Category: Speeches

Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many meetings the team working on projects to improve Turkey’s prospects of joining the EU, based at the British Embassy in Ankara, have had with representatives of the Turkish government in the last 12 months.

Mr David Lidington

Staff in the projects team at the British Embassy in Ankara regularly meet their Turkish Government counterparts on a range of business, including promoting reform and democratisation towards European standards. The UK remains committed to supporting security and prosperity across Europe, where we will continue to have close relationships and mutual interests. In countries aspiring to join the EU, our bilateral focus will remain on strengthening stability, security, good governance and the economic fundamentals; and on building the resilience and capability to tackle global threats and challenges such as irregular migration and terrorism.

01/01/2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, on what trade deals his Department has begun the negotiation process; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Hands

The Prime Minister has established the Department for International Trade to promote British trade across the world, and to ensure the UK takes advantage of all the opportunities open to us. We are actively engaging with a broad range of international partners to discuss our trading relationships. Earlier this week my rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade met with the Australian Minister for Trade and Investment and the Prime Minister had a number of productive discussions with partners at the G20 summit in Hangzhou. We will continue this engagement to best promote British trade, and to ensure that Britain becomes the global leader in free trade.

01/01/2023
Peter Bone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Bone on 2016-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will extend the Help to Buy scheme to shared ownership housing association tenants.

Gavin Barwell

The Government has recently launched the new Help to Buy: Shared Ownership scheme which enables people to purchase an initial 25% to 75% of a new home and pay rent on the remainder with the option to purchase more later. It is open to those with a household income below £80,000 in England or £90,000 in London. The Government has no plans to combine this with Help to Buy: Equity Loan.

01/01/2023
– 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they define the term freedom” for the purposes of the development of policies and legislation

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Government offers no specific separate definition for the purposes of the development of policies and legislation, or for public statements.

01/01/2023
Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-12-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government who appointed John Cridland as chair of Transport for the North and what recruitment process was followed to appoint him; how many hours a week he will work; how much he will be paid, and from which funds; whether this is a fixed term appointment; to whom he is responsible on (1) policy, and (2) pay and rations matters; and what are his terms of reference.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

John Cridland was appointed as Chairman of Transport for the North (TfN) by TfN with the agreement of the Secretary of State for Transport.

This followed an open competition and interview process. He will receive a remuneration of £30,000 per annum for a commitment of 30 days a year, which is commensurate with the level for similar positions. This will be met from the existing TfN budget. The appointment is for an initial two years, and can be extended for up to a further four years. The Chairman is responsible to the TfN Partnership Board in all matters and will receive any terms of reference from that body.

01/01/2023
Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how children in small rural primary schools can fully access the National Curriculum.

Lord Nash

The government believes that all children should have an excellent education, regardless of where they live. Maintained schools are required to teach the national curriculum as part of their duty to provide pupils with a broad and balanced school curriculum.

The government’s view is that schools, including small rural schools, are best placed to decide how best children are taught the curriculum, and which resources meet their needs and to secure these accordingly.

01/01/2023
Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the Government’s policy is towards the Big Six energy companies that seek to outsource or offshore directly employed jobs in retail operations; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

It is important we have a vibrant, dynamic energy market where energy companies work hard to attract customers though customer service as well as price. The management of retail operations, such as answering enquiries and addressing complaints from their consumers, however, are commercial matters for the individual companies.

01/01/2023
Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve transparency of (a) spending and (b) outcomes in the NHS on mental health.

Alistair Burt

The report of the independent Mental Health Taskforce acknowledged the need for increased transparency on mental health spending and the quality of care that people receive.

We are moving forward the data and transparency agenda and a new dataset for mental health will be published by April this year.

NHS England has already set a principal commitment to achieving mental health parity of esteem. Through its assurance process NHS England will hold individual commissioners to account for increasing spend on mental health in line with their increase in allocations, taking account of the mental health funding that has been received.

We have welcomed the Taskforce’s recommendations for government in the report and will be considering how best to integrate them into our current work programme, as well as new policies as they develop.

01/01/2023
Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many contracts with the NHS for diabetes education Spirit Healthcare holds.

Jane Ellison

The information requested is not held centrally.

01/01/2023

Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many companies in each business sector have been registered with HM Revenue and Customs’ Supervised Business Register in each year since 2009-10; and what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of companies which were not registered with a professional body as required by anti-money laundering regulations in each such year.

Mr David Gauke

The number of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) anti-money laundering supervision registrations by sector in each year since 2009 are given in the table below. HMRC does not have an estimate of businesses not registered for supervision that should be, but as part of its supervisory role actively undertakes to identify such businesses by using its own data and working with other supervisors and agencies.

End of year…	2009/2010	2010/2011	2011/2012	2012/2013	2013/2014	2014/2015	2015/2016
Money Service Business registrations*	3,585	3,633	3,691	3,480	2,850	2,373	2,177
High Value Dealer registrations	1,173	1,193	1,332	1,336	1,294	1,035	881
Accountancy Service Provider registrations	12,689	12,941	13,009	13,151	13,246	13,120	13,131
Trust or Company Service Provider registrations	2,301	2,340	2,442	2,531	2,577	2,640	2,729
Estate Agency Business registrations**					7,809	8,710	9,305
Total registrations***	18,219	18,570	18,799	18,740	18,182	26,032	26,371

* From 2011/2012, the Money Service Business (MSB) sector includes a very small number of Bill Payment Service Providers (BPSPs) and Telecommunications, Digital and IT Payment Service Providers (TDITPSPs)

** Before 2013/2014 Estate Agency Businesses (EABs) were supervised by the Office of Fair Trading. HMRC is now the sole supervisor of EABs.

*** The sums of sector breakdowns are less than the total registration figures because a business may be registered for more than one sector. HMRC does not double-count businesses when calculating total registrations.

01/01/2023