Category: Speeches

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if the Government will make it its policy not to permit any airport expansion that would worsen air quality in an area where breaches to current or likely future air quality limits are already anticipated or where there is a significant risk of such expansion causing breaches to current or likely future limits.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government is determined to meet the requirements set out in the Ambient Air Quality Directive and to do so in the shortest time possible. As set out in the recent National Air Quality Plan, the Government intends and expects that the UK will be fully compliant by 2025.

    Any decision regarding future airport capacity will take into account the Government’s Air Quality Plan and its commitment to comply with EU air quality limit values.

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will lay the report relating to secondary ticketing before Parliament on the same date that it is published, and not later than Thursday 26 May, in accordance with section 94 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    My Rt. Hon Friends, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport laid the report today.

  • Lord Touhig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Touhig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Touhig on 2016-07-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what spare capacity the Armed Forces have to respond flexibly and with resilience to unexpected emergencies.

    Earl Howe

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is currently engaged in 23 operations around the world, which is above the historical norm for operational commitments. While delivering current operations, the MOD continually develops options for wider contingencies as risks to UK national interests emerge. Significant investment in a variety of critical enablers, both before and after the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, underpins our continued ability to meet demands both in the UK and overseas.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to (a) help strengthen and lengthen the recently announced ceasefire in Syria and (b) ensure that humanitarian access in that area remains practicable.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson),welcomed the restored Cessation of Hostilities which began on 12 September. The key components of this Cessation were an end to attacks on civilians and moderate groups, and full humanitarian access across Syria.

    However, the Cessation of Hostilities was eroded and discredited by regime violations and has now broken down. We are seeing some of the worst violence of the conflict in the appalling, indiscriminate bombardment of Aleppo.

    The UK will continue to work with our partners to keep the focus on what is happening, to call for the Cessation of Hostilities to be restored – with full humanitarian access – to allow the resumption of a political process. Political transition away from Asad is the only long-term solution.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the Answer of 10 October 2016 to Question 46333, how much has been spent on the functions of the Department for International Trade; and what estimate he has made of how much will be spent on those functions by the end of the current fiscal year.

    Mark Garnier

    Following her appointment on 13 July 2016 the Prime Minister established the Department for International Trade (DIT). Until such time as a transfer of functions order establishes my Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade as a corporation sole, DIT remains a unified Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department for accounting purposes. The transfer of functions order (No 2016/ 992) laid on 19 October 2016 will come into effect on 9 November 2016.

    DIT is a new Department and is in the process of establishing a separate and distinct budget for its operating costs. This will be shared with Parliament through the Autumn Statement and Supplementary Estimates.

  • Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to identify locations for potential electricity storage schemes that would best supplement the existing National Grid system.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department has recently commissioned a study to assess the level of system flexibility (e.g. electricity storage, interconnection, demand side response) that may be required in the future. This study will consider how much and what type of flexibility is both least regrets and optimal for our energy system. This study is expected to conclude in the spring.

    In addition, with support from a DECC innovation grant, a UK pumped hydro storage developer has assessed the potential viability of new pumped hydro sites around Great Britain. They concluded that up to 15GW of potential additional pumped storage capacity was available, using various criteria such as the presence of existing or potential reservoirs, grid connection distance and whether the site was in an environmentally sensitive area. Other pumped storage developers have independently identified over 1 GW of additional potential storage capacity.

  • Lord Truscott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Truscott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what studies they are undertaking into the slowing of the Gulf Stream and the subsequent impact on climate change and extreme weather patterns in the UK.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    The Natural Environment Research Council is currently funding two research programmes to detect changes in the Gulf Stream and to investigate how these changes might affect the weather of the North Atlantic (RAPID-AMOC and ODYSEA). DECC co-funds, with Defra, the Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme which, amongst many other research activities, uses climate models to understand the observed fluctuations in the Gulf Stream, to predict future changes, and to assess the impact that present and future changes may have upon European weather and climate.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what provision is made for victims of crimes committed by foreign prisoners to access information about the progress of their deportation.

    James Brokenshire

    A victim may contact the Home Office directly or make a request via their Victim Liaison Officer (VLO) for information on the progress of a foreign prisoner’s deportation. The Home Office will inform the victim or their VLO on whether deportation is being pursued or has been enforced.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to monitor the disease status of badgers within cull areas.

    George Eustice

    Testing of badgers between 1998 and 2005 via the Randomised Badger Culling Trial and Road Traffic Accident surveys provided evidence of the typical prevalence of TB in badgers in areas of high incidence of TB in cattle. TB was found in around one third of all badgers in these areas.

    We are considering the case for a cost-effective method of testing badgers within cull areas in order to assess the impact of the current policy on badger TB prevalence.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2016 to Question 28422, on terrorism: social networking, how many of the cases referred to in that Answer resulted in (a) prosecution and (b) conviction.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Home Office can only obtain the data requested at disproportionate cost.