Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their stated intention to require both ministerial and judicial authorisation for warrants under the Investigatory Powers Bill, why they consider it necessary to include a provision limiting judicial scrutiny to judicial review principles.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Investigatory Powers Bill creates a “double lock” for the use of the most intrusive in-vestigatory powers such that a decision to issue a warrant must be approved by a Judicial Commissioner.

    As the Secretary of State for the Home Department set out last November, this system balances Parliamentary accountability with independent consideration by a judicial authority. The application of judicial review principles is a robust, yet flexible, approach that the judiciary have significant experience in applying as the framework for independent scrutiny of Executive decision making. The ‘double-lock’, including the use of judicial review principles, was considered in detail by the Joint Committee that scrutinised the draft Bill. The Committee concluded that they were satisfied with the use of judicial review principles and that they would afford the Judicial Commissioners considerable flexibility in reviewing decisions to authorise the use of investigatory powers.

    In response to concerns expressed during Commons Committee Stage, the Government tabled an amendment to the test at report. That amendment makes it clear that when carrying out their review of the decision to issue the warrant, the Judicial Commissioner must do so with a sufficient degree of care so as to ensure that the Commissioner complies with their duties under clause 5 (General duties in relation to privacy). There was strong support from across the House for this amendment.

  • Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average cash balance held by schools in England as a percentage of their annual budget was on 31 March (a) 2015 and (b) 2016.

    Nick Gibb

    The latest available revenue balances for Local Authority (LA) maintained schools are given in the table below. They are on an accruals rather than cash accounting basis. Equivalent figures for academies are not available as they report on academic years ending 31 August.

    Total revenue balance1 as a % of total revenue income2 in LA maintained schools

    Date

    %

    31 March 2014

    6.7

    31 March 2015

    8.2

    Source: Consistent Financial Reporting survey

    1. A school’s total revenue balance is calculated from the combination of any unspent allocations and the cumulative balance of income minus expenditure from revenue funding sources during the financial year and any balances carried forward from previous years.

    2. A school’s total revenue income for the year includes all revenue funding available in the year as well as any additional income generated by the school. This does not include any revenue balances carried forward from previous years.

    These data are published annually, most recently in the Department’s Statistical Release LA and school expenditure: 2014 to 2015 financial year, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-education-and-childrens-services-spending-2014-to-2015

    Figures for 31 March 2016 will be published in December 2016.

    “

  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government plans to publish detailed plans for achieving a minimum 10Mbps broadband connection as a universal service obligation by 2020.

    Matt Hancock

    Ofcom has been commissioned to undertake detailed technical analysis which will help inform decisions on the design parameters for the USO. We will publish plans for a broadband USO once we have considered Ofcom’s report which is due to be completed by the end of the year.

  • Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville on 2015-10-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect on the cost of housing benefit to the public purse of requiring local authorities to sell their housing stock.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Everyone needs to live within their means. People on benefits should have to make the same decisions and choices about where they can afford to live as people who are not on benefits, and should not expect to be housed in properties that most working households are unable to afford.

    The Housing and Planning Bill will require local authorities to make a payment to Government based on the estimated value of their high value housing that is expected to become vacant.

    This policy is about councils making best use of their housing stock – selling vacant high value housing to fund the building of new homes which reflect housing need and increase overall housing supply, and to increase home ownership, as set out in the Government’s manifesto.

    At the heart of this legislation is the building of more homes. A portion of receipts generated from sales of vacant high value local authority housing will be used to build homes that better meet housing need and increase overall housing supply. In addition to this, housing associations will retain the sales receipt from each home sold through Right to Buy to enable them to re-invest in the delivery of new homes.

  • Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that a sufficient supply of large goods vehicles drivers is available for the road haulage industry.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department is working with its motoring services agencies to reduce times and delays in obtaining a driving test appointment and medical licence renewals.

    In order to reduce waiting times for LGV driving tests the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is currently recruiting examiners and is focusing its efforts particularly in areas where waiting times are higher. To date, DVSA has recruited 78 new driving examiners during 2015/16 with a further 65 either attending or are booked on to new entrant courses. DVSA has also offered posts to a further 41 potential examiners.

    The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) are now dealing with vocational applications with no declared medical condition within 5 working days. DVLA has also made some changes to improve the processing of applications where a driver has declared a medical condition. However processing these applications relies on the timeliness of third parties including medical professionals and drivers.

    The latest estimates from the Labour Force Survey show that the number of HGV drivers employed across all sectors such as manufacturing and retail has continued to grow since the 259,000 low in 2013 to 299,000 drivers in 2015.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children in England were diagnosed as anaemic or iron deficient in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

    Jane Ellison

    There are no figures available centrally for how many children in England were diagnosed as anaemic or iron deficient in each of the last 10 years.

    However, the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) UK report has figures for the proportion of children in the United Kingdom with haemoglobin concentrations below a certain level that indicate anaemia, but are not necessarily diagnosed.

    Lower limits for haemoglobin have been set by the World Health Organization and are endorsed by the Scientific Advisory Committee for Nutrition.

    The figures below for the UK cover years 1, 2, 3 and 4 (combined) of the NDNS Rolling Programme (2008/09 to 2011/12).

    The estimated proportion of children in the UK with a haemoglobin concentration below the lower limits was:

    Age Group

    % below the lower limits

    1.5 to three years

    12.9

    four to ten years (boys)

    3.1

    11 to 18 years (boys)

    1.8

    four to ten years (girls)

    5.7

    11 to 18 years (girls)

    7.4
  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what savings his Department has made from ending the paper vehicle tax disc.

    Andrew Jones

    In the first six months following the abolition of the tax disc between 1 October 2014 and 31 March 2015, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency saved £4.2m. The savings for financial year 2015/16 are not yet available.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will instruct the National Measurement and Regulation Office to publish a list of all known heat networks in the UK.

    Andrea Leadsom

    In the final quarter of this year DECC will publish summary tables, including regional breakdowns, of the data gathered as a result of the notification requirement in the Heat Networks (Metering and Billing) Regulations. Due to the commercially sensitive nature of the data, this information will be aggregated rather than a list of individual networks.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress Public Health England is making on its development of a wellbeing and mental health leadership support programme.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England (PHE) has focused on building leadership for wellbeing and mental health via its Public Mental Health programme. This has ranged from delivering high profile presentations to key national stakeholders to facilitating local support networks for public health staff working in local authorities. PHE has also supported the development of local leadership via the Local Authority Member Champions support programme. Through its partnership with the What Works Centre for Wellbeing PHE is developing leadership for wellbeing through a series of webinars and development opportunities.

    Internally, the PHE wellbeing champions programme has developed staff leadership in workplace wellbeing. Wellbeing and mental health leadership has been incorporated into the forthcoming report on Fit for the Future: a review of public health workforce.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33237, what assessment his Department has made of the potential health risks of the use of lasers by driverless vehicles.

    Anna Soubry

    My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills believes that the General Product Safety Regulations should ensure that lasers used by driverless cars do not present an unacceptable health risk.