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In 2006-07, a hedge fund manager avoided millions in tax through a film scheme later judged unlawful. HSBC received £438,000 for acting as an intermediary, so does the Chief Secretary agree that there should have been a penalty on HSBC for its role in this scam?
In 2006-07, a hedge fund manager avoided millions in tax through a film scheme later judged unlawful. HSBC received £438,000 for acting as an intermediary, so does the Chief Secretary agree that there should have been a penalty on HSBC for its role in this scam?
I do not know about the details of the specific instance to which my hon. Friend refers, but I do think that in cases where an organisation is facilitating or promoting tax evasion and a penalty is then paid and tax is paid, as it should have been in the first place, the organisation facilitating the tax evasion should be liable for exactly the same amount of money, to be paid to the Exchequer. In that way, there would be a strong financial as well as legal incentive for people not to get involved in this practice in the first place.
St Peter’s school in my constituency is in one of the most deprived communities in the country, yet it has produced the current head of performance engineering at the Williams Formula 1 team and the right hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark). Does the Minister agree that such alumni can play a valuable role in raising aspiration in the next generation?
St Peter’s school in my constituency is in one of the most deprived communities in the country, yet it has produced the current head of performance engineering at the Williams Formula 1 team and the right hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark). Does the Minister agree that such alumni can play a valuable role in raising aspiration in the next generation?
I agree with my hon. Friend absolutely. It is hard to know who I admire more: my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells or the other gentleman he refers to. One of the key tasks of the new careers company being set up by Christine Hodgson is to help every school in the country to have an enterprise adviser, a current or recently retired local executive, who can help the school and the students identify opportunities in the area for their future career.
All Durham’s secondary schools were rated good or outstanding in 2013, and there was such a surplus of places that one school closed. That school became the home of the Durham free school, and I noticed that the Secretary of State was in Durham confirming its closure just last week. Why does she think her Department allowed this waste of taxpayers’ money, and what lessons has it learned?
All Durham’s secondary schools were rated good or outstanding in 2013, and there was such a surplus of places that one school closed. That school became the home of the Durham free school, and I noticed that the Secretary of State was in Durham confirming its closure just last week. Why does she think her Department allowed this waste of taxpayers’ money, and what lessons has it learned?
I was pleased to meet some of the parents from the Durham free school, and we discussed various interests. I made it clear to them that my Department operates on the basis of putting the interests of children absolutely first. We will of course look at all the lessons to be learned from the way in which the application was processed and considered in the first place. Nevertheless, 24% of open or free schools have already been judged outstanding by Ofsted, and more
have been judged as good. This is a successful programme, but there will inevitably be some issues, and we have taken swift action to deal with problems in this case.
How many state secondary schools and colleges in England engage alumni to support students.
How many state secondary schools and colleges in England engage alumni to support students.
We encourage all schools to involve former students in advising young people about career opportunities and the course choices that can lead to them. Future First does excellent work in helping schools to do this.
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many firefighting jobs are not front line in each fire authority.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many firefighting jobs are not front line in each fire authority.
We do not hold this information centrally.
Information on staff strength and roles, by fire and rescue authority, is published annually in the Fire and Rescue Operational Statistics bulletin. The latest figures refer to end March 2014, and are available in Tables 3a and 3b of following publication:
For years, the supermarket chain Aldi has been sitting on an empty supermarket that it acquired in the centre of Eston in my constituency. Does the Prime Minister agree that the supermarket chain should be forced to release assets that it does not need rather than allow them to be a blight on the community?
For years, the supermarket chain Aldi has been sitting on an empty supermarket that it acquired in the centre of Eston in my constituency. Does the Prime Minister agree that the supermarket chain should be forced to release assets that it does not need rather than allow them to be a blight on the community?
What we need to see is successful development going ahead and brownfield sites being used. If those sites cannot be used for retail, they should be made available for other uses. One change we have made is to liberalise the use classes in planning so that we do not have long-term planning blight of development not going ahead in towns and cities where houses, jobs and investment are needed.
In a recent written answer the Minister told me that
“it is a priority for Government to support the development of a UK-based supply chain for offshore wind and to increase the UK content of wind farms ”,
but that she does not require developers to report on UK content. Companies in the north-east, such as Deep Ocean in Darlington, that have already invested over £400 million in production and installation facilities
want to know why her Department is not being more proactive in ensuring UK companies benefit fully from this taxpayer-subsidised activity.
