The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the administrative costs of delivering means-tested benefits were in each of the last three years.
Justin Tomlinson
The information is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-04-12.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Revenue and Customs plans to drop proposals currently under consultation to increase VAT on solar in response to the EU VAT action plan published on 7 April 2016.
Mr David Gauke
The reduced VAT rate for solar products remains unchanged and in place.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to tackle problems associated with the rise in availability of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals.
Tracey Crouch
The Government tightened controls on FOBTs last year, and we are continuing to monitor developments. The next Triennial review of gaming machines will look closely at all the evidence on this issue.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many telephone calls his Department received to its benefit helplines from people in Inverclyde in 2015.
Priti Patel
DWP operates a national network of contact centres which allows calls from anywhere in the country to be routed to the next available agent, regardless of their location. This virtual national telephony network means that it is impossible to provide a definitive answer regarding the volume of calls received from any particular geographical area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assistance his Department provides to prevent job losses in highly-skilled manufacturing businesses.
Anna Soubry
We are creating a highly competitive business environment to make the UK an attractive location for advanced manufacturing investment, boosting skills and protecting spending on innovation and cutting edge manufacturing technologies. This drives the strong productivity growth, and exports, that will sustain the UK as a leading manufacturing nation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to improve nuclear safety at the Atomic Weapons Establishment to ensure that it no longer requires enhanced regulatory attention from the Office of Nuclear Regulation.
Harriett Baldwin
The Office for Nuclear Regulation has stated that safety at the Atomic Weapons Establishment remains acceptable. The enhanced regulatory attention relates to issues which do not pose any immediate safety concerns and the regulator is satisfied that work is well advanced to address these. The Ministry of Defence works closely with AWE, monitoring all aspects of its performance, including regulatory compliance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimates his Department has made of the amount of unexploded ordinance in the River Clyde.
Mark Lancaster
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has made no estimate of the amount of unexploded ordinance (UXO) in the River Clyde.
The Royal Navy routinely survey important shipping routes in the Clyde and make safe any ordnance discovered. In addition they occasionally make safe ordnance discovered in the Clyde by other non-defence means. All UXO identified in the Clyde is removed and/or made safe.
MOD information on sea dumped munitions in the British Isles has been placed in the public domain; it can be accessed at the following internet address:
http://tna.europarchive.org/20091204111626/http:/mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/CorporatePublications/HealthandSafetyPublications/DSEA/DisposalOfMunitionsAtSea.htm
The records show no historic dump sites in the River Clyde.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-05-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps the Government is taking to ensure all Feed-in-Tariff applications from small and medium-sized enterprises are dealt with in 60 days.
Andrea Leadsom
Ofgem aims to approve applications in under 12 weeks where all the necessary information has been provided. Those applications still in the process after 12 weeks are likely to be complex or require further clarification from the applicant.
Ofgem is committed to continuous improvement of accreditation processes and works with applicants to get applications approved as quickly as possible. In order to accomplish this Ofgem has now doubled the level of staffing in this area and made process improvements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she expects the Dormant Assets Commission to report.
Mr Rob Wilson
The Commission on Dormant Assets is expected to report its findings and recommendations to Government in December 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people under the age of 18 in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK were recruited to the armed forces in each of the last five years.
Penny Mordaunt
No information is held regarding the number of Service personnel under the age of 18 who were recruited in Scotland alone.
The figures for the annual intake of under 18’s into the UK Regular Forces as a whole are summarised below.
Ministry of Defence policy dictates that no-one under the age of 18 can join the Armed Forces without specific parental consent, both for the recruiting process to begin and again prior to joining; nor can they be deployed outside of the UK or to front-line operations.
|
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
|
|
Number of people recruited into the UK Regular Forces under the age of 18 |
2, 920 |
2,260 |
2,130 |
2,180 |
Notes: Figures reflect intake for the 12 months ending 30 September in each year. Statistics for 12 months ending 30 September 2011 have not been published, however, statistics for 12 months ending 31 March 2011 are available in Tables 5 to 7 of the Annual Personnel Report:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/280426/1-april-2011.pdf
A detailed breakdown, by age, of the intake to UK Regular Forces can be found in Tables 8 and 8a of our Biannual Diversity Statistics publication:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-2015