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227686

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	Attorney General
answering dept id	88
answering dept short name	Attorney General
answering dept sort name	Attorney General
hansard heading	Staff
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of employees in the Law Officers Departments identify as (a) white or white British, (b) Asian or Asian British, (c) Black or Black British, (d) mixed or multiple ethnic group and (e) another ethnicity.
tabling member constituency	Ashfield
tabling member printed	Gloria De Piero
uin	227952
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>It is not compulsory for staff to declare their ethnicity and the following table therefore only provides details on the number of staff in the Law Officers’ Departments who have chosen to declare their ethnicity, and the proportions these represent of the overall workforce.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Treasury Solicitor’s </strong></p><p><strong>Department (TSol) *</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Serious Fraud Office</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Crown Prosecution </strong></p><p><strong>Service </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Ethnic Origin</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Percentage</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Percentage </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Percentage </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Asian/Asian British</p></td><td><p>122</p></td><td><p>6.1%</p></td><td><p>29</p></td><td><p>7.3%</p></td><td><p>471</p></td><td><p>7.4%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Black/Black British</p></td><td><p>97</p></td><td><p>4.8%</p></td><td><p>17</p></td><td><p>4.3%</p></td><td><p>351</p></td><td><p>5.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mixed/Multiple Ethnic</p></td><td><p>53</p></td><td><p>2.6%</p></td><td><p>15</p></td><td><p>3.8%</p></td><td><p>142</p></td><td><p>2.2%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>White/White British</p></td><td><p>883</p></td><td><p>44.2%</p></td><td><p>194</p></td><td><p>48.9%</p></td><td><p>4478</p></td><td><p>70.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other Ethnic</p><p>Background</p></td><td><p>31</p></td><td><p>1.5%</p></td><td><p>8</p></td><td><p>2%</p></td><td><p>72</p></td><td><p>1.1%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><em>* TSol data also covers the staff of the Attorney General’s Office and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.</em></p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Mr Robert Buckland question first answered 25/03/2015 14:40:33 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	3915 label Biography information for Gloria De Piero

227716

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	National Savings Bonds: Pensioners
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons Pensioner Bonds are not included in the Tax Deduction Scheme for Interest.
tabling member constituency	Bedford
tabling member printed	Richard Fuller
uin	227947
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>At Budget 2015, the Chancellor announced that from April 6<sup>th</sup> 2016, a new savings allowance will remove 95% of people from savings income tax. As a result the industry is expected to switch off the Tax Deduction Scheme for Interest (TDSI), and NS&amp;I plan to start paying interest gross on all taxable products, including the 65+ “Pensioner” Bond.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Bonds are not included in TDSI as NS&amp;I as a whole does not operate TDSI. Instead NS&amp;I decide on a product-by-product basis as to whether taxable products should be paid net or gross of basic rate tax. At the time 65+ bonds were being developed, the majority of pensioners were basic rate tax payers, and therefore liable to be taxed at the basic rate on the interest on their savings. Paying interest net of the basic rate on 65+ bonds meant that the majority of customers would be taxed correctly without the need to intervene.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When TDSI was implemented in 1991, it was decided that it was not appropriate or cost-effective for NS&amp;I. The option to join was kept under review, but as 72% of NS&amp;I’s total stock is invested in tax-free products, and a large proportion of NS&amp;I customers are not liable to pay tax on the remaining taxable products, it is considered to be prohibitively expensive to the taxpayer for NS&amp;I to join the scheme.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Northamptonshire answering member printed Andrea Leadsom question first answered 25/03/2015 11:25:08 answering member 4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom
tabling member	3912 label Biography information for Richard Fuller

