Category: Speeches

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for how many asylum applications did it take UK Visas and Immigration longer than 12 months to make an initial decision; how many such applicants submitted a request to be allowed to work in the UK; how many of those requests to work were rejected; and how long, on average, did it take for those accepted to be given documents confirming their right to work in each year since 2009-10.

    James Brokenshire

    The table below shows, for each year from 2009-10, the time taken to make an initial decision, including those made within 12 months of claiming asylum.

    In the year ending 31 March 2015, UKVI completed a sigmificant exercise in clearing all straightforward asylum cases with a claim date preceding 1 April 2014.

    Financial Year

    Total Number of Decisions

    No of Cases with a decision Over a Year

    No of Cases with a decision Under a Year

    2009/10

    24,510

    3,048

    21,462

    2010/11

    19,818

    4,010

    15,808

    2011/12

    16,970

    1,479

    15,491

    2012/13

    17,561

    1,208

    16,353

    2013/14

    15,141

    2,305

    12,836

    2014/15

    25,992

    8,281

    17,711

    2015/16 (Up to the 30 Sep 2015)

    13,073

    1,217

    11,856

    The Home Office holds reportable information on the number of asylum seekers who have not received a decision within twelve months. Permission to work requests are also recorded on the immigration casework database but this information is not readily reportable without interrogating thousands of individual cases. Therefore, the information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what mechanisms he plans to put in place to measure and monitor (a) value for money for the public purse and (b) the effect on the green economy of a privatised Green Investment Bank; and if he will report regularly to the House on those aspects.

    Anna Soubry

    Details of why the Government believes moving UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) into private ownership represents the best way to enable the company to deliver its ambitious green business plan and have a greater impact on green investment while minimising burdens on the UK taxpayer are provided in our November 2015 policy statement on the future of GIB and are further set out in the Government’s response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on the future of GIB which was laid in Parliament on 2 February. Both documents can be found on the GIB pages of the GOV.UK website.

    The Government has committed to report to Parliament setting out our plans for a sale of GIB and will provide a further report following completion of a transaction and any subsequent transactions.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department is assessing potential alternatives to the Microgeneration Certification Scheme to which the Renewable Heat Incentive is linked.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department is in the process of working with the microgeneration industry to establish the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) as a legal entity that will operate independently of the Government. There is an established process for alternative schemes to MCS to come forward through the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and equivalent accreditation bodies in the EU. For example, through this process the Solar Keymark product scheme for solar thermal products has been recognised and treated as equivalent to MCS. In addition, the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) regulations give Ofgem the power to determine scheme equivalency; and they are currently finalising this process for equivalent schemes to be considered in specific reference to the RHI.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many inflammatory bowel disease services have defined referral pathways in place to ensure that appropriate support is offered from a psychologist or counsellor with specialist knowledge of that condition.

    Jane Ellison

    This information is not collected. The organisation of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) services is a local matter.

    IBD is the collective name used to describe ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. To support commissioners to deliver local services for people with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published the best practice guidance ‘Crohn’s Disease Management in Adults, Children and Young People’, in October 2012 and ‘Ulcerative Colitis Management in Adults, Children and Young People’ in June 2013.

    Both guidelines mention providing access to psychological support and the role it can play in patient care. In addition, patient education and patient information support are also highlighted as priorities for implementation. Commissioners should have regard to NICE guidance when delivering local services. The guidance can be found at the following links:

    https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/CG152/chapter/Key-priorities-for-implementation

    https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg166/chapter/Key-priorities-for-implementation

    “

  • Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any guidance or instruction from the Department of Education has prompted Brighton and Hove City Council to seek to establish the gender identity rather than the physical sex of four and five year-old children, and how many other education bodies have sent similar requests to parents.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Department for Education provides guidance on the Equality Act 2010 to schools which contains advice on the Public Sector Equality Duty and on the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.

    The Department has not inquired into the gender identity of children in January 2016 and has no correspondence on the matter.

