Category: Speeches

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to review staffing and training levels for particular services in cases where payments for agency staff are capped.

    Alistair Burt

    The agency cap, introduced in November 2015 covers all staff in trusts and foundation trusts.

    It is the responsibility of local employers, with their knowledge of service needs, to determine the numbers and skill mix needed to deliver quality care, patient safety and efficiency. They will do this for each service, taking into account local factors such as acuity and case mix.

    It is Health Education England’s responsibility to ensure that there is sufficient future supply of staff, including those needed in specialist fields, to meet the workforce requirements of the English health system.

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what footprint and locations within Defence Business Services his Department is planning for inclusion in the corporate services integration and innovation provider contract.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence is currently examining options for the future of Defence Business Services (DBS) as part of the Future DBS Programme. No final decisions have been taken on whether any elements of DBS’ current operations will be outsourced and therefore which locations might be affected.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the framework for her Department’s 25-year plan for the environment; and what the timetable will be for (a) consulting on the plan and (b) publishing the final plan.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    We will publish a 25 Year Environment Framework this autumn, starting off a period of public engagement to help shape the 25 Year Environment Plan which we aim to publish in 2017.

  • John Pugh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many employees of academies, in which roles, are paid more than the Prime Minister.

    Nick Gibb

    The data provided to the Department by schools in the November 2014 School Workforce Census shows that 52 head teachers in academy schools in England were paid a salary of £142,500 or more.

    Of the other roles within the scope of the School Workforce Census, there were fewer than five teachers in academies receiving a salary of £142,500 or more.

  • Baroness Redfern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Redfern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is being done to increase the number of specially adapted homes in (1) North Lincolnshire, and (2) nationally, so that those with complex care needs can live independently for longer.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Since 2011 the Government has invested over a billion pounds into the Disabled Facilities Grant to fund adaptations to disabled people’s homes to help them live independently and safely at home for longer. This provides for around 40,000 adaptations each year and around 200,000 homes have been adapted since 2010. North Lincolnshire has received £5,143,717 of this funding over this period. Future funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant will rise to over £500 million in 2019-20.

    The Government is also providing specialised housing for disabled and older people through the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund and the Affordable Homes Programme and these will deliver 24 specialised homes in North Lincolnshire between 2011 – 2018.

    In the Spending Review we have committed to £400 million of funding to deliver 8,000 specialist homes for the vulnerable, elderly or those with disabilities. A commitment to funding from Department of Health could deliver up to a further 7,500 homes over the Spending Review.

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the affordability of childcare in (a) Lambeth, (b) Southwark and (c) London.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Government uses a range of information to consider the affordability of childcare, including our Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents’[1]; independent surveys, such as the Family and Childcare Trust Annual Childcare Cost Surveys[2]; and the recent House of Lords Select Committee’s report on affordable childcare, to which we responded on 17 December, 2015[3].

    We are committed to supporting hardworking parents with the costs of childcare, and to making childcare more affordable. That is why we will be investing an extra £1billion per annum by 2019-20 to help hardworking families with the cost of childcare.

    We are already funding 15 hours a week of free early education for all three- and four-year-olds and for disadvantaged two-year-olds. This saves families around £2,500 per child per year. Through our Childcare Bill we are making plans to fund and deliver an additional 15 hours of free childcare for the working parents of three- and four-year olds from September 2017 (with early implementation in some areas from September 2016). This is worth around another £2,500 per child per year. We also continue to invest in the Early Years Pupil Premium.

    We are introducing Tax-Free Childcare from early 2017, under which around 2 million families could benefit by up to £2,000 per child per year or £4,000 per child per year if a child is disabled.

    For working parents on low and middle incomes, working tax credit pays up to 70% of their childcare costs and this will increase to 85% under Universal Credit from April 2016. This support will be available, for the first time, to those working fewer than 16 hours per week.

    [1] www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-survey-of-parents-2012-to-2013

    [2] www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/childcare-cost-survey-2015

    [3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/affordable-childcare-response-to-the-select-committee-report

    “

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Birkenhead (a) of 20 November 2015 on school holiday provision and (b) of 16 December 2015 on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger and Food Poverty’s report of December 2014.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Despite an extensive search I am afraid the Department has no trace of the letter from 20 November 2015.

    The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Iain Duncan Smith, replied to the Rt.Hon. Member’s letter of 16 December 2015 on 25 February 2016.

  • Baroness Pinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Pinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Pinnock on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking in response to Main Finding 5 of the 2014 Annual Report of the Chief Schools Adjudicator relating to admission priority to Reception Year.

    Lord Nash

    The Department is giving careful consideration to the findings in the Chief Schools Adjudicator’s annual reports published in December 2014 and November 2015 as part of our current review of the School Admissions Code. We will be conducting a full public consultation in due course.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2016 to Question 30873, what EU ECHO-funded structures have been demolished in the Occupied West Bank since 1 January 2016; and what the cost was of each demolished structure.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    140 of the structures demolished in Area C from January to March 2016 were funded by international donors. This includes structures funded by EU ECHO and other Member States. We do not have the data broken down by individual Member States.

  • Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Saville Roberts on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates have (a) resigned or (b) given notice to resign to HM Courts and Tribunals Service since February 2016; and how many magistrates resigned or gave notice to resign in equivalent periods in 2014 and 2015.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The numbers of magistrates who resigned between 1 February and 20 May this year and each of the two preceding years are shown below:

    2016: 223

    2015: 360

    2014: 305

    The Judicial Office is notified of resignations, and processes them, on a rolling basis. The figure for 2016 does not, therefore, include any resignations which have been received locally by bench chairmen or advisory committees, but not yet communicated to the Judicial Office. That information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.