Category: Speeches

  • Robert Flello – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Robert Flello – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department has taken or plans to take on the practice of consuming and selling dog meat for consumption in addition to the steps he set out in the debate in the House on the dog meat trade of 5 November 2015.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Since the debate on 5 November my Department has not received any representations from any diplomatic missions in the UK on the dog meat trade, nor have Ministers made representations to their counterparts abroad. As highlighted during the debate by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), I am contacting our Ambassadors in the countries concerned to review our activities in this area.

    The Government is committed to raising the standards of animal welfare at home and abroad. I raised animal welfare issues during my visit to the region in February and will continue to make representations when appropriate.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 14108, if he will place in the Library a copy of the preliminary feedback on his announcement of the privatisation of the Green Investment Bank.

    Anna Soubry

    The preliminary feedback to which my earlier answer refers is the outcome of private informal conversations that the Green Investment Bank (GIB) and our financial advisers have had with a number of potential investors on an in‑confidence basis to help gauge market appetite for acquiring a stake in GIB. The substance of these conversations is commercially sensitive and not for publication. The Government does, though, intend to report to Parliament setting out our detailed plans for a sale and to provide a further report following completion of a transaction and any subsequent transactions.

  • Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential role of cranberries can play in reducing the frequency of prescribing antibiotics for simple infections such as urinary tract infections.

    Jane Ellison

    The research database, Cochrane, published a study in 2012 which assessed the effectiveness of cranberry products in preventing urinary tract infections in susceptible populations. Researchers found that there is no objective evidence for the benefit of cranberry juice in preventing urinary tract infections. Therefore the Department has not taken steps to promote the consumption of cranberry products.

    The UK five year Antimicrobial Resistance strategy set out the need to stimulate the development of new antibiotics, rapid diagnostics and novel therapies. The DH commissioned the Wellcome Trust to undertake a review of alternative treatments in 2014. The review concluded that while many approaches have potential, there is a continued need for conventional antibiotics to treat the majority of infections for the foreseeable future.

    A paper, summarising the review “alternatives to antibiotics – a pipeline portfolio review” was published in the Lancet in January 2016. This is available at the following link:

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(15)00466-1

  • 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 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on advertisements with Google in each of the last three years.

    Matthew Hancock

    Cabinet Office spent £107,896.25 on Google advertising in 2013/14. Cabinet Office did not spend anything on Google advertising in 2014/15. Fully auditable figures are not yet available for 2015/16. All figures include VAT.

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that public country-by-country reporting of corporation tax benefits developing countries.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK supports efforts to improve tax transparency. We initiated international work on country-by-country (CbC) reporting during our G8 Presidency in 2013, calling on the OECD to develop a framework for CbC reporting to tax authorities as part of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. This important initiative will enhance transparency between business and tax authorities, including those of developing countries.

    DFID funds the Global Forum and the World Bank to provide technical assistance to improve exchange of tax information in developing countries which will allow tax authorities to gain access to information such as country-by-country reports. We also support the OECD in helping developing countries tackle multinational practices such as transfer pricing and have provided HMRC tax auditors to Tax Inspectors Without Borders, which puts expert tax auditors in the field working on complex multinational audit cases.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a public inquiry related to the miners’ strike and events at Orgreave in 1984.

    Mrs Theresa May

    I am currently considering a submission from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign containing their extensive and detailed arguments for establishing a public inquiry into the events at Orgreave and will set out the Government’s position in the near future.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2016 to Question 40363, what estimate she has made of the cost of energy imports by the UK in each of the next five years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) does not produce projections of the cost of energy imports by the UK. The latest available estimate of the cost of UK energy imports is for the year 2015, valued at £37.9 billion.[1] Future costs of energy imports will depend on the volumes traded and also on fuel prices, which are inherently uncertain.

    [1] The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates of the value of trade according to internationally agreed classifications (SITC), with category 3 comprising most energy products (coal, crude oil, oil products, gas and electricity). This data is republished by DECC in table G7 of the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), and shows estimates of the value of energy trade.

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the Government’s policy is on members of the Service Police residing in separate living accommodation to other members of the armed forces.

    Mark Lancaster

    There is no Government policy concerning living accommodation for the Service Police.

  • Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish the review of national radiotherapy capacity commissioned by NHS England.

    Jane Ellison

    HS England has not commissioned a national capacity review of radiotherapy. Earlier this year, NHS England provided local commissioning teams with a tool to assist planning of radiotherapy services with their local providers in order to assess a different set of planning assumptions developed by the Radiotherapy Clinical Reference Group in line with rapidly changing clinical practice.

  • Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barbara Keeley on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with his Cabinet colleagues on making additional funding available to local authorities to help fund the introduction of the national living wage into social care from April 2016; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    Over the course of the Spending Review there have been a large number of in-depth discussions at both official and Ministerial level to inform the outcome. These discussions and analysis informed the decision to provide a settlement which means local government has access to the funding it needs to increase social care spending in real terms by the end of the Parliament, including:

    – The introduction of a social care precept, which puts money raising powers into the hands of local areas who understand the need in their area and who are best placed to respond. This could raise up to £2 billion by the end of the Parliament; and

    – From 2017/18, additional funds for social care will be made available through the Better Care Fund. This will rise to £1.5 billion by 2019/20.

    Following this additional funding, we expect councils will be able to increase the prices they pay for care in order to cover costs providers are facing such as the national living wage.