Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the seller of a property to pay for, arrange and make available to potential buyers a survey of that property prior to sale, and for the buyer to reimburse that cost upon completion.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Government has been clear in its intention to publish a call for evidence looking at the process of buying and selling a home. We will use the responses received from this call for evidence to determine which changes have the greatest potential to improve the consumer experience. This call for evidence will be launched in the coming months.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many attendees there have been at each of the public consultation events his Department has held on the draft Airports National Policy Statement.
Answered by John Hayes
The Department held 20 public consultation events around Heathrow Airport between 13 February and 15 March in support of the consultation on the draft Airports National Policy Statement. The table below holds the figures for how many members of the public were recorded as attending each event:
Event | Number of attendees |
Southall | 76 |
Uxbridge | 137 |
Kingston | 206 |
Bracknell | 223 |
Wimbledon | 176 |
Ealing | 224 |
Staines-upon-Thames | 297 |
Twickenham | 354 |
Putney | 257 |
Hounslow | 198 |
Stanwell Moor | 123 |
Kensington | 131 |
Windsor | 167 |
West Drayton | 281 |
Hammersmith | 303 |
Maidenhead | 206 |
Richmond | 429 |
Gerrard’s Cross | 156 |
Slough | 167 |
Isleworth | 229 |
Although these are the recorded attendance figures, there may be a small margin of error resulting from a manual count.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what measures he has put in place for members of the public to raise concerns about the (a) process and (b) content of the nationwide consultation events his Department is running on the Airport National Policy Statement.
Answered by John Hayes
There are a number of ways for members of the public to raise concerns about both the process and content of the consultation events the Department is running on the draft Airports National Policy Statement:
a) Through discussion with officials at the local consultation events;
b) Calling the Department’s consultation enquiry helpline where queries can be logged and directed to the relevant area (0800 689 4968)
c) Emailing RunwayConsultation.admin@dft.gsi.gov.uk
d) By contacting Sir Jeremy Sullivan, the Independent Consultation Adviser at independentadviser@runwayconsultation.gsi.gov.uk
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to prepare for the potential effect of the use of artificial intelligence on the workplace.
Answered by Matt Hancock
In November 2016 the Government Office for Science published a report “Artificial intelligence: opportunities and implications for the future of decision making” which gives an overview of ways in which AI could change the nature of some areas of work. We have recently asked Jérôme Pesenti and Professor Dame Wendy Hall to undertake a review on artificial intelligence, to contribute to the development of the Government’s Industrial Strategy. As set out in the Industrial Strategy green paper, published January 2017 and the Digital Strategy, published March 2017, Government recognises that the rapid pace of technological change means digital techniques and technologies will change quickly so we are looking at ways to support people throughout their working lives.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will give direction to HM Revenue and Customs not to pursue care providers for back-dated tax which predates the guidance issued on the national minimum wage and sleep-in payments.
Answered by Margot James
I currently have no plans to issue a direction requiring HM Revenue and Customs not to pursue social care providers for arrears of pay or penalties relating to periods that pre-date amended Government guidance.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential road safety implications of aircraft flying low over and alongside the M4 motorway in the event that a third runway is built at Heathrow Airport.
Answered by John Hayes
Safety and security are of paramount importance, these issues were considered by the Airports Commission and will be given due regard again at appropriate points in the process in light of established procedures and standards that apply to all airports.
Flightpaths for an expanded Heathrow have not been formulated and will be subject to consultation as part of the airspace change process.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department takes to publicise any changes to migrants' rights to work in the UK to people specifically affected by those changes.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
All changes to the Immigration Rules on work routes are laid before Parliament and guidance is published on www.gov.uk to explain how migrants will be affected by any revisions to our criteria. We also write to key external partners and stakeholders, including immigration advisors, to communicate the details of any changes being made, where appropriate.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans formally to respond to the consultation on Implementing the English Baccalaureate which closed on 29 January 2016.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We will publish the Government response to the consultation on the implementation of the English Baccalaureate in due course.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to require Ofsted to make regular visits within three months to all schools that have been placed in special measures regardless of whether they have not changed their governance structure.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Secretary of State has a duty to make an academy order for all local authority maintained schools that are judged by Ofsted to be inadequate. If an academy is judged to be inadequate, the Secretary of State has the power to transfer it to a stronger academy trust. In both cases, these academies will generally be inspected as new schools in their third year of operation.
We believe it is right in these cases to allow the new academy trust the opportunity to turnaround what was a previously failing school before it is inspected by Ofsted.
However, Ofsted will inspect schools at any time where information that they hold or receive causes sufficient concern.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reason the Government did not send a full representative to the Paris Peace Conference of 15 January 2017 on peace between Israel and Palestine.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The UK welcomes France’s efforts to promote peace. But we were always clear that a conference so close to the change of US administration, and without the attendance of the two main parties, was not the best way to make progress. Therefore we decided to attend the conference as an observer, at senior official level.