In a recent written answer the Minister told me that
“it is a priority for Government to support the development of a UK-based supply chain for offshore wind and to increase the UK content of wind farms ”,
but that she does not require developers to report on UK content. Companies in the north-east, such as Deep Ocean in Darlington, that have already invested over £400 million in production and installation facilities
want to know why her Department is not being more proactive in ensuring UK companies benefit fully from this taxpayer-subsidised activity.
My hon. Friend has raised a specific question. My broad answer is that we need a supply chain plan in place. If he would be kind enough to write to me specifically about that matter, I will take a particular interest in it.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate his Department has made of the value and proportion of UK content of the forthcoming Race Bank offshore windfarm.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate his Department has made of the value and proportion of UK content of the forthcoming Race Bank offshore windfarm.
The Department does not estimate the value and proportion of UK content of individual offshore windfarms.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the value and proportion of the UK content of each completed UK offshore wind farm is.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the value and proportion of the UK content of each completed UK offshore wind farm is.
The Department does not require Developers to submit to it the value and proportion of the UK content for each completed UK offshore wind farm. However, many Developers already report on the UK content of their wind farms and it is a priority for Government to support the development of a UK-based supply chain for offshore wind and to increase the UK content of wind farms.
The north-east chamber of commerce recently said:
“Businesses are surging into 2015 on a wave of sustained growth and positivity”,
and unemployment is falling faster in the north-east than anywhere else in the country. Will the Chancellor ensure that the north-east is properly connected to the northern powerhouse and that the necessary infrastructure investment is delivered?
The north-east chamber of commerce recently said:
“Businesses are surging into 2015 on a wave of sustained growth and positivity”,
and unemployment is falling faster in the north-east than anywhere else in the country. Will the Chancellor ensure that the north-east is properly connected to the northern powerhouse and that the necessary infrastructure investment is delivered?
I assure my hon. Friend that that will be the case. The north-east is an incredibly important part of the northern powerhouse, and that is why we are investing in road and rail links there. We are also putting investment into science there, for example at Newcastle university, and of course in his constituency he has seen steelmaking begin again after it ended under the Labour Government. People will have a clear choice at the general election.
I know that my right hon. Friend has extensive management experience in the hospitality industry. What constraints does he see in making this place efficient compared with his private sector experience?
I know that my right hon. Friend has extensive management experience in the hospitality industry. What constraints does he see in making this place efficient compared with his private sector experience?
I thank my hon. Friend for that extremely interesting question. I would observe that when one is appointed chief executive of an organisation in the private sector, one is in charge, one takes responsibility and one gets on with it. In this place and the other place, we are responsible to the Members, so it is necessary to have a structure that properly reflects that. One therefore tries to take the best bits of governance that one has learned from the private sector but use them in a way that serves the House and its primary purpose of legislation.
I welcome the recent announcements on rolling stock for the network, but looked in vain for news of a replacement for the ancient trains used on the Tees Valley line. Will the Minister look at that matter urgently so that the Tees Valley city region gets the upgraded trains that it needs and deserves?
I welcome the recent announcements on rolling stock for the network, but looked in vain for news of a replacement for the ancient trains used on the Tees Valley line. Will the Minister look at that matter urgently so that the Tees Valley city region gets the upgraded trains that it needs and deserves?
The hon. Gentleman is right to point out that there are many parts of the country, particularly in the north of England, where the rolling stock is simply not fit for purpose thanks to the franchise specifications let under the previous Government. We
are looking at all specifications, including upgrading the inappropriate Pacers, which will be part of the franchising specification process he will see published in the next few weeks.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the Cancer Drugs Fund was spent on pancreatic cancer drugs in each year since 2010.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the Cancer Drugs Fund was spent on pancreatic cancer drugs in each year since 2010.
NHS England has advised that there is currently one anti-cancer therapy available through the Cancer Drugs Fund that is used in pancreatic cancers. This is Abraxane (albumin bound paclitaxel).
NHS England has estimated that, since Abraxane was added to the national Cancer Drugs Fund list in March 2014, the estimated spend in that financial year was approximately £13,000.
Based on current application rates for this drug, NHS England estimates that approximately £4.09 million will be spent on this drug in 2014-15.