227731

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
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	Local Plans
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 for local authorities who do not produce a local plan to be placed in special measures.
tabling member constituency	Nuneaton
tabling member printed	Mr Marcus Jones
uin	227787
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2015 answer text <p>Plan making has significantly improved under this Government. 81% of local planning authorities have at least published their plan and 63% of local planning authorities now have an adopted local plan in place (compared to 17% in 2010).</p><p> </p><p>The Localism Act has strengthened the role of Local Plans, allowing local councils – in consultation with local residents – to draw up plans and determine where new development should and should not go. Paragraph 14 of the National Planning Policy Framework already provides a very strong incentive for councils to have a Local Plan in place. I am aware that the Labour Party's Lyons Review proposed that sanctions should be imposed against councils without a Local Plan and that the Secretary of State should direct the Planning Inspectorate to produce a Local Plan in place of the Council. However, I believe that proposal is excessively centralising, and would be an unpalatable re-creation of the top-down planning regime that we abolished in the Localism Act.</p><p> </p><p>Drawing up a Local Plan can be challenging – it involves trade-offs and hard choices, and there is no longer Regional Planning Guidance or Regional Spatial Strategy imposed from above to hide behind and blame. But it is our preference for this to be a locally-led process.</p><p> </p><p><br><br>The Government has supported local authorities in their Plan making by funding the Planning Advisory Service; the Planning Inspectorate; and senior retired Planning Inspectors to help bring forward sound Local Plans.</p><p> </p><p>This Government introduced neighbourhood planning which offers an unprecedented opportunity for communities to develop plans with statutory force. Over 1,400 communities, representing around 6 million people in England, have now applied for a neighbourhood area to be designated and 59 successful referendums on neighbourhood plans have been held. The Government is committed to supporting communities throughout the process and encouraging more communities to join them. The Government recently announced a new support contract worth £22.5 million, which will begin in April 2015 and last until 2018.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis grouped question UIN 227786 question first answered 24/03/2015 18:04:25 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
tabling member	4024 label Biography information for Mr Marcus Jones

227732

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
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	Local Plans
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 take steps to assist local residents to produce a local plan in areas where no such plan has been produced by the local authority.
tabling member constituency	Nuneaton
tabling member printed	Mr Marcus Jones
uin	227786
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2015 answer text <p>Plan making has significantly improved under this Government. 81% of local planning authorities have at least published their plan and 63% of local planning authorities now have an adopted local plan in place (compared to 17% in 2010).</p><p> </p><p>The Localism Act has strengthened the role of Local Plans, allowing local councils – in consultation with local residents – to draw up plans and determine where new development should and should not go. Paragraph 14 of the National Planning Policy Framework already provides a very strong incentive for councils to have a Local Plan in place. I am aware that the Labour Party's Lyons Review proposed that sanctions should be imposed against councils without a Local Plan and that the Secretary of State should direct the Planning Inspectorate to produce a Local Plan in place of the Council. However, I believe that proposal is excessively centralising, and would be an unpalatable re-creation of the top-down planning regime that we abolished in the Localism Act.</p><p> </p><p>Drawing up a Local Plan can be challenging – it involves trade-offs and hard choices, and there is no longer Regional Planning Guidance or Regional Spatial Strategy imposed from above to hide behind and blame. But it is our preference for this to be a locally-led process.</p><p> </p><p><br><br>The Government has supported local authorities in their Plan making by funding the Planning Advisory Service; the Planning Inspectorate; and senior retired Planning Inspectors to help bring forward sound Local Plans.</p><p> </p><p>This Government introduced neighbourhood planning which offers an unprecedented opportunity for communities to develop plans with statutory force. Over 1,400 communities, representing around 6 million people in England, have now applied for a neighbourhood area to be designated and 59 successful referendums on neighbourhood plans have been held. The Government is committed to supporting communities throughout the process and encouraging more communities to join them. The Government recently announced a new support contract worth £22.5 million, which will begin in April 2015 and last until 2018.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis grouped question UIN 227787 question first answered 24/03/2015 18:04:24 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
tabling member	4024 label Biography information for Mr Marcus Jones

227754

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	ICT
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which news applications staff in his Department are authorised to download and use on their work-provided phones and tablets.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	227821
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>The vast majority of Ministry of Defence (MOD) mobile phones are supplied via the central Defence Fixed Telecommunications Service (DFTS). For standard issue phones, the downloading of external applications is not enabled.</p><p>There are a number of trials of Android devices (including tablets and smart phones) underway in the MOD. Users with devices supplied via the DFTS trial can download most applications as required, although security considerations prevent them from downloading some applications. Users with tablets supplied via the central Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) trial can download only a limited set of applications from an internal applications store.</p><p>Outside the provisions of the DFTS and DII arrangements, some MOD business areas have purchased devices (mobile phones and tablets) and associated applications independently. However, there is no business requirement to record details centrally; as a result, collated information related to these is not held.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 25/03/2015 16:00:46 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

