Category: Speeches

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how children in small rural primary schools can fully access the National Curriculum.

    Lord Nash

    The government believes that all children should have an excellent education, regardless of where they live. Maintained schools are required to teach the national curriculum as part of their duty to provide pupils with a broad and balanced school curriculum.

    The government’s view is that schools, including small rural schools, are best placed to decide how best children are taught the curriculum, and which resources meet their needs and to secure these accordingly.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the Government’s policy is towards the Big Six energy companies that seek to outsource or offshore directly employed jobs in retail operations; and if she will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    It is important we have a vibrant, dynamic energy market where energy companies work hard to attract customers though customer service as well as price. The management of retail operations, such as answering enquiries and addressing complaints from their consumers, however, are commercial matters for the individual companies.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve transparency of (a) spending and (b) outcomes in the NHS on mental health.

    Alistair Burt

    The report of the independent Mental Health Taskforce acknowledged the need for increased transparency on mental health spending and the quality of care that people receive.

    We are moving forward the data and transparency agenda and a new dataset for mental health will be published by April this year.

    NHS England has already set a principal commitment to achieving mental health parity of esteem. Through its assurance process NHS England will hold individual commissioners to account for increasing spend on mental health in line with their increase in allocations, taking account of the mental health funding that has been received.

    We have welcomed the Taskforce’s recommendations for government in the report and will be considering how best to integrate them into our current work programme, as well as new policies as they develop.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many contracts with the NHS for diabetes education Spirit Healthcare holds.

    Jane Ellison

    The information requested is not held centrally.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many companies in each business sector have been registered with HM Revenue and Customs’ Supervised Business Register in each year since 2009-10; and what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of companies which were not registered with a professional body as required by anti-money laundering regulations in each such year.

    Mr David Gauke

    The number of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) anti-money laundering supervision registrations by sector in each year since 2009 are given in the table below. HMRC does not have an estimate of businesses not registered for supervision that should be, but as part of its supervisory role actively undertakes to identify such businesses by using its own data and working with other supervisors and agencies.

    End of year…

    2009/2010

    2010/2011

    2011/2012

    2012/2013

    2013/2014

    2014/2015

    2015/2016

    Money Service Business registrations*

    3,585

    3,633

    3,691

    3,480

    2,850

    2,373

    2,177

    High Value Dealer registrations

    1,173

    1,193

    1,332

    1,336

    1,294

    1,035

    881

    Accountancy Service Provider registrations

    12,689

    12,941

    13,009

    13,151

    13,246

    13,120

    13,131

    Trust or Company Service Provider registrations

    2,301

    2,340

    2,442

    2,531

    2,577

    2,640

    2,729

    Estate Agency Business registrations**

    7,809

    8,710

    9,305

    Total registrations***

    18,219

    18,570

    18,799

    18,740

    18,182

    26,032

    26,371

    * From 2011/2012, the Money Service Business (MSB) sector includes a very small number of Bill Payment Service Providers (BPSPs) and Telecommunications, Digital and IT Payment Service Providers (TDITPSPs)

    ** Before 2013/2014 Estate Agency Businesses (EABs) were supervised by the Office of Fair Trading. HMRC is now the sole supervisor of EABs.

    *** The sums of sector breakdowns are less than the total registration figures because a business may be registered for more than one sector. HMRC does not double-count businesses when calculating total registrations.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of staff who have returned to permanent NHS jobs as a result of the introduction of caps on the number of NHS agency staff.

    Alistair Burt

    The information requested is not held centrally by the Department. The latest NHS Workforce statistics (February 2016) are available on the Health and Social Care Information Centre website at:

    http://www.hscic.gov.uk/searchcatalogue?productid=20878&topics=1%2fWorkforce%2fStaff+numbers&sort=Relevance&size=10&page=1#top

  • Baroness Altmann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Altmann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Altmann on 2016-09-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many letters the Department for Work and Pensions has received from Members of Parliament since May 2015 on behalf of women who have complained about the impact of an increase in their state pension age.

    Lord Freud

    The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate costs.

  • Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to provide support to children’s hospices which extend their services for young adults.

    David Mowat

    The Department provided grant funding in 2013-16 to Together for Short Lives, the organisation supporting children’s hospices, to support the Transition Taskforce. The Taskforce provides guidance and training that supports good transitions locally between children’s and adult services for those with life-limiting conditions or needing palliative care.

    NHS England is continuing to prioritise funding for the children’s hospice grants programme at the current level. NHS England has been engaging with children’s hospices through Together for Short Lives prior to a consultation on the allocation method for the 2017-18 grant.

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Highways England on the appointment of a programme management partner; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrew Jones

    The government is tripling the capital investment in the Strategic Road Network. Highways England have been given responsibility for delivery of the Road Investment Strategy and operation of the network.

    A four year term contract was tendered competitively by Highways England to a consortium consisting of CH2M Hill, Mace and PwC (CMP) in early July 2015 to help provide additional support to improve their capability and available resources to deliver an increasingly demanding and complex programme.

    This has no impact on the role, responsibilities and requirements of Highways England.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he made the decision to close 170 local tax offices and replace them with 13 regional centres.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) first shared its transformation plans with its employees 18 months ago. Since then, it has held more than 2,000 events across the UK, talking to its employees about how and why it is changing. HMRC will be holding one-to-one discussions with each of its people to discuss next steps.