Category: Speeches

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many hotel bookings were made for (a) ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials in his Department during the negotiation processes for local authority devolution deals in each of the last three years.

    Mr Mark Francois

    Ministers, special advisers and civil servants in this department undertake a variety of visits to support the delivery of Government’s devolution and local growth objectives and other departmental business. We do not hold figures for the number of hotel bookings made specifically to support the negotiation of devolution deals.

  • Stephen Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Twigg on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policy of the recent UN Secretary-General’s report on Children and Armed Conflict and its Annex which lists the Saudi-led Coalition as committing grave violations against children in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are aware of the UN Secretary General’s annual report on Children in Armed Conflict which was published on 2 June, which includes a section outlining the impact of the conflict in Yemen on children. The conflict in Yemen has had a significant impact on children, in terms of the numbers of child casualties, the recruitment of children as soldiers, and attacks on hospitals and schools. We consider all these reports very carefully. We note the announcement by the UN Secretary General on 6 June that removed the listing of the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition from the report’s annex, pending the conclusion of a joint review by the UN and Saudi Arabia on the cases and numbers cited in the text. We welcome co-operation between the UN and Saudi Arabia to look in to this matter. A political solution remains the best way to bring this conflict and the suffering of the Yemeni people to an end. The UK Government remains fully committed to this endeavour.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to review progress towards commitments made at the 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit in London; and what the timetable is for further periodic reviews of that progress.

    Ben Gummer

    The Government remains committed to tackling corruption in all its forms. The new administration is currently considering the approach and the governance structures that will oversee this work. Such details will be confirmed in due course. In the meantime, departments are working to progress the anti-corruption agenda, including work that was set out at the London Anti-Corruption Summit on May 12.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) his Chinese counterpart and (b) officials from Tibet on human rights in Tibet.

    Alok Sharma

    ​We do have concerns about human rights and freedoms in Tibet. I raised our concerns about the Tibetan language advocate Tashi Wangchuk and Tibetan Blogger Druklo (aka Shokjang) with the Chinese Ambassador, in writing, on 1 August 2016. In that letter I also pressed him to allow UK diplomats to visit the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

    Neither I, nor my officials, have been able to have recent discussions with officials from the Tibetan Autonomous Region. However my officials have had discussions with non-government organisations on the situation in Tibet.

  • Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 11 March 2015 to Question 226385, how many local authorities supported by PHE are developing withdrawal services for people affected by addiction to prescription benzodiazepine and drug tranquilisers.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England is currently working with two local authorities and one other area which is part of a Clinical Commissioning Group who want to improve their responses to addiction to medicines. These improvements are wide-ranging and do not necessarily involve developing bespoke services for people affected by specific medicines. There are also other areas which are looking at how they respond to addiction to medicines locally.

    Local authorities are responsible for commissioning effective services to meet the need of their local populations which experience dependence on any medicines or drugs, including treatment for people dependent on prescription benzodiazepines and tranquillisers.

  • Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many incidents of accident and emergency departments diverting admissions to other hospitals there were in (a) Barnsley East constituency, (b) Barnsley, (c) South Yorkshire and (d) Yorkshire and the Humber in each year since 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    The number of occasions when there was an agreed temporary divert of patients from hospitals in Barnsley, South Yorkshire and Yorkshire and the Humber to other accident and emergency departments is available from NHS England’s winter daily situation reports, which are collected from acute trusts each weekday during winter only. Published figures can be found using the following link.

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/winter-daily-sitreps/

    “

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many care leavers in part or full-time training or employment aged between 19 and 21 in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015 were former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children looked after by the local authority.

    Edward Timpson

    The information requested is shown in the table below. This information is for England only.

    Care leaver activity [2]

    Number of former unaccompanied asylum seeking children [1]

    2014

    2015

    Higher education

    20

    40

    Education other than higher education

    100

    260

    Training or employment

    40

    130

    Source: SSDA903

    Information on the activity of all care leavers in England has been published in tables F1 of the Statistical First Release on looked after children[3].

    [1] This includes young people who were unaccompanied asylum seeking children in their final period of care.

    [2] Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.

    [3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2014-to-2015

    “

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much has been claimed in reimbursement expenses by Dr Nicole Mather in her role as Director of the Office for Life Sciences in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16 to date.

    George Freeman

    Dr Nicole Mather is an employee of Deloitte on secondment to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). In her role as Director of the Office for Life Sciences, Nicole has claimed reimbursement expenses including travel, accommodation and subsistence within the UK, Europe and the US in the course of carrying out her role and when accompanying the Minister for Life Sciences, for the period (a) 2014-15 to a total of £772.44 and period (b) 2015-16 a total of £1,009.90 to date.

  • Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-03-24.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the proposed 36 month stamp duty grace period for people transitioning from one property to another will apply retrospectively.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government appreciates that there may be circumstances where an individual sells a property which was a main residence and then experiences a delay before purchasing a new main residence. Where an individual is replacing a main residence, the higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax should not apply to the purchase of a new main residence within 36 months of the disposal of a previous main residence.

    In addition to this, the 36 month time period will commence from 25 November 2015 for those who had sold a previous main residence prior to the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, in order to provide additional transitional support.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much support work by (a) value and (b) numbers of jobs has been undertaken by UK employees on UK Government defence contracts placed with US defence contractors in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not currently collate information on how much production or support work is undertaken in the UK or US on UK defence contracts, either by value or number of jobs. A comprehensive breakdown of which MOD contracts placed over the last five years are with UK or US suppliers is also not held centrally.

    The MOD routinely publishes statistics on contracts it places on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/defence-trade-and-industry-index. This includes an overall estimate of MOD expenditure for work undertaken in the UK and lists all organisations with which we have spent £5 million or more in the financial year. These statistics include expenditure with US companies.

    The MOD does not collate information centrally on the value of production work undertaken in the UK on contracts placed by the US Department of Defense.