Tag: Richard Burden

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2014, Official Report, column 710W, on Palestinians, what response Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office made on the issue of demolitions in East Jerusalem or the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Hugh Robertson

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office informed our officials that demolitions take place where building has occurred without a permit from the Israeli authorities. And that – as per the Oslo accords – Israel has planning authority over these areas. They also said that they therefore have the right to evict people and demolish structures, where they consider building to have taken place illegally under Israeli law.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps are being taken in response to EU Council Regulation 692/2014 to (a) identify goods originating in Crimea or Sevastopol and exclude them from entry into the UK and (b) ensure no individual or business based in the UK provides, directly or indirectly, financing, financial assistance or insurance or reinsurance related to the import of such goods from Crimea or Sevastopol.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has set up customs risk profiles to target goods originating in Crimea or Sevastopol in response to EU Council Regulation 692/2014. The profiles are targeting Crimean postcodes. The risk profiles are being monitored and will be adjusted as circumstances require.

As with all sanctions introduced by the EU, they have direct effect in the UK and apply directly to UK persons and companies. The Government will take steps to ensure these measures are effectively implemented and enforced.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for the UK of the decision of the EU Council to implement restrictive measures on trade with Crimea and Sevastopol on 25 June 2014; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Lidington

According to Ukrainian official statistics approximately 1.3% of Ukraine’s total exports of goods came from Crimea in 2012. For the UK, the pro rata figure would equate to roughly £3.5m per year. The impact of this regulation on UK-Crimea trade will depend on the amount of goods originating in Crimea or Sevastopol that comply with the criteria stipulated within the regulation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what investigation his Department plans to undertake into the causes of the increase in motorway deaths from 2012 to 2013.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Highways Agency will be undertaking a review of the recently published data for 2013 to identify any trends or causation factors that may help to determine what improvements can be made to reduce deaths on the Agency’s motorway network in England. Motorways in Scotland and Wales are a devolved matter and not for the Department of Transport to lead on.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made by the taskforce reporting to his Department on tackling nuisance telephone calls.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The taskforce published its report on consent and lead generation issues within the marketing industry on 8 December 2014, making fifteen recommendations for business, industry, regulators and Government. We are carefully considering its six recommendations for Government and will respond to these shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Leader of the House, what assessment he has made of the implications for the Government’s policies of the report from the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy entitled Open Up, published in January 2015; and which recommendations of that report he plans to implement.

Mr William Hague

The majority of the recommendations in the report from the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy are for the House itself to consider and respond to.

In relation to the recommendations regarding the legislative process, the Government is committed to ensuring that the legislation it puts before Parliament is of a high standard and to ensuring that Parliament has the necessary means by which to perform its scrutiny function.

In April 2013, the Government launched the Good Law initiative, designed to promote law which is effective, clear and accessible. Various initiatives have been introduced this Parliament designed to improve the legislative process, including the use of explanatory statements on amendments, improved explanatory notes and piloting public reading stages of Bills. The Government has also given sufficient time to allow proper scrutiny in public bill committees and provided additional days at Commons report stages where necessary.

The Speaker’s Commission also recommended that secure online voting should be an option for all voters by 2020. To make online voting available for UK elections could be attractive in light of current advances in IT. However, there are concerns that e-voting is not sufficiently transparent or secure.

The major issue raised by those opposed to the introduction of e-voting is that it is not sufficiently robust or trusted. In addition, the cost of introducing such a system would be substantial. Public support for such measures is still far from universal and traditional means of voting (such as polling stations and postal voting) remain popular with the electorate. Therefore, any means of e-voting would have to be introduced as an additional voting channel. Whilst e-voting may be something for the Government to consider in the future, it is not an immediate priority. The experience of the referendum on Scottish independence shows us that if people are engaged in the democratic process they will turn out to vote using the existing mechanism.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 1 of Road Investment Strategy – Key Facts and Figures, how much of the £500 million allocated for the period 2015 to 2021 to address emerging priorities in period and fund staff to design, manage and deliver schemes will be spent on (a) addressing emerging priorities and (b) funding staff; what criteria will be used to select the emerging priorities; and what the cost will be of staff allocated to that task.

Mr John Hayes

The £0.5bn figure cited refers to the expected costs of developing proposals ahead of the next Road Investment Strategy. This includes the development of 14 major schemes to start work early in the next road period, as well as work to develop proposals from the next round of route strategies and strategic studies and any actions to take forward priorities emerging in the next parliament.

The proportion of costs allocated to staff will depend on the precise nature of what is recommended and committed through this process. Given the nature of the design process, it is likely that a high proportion of the money allocated will be spent on engineers, designers, modellers and others involved in the early stages of development.

Any decisions around specific commitments for the next road period, including the criteria by which they will be made, will be made in the next parliament. More detail on this process has been set out in part 6 of the draft licence for Highways England, which has been laid in the Library of the House and is available on gov.uk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-05-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether senior managers in the Highways Agency will be able to enter into legal tax reduction schemes when the Agency is transformed into a government-owned company.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government intends to transform the Highways Agency into a government-owned company, as confirmed in the response to consultation published on 30^th April. In accordance with TUPE principles, we expect the pay and terms of employment of all staff to remain unchanged once transferred except for the necessary technical amendments to reflect the change to company status.

Staff management arrangements for the company following transition, including pay and reward, are still being worked through within government. We aim to establish appropriate conditions to allow the company to fulfil its functions efficiently and effectively, whilst keeping costs down for the taxpayer. This will reflect the Government’s pay policy, as well as support the delivery of a substantially increased investment programme.

There is no intention to encourage or create opportunities for legal tax reduction schemes as part of Highways Agency transformation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects his Department’s review of unpublished datasets to be completed.

Stephen Hammond

The Department of Transport completed a comprehensive review of datasets held in August 2013 and this was made available via www.data.gov.uk on 2^nd September 2013. This included details of 470 datasets including full metadata for all unpublished datasets.

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