Tag: Tom Elliott

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what guidance his Department has issued for holidaymakers to advise them to take out appropriate winter sports insurance cover.

James Duddridge

For details of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s communications work on travel insurance in general I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 12 January 2016 to Parliamentary Question 21029.

An important part of this work is underlining to British nationals intending to travel overseas the need to take out insurance that is right for their trip, including for any winter or extreme sports activities. We produce specific guidance for travellers on winter sports holidays and we are currently running a ‘Know Before You Go’ campaign focusing on this issue, working in partnership with the Association of British Travel Agents and British four-time Winter Olympic skier Chemmy Alcott. The headline message of the campaign is for those taking a winter sports holiday to take out appropriate travel insurance. More information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/winter-sports-stay-safe-on-the-slopes and https://www.gov.uk/government/news/winter-sports-a-third-left-on-thin-ice-without-appropriate-insurance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he has had recent discussions with the Scottish Government on the potential for a further independence referendum in the event of the UK leaving the EU.

David Mundell

I have had no discussions with the Scottish Government on this subject and do not expect to do so. A clear majority of voters in Scotland voted No in the independence referendum in 2014. That referendum was widely accepted to be a ‘once in a generation’ or ‘once in a lifetime’ event.

At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure that any future UK Bill of Rights covers all of the UK.

Sir Oliver Heald

We will set out our proposals for a Bill of Rights in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Prime Minister’s announcement of 11 January 2016, whether Northern Ireland will receive additional funding for mental health care as a result of the Barnett consequentials of the changes to funding set out in that announcement.

Alistair Burt

The additional funding referred to in the Prime Minister’s announcement of 11 January 2016 is part of the Department’s overall Spending Review settlement, as announced in the Autumn Statement on 25 November 2015.

The Spending Review also set out the block grant allocations for the Devolved Administrations in line with the application of the Barnett Formula to United Kingdom Government spending.

The actual allocation of public expenditure between the services under the control of the devolved administrations, including health, is for the devolved administrations to determine.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect on infrastructure projects currently in receipt of TEN-T funding of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government supports the TEN-T programme and its successor (from 2014) the Connecting Europe facility (CEF), as a means of providing funding for transport infrastructure projects on the TEN-T network.

It is unclear what would happen with funding to EU programmes, particularly if the UK were to leave the EU in the middle of the EU budget cycle (2014-2020).

At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what requirements are in place to ensure that the mental health of a defendant is fully considered before sentencing.

Dr Phillip Lee

Under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, before passing sentence, the Court must obtain a pre-sentence report unless it considers it unnecessary to do so in any individual case. The pre-sentence report covers all circumstances which are relevant to the offender and highlights any links to his offending behaviour, including mental health problems.

Under the same Act, the Court is required to obtain and consider a medical report on a defendant who is or appears to be mentally disordered, before passing a custodial sentence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the amount of private sector investment in research and development in each of the last three years; and what assessment he has made of trends in the level of such investment.

Joseph Johnson

The amount of UK R&D expenditure performed by the business sector is set out in the table below¹. Expenditure in this sector increased by £1.1 billion in cash terms, to £19.9 billion in 2014 compared with 2013.

Support for business through the R&D Tax Credit scheme has continued to grow, from 9,250 companies claiming £1.0 billion on £10 billion of expenditure in 2009/10 compared with nearly 18,200 companies claiming £1.75 billion on £14.3 billion of expenditure in 2013/14.

£ million
2012	2013	2014
UK Expenditure for R&D performed by Business Enterprise sector – current prices	17,409	18,799	19,935

¹ Figures are taken from the ONS publication on Business Enterprise Research and Development, 2014.The business sector figures exclude the private non-profit sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to make available to the Northern Ireland Executive funds received from the Government’s application to the EU Solidarity Fund to help flood affected areas.

James Wharton

The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February and we continue to refine our cost estimations.

At the date the application was made, the Government had not been approached on this matter by the Northern Ireland Executive.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether BT contributed funding to the phase 1 roll-out of superfast broadband.

Matt Hancock

BT made a total capital commitment for Phase 1 of the programme of £348 million.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2015-10-28.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what tax revenue was lost as a result of tobacco smuggling in the UK in each of the last three years.

Damian Hinds

Estimates of revenue losses associated with the tobacco illicit market are published in ‘Tobacco Tax Gap estimates: 2014-15’. The combined figures for Cigarettes and Hand Rolling Tobacco are available in table 1.1

The methodology for producing the estimates are provided in the ‘Methodological Annex for Measuring Tax Gaps 2015’.

Both documents can be accessed via the following page on the HMRC website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/measuring-tax-gaps

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