Written answers

Thursday, 5 May 2016

  • Department for Transport

    • A417: Gloucestershire

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many road traffic accidents have been recorded over the last five years on the area of the A417 in Gloucestershire for which an upgrade is planned...

    • Travel: Concessions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will extend the English national concessionary travel scheme for disabled people beyond off-peak times.

      Cycling: Commuters

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government has taken to promote cycling to work.

      Cycling

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a bicycle highway code.

      Cycling: Safety Measures

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to promote awareness among cyclists of the importance of wearing helmets and visible clothing.

      Cycling: Per Capita Costs

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average annual spend on cycling per head is in each of the Cycle Ambition Cities on the most recent date for which figures are available.

      Railway Stations: Disability

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, at which stations Network Rail plans to defer Access to All works from Control Period 5 into Control Period 6.

      Transport: EU Grants and Loans

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the total value of loan and grant funding from EU institutions for transport projects in the UK in the last 10 years.

      Transport: Apprentices

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many apprentices were employed by (a) Network Rail, (b) Highways England or the Highways Agency and (c) HS2 Ltd on 15 March in each year from 2010...

      Network Rail: Standards

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress Network Rail has made on meeting the 19.4 per cent efficiency target set by the Office of Rail and Road for the investment period 2014...

      Network Rail: Property

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the new Network Rail Property company will have responsibility for disposing of any part of Network Rail's operational estate.

  • Home Office

    • Police: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the Fourth Report of the Home Affairs Committee, on Reform of the Police Funding Formula, HC 476.

    • Greater Manchester Police: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of planned future budget reductions on the ability of the Greater Manchester police to...

  • Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    • Overseas Workers: Conditions of Employment

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what checks his Department undertakes to ensure that EU Missions are compliant with all European labour laws and that such...

    • Tibet: Ethnic Groups

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) native Tibetans, (b) Han Chinese and (c) others who were resident in Tibet...

      Tibet: Religious Persons

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on whether decisions on the reincarnation of Tibetan Lamas should made made by the Tibetan people.

      Piracy

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure British citizens employed on international marine vessels are not arrested for entering the...

  • Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    • Trade Union Bill

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the applicability of the provisions of the Trade Union Bill to officials of the devolved...

    • Trade Union Bill

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the applicability of the provisions of the Trade Union Bill to officials of the devolved...

      Counter-terrorism: Conferences

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what involvement (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department had in the Security and Counter Terror Conference at Olympia...

      Antidumping: China

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has made to the World Trade Organisation to request that anti-dumping measures are taken against the...

      Iron and Steel: China

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many metric tonnes of Chinese rebar steel have been imported into the UK in each of the last five years.

      Apprentices: Disability

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the oral contribution of 25 April 2016, Official Report, column 1131, which groups he (a) has met with and (b) plans...

      Directors: Misconduct

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many cases of alleged malpractice by directors of companies the Insolvency Service investigated in each year since 2009; and...

      Companies: Registration

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of companies newly registered with Companies House have been (i) directly incorporated and...

      Directors: Misconduct

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many referrals the Insolvency Service received from (a) each of the sectoral regulators and (b) any other third party for...

      King's College London: Antisemitism

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he has had discussions with university vice chancellors on the reported anti-Semitic incident at King's College London...

      Self-employed: Adoption

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the report entitled, Self-employment review - An independent report by Julie Deane, published in February...

      Animal Experiments

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will issue a response to Early Day Motion 373, Applying Results of Experiments on Animals to Human Patients.

  • Department for Education

    • Academies: North of England

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take under the Northern Powerhouse schools strategy to expand the best academy chains in the North; what the...

    • Education Funding Agency: Staff

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many full-time equivalent staff there were in the Education Funding Agency in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14 and (e) 2014-15.

      Teachers: Training

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on delivery of initial teacher training of all schools becoming academies.

      GCE A-level

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answers of 2 and 8 February 2016 to Questions 25202 and 23871, and the update provided by Ofqual, what further progress has been made...

      Primary Education

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2016 to Question 33991, what proportion of the 644 teachers and head teachers who responded to the 2013...

      Schools: Admissions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the practical implications of schools having their own admissions criteria under a fully-academised system; and how...

      Department for Education: Written Questions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of named day written parliamentary questions have been answered after the specified date by each Minister in her...

      Education: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is her Department's policy to provide additional funding to Local Education Authorities for secondary schools if (a) free schools and (b)...

  • Ministry of Justice

    • Civil Proceedings

      To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of potential steps to increase provision of (a) court time and (b) relevantly skilled members of the judiciary to ensure...

    • Offenders: Homelessness

      To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people released from prison into homelessness.

      Employment Tribunals Service: Fees and Charges

      To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have had employment tribunal fees waived or reduced in each year since the introduction of such fees.

