Category: Speeches

  • Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45646, on what basis she will make recommendations to HM Treasury on allocation of remaining funding from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    Proposals to improve flood defences are made by Defra and its agencies on the basis of the economic benefits, which are assessed in terms of the potential flood damages avoided, the current level of risk and the number homes that would be better protected by the scheme.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel regarding the undercover raid by Israeli armed forces on a hospital in Hebron, resulting in the death of a relative of the suspect.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not raised this specific issue with the Israeli authorities, we are clear that medical staff should have the protection that allows them to do their jobs in safety. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv met Physicians for Human Rights on 9 November to discuss trends in human rights violations against medical staff. Since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority on the urgent need to de-escalate the tensions.

  • Mark Williams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mark Williams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Williams on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress has been made in negotiations with Lloyd’s Bank plc about business banking services being offered through the Post Office.

    George Freeman

    The Post Office is negotiating with the major banks, including Lloyds and Barclays, with a view to extending and standardising the services available to the banks’ small business customers. These are commercial negotiations which are still ongoing. The Government is clear that completion of these negotiations should be a priority.

    The Government is keen to see continued and wider availability of banking services through Post Office branches. In this context, we welcome the recent agreement between HSBC and the Post Office to provide HSBC’s business customers with services through Post Office branches.

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect on local authority budgets of people in supported housing not remaining in that housing as a result of a cap on housing benefit at the rate of local housing allowance.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information requested is not available.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his arms export policy to Saudi Arabia of the legal advice on that matter commissioned by Amnesty International and Saferworld, published in December 2015.

    Anna Soubry

    The policy framework for arms export licensing to all destinations, including Saudi Arabia, remains as set out in the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, known as the Consolidated Criteria.

    This requires all export licence applications to be carefully assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated Criteria, taking into account all relevant factors at the time of application, including reporting by non-Governmental organisations, the United Nations and others.

    A licence will not be issued, for any country, if to do so would be inconsistent with any provision of the Criteria.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to protect and support the rights of women and girls in South Sudan.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK continues to press the Government of South Sudan to progress its commitments to tackle violence against women, to push for both the Government and Opposition to meet the agreed quotas for women’s participation in the transitional government of national unity.

    Our development programmes in country dovetail with HMG’s overall efforts to support the rights of women in South Sudan. Through our Access to Justice Programme we seek to improve access to justice for those subjected to sexual and gender based violence. Our education programmes seek to empower women including the Girls Education South Sudan programme which operates in all South Sudanese states to help 200,000 girls complete secondary school. Our humanitarian support funds projects in the conflict-affected Greater Upper Nile region to prevent and respond to Gender-Based Violence against women and girls. Women’s empowerment projects in Lakes and Central Equatoria states are funded through the cross-governmental Conflict, Stability and Security Fund and the FCO’s Human Rights and Democracy Programme.

  • Vernon Coaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Vernon Coaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vernon Coaker on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the availability of fertility treatments under each clinical commissioning group in England.

    Jane Ellison

    The level of provision of infertility treatment, as for all health services they commission, is decided by local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and will take into account the needs of the population overall. The CCG’s decisions are underpinned by clinical insight and knowledge of local healthcare needs. As such, provision of services will vary in response to local needs.

    NHS England expects that all those involved in commissioning infertility treatment services to be fully aware of the importance of having regard to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) fertility guidelines. CCGs have a legal duty to have regard to NICE guidelines.

    Following a meeting with Fertility Fairness in December 2015, officials from the Department and NHS England are considering options for addressing variation in the prices that CCGs are currently paying for in vitro fertilisation treatment.

  • Lord Oates – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Oates – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the signals that would be sent to the government of Zimbabwe were the IMF and other international financial institutions to resume financial assistance to Zimbabwe, in the light of the current activities of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and other elements of the security forces there.

    Baroness Verma

    Donors have consistently made clear that resumption of financial assistance to Zimbabwe from the international financial institutions would need to be based on the Government of Zimbabwe’s commitment to make significant process across a broad range of reforms, including rule of law and constitutional alignment. It is of course vital that the right signals are sent to both the government and the people of Zimbabwe.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff there were in his Department with off-payroll engagements of more than £220 per day in the last six months; and what the job titles were of those staff.

    Ben Gummer

    From January to June 2016 there were 225 staff employed under the Cabinet Office’s mandated contingent labour framework supplied by Capita who were paid £220 per day or more. They worked on a range of roles across the areas listed below. Full data on pay costs is published monthly on .gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/payroll-costs-and-non-consolidated-pay-data

    • Digital
    • Engineering
    • Estates & Logistics
    • Finance; Audit & Accountancy
    • Infrastructure Projects (Gateway Reviews)
    • Human Resources
    • Information and Communications Technology
    • IT Project Management
    • Marketing & Communications
    • Corporate administration

    “

  • 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 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the prevalence of livestock-associated MRSA in live breeder pigs and meat products imported from (a) Denmark and (b) other European countries; what proportion of such imports are voluntarily tested for livestock-associated MRSA; and what analysis her Department has undertaken of the costs and benefits of making it mandatory to test such imports for MRSA.

    George Eustice

    Livestock associated meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) is not a notifiable organism. There is no mandatory requirement to test imports of live breeding pigs or pig meat for the presence of LA-MRSA.

    The National Pig Association recommends in its Import Protocol that imported pigs be screened for the presence of MRSA. Such testing is done on a voluntary and private basis.

    Any controls or testing introduced for an organism must be proportionate to the risk posed by it. Current advice from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Public Health England (PHE) is that LA-MRSA poses a low risk to human health.