Tag: Toby Perkins

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the role is of the five additional UK Royal Naval vessels situated in the Baltic.

Penny Mordaunt

The Royal Navy routinely allocates vessels to NATO’s Standing Maritime Groups and Standing Countermeasures Groups, which are multinational, integrated maritime forces permanently available to NATO to perform tasks ranging from participating in exercises to intervention missions.

This year the UK’s contribution consists of: three Mine Countermeasures Vessels, on four month deployments in rotation; one Frigate for six months, which is the first to be deployed to this task since 2010; and a Destroyer, from October 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that the pensions of people enrolled in pooled local government pension schemes are safeguarded in the event of a failed infrastructure project that received investment from that fund.

Mr Marcus Jones

Local government pension scheme benefits are set out in statute and are not linked to the investment performance of funds. However, those responsible for investment decisions should have regard to the need to achieve an appropriate balance between risk and return and act in the best interests of scheme members and local taxpayers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect on the civil war in Yemen of arms sold by the UK to Saudi Arabia.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK supports the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition military intervention in Yemen, which came at the request of legitimate President Hadi to deter aggression by the Houthis and forces loyal to the former president Saleh. Saudi Arabia and the Coalition have played a crucial role and the priority now is for the Yemeni parties to agree a political solution through UN-facilitated peace talks to end the conflict. The UK is not a member of the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition and UK’s arms exports to Saudi Arabia are made under pre-existing and long-standing government to government arrangements. The UK Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK’s export licensing criteria.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will ensure that at least 1,000 refugees are resettled in the UK before Christmas 2015.

Richard Harrington

The Government has committed to resettling 20,000 Syrian Refugees in the lifetime of this Parliament. The Prime Minister has said that we want to see 1,000 brought to the UK by Christmas.

The Government is working closely with local authorities; international delivery partners and the voluntary sector, putting in place the plans and structures to deliver this and ensuring the system is scaled up in a way that protects the interests of all concerned.

Details on numbers will be published in the regular quarterly immigration statistics.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-01-05.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking at EU level to make sanitary products exempt from VAT.

Mr David Gauke

I have, following the recent Parliamentary debate on this issue, written to the European Commission and other Member States setting out our strong view that Member States should have full discretion over what rate of VAT they can apply to these products, and that this should be considered in the context of the Commission’s Action Plan on VAT initiatives. That Action Plan is now expected to emerge in March 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the UK’s military presence in the Baltic region in each of the last three years.

Penny Mordaunt

The UK undertakes a wide range of operational, Defence Engagement and training activity within the Baltic region. While it is not possible to provide full information, costs exceeded £1.6 million in FY13-14; £13.5 million in FY14-15 and £4.1 million in FY15-16.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the petition entitled Introduce Helen’s Law, published on the change.org website, what steps his Department is taking to encourage prisoners to reveal information about the crimes they have committed.

Andrew Selous

Staff in the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) work with individual prisoners on a daily basis to address their risks and needs. A vital part of that activity is encouraging prisoners to acknowledge their responsibility for all their previous crimes.

NOMS staff will also take appropriate action where prisoners disclose information either of additional offences or of aspects of their offences that were previously unknown.

The Parole Board already takes into account offenders’ co-operation in identifying the location of a victim’s remains when determining whether they should be released; however, Ministers have asked the Parole Board to consider whether its guidelines in this area should be strengthened.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what additional funding his Department plans to make available for walking and cycling initiatives as a result of the cycling and walking investment strategy.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government has made clear its intention to make this country a cycling nation. The Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy will be published in the summer and will include details of how the £300m committed in the last Spending Review will be invested to support cycling and walking.

In addition to the dedicated cycling and walking programmes, there are a number of wider funding streams which are devolved to local bodies and which can and are being used to support cycling and walking projects. In particular, billions are available to Local Enterprise Partnerships and local authorities through the Local Growth Fund and Integrated Transport Block allocations.

In addition to the above, a record £6.1 billion has been allocated to local highways authorities between 2015 and 2021 for road maintenance, and this funding can help maintain footways and cycleways.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it is his policy to procure 13 Type 26 frigates.

Mr Philip Dunne

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 September 2015 to Question number 8460 to the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which pieces of equipment included in his Department’s Defence in Numbers publication of August 2015 are used only for training or ceremonial use.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Defence in Numbers booklet is a snap shot of the UK’s Defence capability and how we are spending the fifth largest Defence budget in the world. As well as giving details on civilian and personnel numbers and current operations, it also includes a list of the Ministry of Defence’s equipment holdings, the vast majority of which are in service and deployable. We will continue to review the Defence in Numbers booklet to ensure that it best reflects the breadth of defence equipment.

The Defence in Numbers booklet has a section for "training aircraft", and all of the aircraft types listed there are used for training only. This includes the Hawk, Viking, Vigilant, Tucano and Jet Provost aircraft.

The other pieces of equipment used only for ceremonial use are BAE-125 aircraft, Wessex helicopters, Challenger 1 battle tanks, FH70 Towed Howitzers and Chieftain Armoured Vehicles.