Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

106090

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	answering body	Members Estimate Committee
	answering dept id	91
	answering dept short name	Members Estimate Committee
	answering dept sort name	Members Estimate Committee
	hansard heading	Members: Allowances
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the Members Estimate Committee, when it was determined to shred documentation on expenses claims submitted by hon. Members before 2010; and at what committee or decision-making body such a decision was taken.
	tabling member constituency	Bassetlaw
	tabling member printed	John Mann
	uin	213008
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>The House of Commons Commission (which was responsible for Members Estimate matters prior to the establishment of the Members Estimate Committee in 2004) agreed at its meeting of 21 October 2002 to implement a retention policy for financial papers, which would entail detailed claims, receipts, invoices and warrants being retained for three years after the end of the year of the transaction. This included documentation relating to Members’ allowances. The policy was incorporated into the Authorised Records Disposal Practice (ARDP) produced by the Parliamentary Archives and made available to Members and staff of both Houses on the parliamentary intranet in 2004. Decisions made by the House of Commons Commission and the Members Estimate Committee are published on the Parliament website.</p><p>Destruction of these records was paused in 2010 pending the conclusion of police inquiries, but was restarted on the previous basis in 2012 once legal proceedings were concluded. The only documentation destroyed in the last 12 months in relation to Members’ expenses has been background information to support claims, which was no longer needed after the 2010 general election when the House ceased to be responsible for expenses claims. This was done in April 2014.</p><p>While the original financial documents relating to MPs’ expenses were destroyed in compliance with the Authorised Records Disposal Policy (ARDP), more than a million documents and receipts, with some personal information redacted, were published online and subsequently updated. This information remains available on the Parliament website at: <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/members-allowances/house-of-commons/" target="_blank">http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/members-allowances/house-of-commons/</a>.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso grouped question UIN 213009 213010 question first answered 06/11/2014 15:11:56 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	1387 label Biography information for Lord Mann

106091

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	answering body	Members Estimate Committee
	answering dept id	91
	answering dept short name	Members Estimate Committee
	answering dept sort name	Members Estimate Committee
	hansard heading	Members: Allowances
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the Members Estimate Committee, which documentation relating to expenses claims submitted by hon. Members in which years have been shredded in the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Bassetlaw
	tabling member printed	John Mann
	uin	213009
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>The House of Commons Commission (which was responsible for Members Estimate matters prior to the establishment of the Members Estimate Committee in 2004) agreed at its meeting of 21 October 2002 to implement a retention policy for financial papers, which would entail detailed claims, receipts, invoices and warrants being retained for three years after the end of the year of the transaction. This included documentation relating to Members’ allowances. The policy was incorporated into the Authorised Records Disposal Practice (ARDP) produced by the Parliamentary Archives and made available to Members and staff of both Houses on the parliamentary intranet in 2004. Decisions made by the House of Commons Commission and the Members Estimate Committee are published on the Parliament website.</p><p>Destruction of these records was paused in 2010 pending the conclusion of police inquiries, but was restarted on the previous basis in 2012 once legal proceedings were concluded. The only documentation destroyed in the last 12 months in relation to Members’ expenses has been background information to support claims, which was no longer needed after the 2010 general election when the House ceased to be responsible for expenses claims. This was done in April 2014.</p><p>While the original financial documents relating to MPs’ expenses were destroyed in compliance with the Authorised Records Disposal Policy (ARDP), more than a million documents and receipts, with some personal information redacted, were published online and subsequently updated. This information remains available on the Parliament website at: <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/members-allowances/house-of-commons/" target="_blank">http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/members-allowances/house-of-commons/</a>.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso grouped question UIN 213008 213010 question first answered 06/11/2014 15:11:56 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	1387 label Biography information for Lord Mann

