Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Lister of Burtersett on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which countries limit financial support for children by the number of dependent children.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The national systems for supporting families in and out of work are very different between countries and it is thus difficult to compare one system with another. Many countries do not have means-tested supplements for children.

    The Government believes that the welfare system needs to be fair to taxpayers as well as benefit claimants, which includes ensuring that families on benefits make the same sort of financial decisions about the number of children they can afford to have as families supporting themselves solely through work.

    In 2011 the UK spent more on family benefits than Germany, France or Sweden. The UK spent more than double the OECD average on cash benefits to families according to OBR’s welfare trends report 2015.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total cost is of the transfer to Individual Electoral Registration; and what proportion of such costs have been borne by local government.

    John Penrose

    In financial years 2013/14 and 2014/15 the Government has spent £72 million in the transition to Individual Electoral Registration (IER).

    Of this, over £49 million was shared between all EROs in Great Britain, ensuring the transition to IER was fully funded. This included over £10 million that was allocated to local authorities specifically to boost levels of voter registration.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the total public expenditure on the UK space industry over the course of this Parliament.

    Joseph Johnson

    The allocation for the UK Space Agency for 2015/16 is £370.5 million with £302 million to be invested through the European Space Agency, £65 million to be invested on international programmes and £3.5 million on administration. In addition, £37 million was invested on space with the Met Office. Future allocations up to the end of the Parliament will be published in due course alongside the wider allocations of the science and research budget.

  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Parliament will be involved in the scrutiny of any proposals for changes to systems of Islamic finance in the UK following the outcome of the Bank of England’s consultation.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Bank of England will decide whether or not to establish a Shari’ah compliant liquidity facility in light of feedback to its consultation from the market and other relevant stakeholders. None of the proposals in the consultation are expected to require a change to primary legislation. Once the Bank of England has concluded, the Government will consider whether there is a need for Parliament to review legislation in relation to Islamic Finance in the UK more widely.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times Capita Translation and Interpreting has met its key performance target since it has been contracted to provide courtroom interpreting services; and how many fines that company has incurred for missing those targets over that period.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The key performance target under the Language Services contract relates to successful completion of service requests for the provision of interpreters. The contract sets out a 98% target completion rate. The success rates for the first six months of the last financial year 2015/16 are 96.4 percent (Q1) and 97.3 percent (Q2). In addition the rate of complaints over this period was at its lowest level at just over 1 per cent.

    Service credits can be imposed on Capita in line with the terms of the contract when performance falls below the contractual level of 98% success rate. From the beginning of the contract in January 2012 until September 2015 Capita TI has paid Service Credits on 44 occasions.

    We are absolutely committed to further improving performance to ensure a standard of language services that meets the needs of all those who use the service in the justice system.

    The contract has delivered significant improvements so far and we now have a system that is robust, sustainable and able to deliver a quality service at an affordable level. Since we introduced a new interpreting contract in 2012 we have spent £38m less on language service fees.

  • Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Key Stage 1 children in (a) Barnsley East constituency, (b) Barnsley and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber were in classes of more than 30 children in the academic year beginning September (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2013, (iv) 2014 and (v) 2015.

    Nick Gibb

    Information about the number of pupils in infant classes with more than 30 pupils is available at school level in the underlying data of the ‘schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistics.[1]

    Information on class sizes for the academic year beginning September 2015 is not yet available and is due to be released in June 2016.

    [1] Data from January 2011 is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2011 in the file called ‘School_level_classes_2011’ within the underlying data download

    Data from January 2012 is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2012 in the file called ‘School_level_classes_2012’ within the underlying data download

    Data from January 2013 is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2013 in the file called ‘School_level_classes_2013’ within the underlying data download

    Data from January 2014 is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2014 in the file called ‘SFR15_2014_school_level_classes_UD’ within the underlying data download.

    Data from January 2015 is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015 in the file called ‘SFR16_2015_Schools_Classes_UD’ within the underlying data download.

    “

  • Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will estimate the number of school places that will be available in Yorkshire and Humber in each of the next five years.

    Edward Timpson

    The department collects information from each local authority (LA) on the current number of school places and LA’s firm plans for the delivery of additional places over the next three years, through the annual school capacity survey (SCAP).

    As at May 2015 there were 475,707 primary places and 375,888 secondary places at maintained mainstream schools across Yorkshire and Humber. At that point in time LAs across Yorkshire and Humber reported they had firm plans for delivery of an additional 17,919 places by 2017/18. The number of new places for which LAs have firm plans for delivery, through academic years 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 is available in table A7 of the attached and is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-capacity-academic-year-2014-to-2015

    The data represents a snapshot in time and LAs will have delivered and developed plans for many more new places since.

    “

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will introduce a statutory maximum temperature on (a) stationary aircraft and (b) aircraft in flight.

    Mr John Hayes

    The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has requirements in the aircraft certification specifications regarding the ventilation requirements of aircraft cabin, but no maximum temperature has been identified. It would be for EASA to introduce any changes to these safety requirements, based on robust evidence base.

  • Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had about a national job profile for Hazardous Area Response Team paramedics.

    Jane Ellison

    Local lead Clinical Commissioning Group commissioners contract with providers to deliver a Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) service compliant with the national specification. Banding and pay arrangements are not specified within the national HART service specification. NHS England, as advised by the National Ambulance Resilience Unit deems this to be a matter for employing trusts and their lead commissioners.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average age of Tornado GR4-trained navigators in the RAF.

    Earl Howe

    The average age of Tornado GR4 trained navigators in the Royal Air Force is 41 years and three months.