Category: Speeches

  • The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to build the capacity of women in Burundi to engage in peace-building and reconciliation.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are clear that women have an essential role in peace-building and reconciliation in Burundi.

    The UK supports Interpeace and the Conflict Alert and Prevention Centre (Interpeace’s Burundian implementing partner) in delivering a peace-building programme, contributing £170,000 in 2015/16. Interpeace’s community peace-building dialogue groups are made up of at least 30 per cent women. The UK is also one of the top four donors to the Global Acceleration Instrument (GAI). GAI was launched at the Women in Peace and Security High Level Review in 2015 and is funding the project ‘Women for Peace and Dialogue’ in Burundi.

    The UK will continue to look for opportunities to promote the active participation of women in peace-building and reconciliation discussions through political and/or financial support. We will also provide support to ensure women’s voices are represented in wider peace processes, negotiations and state building, including at local levels.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36326, what representations she has received from (a) schools and (b) union representatives about the provision for academy trusts to charge teachers for car parking services on school grounds; and if she will make a statement.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department has not received any representations on this matter from schools or union representatives. As we stated in the answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36326, academy trusts have the freedom to make decisions which reflect the local circumstances of their school. We expect these decisions to be made in a fair and transparent way.

  • Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to improve air quality.

    Rory Stewart

    The national air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide, published in December last year, set out a range of measures that we are implementing to improve air quality. In the plan the Government announced that we will be mandating the introduction of Clean Air Zones in five key cities (Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton). We will be consulting later this year on a Clean Air Zone framework, to provide consistency and certainty, together with draft secondary legislation to mandate the implementation of Clean Air Zones.

    Later this year, Defra will also consult on proposals to reduce pollution from electricity generating plants with high nitrogen oxide emissions that are not currently regulated. The proposals would extend set emission limit values on relevant air pollutants, with a view to having legislation in force no later than January 2019, and possibly sooner.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2016 to Question 44365, what assessment the Health and Safety Executive has made on the effect of long shift patterns on the incidence of (a) errors, (b) accidents and (c) injuries in (i) all sectors of the workforce and (ii) the mining industry.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not hold this information. However, HSE recognises that poorly designed shift-working arrangements and long working hours can result in fatigue, accidents, injuries and ill health and has produced guidance for employers on designing and implementing shift-working arrangements:

    (http://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/fatigue.htm).

    “

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what data his Department holds on the (a) employment rate and (b) income of graduates with dyslexia in comparison with people with dyslexia who did not attend university.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department publishes statistics on labour market conditions for English domiciled graduates and postgraduates relative to non-graduates as part of the Graduate Labour Market Statistics series. The latest figures refer to the quarter from April to June 2015 and are available at the link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/graduate-labour-market-statistics-april-to-june-2015

    These statistics cannot be disaggregated to the level of detail requested.

    “

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many applications for planning consent for national infrastructure projects have been made since responsibility for determining them passed to the Secretary of State; and whether they will list them by date, decision and the time each one took between the application being made and the decision issued.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    70 applications for development consent for nationally significant infrastructure projects have been made since responsibility for determining them passed from the Infrastructure Planning Commission to the Secretary of State in 2012. Of these, there have been 46 decisions in total. 45 were taken by the Secretary of State and 1 by the Infrastructure Planning Commission.

    Of these decisions, the Secretary of State granted development consent for 43 projects and declined 2 applications. The Infrastructure Planning Commission granted development consent for 1.

    Of the 70 applications, 4 were withdrawn before they reached the decision stage. 20 applications are currently going through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning process. Details of all the applications including the time each one took between application and decision are set out in the attached table.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times the inter-ministerial group on clean growth has met since 7 May 2015.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster chairs an inter-ministerial group on Clean Growth, to consider issues relating to air quality and de-carbonisation where these have a cross-departmental aspect. The group meets as and when required, and members include ministers and officials from the relevant departments, including Defra, DECC, DfT and BIS. To protect the integrity of the policy making process, we do not comment on specific membership or the frequency and timing of meetings.

  • Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to identify the best ways to tackle cultural heritage destruction overseas.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    This Government is committed to the protection of cultural heritage from destruction overseas. That is why we secured £30m of Overseas Development Assistance from 2016 to 2020 for our newly-established Cultural Protection Fund – to create opportunities for economic development through building capacity to foster, safeguard and promote cultural heritage.

    The British Museum’s Iraqi Heritage Emergency Management Programme (announced on the 28th October at the Cultural Protection Summit) is the Fund’s first programme. A period of consultation is now underway with expert stakeholders working in the arts, heritage, museums and development sectors, to help determine its exact scope and identify best practice.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost to school budgets of (a) pupil mobility, (b) staff turnover, (c) pupils not speaking English at home and (d) pupils with special educational needs.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    We recently published our consultations on national funding formulae for schools and high needs funding. A national funding formula will put an end to currently unfair arrangements where children with the same needs attract different amounts of money simply because of where they live. We believe that the national funding formula should target funding to pupils who are likely to face additional barriers in realising their potential and are proposing to include additional needs factors including for English as an additional language. For pupils with special educational needs (SEN), we propose that mainstream schools should continue to be responsible for the first £6,000 of costs in respect of each of their pupils with SEN, and receive top-up funding from the local authority for costs in excess of £6,000. Local authorities reported that they will allocate £750m to primary and secondary schools in 2015-16 in the form of top-up funding for pupils with SEN.

    Under current local funding formulae, the total amount allocated to school budgets in relation to pupil mobility is £24m for 2015-16 and for English as an additional language, it is £267m. It is for school leaders to determine how best to use their full budget so that all pupils, including mobile pupils, pupils with English as an additional language and those with special educational needs, can reach their full potential.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they have about the size of the prison population in Tunisia, in particular about alleged over-crowding in Mornaguai Prison near Tunis; and whether they will assist the government of Tunisia in processing cases and in providing defence counsel.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    In January 2016 the Tunisian authorities said that their prisons and detention centres were holding around 170 per cent of their capacity. The UN reported in March 2014 that Mornaguia prison was 25 per cent over its capacity. We have raised with the Tunisian authorities the importance of introducing reforms to the Penal Code. These would help address prison overcrowding.

    We have no current plans to assist the Government of Tunisia in processing cases or providing defence counsel: the focus of our minimum £8 million support in this financial year is on Tunisia’s transition, security capacity building, governance and the economy.