Tag: Philip Hollobone

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to protect pensioners’ incomes in (a) Kettering and (b) England.

Justin Tomlinson

This Government wants all pensioners to have a decent and secure income in retirement. We are committed to the ‘triple lock’, the guarantee that the basic and new State Pension will increase by the highest of the growth in average earnings, price increases or 2.5%. From April 2016, the full basic State Pension will rise to £119.30 a week, an increase of £3.35 and the biggest real terms increase to the basic State Pension since 2001. This will benefit many of the 18000 recipients of State Pension in Kettering and the 10 million recipients in England.

For the poorest pensioners, from April 2016 Pension Credit will top up income to a guaranteed minimum level of £155.60 for a single person and £237.55 for couples. We are protecting key benefits for older people including Winter Fuel Payments, free eye tests, free NHS prescriptions, free bus passes and free television licences for those aged 75 and over.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders in prison have been convicted of (a) drugs, (b) sexual violence and (c) fraud offences.

Andrew Selous

As of 31 December 2015 there were 9,895 Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) held in prisons and NOMS-operated Immigration Removal Centres, of which 6,612 were sentenced prisoners. Of these: 1,312 were sentenced for drug offences; 1,084 of these were sentenced for sexual offences; and, 258 of these were sentenced for fraud offences.

This government has a longstanding policy to do everything possible to return foreign prisoners to their home country at the earliest opportunity. Since 2010, 29,000 FNOs have been removed from the UK, with the total FNO population in our prisons reducing from 10,866 in December 2010 to 9,895 in December 2015. Offender management statistics, including FNOs, can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure the delivery of superfast broadband to the remaining five per cent of properties which do not have access to it in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England.

Mr Edward Vaizey

By2017, approximately 95 per cent of homes and businesses in Northamptonshire will have access to superfast broadband. To support further delivery, a further £1.9 million of funding has been made available through the contractual gainshare arrangements, and Northamptonshire County Council has further funding available beyond this for additional procurement.

In addition, the Government is supporting seven pilot projects to help deliver superfast broadband services to the hardest to reach parts of the UK. We will publish the findings from the pilots in duecourse.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will meet the hon. Member for Kettering and other interested parties to discuss how an action plan might be drawn up to speed up the adoption by local highways authorities of new residential roads.

Andrew Jones

I share my honourable colleague’s concern over the need to avoid unnecessary steps that might hold up the adoption of suitable roads into the public highway. I would be very happy to arrange for him and other interested colleagues to meet my Ministerial team.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the change in total traffic volumes across the entire road network over present levels by (a) 2020, (b) 2030 and (c) 2040.

Andrew Jones

The Department’s most recent published road traffic forecast for England was published in 2015.

Compared to the traffic volumes in 2014, the latest year for which traffic statistics are available for England, the Department forecasts that traffic volumes will be:

a) 4-20% higher in 2020

b) 11-38% higher in 2030

c) 15-52% higher in 2040

More detailed information can be found on the Department for Transport pages on GOV.UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which three EU countries have the largest number of foreign nationals in UK prisons; and how many such prisoners there are from each of those countries.

Andrew Selous

The three EU countries with the largest number of foreign national offenders in prison are; Poland 951, Ireland 783 and Romania 629 as of 30th September 2015 last published figures.

The EU Prisoner Transfer Agreement is beginning to take effect. Poland has a derogation until the end of December 2016 from the agreement to allow time to improve their prisons.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that local planning authorities maintain high homebuilding standards in large sustainable urban extensions.

Brandon Lewis

The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that good design is indivisible from good planning and should contribute to making places better for people. Our planning guidance reinforces this strong focus on design, and provides advice on tools for delivery – including design codes.

All new homes also have to meet building regulations’ requirements. The Government has introduced new optional building regulations which means that for some requirements such as on access, local planning authorities can apply a higher standard than the national minimum requirements, where justified by need and provided that the viability of development is not compromised. The Government has also introduced a national space standard which local authorities can apply where justified by need and provided that the viability of development is not compromised.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many young people from Kettering constituency have participated in the National Citizen Service in each of the last three years.

Mr Rob Wilson

I am very pleased to report that around 2,500 young people in Kettering have participated in NCS over the past three years. The NCS Trust does not collect data at a constituency level. Therefore, the figures below are for the local authority area of Northamptonshire:

2013 – 542 participants

2014 – 1,032 participants

2015 – 1,103 participants

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2015 to Question 15757, what proportion of clandestine illegal entry attempts in 2014-15 were intercepted by the (a) French authorities and (b) UK authorities.

James Brokenshire

The UK Government does not release statistics that could prejudice the security of the UK borders.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has for replacement of the HST 125 trains on the Midland mainline.

Claire Perry

The Department considers that franchisees are normally best placed to procure the rolling stock that they require to deliver the necessary levels of service and capacity. We expect the competition for the next East Midlands long-term franchise to deliver those improvements to the rolling stock that are required.