Category: Speeches

  • George Kerevan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    George Kerevan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Kerevan on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24080, on immigration: Cyprus, to which third countries representations have been made on accepting the remaining migrants.

    Penny Mordaunt

    No representations have been made to third countries, but the Sovereign Base Areas Administration will continue to support those migrants whose claims for asylum have not been accepted, including where legitimate to do so, assistance to move to third countries.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March 2016 to Question 31494, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on immigration policy; and if he will make a statement.

    Greg Hands

    Treasury Ministers have regular discussions with Ministers from other departments on a range of different policies as part of collective decision making.

  • Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Lister of Burtersett on 2016-05-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 25 April (HL7517), what is the timescale for the forthcoming review of British nationality law; and whether that review, and subsequent changes to citizenship legislation, will include the position of those of British Overseas Territories descent born before 1 July 2006 whose unmarried fathers automatically gained full British citizenship under the British Overseas Territories Act 2002.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The review of citizenship will look at how citizenship should be obtained in the future, both within the UK and the overseas territories. The overseas territories will be consulted as part of that review, and will have the opportunity to provide their views on a number of citizenship matters. The date for this consultation has not been finalised and details will be published in due course.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency training programme in increasing availability of motorcycle assessors.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) evaluates the effectiveness of its examiner training programme by monitoring the waiting times for both modules of the motorcycle practical test. This enables the agency to balance the demand for tests with the number of motorcycle examiners, which directly affects the availability of motorcycle test appointments. This is measured against the agency’s commitment to maintain or improve upon a six-week annual average waiting time for practical motorcycle tests.

    In addition, the progress against this commitment, the demand for tests and the examiner training programme are discussed in a wider forum at a monthly Service Management Group for Vocational and Motorcycle testing. Specific issues are escalated in this forum as necessary.

    Waiting times for last year and the first two months of this year are shown in the table below, it should be noted that motorcycle testing is affected by seasonal variation and waiting times inevitably rise in the summer months when demand is higher.

    Commitment: 6 weeks

    Year 2015/16

    Year to Date April – May 2016

    MC Mod 1

    4.7

    6.8

    MC Mod 2

    3.9

    5.5

  • 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 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the additional £1.25 billion made available in the March 2015 budget for child and adolescent mental health services (1) was actually spent, and (2) was spent in addition to 2014–15 spending levels.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    £143 million of additional funding was allocated in 2015-2016 for child and adolescent mental health services. Of this £143 million, £126.2 million was spent. The Government has committed to making available the full £1.25 billion announced in the March 2015 budget to transform children and young people’s mental health services over the lifetime of this Parliament. From 2016-2017, NHS England are establishing a baseline spend for specific programme areas such as children and young people’s mental health and will be able to track increase in spend on an annual basis.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times his Department has referred suspicions or allegations of corruption to law enforcement authorities since 2011.

    Mark Lancaster

    Since 2011 Fraud Defence has referred 44 reported suspicions/allegations of corruption/bribery to law enforcement authorities.

    The Ministry of Defence takes allegations of Fraud, Theft, Corruption and Bribery seriously and works hard to detect and deter it. There are robust processes in place to raise awareness of the need for vigilance and we actively encourage individuals to report Fraud, Theft, Corruption and Bribery.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what action the Government is taking to support the Angolan government in building capacity to support civil society and freedom of expression.

    James Duddridge

    We and EU partners have established a human rights dialogue with the Angolan government under the EU-Angola “Joint Way Forward”, which includes support to civil society and promoting freedom of expression. We are also funding work to build human rights capacity in the diamond producing areas of the Lundas and funding training on legal awareness.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.10 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, if he will publish the analysis and methodology used to estimate that the proposed apprenticeship levy will raise £3 billion by 2020-21.

    Greg Hands

    The government has published the policy costing note for the apprenticeship levy on gov.uk. It can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/480565/SRAS2015_policy_costings_amended_page_25.pdf

    “

  • Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on rail freight movements of the re-opening of the Carno station in Powys.

    Claire Perry

    The case for re-opening Carno station is one of a number of possibilities that the Welsh Government is discussing. The interests of all users of the rail network, including freight operators, are protected through the contractual access regime overseen by the Office of Rail and Road.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department has paid out in compensation to (a) internal and (b) external claimants in each year since 2010.

    Karen Bradley

    This information is not available, except at disproportionate cost.

    The Home Office records all Special Payments (of which compensation is a type). However, we are not required to report whether the recipient is internal or external to the Department.

    It is therefore not possible, from the data we have, to provide a compensation figure that separates out internal and external claimants.

    Page 154 of the Home Office’s 2014/15 Annual Report and Accounts has a table that lists the total value and number of all Special Payments