Category: Speeches

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether all fines issued in June 2015 by the Environment Agency to aircraft operators for failure to surrender allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System were paid by the deadline.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Environment Agency did not issue any fines in June 2015 to aircraft operators for failure to surrender allowances under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. However, the Environment Agency did publish in June 2015 the details of five civil penalties that had previously been issued to operators for failure to surrender sufficient allowances to cover reportable emissions in the 2012 scheme year. None of these civil penalties have yet been paid. The Environment Agency is taking action to recover the penalties as a civil debt, in line with UK law.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of non-resident parents within the live caseload of the (a) Child Support Agency and (b) Child Maintenance Service are self-employed.

    Priti Patel

    For cases administered by the Child Support Agency, as at December 2015, the number of cases within the live caseload where the non-resident parent is self employed was 97,700. This was 7.7% of the live caseload.

    For the CMS 2012 Scheme, information on employment could currently only be provided at disproportionate cost. The Child Maintenance Service is in the process of assuring employment data and this will be available at a future date.

    Note

    1. Figured rounded to nearest 100.
    2. Figures include 1993 and 2003 Schemes.
    3. As at December 2015, the live caseload stood at 1,268,900.
    4. Employment status is not available for cases managed off system.
  • Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment she has made of the effect of recent floods on small businesses.

    Anna Soubry

    The most recent available data indicated that 4,940 businesses across northern England had been flooded following this winter’s exceptional rainfall. The vast majority of these will be small and medium size businesses. Impacts included flooded property, loss of stock and equipment and interruption to trading.

    Our interventions, include business recovery grants (a total of £11 m from BIS, of which £4,572,000 has been paid out), business rate relief (£4.26 m from DCLG), and property level resilience scheme (£5,000 per household or business, to incorporate greater flood resilience into property repairs).

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to encourage other donors to fund Education For All: the fund for education in emergencies at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK has played a leading role in the development of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23rd May. The UK has committed to provide £30 million in support over two years to the new fund as a founding donor, which was announced by the International Development Secretary at the fund’s launch. The UK is working closely with UNICEF and other partners to encourage a broad funding base to Education Cannot Wait, including funding from non-traditional donors, private sector and philanthropic organisations. An example is UK technical support to the fund’s case for investment and other key communication and outreach products, to raise awareness of the fund with others.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the subjects most likely to be affected by a reduction in the number of people taking them in the event of a significant proportion of young people required to take a foreign language GCSE.

    Nick Gibb

    In implementing the EBacc, the Government remains fully committed to ensuring all pupils receive a well-rounded education. All state-funded schools are required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils. We expect all schools to continue to offer a wide range of options beyond the EBacc, so that pupils have opportunities to study subjects that reflect their individual interests and strengths.

    The EBacc has been designed to be limited in size to provide a rigorous academic core whilst leaving space in the curriculum for other subjects. On average, pupils in state-funded schools enter nine GCSEs and equivalent qualifications, rising to more than ten for more able pupils.[1] For many pupils, taking the EBacc will mean taking seven GCSEs; and for those taking triple science, it will mean taking eight. This means that there will continue to be room for pupils to study other subjects.

    We set out our EBacc proposals in our consultation on implementing the English Baccalaureate. We will respond to the consultation in due course.

    [1] https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=phase&geographic=all&region=0&phase=secondary&for=Key%20stage%204%20performance&basedon=Exam%20entries&show=All%20pupils&&schoolTypeFilter=allSchools

    “

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether an Airborne Collision Avoidance System and a Digital Advanced Flight Control System (Low Visibility Landing) were fitted to Puma helicopter XW229 at the time of its crash on 12 October 2015.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Puma helicopter XW229 was fitted with a dual-duplex Digital Automatic Flight Control System but not an Airborne Collision Avoidance System. The Service Inquiry into the incident involving XW229 is on-going, and the report will be published in due course.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland executive about (a) the licensing of road hauliers and (b) tackling transportation of illicit fuel.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office have not had any direct discussions with the NI Executive about (a) licensing of road hauliers and (b) tackling transportation of illicit fuel. Matters relating to (a) the road hauliers and (b) tackling transportation of illicit fuel are for the DVA and HMRC respectively.

  • Lord Moonie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Moonie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moonie on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what evaluation they have carried out of the potential cost savings from centralised procurement of common generic drugs in the light of evidence from other countries using high volume contracts.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    On behalf of National Health Service secondary care establishments (hospitals) in England the Department’s Commercial Medicines Unit undertakes a long established centralised tender programme for framework agreements for generic medicines. This is in compliance with European Union procurement regulations.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan proposals, published in December 2015; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    The European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan sets out a large number of proposed measures to be delivered between 2015 and 2019 and we are currently considering those in more detail. An Explanatory Memorandum on the Action Plan has been submitted and can be found on the Cabinet Office’s website under European Memoranda:

    (http://europeanmemoranda.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/memorandum/communication-from-the-commission-to-the-ep-council-the-eesc-cor-closing-the-loop-an)

    That document provides further information on the Action Plan and outlines our current views on the policy implications of its proposals.

    “

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions in each of the last three years the Ambassador of Burundi to the UK has been (1) called to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to discuss events in Burundi, and (2) met a minister.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Mr Deo Sindayihebura became the first Burundian Ambassador to the UK in May 2014. Until then the position was based in Paris. The most recent meeting between the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), and the Burundian Ambassador was on Wednesday 3 February.

    Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers have regular contact with Ambassadors and High Commissioners during their normal diplomatic duties. We do not hold central records of all such meetings.