Category: Speeches

Jeffrey M. Donaldson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeffrey M. Donaldson on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has received representations to support the candidacy of Argentine Foreign Minister Susanna Malcorra for the position of UN Secretary General; what assessment he has made of the potential effect on UK sovereignty over the Falkland Islands of such an appointment; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Hugo Swire

I have received notice that Argentina’s Foreign Minister, Susana Malcorra, is bidding for the role of UN Secretary-General. We want a strong Secretary-General, one with integrity, a proven track record, first class communication skills, suitable and relevant experience and unimpeachable character. They should be committed to transparency and accountability, have strong leadership skills, a bold vision for an activist UN at the heart of the rules-based system, and be committed to cost-effective management and reform. It is imperative that any Secretary-General serves the whole membership. We judge all candidates on their merits. The United Kingdom has no doubt about its sovereignty over the Falklands and surrounding maritime areas, nor about the Falkland Islanders’ right to decide their own future.

01/01/2023
Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of refugees the UK will accept in each of the next five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The migration crisis has seen a significant increase in the number of people claiming asylum across Europe, including in the UK. In the year ending June 2016, the Home Office granted protection to 11,700 people at initial decision, excluding appeals decisions. Whilst we cannot predict the number of future asylum claims made spontaneously, our approach will continue to be to intervene at every point in the migrant journey to address push factors, tackle organised crime, and provide humanitarian aid to the regions most affected.

At the same time, we are committed to resettling vulnerable refugees who cannot effectively be supported in their region of origin via one of our four schemes. Under the Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement scheme, the UK will resettle 20,000 individuals by the end of this Parliament. We have already resettled 2,646 since the scheme was expanded in October 2015. In addition, we will resettle up to 3,000 individuals by the end of this Parliament under the new Vulnerable Children Resettlement Scheme from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with several hundred arriving in the first year. Children will be resettled with their family or carers where appropriate. Under the Gateway resettlement scheme, we aim to resettle around 750 refugees per year who are in protracted situations where there is little prospect of being able to return home. The Mandate resettlement scheme is open to refugees who have a close family member in the UK who is willing to sponsor them. No overall quota is set for the Mandate scheme.

01/01/2023
Grant Shapps – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grant Shapps on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much has been spent from the public purse on advertising the Government’s Own Your Home scheme.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government is committed to supporting home ownership and the Own Your Home campaign is designed to increase awareness of government home buying schemes amongst first time buyers.

In 2015/2016 spend on the campaign has been approximately £4 million. Activity consisted of radio, press and consumer advertising, out of home on-street bus stop posters, digital and Facebook advertising and a series of ‘How to’ online videos promoted through You Tube.

On average around 140 people are helped through government home buying schemes every day and over 335,000 households have been helped to buy a property since 2010, through schemes like Help to Buy and the reinvigorated Right to Buy.

01/01/2023
Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the construction of four commercial nuclear power reactors for the United Arab Emirates by a South Korean consortium with a total capacity of 5.6 GWe at cost of £14 billion, in the light of their plans for nuclear generation at Hinkley Point.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The Government does not make direct comparisons between projects in different circumstances that have different contracts and are situated in different markets.

There has been a thorough review of the costs of the Hinkley Point C project to ensure that the contract represents value for money. Hinkley will provide reliable low carbon energy for around 60 years and offer 25,000 jobs during construction. My rt. hon Friend the Secretary of State expects to be in a position to take her final decision on the Contract for Difference and associated agreements for Hinkley Point C once the documentation relating to equity investment into the project is finalised.

01/01/2023

Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) civilian personnel, (b) uniformed personnel and (c) civil servants were employed at (i) MOD Grantown-on-Spey, (ii) MOD Llanwrst, (iii) MOD Fairbourne and (iv) MOD Crickhowell in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster

Information available on the number of personnel at each of the locations requested is provided in the tables below. The number of military personnel and civil servants is as at 1 October for each year. Data for military personnel can only be provided for the last nine years as prior to this information is not held centrally. The number of contractors can only be provided by financial year.

The data has been rounded in accordance with data protection principles where ~ denotes less than 5.

Military Personnel as at 1 October
	Grantown-on-Spey	Llanwrst	Fairbourne	Crickhowell
2007	0	~	20	20
2008	0	~	20	20
2009	0	~	20	30
2010	~	10	20	30
2011	10	10	20	30
2012	10	10	20	30
2013	10	10	20	10
2014	10	10	10	10
2015	20	0	10	20

Civil Servant Personnel as at 1 October
	Grantown-on-Spey	Llanwrst	Fairbourne	Crickhowell
2006	10	10	20	10
2007	10	10	20	20
2008	10	10	20	20
2009	10	10	10	20
2010	10	10	10	20
2011	~	10	10	10
2012	~	10	10	10
2013	~	~	10	10
2014	~	10	10	10
2015	~	~	10	10

Contractors by Financial Year
	Grantown-on-Spey	Llanwrst	Fairbourne	Crickhowell
2007-08	~	0	0	~
2008-09	~	0	0	~
2009-10	~	0	0	~
2010-11	~	0	0	~
2011-12	~	10	10	~
2012-13	~	10	10	~
2013-14	~	10	10	10
2014-15	~	10	10	10

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01/01/2023

Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many jobs in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies, non-ministerial departments, advisory bodies and other accountable statutory bodies (i) have been abolished or relocated from Stoke-on-Trent since 2010 and (ii) will be abolished in or relocated from Stoke-on-Trent by 2020.

Jane Ellison

Information about the number of jobs that (i) have been abolished or relocated from Stoke-on-Trent since 2010 and (ii) will be abolished in or relocated from Stoke-on-Trent by 2020 is set out in the attached tables. The information about non-Departmental public bodies, executive agencies, and other accountable statutory bodies is not held centrally by the Department and their information, as indicated below, has been provided by those bodies.

01/01/2023
Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects to have body scanners to help detect illicit substances installed in prisons.

Andrew Selous

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) deploys a comprehensive range of robust searching and security measures to detect items of contraband both at the point of entry to the prison and concealed within the prison. NOMS continues to explore new methods of preventing drugs coming into prisons and body scanners are seen as a valuable part of this strategy.

An independent expert panel is assessing the use of a body scanner at HMP Wandsworth, as required by the Justification of Practices Involving lionising Radiation Regulations 2004.

01/01/2023
Lord Clement-Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-02-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of proposals that the pharmaceutical industry should pay entirely for overspends in the Cancer Drugs Fund on the number of medicines that the industry puts forward for possible inclusion in that Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England plans to invest in a new £340 million Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) to provide early access to cancer drug indications. Under the new process, any drugs that receive either a draft recommendation for routine commissioning or, where uncertainty exists, a recommendation for use within the CDF, will receive interim funding from the CDF from the point of marketing authorisation.

This earlier access to cancer drugs will benefit both patients and the pharmaceutical industry and NHS England believes it is only fair that the pharmaceutical industry makes a contribution if any overspend occurs.

NHS England’s impact assessment will not be completed until the detailed outcomes from the current consultation on the future of the CDF are confirmed.

01/01/2023
Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of replacing final consumption levies on energy storage devices with a net charging levy to ensure that energy storage devices are not charged twice.

Andrea Leadsom

We have identified the issue raised and are actively working on what actions can be taken to ensure policy levies are not overpaid by storage providers. Net charging is just one of the proposed solutions, and we are discussing a range of options with stakeholders. We expect to set out our views in the coming months.

01/01/2023
Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has undertaken of the incidence of repression of Christians by the Nigerian government; and if he will make a statement.

James Duddridge

In Nigeria, the right to freedom of religion is protected by the Constitution. Boko Haram seeks to undermine this right by attacking Nigerians of all faiths who do not subscribe to its extremist views. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold information on the number of churches that have been destroyed in Nigeria, but it is clear that Boko Haram has caused immense suffering in both Christian and Muslim communities. We assess that the majority of their victims are Muslim.

We are providing a substantial package of intelligence, military, development and humanitarian support to Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram, including training and advice on counter insurgency and £5 million of support to a regional military taskforce.

Nigeria also faces the challenge of inter-communal conflicts between farmers and herdsmen over land, farming rights, grazing routes and access to water. Through our development assistance, the UK supports initiatives to reduce these conflicts and build bridges between communities.

We will continue to work with the Nigerian Government, non-governmental organisations and civil society to improve the security situation and human rights for all in Nigeria.

01/01/2023