Prior to April 2013, information on the indication for which a cancer drug was provided through the Fund was not collected.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nurses are being trained by the NHS.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nurses are being trained by the NHS.
The number of pre-registration nursing places (degree and diploma courses) that were filled as at 31 March 2014 was 17,568.
In December 2014, Health Education England published their Workforce Plan for England which includes their planned Education and Training Commissions for 2015/16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nurses have been recruited by the NHS in England from (a) the UK, (b) other EU member states and (c) outside the EU in each of the last five years.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nurses have been recruited by the NHS in England from (a) the UK, (b) other EU member states and (c) outside the EU in each of the last five years.
The Department does not hold information on the number of nurses recruited by the National Health Service in England from the United Kingdom and other EU member states and outside the European Union in each of the last five years.
It is the responsibility of each NHS organisation to determine how many nurses it employs and from where these nurses are recruited.
The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), holds data on the nationality of staff working in the NHS as at 30 September 2013, the latest published data available. September data for the years 2009 to 2014 inclusive will be published, for the first time, by the HSCIC on 23 January.
The information as at September 2013 is set out in the table below:
Hospital and Community Health services: Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff, by nationality | |
|
|
England | Headcount |
British | 269,390 |
Other EU | 12,347 |
Rest of the World | 27,792 |
Unknown | 38,415 |
Total | 347,944 |
Notes:
These statistics relate to the contracted positions within English NHS organisations and may include those where the person assigned to the position is temporarily absent, for example on maternity leave.
Data Quality:
It should be noted that well over 100,000 staff do not have a specified nationality in the whole data set which included all staff so the figures above do not show the exact numbers of each nationality, but rather an indication of the numbers with known nationalities.
Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre, Provisional NHS Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) monthly workforce statistics.
On 13 November, the people of Switzerland voted overwhelmingly to retain freedom of movement with the European Union, because their politicians talked about the economic benefits of being in the single market. Will the Deputy Prime Minister continue to do what the City, the CBI and companies in my constituency want, which is to talk about those benefits for the UK and reject the politics of knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing?
On 13 November, the people of Switzerland voted overwhelmingly to retain freedom of movement with the European Union, because their politicians talked about the economic benefits of being in the single market. Will the Deputy Prime Minister continue to do what the City, the CBI and companies in my constituency want, which is to talk about those benefits for the UK and reject the politics of knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing?
I strongly agree with my hon. Friend that freedom of movement, which is a privilege and entitlement that more than 1.5 million British citizens benefit from across the European Union, is something we should defend. But freedom of movement is not the same as, and is not synonymous with, the freedom to claim, which is why there is now a very
healthy debate about how we ensure that freedom of movement can be protected while the rules on access to benefits can be changed.
Further to the Minister’s answer on the diverted profits tax, will he confirm whether it will cover businesses that run substantial operations in the UK, but that invoice from Ireland or Luxembourg to avoid tax?
Further to the Minister’s answer on the diverted profits tax, will he confirm whether it will cover businesses that run substantial operations in the UK, but that invoice from Ireland or Luxembourg to avoid tax?
We are confident that the measure will be effective in targeting multinationals that use aggressive tax planning and contrived structures to avoid UK tax. The diverted profits tax will be charged at 25% and will raise more than £1 billion over the scorecard period.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that off-patent bisphosphonate drugs are made routinely available for the new indication of preventing breast cancer spreading to the bone.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that off-patent bisphosphonate drugs are made routinely available for the new indication of preventing breast cancer spreading to the bone.
Research led by the University of Sheffield on the effects of bisphosphonate treatment on recurrence and cause-specific mortality in women with early breast cancer was presented in 2013. We understand that NHS England’s Breast Cancer Clinical Reference Group plans to incorporate this research into guidance it will be publishing in 2015.
That this House recognises that yet again in a pan-European survey of the chemical industry's reputation, the UK chemical industry has the highest reputation with those who drive public opinion with top or second places in 15 of the 16 separate measures; and congratulates the sector which adds £60 million every day to the UK economy, and its representative body, the Chemical Industries Association, on its work within local communities and its contribution to the UK.
That this House recognises that yet again in a pan-European survey of the chemical industry's reputation, the UK chemical industry has the highest reputation with those who drive public opinion with top or second places in 15 of the 16 separate measures; and congratulates the sector which adds £60 million...