Category: Speeches

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-09-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent representations they have made to the government of Uganda about its treatment of Uganda’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are in regular dialogue with the Ugandan Government and Parliament on this issue and will continue to raise our concerns about any legislation which could lead to further persecution and discrimination against LGBT people and which is incompatible with Uganda’s international treaty obligations. After the events of Uganda Pride in August, we raised our concerns with the Ugandan Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and worked with leading figures in the local LGBT Community and Ugandan Police Force. We remain committed to working with the government of Uganda and with civil society to promote diversity and tolerance, and to prevent violence and discrimination on any grounds.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Prime Minister, what assessment he has made of the evidence provided to the G20 summit in Turkey by President Putin of Russia that funding for ISIS activities has come from countries within the G20.

    Mr David Cameron

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Islington North (Mr Corbyn) on 18 November 2015 Official Report, column 667.

    I also refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave, during the Oral Statement on the G20 and Paris attacks that I made on 17 November, to the right hon. Member for Islington North (Mr Corbyn), Official Report, column 528, and to the right hon. Member for Gordon (Mr Salmond), Official Report, column 536.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which memoranda of understanding have been agreed with the French government in support of Project Teutates.

    Michael Fallon

    The UK has three arrangements with France in support of the Teutates programme. The first is between the UK and French Nuclear Safety regulators to ensure safety of operations, and the second and third are between the Ministry of Defence and the Commissariat l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) to support the construction of the Epure facility at Valduc.

  • Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-01-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to respond to the Ewins review of overseas domestic work visas.

    Lord Bates

    The Government is considering carefully James Ewins’ recommendations and will respond after meeting with Peers, following Committee stage of the Immigration Bill and by Report stage.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) reconnaissance, (b) combat and (c) other missions were flown by RAF aircraft over Syria in the last 12 months.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The number of reconnaissance, combat and other missions between 1 February 2015 and 1 February 2016 are detailed in the table below. The majority of aircraft flying missions in Syrian airspace will have flown over Iraqi airspace as well. Reaper, Tornado and Typhoon are multi-role aircraft and as such can be deployed in both a combat mission and a reconnaissance mission. Other missions have been defined as those involved in the transportation of people or equipment.

    Syria

    Iraq

    Reconnaissance Missions

    435

    906

    Combat Missions

    64

    699

    Other

    0

    484*

    *This figure does not include C17, which is estimated to have flown two missions a month in the period in question. The records for C17 are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will review eligibility arrangements for the teacher’s Pension Scheme to enable supply teachers to participate in that scheme.

    Nick Gibb

    The Teachers’ Pensions Regulations currently provide for supply teachers to participate in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) where they are employed by a scheme employer. These are local authorities (LAs), academies and further education colleges. This includes supply teachers who are recruited by a supply agency but then employed directly, under a contract of employment, by the scheme employer.

    Where supply teachers are self-employed or remain employed by a supply agency and their services are provided under a ‘contract for services’, it is not possible for them to participate in the TPS as there is no organisation to undertake the employer role, including remitting contributions to the scheme.

    The Department does not plan to review these arrangements and considers that it is for employers and teachers to determine how supply teachers are employed, which can in turn enable access to the TPS under the current arrangements.

  • Peter Aldous – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Peter Aldous – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Aldous on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential economic benefits of supported housing; and if he will make a statement.

    Greg Hands

    The Government is currently conducting an evidence review into supported housing. We expect this review to conclude in the Spring.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the value was of publicly-procured British steel in the UK in each of the last 10 years.

    Matthew Hancock

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Clacton on 4 May to UIN: 35702.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assistance the Government provides to local authorities to enable them to provide recycling facilities for all kinds of plastics.

    Rory Stewart

    The Government works with local authorities and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to provide advice and promote best practice on waste and recycling. The UK Recycling rate has increased from 11% at the turn of the century, to 44.9% in 2014. This progress is thanks in large part to the hard work of local authorities and householders towards recycling more.

    For 2015/16, local authority spend on waste services was approximately £3.5 billion, of which nearly £600 million was spent on recycling. In addition the Government, through the Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme, has allocated some £3 billion in grant funding to a number of local authority waste infrastructure projects. This funding has helped authorities to build waste treatment infrastructure including energy from waste, mechanical biological treatment, anaerobic digestion and material recovery facilities, as well as to implement household recycling collection services and communal recycling centres for plastics and other recyclable materials.

    Local authorities are best placed to decide on their waste recycling services and the range of materials collected, taking into account local circumstances such as geography and population. WRAP’s best understanding of collections being operated by local authorities in England as of June 2016 shows us that 99% of English local authorities offer a collection of plastic bottles while 72% offer collection of plastic packaging, pots, tubs and trays.

    I have asked WRAP to work with the waste sector, to look at the benefits and opportunities there are from having more consistency in the materials collected for recycling and in collection systems. This will help local authorities to identify value for money and to help householders recycle more and put the right materials in the right bin. This not only includes opportunities for local authorities, but also what others can do to support greater consistency and increased recycling.

    I am expecting WRAP to publish a framework for greater consistency in the summer.

  • Oliver Dowden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Oliver Dowden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the Government will consider reinstating clothing grants for care homes for elderly residents who have just arrived from hospital.

    David Mowat

    Despite a welcome shift towards more care provision in community settings, our ageing population means a growing number of people require care in care and nursing homes, with an increasing level of acuity and complexity of need.

    The Enhanced Health in Care Homes vanguards, implemented by NHS England, are beginning to show how addressing this inequity in access to services can reduce unnecessary, unplanned and avoidable admissions to hospital, shorten the length of hospital stays and improve peoples’ quality of life, wellbeing and clinical outcomes.

    NHS England is also leading the multi-agency Community Services and Hospital Discharge programme, which will deliver a series of interventions to transform community services and improve discharge of older people from hospital. These include initiatives such as “discharge to assess”, which will increase the number of patients who are discharged quickly and safely to their usual place of residence.

    The Department is not aware of a clothing grant for people who enter care homes and is therefore unable to consider reinstatement. Where a local authority arranges care and support to meet an adult’s eligible needs, it may charge them. Where care is arranged in a care home, a local authority must not, through charges, reduce the adult’s income below the Personal Expenses Allowance of £24.90 per week.

    The allowance means that local authority supported care home residents have money to spend as they wish on personal items, including clothing. It must not be spent on meeting their eligible care needs.

    Local authorities have discretion to be more generous where they think this would be appropriate.