Category: Speeches

  • Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the value of (1) UK exports to the US, and (2) imports from the US to the UK, for the most recent years for which figures are available; and whether this trade was based on any trade agreement with the US.

    Lord Price

    In 2015 UK exports of goods and services to the US were £ 95.1 billion and UK imports from the US were £ 59.7 billion.

    There is no bilateral trade agreement with the US. Both the EU and US are members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). There are no estimates of the impact that their membership of the WTO and its trade agreements such as the Information Technology Agreement has had on UK-US trade.

  • Lord Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are aware of any studies regarding the not primarily abstractive” test that the Office of Road and Rail makes in respect of open access applications to test its validity.”

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Her Majesty’s Government is not aware of any recent studies which specifically test the validity of the Office of Rail and Road’s not primarily abstractive test. However, it has made representations to the ORR on its appropriateness for use on individual open access applications, most particularly in relation to the recent open access applications on the East Coast Mainline.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of whether it will be necessary to bring forward new (a) primary or (b) secondary legislation to implement the UK’s obligations under the Paris Agreement on climate change.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    No immediate changes are needed to the UK’s legislation on climate change in order to implement our obligations under the Paris Agreement. The UK is already playing its part in delivering the Agreement through its Climate Change Act 2008. The Committee on Climate Change has said that it will report in the Autumn on the future implications of Paris for the UK. We shall want to consider carefully the CCC’s recommendations.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 10 October 2016 to Question 46089, if his Department will collect information on the number of babies born in transit between Stafford and Stoke Royal University Hospital.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    We have no plans to ask NHS Digital to collect such information.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will ensure that the bidding process for the Great Eastern Main Line franchise includes increased service frequency and improved train capacity.

    Claire Perry

    As with all competitions, after running a public consultation to help specify services, we have published the Invitation To Tender which sets out the minimum service specifications for the next East Anglia franchise. This asks bidders to set out detailed proposals on what improvements for passengers they will deliver. This approach allowsbidders the flexibility to design the best way of delivering or exceeding those specifications.

  • Andrew Tyrie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Tyrie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Tyrie on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will instruct the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to reproduce Table 7.1 of the Final Report of the Airports Commission, published in July 2015, using an appraisal period of (a) 10, (b) 20 and (c) 30 years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government is currently considering the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.

    The Government will carefully consider all the evidence set out, including that on costs, when making a decision on additional runway capacity.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, where repairs to (a) the Strategic Road Network and (b) other key local roads are required in each region following recent flooding; and what estimate he has made of those repairs.

    Andrew Jones

    The flood recovery envoy for Yorkshire, the Minister of State for Transport (Mr Goodwill), convened a meeting on January 7 2016 with North Yorkshire County Council, wider local representatives, the military and Highways England experts to finalise a plan for reconstructing Tadcaster Bridge. The Government is providing £3.3m of funding immediately to repair the bridge. It has incurred substantial damage and the current estimate is that it will take up to a year to repair.

    The Department for Transport is working closely with affected local highway authorities following the recent storms encountered in some areas of the country. As part of this work, local highway authorities are assessing the damage caused and likely estimated costs. It is too early to provide an estimate of the repairs or likely timescales until all waters have receded.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23662, if she will make an assessment of the risk of coal sourced by owners of power stations in the UK coming from countries where safety and labour standards in mining are poor.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Decisions on where to source coal are a commercial matter for the owners of coal-fired power stations. Contracts for the purchase of coal are awarded to individual mining companies, not countries. The majority operators of power stations in the UK are members of BetterCoal, an industry-led initiative which is taking action to promote responsible coal mining and has established a set of ethical, social, and environmental principles which companies in the supply chain are expected to align with.

  • Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to counter people trafficking.

    Karen Bradley

    We are committed to tackling people trafficking and all forms of modern slavery. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 gives law enforcement agencies the tools they need to tackle modern slavery, ensures that perpetrators can receive suitably severe sentences up to life imprisonment, enhances support and protection for victims and places a duty on large businesses to report on what they are doing to stop modern slavery occurring in their global supply chains. We have successfully lobbied for the establishment of the first ever UN Sustainable Development Goal to end modern slavery and are working with a range of international partners to tackle slavery and its causes. We are also piloting a new approach to identifying and supporting potential victims of slavery through the National Referral Mechanism and we have appointed an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner to spread best practice in the UK and overseas.

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

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    None. My Department does not receive any funding from the European Social Fund.