    The addition of gender identity information on the pupil registration form was solely a decision of the Brighton and Hove City Council. They have the independence to make this decision.

    The Department does not hold details of any additional information collected by local authorities outside of those required by the Department for our centrally specified, mandatory data collections.

    The Department is not aware of any referral on this issue to the Police.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Leader of the House, further to the Written Answers by Lord Dunlop on 24 March (HL7079) and 22 January (HL4982), what guidance she has given to the Northern Ireland Office about answering questions fully and substantially, and in particular providing definitions as requested.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    The position has not changed since I answered the Noble Lord’s question HL6043 on 17 February. That answer is included below for your ease of reference and I have nothing further to add to this.

    As Leader of the House, I regularly stress to departments the importance of giving full and timely answers to Questions for Written Answer. The content of each answer is a matter for the Minister concerned, and each Minister is responsible to the House for the answers they provide. That direct accountability is important: that is why Ministers in this House must provide personally signed answers to members.

    The Ministerial Code says that “It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament”. It also makes clear that “Ministers should be as open as possible with Parliament and the public, refusing to provide information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest”. In addition, there is a longstanding rule of this House that all answers should be complete and comprehensible. I shall continue to make this guidance clear to all Ministers.

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cyclists died as a result of road traffic incident in each year since 2010 in (a) Redcar, (b) the North East and (c) the UK.

    Andrew Jones

    The table below provides the number of cyclists killed in a road traffic accident on public roads in a) Redcar, b) the North East of England, and c) Great Britain.

    Year

    Redcar constituency

    North East England

    Great Britain

    2010

    0

    4

    111

    2011

    3

    7

    107

    2012

    0

    6

    118

    2013

    0

    6

    109

    2014

    0

    3

    113

    2015

    0

    1

    100

    The Department does not hold data for Northern Ireland, therefore the table includes statistics for Great Britain rather than the United Kingdom.

    These statistics come from police reported data on personal injury accidents on the public highway. The Department does not collect information about accidents that were on private roads, car parks or off-road.

  • Dame Caroline Spelman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dame Caroline Spelman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dame Caroline Spelman on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions the Chemotherapy Clinical Reference Group has had on the use of bisphosphonates for the indication of preventing secondary breast cancer since July 2015.

    Nicola Blackwood

    NHS England has advised that the Chemotherapy Clinical Reference Group (CRG) discussed the use of bisphosphonates for the indication of preventing secondary breast cancer during a meeting held in September 2015. It was raised in the context of guidance being developed by the Breast Cancer Clinical Reference Group and whether, through the Chemotherapy CRG, NHS England could implement any policy to support the use of these drugs. It was confirmed that these drugs would need to be commissioned by clinical commissioning groups.

  • Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Wiggin on 2015-11-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2015 to Question 12970, for what reasons estate agents that do not hold client money fall within the scope of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 sets out what regulated sectors (includes businesses such as estate agents) must do to prevent their services being used for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes. Money laundering can take many forms and in the property sector it often involves: (i) buying property using the proceeds of crime and selling it on; (ii) criminals hiding behind complex structures to disguise the true purpose of the transaction; (iii) paying an estate agent or auctioneer a significant deposit and reclaiming it later; and (iv) using purchase monies from a mortgage fraud.

    Estate agents that do not hold client money fall within the scope of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 in accordance with the requirements of article 2 1. (3) (d) of European directive 2005/60/EC of 26 October 2005 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing.

    The Directive requires estate agents to exercise due diligence and to report suspicious transactions. Suspicious transactions, and preventing the inappropriate use of services, may arise in a variety of ways that do not involve handling funds. Estate agency businesses are well placed as they encounter both parties to the transaction at an early stage.

  • Nia Griffith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Nia Griffith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nia Griffith on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to publish its proposed reforms to the Electronic Communications Code.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government remains committed to delivering a reformed Electronic Communications Code that is clear, fit for purpose, and supports a UK network that provides consumers with a choice of high quality telecommunications services. We will update Parliament on plans in due course.