Tag: Royston Smith

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure charities in receipt of public funds do not express a view on the forthcoming European Union Referendum.

John Penrose

The rules on campaigning at the referendum are set out in the European Union Referendum Act 2015 and the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. There is no general restriction on institutions and organisations in receipt of public funds expressing a corporate opinion on the European Union Referendum. However, there are restrictions on organisations whose expenses are met wholly or mainly from public funds publishing certain material relating to the referendum in the final 28 days.

As the independent regulator for charities in England and Wales, the Charity Commission published guidance for charities on 7 March 2016 regarding the forthcoming EU referendum. This clearly sets out the threshold necessary to justify any charitable activity on this specific issue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support his Department provides to people with autism.

Alistair Burt

The Department co-ordinates the Cross Government Autism Strategy originally published as Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives in 2010 and updated as Think Autism in 2014. The on-going actions of the strategy focus on assisting local implementation and multi-agency planning to deliver the aims of the 2009 Autism Act and help people with autism access services and support, and reach their potential. In support of the strategy, statutory guidance was co-ordinated by the Department and issued to local authorities and the National Health Service in 2010 and 2015.

Figures on the numbers of people diagnosed with autism in different parts of the country are not collected centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what performance measures her Department has in place to assess the work of UK Visas and Immigration.

James Brokenshire

UK Visas and Immigration has published customer service standards, available on the gov.uk website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-visas-and-immigration/about/about-our-services#service-standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent progress has been made on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry

The thirteenth round of negotiations for the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) took place between 20 and 24 April in New York. The next negotiating round is due to take place in July. We are making progress and our ambition remains to reach a political agreement during the Obama presidency.

The UK is working for an ambitious agreement that removes remaining tariffs between the EU and US, cuts the regulatory and bureaucratic barriers faced by our exporters without lowering our standards, and opens up opportunities for our businesses to compete for public procurement. We want a deal that is good for businesses of all sizes and for consumers.

In addition to the potential £10 billion annual benefit to the UK, TTIP provides an opportunity for the EU and US to shape the rules and standards for the global business environment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the EU Third Directive on Driving Licenses on the motorcycle assessment industry.

Andrew Jones

There has not been an assessment made of the effect of the EU Third Directive on Driving Licences (2006/126/EC) on the motorcycle assessment industry.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on issuing visas for overseas academies to participate in research at UK institutions (a) during negotiations on the UK leaving the EU and (b) once the UK has exited the EU.

Mr Robert Goodwill

There will be no immediate changes to the immigration status of foreign students or the way universities are able to recruit students. While the UK remains in the EU, European Economic Area and Swiss students will continue to have the same rights and status they had before the referendum. The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status of EU nationals already living and working in the UK, and the only circumstances in which that would not be possible is if British citizens’ rights in other EU Member States were not protected in return.

The precise way in which the Government will control the movement of EU nationals, including students, to the UK after the UK has left the EU is yet to be determined and will be subject to the wider negotiations on the UK’s exit from the EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government plans to take to celebrate HM the Queen’s 90th birthday.

John Penrose

Representatives of the Government will be attending a number of events to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s 90^th birthday including a National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral and The Queen’s Birthday Parade on Horseguards Parade.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what effect recent reductions in fuel duty have had on economic growth.

Damian Hinds

The government recognises the link between low fuel prices and economic growth, which is why we have frozen fuel duty for the sixth year in a row.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what infrastructure the UK has in place to ensure that households and businesses do not face energy shortages in the next (a) five and (b) 10 years.

Andrea Leadsom

In addition to the generation capacity within the market, National Grid has already procured 3.6GW of reserve capacity for next winter and, in January, the Capacity Market Transitional Arrangements auction bought 800MW of demand side response capacity for winter 16/17 which will also help secure the system.

In the medium to long term, the capacity market will ensure we have the electricity infrastructure to prevent energy shortages. On 1 March 2016, DECC announced that we are consulting on changes to the CM, to buy more capacity and earlier; tighten the sanctions on those who fail to deliver on their obligations; and bolster energy security in the short–term, by holding a new auction bringing forward the first Capacity Market delivery year to 2017/18.

We are confident that the Capacity Market is the right mechanism to bring forward the necessary new capacity as older, less efficient plants close.

Furthermore, Hinkley will be the first new nuclear power plant built in the UK for 20 years. Once up and running in 2025, it will provide 3.2 Giga Watts of secure, base-load and low carbon electricity for around 60 years, meeting 7% of the UK’s energy needs.

GB also has 4GW of electricity interconnection infrastructure across 4 interconnectors to France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Around 7GW of projects are currently proceeding through Ofgem’s cap and floor regulatory regime, with a further 1GW progressing under the “merchant-exempt” route, more than doubling our capacity in the early 2020s. Ofgem will open a further cap and floor application window at the end of March.

As for gas, GB has a total gas infrastructure deliverability of around 700 mcm/d compared to average winter demand of 290 mcm/d (record demand 465 mcm/d, Dec 2010) giving a surplus capacity against average winter demand of 410 mcm/d.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential for driverless cars to improve the efficiency of use of road space on motorways.

Andrew Jones

Connected and autonomous vehicles could potentially have significant impacts on traffic flow and road network efficiency. The government recognises that this is an important issue and needs to be better understood to properly inform long-term policy and investment decisions. For this reason, the Department for Transport is currently conducting research to explore the traffic flow impacts of connected and autonomous vehicles. This work is ongoing, and forms part of a much wider programme of research and development that the Government is supporting to examine the issues associated with these technologies.