106092

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	answering body	Members Estimate Committee
	answering dept id	91
	answering dept short name	Members Estimate Committee
	answering dept sort name	Members Estimate Committee
	hansard heading	Members: Allowances
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the Members Estimate Committee, when the decision to destroy documentation relating to hon. Members' expenses claims from before 2010 was reported to the House.
	tabling member constituency	Bassetlaw
	tabling member printed	John Mann
	uin	213010
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>The House of Commons Commission (which was responsible for Members Estimate matters prior to the establishment of the Members Estimate Committee in 2004) agreed at its meeting of 21 October 2002 to implement a retention policy for financial papers, which would entail detailed claims, receipts, invoices and warrants being retained for three years after the end of the year of the transaction. This included documentation relating to Members’ allowances. The policy was incorporated into the Authorised Records Disposal Practice (ARDP) produced by the Parliamentary Archives and made available to Members and staff of both Houses on the parliamentary intranet in 2004. Decisions made by the House of Commons Commission and the Members Estimate Committee are published on the Parliament website.</p><p>Destruction of these records was paused in 2010 pending the conclusion of police inquiries, but was restarted on the previous basis in 2012 once legal proceedings were concluded. The only documentation destroyed in the last 12 months in relation to Members’ expenses has been background information to support claims, which was no longer needed after the 2010 general election when the House ceased to be responsible for expenses claims. This was done in April 2014.</p><p>While the original financial documents relating to MPs’ expenses were destroyed in compliance with the Authorised Records Disposal Policy (ARDP), more than a million documents and receipts, with some personal information redacted, were published online and subsequently updated. This information remains available on the Parliament website at: <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/members-allowances/house-of-commons/" target="_blank">http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/members-allowances/house-of-commons/</a>.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso grouped question UIN 213008 213009 question first answered 06/11/2014 15:11:57 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	1387 label Biography information for Lord Mann

105854

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Help to Buy Scheme
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what has been the current take-up of the Help to Buy scheme in (a) England and (b) Bradford.
	tabling member constituency	Bradford East
	tabling member printed	Mr David Ward
	uin	213099
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>This Government is committed to supporting people’s aspirations to own their own home.</p><p> </p><p>By 30 September, 54,520 families have bought a home with the assistance of the three Help to Buy schemes in England and 525 in the Bradford Metropolitan District Council area.</p><p> </p><p>The Department’s official statistics on sales for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme in England, broken down by constituency, local authority and postcode, is available at: <strong><a href="http://opendatacommunities.org/def/concept/folders/themes/housing-market" target="_blank">http://opendatacommunities.org/def/concept/folders/themes/housing-market</a>.</strong></p><p> </p><p>The Department’s official statistics on sales for the Help to Buy: New Buy scheme is available at: <strong><a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/help-to-buy-equity-loan-and-newbuy-statistics" target="_blank">http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/help-to-buy-equity-loan-and-newbuy-statistics</a>. </strong>Figures are not available by constituency</p><p> </p><p>The Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme is managed by HM Treasury. The latest official statistics is available at: <strong><a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics-october-2013-to-june-2014" target="_blank">http://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics-october-2013-to-june-2014</a>.</strong>This includes total numbers of sales at individual local authority level (Table 7).</p><p>The 525 Help to Buy Sales in Bradford comprises 387 equity loan sales, 22 Newbuy sales and 116 Mortgage Guarantee sales.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 06/11/2014 16:51:15 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	3923 label Biography information for Mr David Ward

106406

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Solar Power
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to provide that solar panels may not be sited on agricultural land.
	tabling member constituency	Kettering
	tabling member printed	Mr Philip Hollobone
	uin	905914
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>In March, my Department published new planning guidance, which made clear to local planning authorities and planning inspectors the particular factors they should consider in relation to large scale ground mounted solar photovoltaic farms. These include making effective use of brownfield land and steering proposals away from good quality agricultural land. It also underlined the importance of protecting landscape and heritage assets, and the need to address issues such as glint and glare. It can be found online at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/guidance/renewable-and-low-carbon-energy/particular-planning-considerations-for-hydropower-active-solar-technology-solar-farms-and-wind-turbines/" target="_blank">http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/guidance/renewable-and-low-carbon-energy/particular-planning-considerations-for-hydropower-active-solar-technology-solar-farms-and-wind-turbines/</a></p><p> </p><p>To help focus these developments on brownfield sites, we have been consulting on increasing the amount of solar that can be installed on non-domestic buildings, including commercial roof space without the need for a planning application.</p><p> </p><p>As my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) stated on 8 September 2014, <em>Official Report</em>, Column 648, we are considering what further steps can be taken.</p><p> </p><p>Although not a planning matter, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has recently announced ending Common Agricultural Policy subsidy payments from land on which solar arrays are hosted, to ensure that farm subsidies support farmers whose primary use of the land is for agriculture and food production.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 06/11/2014 17:31:51 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
	tabling member	1537 label Biography information for Mr Philip Hollobone

105918

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept id	63
	answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
	hansard heading	Energy Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment he has made of the security of the electricity supply for (a) businesses and (b) data centres in winter 2014-15.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Dr Julian Huppert
	uin	212978
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>On 28 October, National Grid published its annual Winter Outlook 2014 report, which analyses the current level of security of electricity supply in Great Britain. This includes an estimate of peak electricity demand for this winter, but no separate assessment is published for businesses or data centres.</p><p>In order to ensure security of supply for all businesses, households and industry, National Grid announced it will procure 1.1GW of additional de-rated capacity through Supplemental Balancing Reserve (SBR) and Demand Side Balancing Reserve (DSBR) for the winter of 2014/15.</p><p>DECC supports the decisive action taken by National Grid and Ofgem which will mean we have secure electricity supplies, even with further unexpected outages or a very cold winter.</p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 06/11/2014 16:11:16 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	3931 label Biography information for Dr Julian Huppert