227755

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Nuclear Weapons
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) value for money assessment and (b) technical appraisal he has made of (i) the Pegasus project for uranium enrichment and (ii) the Mensa Project on assembling and disassembling nuclear warheads at AWE Aldermaston; and if he will publish that assessment and that appraisal.
tabling member constituency	Newport West
tabling member printed	Paul Flynn
uin	227766
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2015 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation<em>.</em></p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 26/03/2015 15:37:32 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	545 label Biography information for Paul Flynn

227756

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	F-35 Aircraft
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps have been taken to eliminate uncommanded wing drop when manoeuvring the F-35B.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	227873
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>The Joint Strike Fighter programme has completed an extensive period of dedicated development flight test to both assess the impact of uncommanded wing drop (called transonic roll off) and mitigate its impact. The results of flight test have been to use a combination of control surface inputs from the leading edge flaps, trailing edge flaps and horizontal tails which have been applied differentially using software driven flight controls when the aircraft is operating at elevated angles of attack in the transonic flight condition.</p><p>It is extremely difficult to totally remove transonic roll from the transonic area of the flight regime, but these changes in the software control laws have lessened its severity and it has been assessed that they are now acceptable by the experienced flight crews that have flown with them. The programme leadership, which includes the UK Ministry of Defence, has concluded that they will allow the aircraft and pilots to execute the mission. The programme will continue to monitor and refine the flight control laws throughout the life of the aircraft as the aircraft's capability develops and if the target set and mission changes.</p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 25/03/2015 14:34:15 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson

227757

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	F-35 Aircraft
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effects of buffeting and transonic roll-off on the ability of (a) the helmet-mounted display systems to display symbology and (b) gyroscopes in the inertial platforms to operate correctly on the Joint Strike Fighter F-35B.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	227874
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>The Joint Strike Fighter programme has completed an extensive period of dedicated flight test to assess the impact of buffeting and transonic roll-off on both the helmet mounted display and gyroscopes in the inertial platforms. The conclusion of these flight tests, which have used changes in the flight control laws to mitigate both conditions throughout the flight envelope, is that the helmet mounted display and gyroscopic equipment meet the required performance specification and are fit for purpose to allow pilots to execute the mission. It is only in one area of the flight regime where buffet makes screen symbology difficult to read, and this is at the extremes of the envelope and extremely short lived as the aircraft manoeuvres, it is considered that they can be overcome by pilot training. These flight trials have included UK test pilots who have agreed with the conclusions of the US experts from government and industry.</p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 25/03/2015 14:36:35 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson

227758

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	F-35 Aircraft
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many production Joint Strike Fighter F-35B aircraft have been received by the UK armed forces; and how many of those aircraft have achieved supersonic speeds.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	227875
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>The UK has received three F-35B aircraft in the low rate initial production phase. None of the production aircraft have achieved supersonic speeds to date. Although the F-35 design has been tested up to supersonic flight there is currently a flight restriction that prevents this as the aircraft are awaiting modification. There is currently no requirement for the aircraft to achieve supersonic flight in support of the UK's current phase of introduction to service which is focused initial operational test and training activity.</p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 25/03/2015 14:35:52 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson

227761

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	F-35 Aircraft
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the level of susceptibility of the Joint Strike Fighter F-35B to catching fire or exploding due to a lighting strike (a) while flying and (b) on the ground.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	227936
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>The F-35 design has yet to complete its lightning strike testing. Due to this incomplete testing, and the fact that design modifications are planned to meet required levels of performance, a flight restriction has been placed on the aircraft which prevents operation within 25 nautical miles of lightning conditions. This restriction is reduced when the aircraft is on the ground to 10 nautical miles and also uses additional protection measures such as shelters. These restrictions will be lifted once modifications have been embodied and testing completed. The modification and testing is due to be completed ahead of UK Introduction to Service in mid 2016.</p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 25/03/2015 14:35:14 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson