Category: Speeches

  • 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 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to implement recommendation 12 in the executive summary of Public Health England’s March 2015 report entitled, Public mental health leadership and workforce development framework, on supporting increased access to a range of mental health promotion training for frontline public health practitioners.

    Alistair Burt

    Public Health England (PHE) has been collating practice examples of mental health promotion training available for frontline public health practitioners. Information will help inform the commissioning of training locally. PHE is working with the Royal Society for Public Health and other partners to identify gaps in mental health promotion training provision and opportunities to fill these gaps, such as developing e-learning training modules.

    At a local level, PHE centres are working with Health Education England (HEE) colleagues to identify and co-ordinate provision of training to practitioners and identify needs and training opportunities.

    PHE contributed to the Mental Health Task Force report and has integrated the priority of increasing the training within the Taskforce’s recommendations. Work will be led by HEE, supported by PHE.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether (a) the Government will be able to bring cases to Investor State Dispute Settlements tribunals and (b) UK companies will be able to instigate actions against the US administration through such tribunals under the current terms of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

    Anna Soubry

    Investment protection provisions in trade and investment treaties such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) aim to protect international investors from discriminatory or unfair treatment by a state. Their investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions allow international investors to bring claims if they think the obligations set out in the treaty have been breached by the host state. As such, Governments cannot initiate claims against investors. Under the European Commission’s proposals for TTIP, in line with normal investment treaty practice, UK investors would be able to bring ISDS claims against the US Government.

    The jurisdiction of any ISDS tribunal established in TTIP will be set out in the investment protection and ISDS provisions of the agreement. The aim of the European Commission’s proposals for investment protection provisions in TTIP is to clearly define the scope for ISDS claims and tribunal jurisdiction, including protecting the right of governments to regulate lawfully in the public interest. If an ISDS tribunal did exceed its jurisdiction in making an award, typically those elements of the resulting award would not be enforceable.

  • Mark Prisk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mark Prisk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Prisk on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, in which month the Pye Tait Review of retentions in the construction industry will be published.

    Anna Soubry

    The main aim of the Pye Tait research is to provide a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the costs and benefits of the contractual practice of holding retentions in construction.

    My Department is currently working with Pye Tait to finalise this research. It will be published alongside a consultation document later this year.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-09-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to prevent the continued demolition of Palestinian homes.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We continue to raise our serious concerns over this issue with the Israeli Government at all levels. On 07 September, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood) emphasised our concerns about demolitions with Israeli Defence Minister Lieberman during their meeting.

  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to encourage UK nationals with expertise in trade negotiations to return to the UK from other EU countries to act as negotiators.

    Greg Hands

    The Department for International Trade has already established a strong and capable trade policy team with significant negotiating experience. The team has more than doubled in size since 23 June and is still growing. We will continue to hire the brightest and best talent from within the UK civil service and from elsewhere in order to deliver the best outcomes for the UK.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential for the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived to assist efforts to help homeless EEA nationals in the UK.

    Priti Patel

    The UK allocation from the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) is €3.96m for the 2014-20 period and will be used to expand breakfast club provision in deprived areas in England. The Department for Education received interim funding of €541,216 in advance of the scheme commencing. Officials are currently exploring options for the best way for the scheme to be administered.

    Since FEAD was created from within structural funds allocations and has some similarities to ESF, DWP Ministers took the initial decisions on our negotiation position on the size of the UK allocation and on the use of the funds. Responsibility for implementing the Fund now sits with DfE, and we have agreed this response with them. We will discuss with officials there whether all correspondence, PQs and so on, should now be their responsibility, or whether we retain a policy lead.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has conducted of the adequacy of the level of financial support offered to small businesses that have been in operation for two years or less; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government recognises that new businesses can encounter difficulties in obtaining the finance they need to start-up or grow. However I am encouraged that net lending to smaller businesses has been recovering strongly since the end of 2014. The Bank of England has reported that credit conditions for SMEs seeking finance are improving and the SME Finance Monitor shows that 80% of SME loan and overdraft applications were successful in the 18 months to 2015 Q3, up from 68% in Q4 2013.

    Latest figures show that net SME lending from banks participating in the Funding for Lending Scheme grew by £675m in the third quarter and the Bank of England recently announced that allowances earned by banks for increasing their net lending under the scheme will be available to draw down for a further two years. The government also continues to fund start-up loans, with more than 33,000 loans worth over £180 million issued so far and a target to deliver 75,000 loans by the end of the parliament.

    I am also encouraged by our growing alternative finance sector, with the UK the leading fin tech centre of Europe.

    A recent report from the Legatum Institute rated the UK as the best country in the EU in which to start a business and the government will continue to back our small businesses to start and grow.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on lawyers in cases relating to the release of departmental documents under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each year since 2010.

    Nick Gibb

    Legal costs relating to Freedom of Information are not held centrally by the Department and the cost of determining these over the past five years would exceed the disproportionate limit. The costs of internal lawyers’ time are not held in such a way that they can be separately identified.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she has taken to assist people in poverty in southern Africa to mitigate the effects of the severe drought in that region.

    Justine Greening

    DFID is providing additional support to help mitigate the impact of El Niño-related drought in southern Africa. We are delivering humanitarian assistance to drought-affected communities, boosting disaster preparedness activities and improving the resilience of households to future climate shocks. Building resilience against climate shocks is a key component of all our climate-related work across Africa.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his Department’s definition is of a homeless person.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The legal definition of homelessness is set out in Section 175 of the Housing Act 1996. Broadly speaking, somebody is statutorily homeless if they do not have accommodation that they have a legal right to occupy, which is accessible and physically available to them (and their household) and which it would be reasonable for them to continue to live in. It would not be reasonable for someone to continue to live in their home, for example, if that was likely to lead to violence against them (or a member of their family).