Tag: Tania Mathias

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the definition of Designated Individual referred to in paragraph 53 of the Guide to Powers and Safeguards published in the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill, CM 9152, of November 2015, will include parliamentarians.

Mr John Hayes

A Designated Person is an individual within a public authority who authorises a request for communications data and is independent of the investigation for which the authorisation is sought. They must apply additional considerations to an authorisation to access communications data in respect of sensitive professions which include Parliamentarians. This is set out in paragraph 51 of the Guide to the Powers and Safeguards in the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the rates of climb of aircraft taking off from Heathrow Airport compared to other (a) UK and (b) European airports.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department for Transport (DfT) has not made any assessment of rates of climb from Heathrow airport compared to any other airports. The Government is aware of an independent report published last year on climb rates at Heathrow airport.

The airport is working with the industry and the CAA to understand the issues and what this means from a noise perspective. DfT sits on the Heathrow Noise Community Forum where this work programme is being taken forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government is taking steps to reduce the number of flights between non-UK airports entering UK airspace.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government is not seeking to reduce the number of overflights in UK airspace. The ability to overfly UK airspace is a freedom of the air which we have granted to other signatories of the International Air Services Transit Agreement as well as non-signatory States on a bilateral basis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, to which countries of concern on human rights the Government has authorised arms sales in the last year.

Mark Garnier

From January 2015 – March 2016 licences have been granted for military goods to the following countries of human rights concern:

Afghanistan; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Burundi; Central African Republic; China; Colombia; Democratic Republic of Congo; Egypt; Iraq; Israel and The Occupied Palestinian Territories; Maldives; Pakistan; Russia; Saudi Arabia; Somalia; South Sudan; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Syria; Turkmenistan; Venezuela; Yemen and Zimbabwe.

Further details on all licences granted for export are publically available as Official Statistics at www.gov.uk.

All export licences are issued in strict accordance with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria and any sanctions or embargoes that may be in place at the time an application is submitted for consideration.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2015-12-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the rationale is for setting the interest rate on the repayment of student loans under the new system at three per cent.

Joseph Johnson

Interest rates on student loans vary according to a number of factors, including a borrower’s level of earnings, and whether they remain in contact with the Student Loans Company to ensure they are repaying when they are eligible to do so.

The maximum interest rate for the post-2012 system is the Retail Price Index (RPI) figure plus 3%. The maximum rate applies whilst the borrower is studying; is the maximum interest rate for those borrowers earning £41,000 and over; and is the default interest rate for those borrowers who fail to keep in touch with the Student Loans Company.

Once a borrower is due to repay, a variable rate of interest will be charged, which is dependent upon income. Borrowers with an income of £21,000 or less will accrue interest at RPI. For a borrower with income greater than £21,000, a real rate of interest will be tapered in, reaching a maximum of RPI plus 3% at an income of £41,000 or more.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the Israeli government on the displacement of Bedouin people from townships in the Negev.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

I discussed the Bedouin in the Negev with Head of the Joint List MK Ayman Odeh during my visit to Israel on 18 February. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv are following developments closely, and we continue to encourage the Israeli authorities and Bedouin communities to work together to identify satisfactory solutions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-05-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reason Companies House publishes the month and year of birth of company directors.

Anna Soubry

The Government considers that the date of birth of company directors is an important identifier for those searching the public companies register as it allows searchers to distinguish between individuals with the same, or similar, names.

Following feedback from company directors about the availability of their full date of birth on the public register, section 96 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 requires the Registrar of Companies to suppress the “day” element of a director’s date of birth.

This strikes an appropriate balance between ensuring that the information on the public register is of real practical use and reducing the risk that the information becomes a tool for abuse by exposing individuals to the risk of identity theft or fraud.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what further legislative proposals she plans to bring forward to tackle nuisance telephone calls.

Matt Hancock

We are taking forward a range of legislative measures to tackle nuisance calls, which will increase consumer protection and choice by strengthening the Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) ability to take enforcement action against organisations that break the law. Specific actions include; strengthening the ICO’s direct marketing guidance by giving it statutory status; a proposal to extend the ICO’s powers of compulsory audit to more of the organisations that generate nuisance calls; and exploring the options for enabling the ICO to hold company directors to account for breaches of the direct marketing rules.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of night flights to and from Heathrow Airport.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Along with Gatwick and Stansted, the Government sets night flight restrictions at Heathrow, using its powers under s.78 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982.

These restrictions limit the number of flights between the hours of 23.30 and 06.00 that can take place during a particular season – there are two seasons per annum, winter and summer, which coincide with the use of Greenwich Mean Time and British Summer Time. Heathrow is limited to 5,800 flights a year during these hours, which translates in to an average of 16 flights per night. Due to a voluntary agreement which prevents scheduled movements before 04.30, most of these flights are from aircraft arriving between the hours of 04.30 and 06.00. It should be noted that these restrictions do not preclude additional aircraft from operating at Heathrow during the night period in the case of emergencies or severe disruption.

As well as limiting the number of movements allowed within an airline season, these restrictions place requirements on the aircraft that can operate during the night period, and place seasonal limits on the amount of noise energy that can be emitted at Heathrow. Aircraft are certified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) according to the noise they produce and the higher the band an aircraft is certified as the higher quota amount it uses with each movement. The Government has also prohibited the noisiest types of aircraft from using the airport during the night. QC/4 aircraft are not allowed to be scheduled during the night quota period (2330 to 0600), and the highest rated QC/8 and QC/16 aircraft are prevented from operating at all during the entire night period (2300 to 0700).

The Government will begin consulting next year on a new nights flight regime which will take effect from October 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2015-12-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the purchase of buy-to-let property by a person whose current residence derives only from their job will be deemed as a second home for tax purposes under the new Rules on Stamp Duty coming into force in April 2016.

Mr David Gauke

The new higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) will apply to the purchase of additional residential properties and will come into force on 1 April 2016. Work-related accommodation which is provided and owned by an employer does not count when considering whether an individual is purchasing an additional property or not. The Government will shortly consult on the policy design, including on the treatment of particularly difficult cases, to ensure the change to SDLT is implemented in a fair way.