Category: Speeches

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children aged (a) up to 12, (b) 12 to 15 and (c) 16 to 18 were prescribed (i) fluoxetine, (ii) fluvoxamine, (iii) sertraline, (iv) paroxetine, (v) escitalopram and (vi) citalopra by the NHS in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not collected centrally. Prescribing information is not linked to the patient receiving the prescription so it is not possible to supply prescribing information by patient age.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the potential costs and benefits of introducing an import tax on coal and gas imported from outside the EU; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    The UK is part of the EU Single market which has a common EU tariff policy which applies to all imports. Import tariffs are set by the EU. The UK has no legal ability to set its own import tariffs.

    EU tariffs rates form part of our World Trade Organisation (WTO) commitments and apply to all WTO member countries. Under WTO rules increases to EU tariffs above the level committed to, or ‘bound’ rate, require us to give compensation to affected countries (in the form of lower tariffs on other products). Any potential benefit of an import tariff increase may therefore harm another UK sector.

    The latest version of the EU tariff was published in Official Journal to the EU L285 on 30 October 2015 (Council implementing Regulation EU No 1101/2014 amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC|) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff). Chapter 27 covers the import of fuel including coal and gas. The import of coal has a 0% import duty and the import of gas ranges from 0% to 8% depending on the type and usage.

    WTO rules, do however allow countries to impose import tariffs when goods are being “dumped” e.g. sold on our market at below manufacturing cost price. If there is evidence that imports of coal and gas are being dumped the European Commission could propose imposing anti-dumping duties.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much support work by (a) value and (b) numbers of jobs has been undertaken by US employees in the US on UK Government defence contracts in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not currently collate information on how much production or support work is undertaken in the UK or US on UK defence contracts, either by value or number of jobs. A comprehensive breakdown of which MOD contracts placed over the last five years are with UK or US suppliers is also not held centrally.

    The MOD routinely publishes statistics on contracts it places on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/defence-trade-and-industry-index. This includes an overall estimate of MOD expenditure for work undertaken in the UK and lists all organisations with which we have spent £5 million or more in the financial year. These statistics include expenditure with US companies.

    The MOD does not collate information centrally on the value of production work undertaken in the UK on contracts placed by the US Department of Defense.

  • Stephen McPartland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen McPartland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen McPartland on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in the number of patients with severe asthma being referred to a specialist by their GP over the last three years.

    Jane Ellison

    No such assessment has been made.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much central government funding has been (a) made available for tenant training in each of the last 10 years and (b) allocated, or he plans to make available, for tenant training in (i) 2016 and (ii) each subsequent year of the current Parliament.

    Gavin Barwell

    We do not hold data on central government funding for tenant training prior to financial year 2009/2010. Since 2010/11 Government has funded the National Communities Resource Centre (NCRC), the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) and Tribal Education. Funding as follows:

    Tribal Education

    2010/11: £256,600

    National Communities Resource Centre

    2010/11: £350,000

    2011/12: £136,492

    2012/13: £267,350

    2013/14: £131,159

    2014/15: £285,100

    2015/16: £90,000

    Tenant Participation Advisory Service

    2011/12: £170,000

    2013/14: £668,700

    2014/15: £518,310

    2015/16: £160,000

    A decision has not yet been made regarding funding for this and future years.

  • Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when (a) she and (b) her Department’s officials have met John O’Brien, Secretary of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse since his appointment to that position.

    Sarah Newton

    The Home Secretary has not met the Secretary to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

    Home Office officials meet regularly with the Secretary to the Inquiry as part of the sponsorship responsibilities.

  • Lord Lexden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Lexden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lexden on 2015-11-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the sale of the playing fields of over 100 schools since 2010 on the physical fitness of young people.

    Lord Nash

    The Government does not approve the sale of playing fields but assesses applications from schools and local authorities to dispose of them. A disposal can include a lease of the playing fields to a third-party commercial organisation with the fields, following investment and improvement, continuing to be used by the school.

    It is neither the government nor the Department for Education that instigate the disposal of playing fields. It is the local authorities, academies or schools that seek consent to convert these often surplus or un-used fields to enable them to invest in school sport or education. However, there is strict control in place which requires an assessment of the facilities available to pupils. The government will only give permission to dispose of school playing fields if it is clearly demonstrated that they are surplus to requirements and the sports and curriculum needs of the school and its neighbouring schools will continue to be met.

    Since any approved disposal would not impact on the provision of the sports curriculum at the school/s, no follow up studies on the sale of playing fields has been undertaken.

  • Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September 2015 to Question 8917, what recent assessment she has made of the performance of the Disclosure and Barring service; and what the average processing time is for disclosure applications.

    Karen Bradley

    The average processing time for disclosure applications was 15.3 days in December 2015, the latest month for which figures are available. The DBS operates to a target to issue 95% of disclosure certificates within 56 days (8 weeks) and 94.3% were issued within this target in December 2015.

    DBS is working closely with those forces who performance does not meet turnaround time targets.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many places were allocated to each Troops to Teachers cohort.

    Nick Gibb

    Initially the Ministry of Defence’s resettlement contractor was responsible for recruiting trainees to the programme. Recruitment for the programme has been the responsibility of the University of Brighton.

    For Cohort One, 293 applications were received and 41 trainees began the programme.

    For Cohort Two, 196 applications were received and 52 trainees began the programme.

    For Cohort Three, 62 applications were received and 51 trainees began the programme.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect on the number of people employed by the NHS who are from non-EU countries of the salary threshold increase for Tier 2 visa applications to £35,000.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government announced in 2012 that from 6 April 2016 Tier 2 visa holders who apply for settlement in the UK will be required to meet a minimum annual salary requirement of £35,000. PhD level roles and those in recognised shortage will be exempt from the £35,000 threshold.

    Data of the number of people employed in specific regions of the United Kingdom is not available. The Home Office holds individual records showing the working location of Tier 2 (General) migrants, but centralised records show the registered address of the Tier 2 Sponsor, which is normally that organisation’s Head Office.

    The Home Office published a full impact assessment on the changes to Tier 2 settlement rules when they were laid before Parliament on 15 March 2012. This includes the impact on the top ten occupations and is available on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117957/impact-assessment-tier2.pdf