      Employment Tribunals Service

      To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many tribunals relating to (a) sexual discrimination and (b) each other matter have been brought against employers in each of the last five years;...

      Post-mortems

      To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time taken for a post-mortem was in (a) Birmingham and (b) England in the last 12 months.

  • Church Commissioners

    • Community Relations

      To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what progress has been made on the Near Neighbours programme.

  • Ministry of Defence

    • Air Displays: Farnborough

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of the Farnborough International Airshow due to take place in July 2016.

    • Arms Trade: Trade Fairs

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on the Defence and Security Equipment International Conference held in September 2015.

      Armed Forces: Complaints

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Annual Report 2015 of the Service Complaints Ombudsmen for the Armed Forces, what assessment he has made of the implications for...

      Military Bases: Security

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2016 to Question 25082, how many unauthorised entries were recorded in relation to each of the bases listed in the...

      Military Bases: Security

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 33821, how many unauthorised entries were recorded in relation to each of the bases listed in that...

      Armed Forces: Complaints

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he last had discussions with the Chief of the Defence Staff on the need to improve response times to complaints from serving officers; and what was...

      Armed Forces: Pay

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release, A new pay model for the Armed Forces, published on 7 January 2016, what assessment he has made of the...

      Veterans

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will establish an office within his Department with a focus on assisting UK military veterans in terms of housing, health, employment,...

  • Department for Work and Pensions

    • Adoption: Self-employed

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of introducing an adoption allowance for self-employed adopters.

    • Grandparents: Parental Responsibility

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to protect the pensions of grandparents that care for grandchildren.

      Grandparents: Parental Responsibility

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to offer childcare services to grandparents that care for grandchildren.

      Universal Credit

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to universal credit, what his estimate is of Government spending on transitional protection where entitlement is lower in each...

      Motability

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of 23 February 2016, Official Report, column 82WH, on the...

      Social Fund

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target time is for processing applications to the Social Fund; and what performance was against that target in (a) 2013-14, (b)...

      Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target time is for processing applications made to the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit Fund; and what performance was against...

      Social Fund

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35019, on social fund, for what reasons management information is only held from 2013.

      Funeral Payments

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35018, how many funeral expense payments were processed by his Department in 2015-16; and...

  • Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    • Broadband: South West

      To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to paragraph 1.330 of Budget 2016, how much of the £14.5 million in grants for extending the coverage of ultrafast...

    • Television: Licensing

      To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the fairness of the (a) licence fee and (b) initial overcharge for those paying the licence...

      Football: Tickets

      To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what enforcement action is being taken by (a) the police and (b) Trading Standards against secondary ticketing operators offering...

  • Department for Communities and Local Government

    • Private Rented Housing: Electricity

      To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will issue guidance to the private rented sector on the issuing of rental contracts that prohibit tenants...

    • Floods: European Union Solidarity Fund

      To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the progress of the EU...

      Communities and Local Government: Hotels

      To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of hotel bookings made for (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c)...

      Communities and Local Government: Taxis

      To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the total cost to his Department of taxi journeys made by (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and...

      Disabled Facilities Grants

      To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many Disabled Facilities Grants were not progressed as a result of families not being able to afford adaptations in cases...

      Communities and Local Government: Hotels

      To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2015 to Question 35420, how many hotel bookings were made for (a) Ministers, (b) special...

      Communities and Local Government: Taxis

      To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 35419, how many taxi journeys were made by (a) Ministers, (b) special...

  • Scotland Office

    • Alexander Thomson

      To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what plans his Department has to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Alexander Thomson in 2017.

  • HM Treasury

    • Non-domestic Rates

      To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made a recent estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of exempting plant and machinery from the calculation of business rates.

    • Credit

      To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the extension of real-time data sharing to the whole consumer credit market.

      First Time Buyers: Loans

      To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to reduce the obstacles to first-time house-buyers due to their outstanding student loans.

      Government Departments: Procurement

      To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which (a) PFI contracts and (b) other large contracts between the Government and private bodies have been renegotiated since May 2010.

      Climate Change Levy

      To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2015 to Question 35437, what the average length of time was recommended by respondents to his Department's informal...

  • Department for Energy and Climate Change

    • Energy

      To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she plans to publish the recommendations of the Bonfield Review of consumer advice, protection, standards and enforcement for...

  • Cabinet Office

    • UK Membership of EU: Referendums

      To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what spending will be incurred on the EU referendum for each of the proposed lines of expenditure.

    • UK Membership of EU: Referendums

      To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) polling, (b) focus groups and (c) other research the Government has commissioned on the EU referendum since 1 January 2015; and what the cost...

  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    • Clean Air Zones

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to extend Clean Air Zones to more cities.

    • Carbon Emissions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how her Department's 25-year food and farming plan will contribute to delivering the Government's emissions reduction plan.

      Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Carbon Emissions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 April 2016 to Question 32143, how many full-time equivalent officials in her Department have...

      Neonicotinoids

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34699, when her Department expects to (a) receive advice from the UK...

      Agriculture: UK Membership of EU

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on farmers of the UK leaving the EU.

  • Department of Health

    • Out-patients

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to collect data on (a) the number of patients who are required to return to hospital for a review or follow-up...

    • Tonsils: Surgery

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many tonsillectomy operations were carried out in England in the last five years.

      Dementia: Health Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people diagnosed with dementia have access to appropriate treatment and support.

      Cancer: Drugs

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on granting that Institute the power to be able to approve...

      NHS

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS agencies have changed their name or merged in the last (a) 12 and (b) 24 months; and what the cost was to the public purse of such mergers...

      Alcoholic Drinks: Consumption

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on cardiovascular and cognitive health.

      Junior Doctors: Conditions of Employment

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 84 of the Equality Analysis on the new contract for doctors and dentists in training in the NHS, published in March 2016,...

      Social Services: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to local authority social care budgets on the demand for health services.

      Clinical Psychologists

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what evaluation his Department has undertaken of the adequacy of the (a) current and (b) future workforce requirements for clinical psychologists under...

      Clinical Psychologists: Training

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure adequate levels of bursaries and salary support for trainee clinical psychologists in the 2017-18 cohort.

      Mental Health Services: Children

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, in which 15 areas the joint training programme to support lead contacts in mental health services and schools has been tested.

      Autism

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will issue a response to Early Day Motion 1424, Autism awareness.

      NHS: Disclosure of Information

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will place in the Library copies of internal communications, meeting notes and memoranda relating to the resignations of the National Guardian and...

      Food: Hygiene

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to publicise the hygiene ratings of restaurants and other food outlets in England; and if she will make a statement.

  • Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    • Falkland Islands: Oil

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government who can give permission for oil exploration in the waters off the Falkland Islands.

    • North Korea: Responsibility to Protect

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will apply the principles of the Responsibility to Protect to the situation in North Korea.

      Islamic State: Yazidis

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have evidence that the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Peoples Protection Units have rescued some captive Yazidi women; what assessment they...

      Tunisia: Politics and Government

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance they are giving to the government of Tunisia with a view to promoting democracy and rebuilding its economy, and in particular the creation of...

      Western Sahara: Politics and Government

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the UN Secretary General’s remark during his visit to Algeria from 6 to 7 March that the Western Sahara is "occupied".

  • Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    • Comet Group: Insolvency

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the report produced by the Insolvency Service on the collapse of the Comet Group, and whether they will take that report into...

  • Department for Education

  • Ministry of Justice

    • Criminal Cases Review Commission

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government what budget has been allocated to the Criminal Cases Review Commission in each year since its creation.

    • Criminal Cases Review Commission

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many applications the Criminal Cases Review Commission has received in each year since its creation.

      Criminal Cases Review Commission

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many applications the Criminal Cases Review Commission has received since its creation that subsequently succeeded on appeal.

      Family Courts: Legal Aid Scheme

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many convicted sex offenders and those prosecuted for domestic violence offences have been given legal aid to pursue child access cases in the family...

      Immigration: Appeals

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they propose to increase immigration and asylum chamber fees, and what assessment they have made of the likely impact of those increased fees on access...

  • Ministry of Defence

    • Royal Fleet Auxiliary

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the three planned solid support ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary will be built in UK shipyards in order to form part of the regular drumbeat of...

  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    • Control of Horses Act 2015

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government what happens to horses seized under the Control of Horses Act 2015.

    • Animals: Tagging

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to issue guidance to vets on how to proceed with the micro-chipping of dogs or horses when the owner is of no fixed abode, such as in...

  • Home Office

    • Muttahida Quami Movement: Money Laundering

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 21 March (HL7044), whether (1) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, (2) the Prime Minister’s Office, or...

  • HM Treasury

    • Foreign Investment in UK

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to prevent any fall in the amount of foreign direct investment if the UK were to vote to leave the EU.

    • London Stock Exchange: Deutsche Borse

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the proposed cross-margining between LCH Clearnet and Euronext, consequent on the takeover of the London Stock...

      ICT: Standards

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to introduce standards to minimise the risk of the malfunctioning of electronic financial transactions and data storage by financial...

  • Cabinet Office

    • Lobbying

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether grants administered by the Arts Council will be exempted from new Cabinet Office guidelines that no government grants may be used to lobby.

    • Lobbying

      To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 19 April (HL Deb, col 543) on government grant agreements, whether an academic research institution...

What is this?

The parliamentary question is a great way for MPs and Peers to discover information which the government may not wish to reveal. Ministers reply via written answers, a list of which gets published daily.

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