Category: Speeches

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment the Government made of the effect on (a) high streets, (b) small businesses and (c) post offices of the temporary changes to Sunday trading laws during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

    Anna Soubry

    The Office for National Statistics analysed the impact of the short term Olympic relaxation of the Sunday trading rules and found that it was not possible to make any inference from the data. They found no definite pattern amongst the growth rates of retail sales and noted that other factors, such as the weather and time of year, will have impacted sales.

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his oral contribution of 21 March 2016, Official Report, column 1284, whether an impact assessment has been carried out on the effect of social security reform on employees in his Department.

    Priti Patel

    Ministers consider all of their statutory duties in considering new policies and impact assessments are published as is appropriate. A number of impact assessments have been published during the passage of the recent Welfare Reform Act. These use the whole population as a base but do not focus specifically on DWP employees.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the guidance for commissioners of mental health services to people from black and minority ethnic communities on inequalities in access, experience and outcomes in mental health care.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department is committed to involving patients and service users in the development of national mental health policy. It does not monitor this engagement centrally.

    The Department commissioned the Mental Health Providers’ Forum and the Race Equality Foundation to gather and review evidence of effective mental health service for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups. The review Better practice in mental health for black and minority ethnic communities was published in May 2015.

    The report found that organisations that were successful in providing mental health services that meet the needs of BME groups had developed local community-based approaches to service delivery which addressed cultural and linguistic differences and sought to actively engage hard to reach groups.

    The Department has also supported guidance published by the Joint Commissioning Panel in 2014 A guide for commissioners of mental health services for people from black and minority ethnic communities. http://www.jcpmh.info/good-services/black-minority-ethnic-communities/

    The guide set out 10 key messages for commissioners to improve services. These included: commissioning equitable access to mental health services for people regardless of ethnicity and identify and taking action to reduce ethnic inequalities; better local data collection to build understanding and competencies in commissioning services that meet the needs of BME groups; clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and health and wellbeing board developing strategies for BME groups; and involving and engaging service users in commissioning decisions.

    Copies of these reports are attached.

    “

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to assess the case for the proposed Crossrail 2 Eastern Phase.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    No final decisions have yet been taken on the Crossrail 2 route. We have safeguarded a route from Angel to Hackney Central, which could form an eastern branch of Crossrail 2 at a later phase of the project, should there be a good business case and funding available for it. However, this is not being assessed as part of the core scheme under current consideration.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who authorised provision under the Public Duty Cost Allowance for the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam after he left office as Deputy Prime Minister.

    Ben Gummer

    The purpose of the Public Duties Cost Allowance is to assist former Prime Ministers with the costs of continuing to fulfil duties associated with their previous position in public life. Exceptionally, the then Prime Minister agreed that the former Deputy Prime Minister , the Rt Hon Member for Sheffield Hallam, should be able to have access to the allowance to recognise the special position he held in the Coalition Government. Other former Deputy Prime Ministers are not eligible for the allowance. The allowance is set at a maximum limit of £115,000 per annum. The amounts paid are a reimbursement of expenses, accounted for in the published Cabinet Office Annual Reports and Accounts. The former Deputy Prime Minister is eligible for the allowance from the date of leaving ministerial office for the duration of this Parliament.

  • Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to continue with the Troubled Families Programme in the light of the National Institute of Economics and Social Research’s recent analysis.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    At the Spending Review 2015, £720 million was allocated to fund the remaining four years of the new Troubled Families Programme (2015 – 2020). We are absolutely committed to continuing to help this group of people, to help these vulnerable families that have some of the most complex needs of people in the country. We are looking at the evidence from the evaluation of the first Troubled Families Programme (2012-2015) to see how things could be done differently, to learn from it and see if there is even more we can do to improve the lives of troubled families.

    We have already learnt lessons from the first Troubled Families Programme and reflected them in the design of the new programme. We have published an overview of the first programme (attached) which highlights the improvements that have been made: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-first-troubled-families-programme-2012-to-2015-an-overview

    “

  • Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the closure of Redcar coke ovens and blast furnace on the local economy.

    Anna Soubry

    The closure of SSI in Redcar will undoubtedly have a significant impact on individuals, the supply chain and local economy more broadly. That is why we have announced a support package, worth up to £80 million, to support the future of the Tees Valley economy and we are working closely with a local Task Force, chaired by Amanda Skelton, to deliver this support.

    In total we have agreed over £40 million of support aimed at skills and jobs creation:

    • £3m has been made available to four Further Education colleges in the region to support re-training activity, as well as a further £2.65m skills funding to plug any gaps in skills provision not available via the Further Education Offer;
    • £1.7m to ensure that the fifty apprentices who were with SSI can continue their apprenticeships with alternative employers;
    • A £16.5m Jobs and Skills Fund to help local firms employ former SSI workers or their spouses in full-time or part-time jobs for a minimum of three years;
    • £16m support for firms in the SSI supply chain and wider Tees Valley impacted by the Redcar steelworks closure, to safeguard jobs, provide the stimulus to create new posts and provide expert assistance to help them expand their business
    • £750,000 to fund advice and grants to start up a new business.

  • Angus Brendan MacNeil – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Brendan MacNeil – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to upgrade the Hebrides Range radar on St Kilda.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence’s current planning assumption for the Watchman radar on the Hebrides Range is that it will be upgraded in November 2020.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they give to voluntary organisations engaged in the refugee crisis.

    Earl of Courtown

    The UK has pledged over £1.1 billion to date to help alleviate the Syria Crisis, our largest ever humanitarian response. The UK is supporting a range of implementing partners working in Syria and neighbouring countries, including United Nations agencies, international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), the Red Cross/Crescent and other international organisations.

    In relation to the Mediterranean migration crisis, the UK is supporting host government capacity and organisations such as the Red Cross, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s fund (UNICEF), the International Organisation for Migration, and NGOs to provide basic care, assistance, protection, and informationto vulnerable people.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much of the funding under the European Social Fund programme assigned to his Department he expects to allocate in the current funding round.

    Anna Soubry

    The Skills Funding Agency, one of the partner organisations of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, has secured approximately £725,624,976 including administration costs from the European Social Fund (ESF) on behalf of 38 Local Enterprise Partnership areas. The Skills Funding Agency is currently procuring learning and skills activity identified by local areas. These funds are profiled to be spent by end March 2018.