105919

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept id	63
	answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
	hansard heading	Power Failures
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to reduce the risk of electricity blackouts during winter 2014-15.
	tabling member constituency	South Antrim
	tabling member printed	Dr William McCrea
	uin	212922
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>On 28 October National Grid announced that it will procure 1.1 GW of additional de-rated capacity though Supplemental Balancing Reserve (SBR) and Demand Side Balancing Reserve (DSBR) for the winter of 2014/15. DECC supports the decisive action taken by National Grid and Ofgem and views the amount procured as a sensible and prudent step in order to provide the necessary degree of resilience for times of very high demand.</p><p>This action will increase capacity margins from around 4% to over 6%; a higher level than we had between 2005/06 and 2007/8 and well within the Government’s reliability standard.</p><p>This means that we will continue to benefit from secure electricity supplies even with further unexpected outages or a very cold winter.</p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 06/11/2014 16:08:14 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	655 label Biography information for Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown

106429

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept id	63
	answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
	hansard heading	Housing: Energy
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	905920
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government has a range of initiatives to help consumers take control of their energy bills by making energy efficiency improvements. These include the Green Deal, the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund, Green Deal Communities and the Energy Company Obligation. <br> <br> These initiatives supported the improvement of over 790,000 homes between January 2013 and August 2014, and we are on track to meet our target of improving the energy efficiency of 1 million homes by March 2015.</p><p>Vouchers issued through the popular first phase of GDHIF have resulted in an on-going pipeline of work that is improving homes and we expect around 20,000 households will benefit.</p><p>An additional £100 million for UK household energy efficiency announced last month will be used to launch a new phase of GDHIF later this month. This is in addition to providing longer term certainty for the market through the extension of ECO until 2017.</p> answering member constituency Hastings and Rye answering member printed Amber Rudd question first answered 06/11/2014 16:19:23 answering member 3983 label Biography information for Amber Rudd
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

128375

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept id	63
	answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
	hansard heading	Housing: Energy
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.
	tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
	tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
	uin	905932
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government has a range of initiatives to help consumers take control of their energy bills by making energy efficiency improvements. These include the Green Deal, the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund, Green Deal Communities and the Energy Company Obligation. <br> <br> These initiatives supported the improvement of over 790,000 homes between January 2013 and August 2014, and we are on track to meet our target of improving the energy efficiency of 1 million homes by March 2015.</p><p>Vouchers issued through the popular first phase of GDHIF have resulted in an on-going pipeline of work that is improving homes and we expect around 20,000 households will benefit.</p><p>An additional £100 million for UK household energy efficiency announced last month will be used to launch a new phase of GDHIF later this month. This is in addition to providing longer term certainty for the market through the extension of ECO until 2017.</p> answering member constituency Hastings and Rye answering member printed Amber Rudd question first answered 06/11/2014 16:18:12 answering member 3983 label Biography information for Amber Rudd
	tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

105898

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Primary Education: Warrington
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the requirement for primary school places in Warrington in the next five years.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Helen Jones
	uin	212903
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Education collects information from local authorities on the number of school places in state-funded primary and secondary schools and local authorities’ own pupil forecasts as part of the annual School Capacity Collection. The most recent data available relates to the position at May 2013, with primary forecasts through to 2017/18, and is published online at:</p><p><a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-capacity-academic-year-2012-to-2013" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-capacity-academic-year-2012-to-2013</a></p><p>The Department has estimated that Warrington local authority needs 270 additional primary places to meet demand in 2015/16. Warrington local authority has reported that there are 980 new places planned for delivery between 2013/14 and 2015/16. This information, along with technical notes, is published in the Local Authority Basic Need Scorecards which is published online at:</p><p><a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/primary-school-places-local-authority-basic-need-scorecards" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/publications/primary-school-places-local-authority-basic-need-scorecards</a></p><p>The Department provides capital funding to local authorities in line with the estimated level of need in each local authority. Warrington has been allocated a total of £6 million for the period 2011-2015 and a further £8.6 million for 2015-2017 to help create the additional school places that will be needed by September 2017.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Yeovil answering member printed Mr David Laws question first answered 06/11/2014 16:21:01 answering member 1473 label Biography information for Mr David Laws
	tabling member	432 label Biography information for Helen Jones