed by The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). This means that where staff transfer with their work into the Civil Service then we are legally obliged to match their terms and conditions and these might include travel allowances and subsidised health insurance

No staff in the Department currently receive a home to work travel allowance, a car allowance or subsidised health insurance, which compares to the position before 2010 where fewer than 5 staff received subsidised health insurance.

The number of staff in the Department for Transport’s non-departmental public bodies who currently receive a home to work travel allowance, a car allowance or subsidised health insurance is shown in the table below:

	Home to work travel allowance	Car allowance	Subsidised health insurance
Number of staff	less than 5	less than 5	12

Where there are less than 5 staff receiving these allowances we are not releasing the number to ensure they cannot be identified.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many nationals of other EU member states who were convicted of an offence in the UK had previous convictions in their country of origin in each of the last five years.

Karen Bradley

Such data is not aggregated in national reporting systems, which would mean this question can only be answered through a disproportionately expensive manual case search to collate the data.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2016 to Question 26826, what the job titles are of those people in receipt of travel expenses, car allowance or subsidised health insurance.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department cannot provide the job titles of those people in receipt of travel expenses, car allowances or subsidised health insurance as this would lead to the individuals being identified.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will ask her counterpart in the United Arab Emirates government for emissions data and costing information on the Abu Dhabi carbon capture and storage project; and if she will place a copy of that information in the Library.

Andrea Leadsom

DECC officials are in regular contact with their counterparts in other Governments, including the United States and United Arab Emirates, to exchange information on carbon capture and storage. This dialogue includes, within the limits of normal commercial confidentiality, progress in developing specific projects.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) men and (b) women who were remanded in custody (i) before conviction and (ii) after conviction did not go on to receive a custodial sentence for each offence type in the last year for which information is available.

Mike Penning

It has not proven possible to respond to these questions within the timeframe available before prorogation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on which EU (a) Commissioners and (b) officials receive a higher salary than the Prime Minister.

Mr David Lidington

Information on the salaries of EU officials by grade and details of how Commissioners’ salaries are calculated can be found on http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/docs/toc100_en.pdf. The EU Commission website also contains numbers of Commission officials at each grade.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which coal-fired power stations are either currently producing electricity or are on standby to do so if the need arises; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

The following coal fired power stations currently retain Transmission Entry Capacity and are therefore capable of supplying electricity into the wholesale market when it is economic for them to do so: Aberthaw B, Cottam, Drax (units 1,4,5 & 6), Fiddler’s Ferry (units 1,2 & 3) Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Uskmouth, West Burton and Rugeley. The owner of Rugeley has announced its intention to close the station by the end of June 2016.

Eggborough and Fiddler’s Ferry (unit 1) are currently part of National Grid’s Supplementary Balancing Reserve, and are capable of supplying electricity if the need arises.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the availability of university year-abroad schemes.

Joseph Johnson

The referendum result has no immediate effect on students abroad under the Erasmus scheme or applying for 2016/17. Payments will be made in the usual way. Access to the programme after we leave the EU is a matter for the forthcoming negotiations. The Department offers the same support for study abroad under other schemes as for Erasmus.