Category: Speeches

  • 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 2016-04-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they ensure that the government of Saudi Arabia complies with the regulatory regime established under the Export Control Act 2002, in particular in respect of arms used in Yemen and supplied by the UK.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The British Government considers each export licence application on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of relevant factors at the time of application. The Criteria implement the UK’s obligations under the Export Control Act 2002. This includes an assessment of Criterion 2c (whether there is a clear risk that the proposed exports might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law (IHL)).

    A licence will not be issued for export of items to any country, including Saudi Arabia, if to do so would be inconsistent with any mandatory provision of the Criteria, including where we assess there is a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of IHL. The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the Criteria.

  • Julian Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Julian Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Lewis on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent reports he has received on the state of disrepair of (a) the Block Mills, (b) numbers 1, 4, 5 and 6 dry docks, (c) the South Office Block, (d) the Old Naval Academy, (e) the Parade, (f) the former Iron Foundary and (g) other scheduled monuments and Grade I and Grade II* listed buildings at HM Naval Base Portsmouth; and what steps he is taking to prevent further deterioration of those monuments.

    Mark Lancaster

    All historical buildings are subject to quadrennial inspection.

    Quadrennial inspection reports are held for the following listed buildings;

    No 6 Dock, Portsmouth

    Old Naval Academy, Portsmouth former Naval Academy and railings, Buildings No 1/14, 1/16-19

    Block Mills Her Majesty’s Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth Building 153

    South Office Block, HMNB Building 088

    Dockyard Wall and Extension Wall, Portsmouth Naval Base Building NBW 1, 2 and 3

    Former Iron Foundry (Buildings 1/140, 1/139 and 1/136) HMNB Portsmouth

    No 1 The Parade, HMNB, Portsmouth

    No 2 The Parade, HMNB, Portsmouth

    No 3 The Parade, HMNB, Portsmouth

    No 4 The Parade, HMNB, Portsmouth

    No 5 The Parade, HMNB, Portsmouth

    No 6 The Parade, HMNB, Portsmouth

    No 7 The Parade, HMNB, Portsmouth

    No 8 The Parade, HMNB, Portsmouth

    No 9 The Parade, HMNB, Portsmouth (Mountbatten House)

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many reports of offences of violence against the person were reported to Cleveland Police in each of the last five years; and what proportion of those reports led to prosecutions.

    Brandon Lewis

    The number of sexual and violence against the person offences recorded by Cleveland police from 2011/12 to 2015/16 are given in the table.

    The Home Office does not hold data on the number of prosecutions resulting from offences recorded by the police. Information on crimes assigned a charge or summons outcome is available from April 2014, when data on outcomes were first collected linked specifically to their associated crimes. Previously, outcomes data supplied by forces related to the volume recorded regardless of when the crime was committed. The new method of collection was implemented to provide greater transparency and highlight how each crime recorded in any period is resolved by the police.

    The table shows the proportion of sexual and violent offences that resulted in a police charge or summons in 2014/15 and 2015/16. In addition, it shows the proportion of each offence group that has not been assigned an outcome. This is important to note, in particular for sexual offences, because length of investigations mean that the most recent year has more crimes that have yet to be assigned an outcome than the previous year.

    Not all charges or summonses will lead to a prosecution, the Ministry of Justice hold and publish data on prosecutions.

  • Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Lord on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children who receive free school meals in (a) Woking constituency, (b) Surrey, (c) the South East and (d) the UK have studied A-Levels in each year since 2010.

    Edward Timpson

    The requested information on children who receive free school meals at A-Level in England is not held by the Department. The Department for Education produces statistics on England only. The responsibility for education statistics in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales lies with each devolved administration.

  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will publish an updated evaluation of the operation of the Homelessness Prevention Grant.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Homelessness prevention grant is part of our £500 million investment in local authority and voluntary sector homelessness services. It has helped local authorities to prevent 935,800 households from becoming homeless since 2010 and assisted 220,800 in 2014-15 alone.

    The Government does not evaluate the effectiveness of local authority grants including the Homelessness Prevention Grant. As democratically elected organisations, local authorities are independent from Central Government and are responsible for managing their budgets in line with local priorities. Since 2010, local councils have had more flexibility over how they spend the money they receive from central government. Together with the money raised through council tax and other local sources, they have considerable freedom to work with their residents to decide how best to spend available resources on local priorities.

    My Department regularly engages with a wide range of partners on homelessness prevention. We have received five written representations directly from local authorities on the future of the grant since April 2015.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to increase racial diversity in the workplace in the light of the Business in the Community report Race at Work 2015, which found that ethnic minority Britons are struggling against bias at work.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Equality Act 2010 protects all individuals against racial and other forms of discrimination in the workplace. The Prime Minister has underlined the Government’s commitments to increasing racial diversity in the workplace in his 2020 Vision in which he made a commitment to increase BAME employment by 20% by 2020. Her Majesty’s Government welcomes the publication of the Race at Work report and will study its recommendations carefully,.

  • John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to announce changes to procedures to deal with motor accident claims for whiplash.

    Dominic Raab

    In his Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced further reforms to tackle the number and cost of whiplash claims. The Government will consult on the detail of these reforms in due course.

  • Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what preparations the Government is making for the auction of 5G spectrum.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Ofcom takes independent decisions on how to assign spectrum. The Government is making spectrum available – including future 5G – through its programme of public sector spectrum release.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which arts organisations have received public funding of more than £5 million in the last three years.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Arts Council publishes data on the organisations that have received regular funding and capital funding on their website: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-funding/apply-for-funding/capital-investment-2015-18/large-capital-grants/"

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  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Health Service Journal that the number of patients waiting for treatment for more than a year is over 50 per cent higher than official NHS Executive data.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Consultant-led referral to treatment waiting time statistics are designated as National Statistics. This means that the statistics are produced according to sound methods, and are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

    From time to time, for example when there are serious problems with patient administration systems, National Health Service trusts do need to temporarily suspend submissions of data for inclusion in the publication of National Statistics for reasons of data quality and completeness. Nine acute trusts did not submit data on referral to treatment waiting times for January 2016. For this reason, the published data on the number of patients waiting more than a year to start consultant-led treatment for non-urgent conditions may be understated. NHS Improvement is working intensively with these trusts so that they can begin submitting data again as quickly as possible.