Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment has been made of the coalition document The Compact, and whether there are any plans to review or revise this.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Compact continues to be an important guide for effective engagement and collaboration between public bodies and voluntary, charitable and social enterprise sector organisations. An announcement on the next steps will be made in due course.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have been identified as illegally importing puppies under the Pet Travel Scheme during the Dogs Trust’s pilot quarantine initiative.

    George Eustice

    Local Authorities are responsible for the prosecution of individuals illegally importing puppies into Great Britain. In addition Port of Dover Police can issue formal warnings for illegal landing of puppies including where animals have been concealed. It is for the local authority concerned to decide if it wishes to undertaken a prosecution in any of the cases of illegal importation identified during the pilot.

    The Dogs Trust pilot quarantine initiative began on 2 December 2015 and is expected to continue until the end of May 2016. As explained in my reply to the honourable Member for North Durham, Kevan Jones, on 11 March 2016, PQ UIN 30363, the Animal and Plant Health Agency will carry out an assessment of the effectiveness of the initiative following its conclusion. This assessment will be made publicly available and will be based on information provided by all parties involved in the pilot. This will include a summary of all enforcement action that has been taken. The report may not, however, be able to comment on investigations that may be underway.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made in encouraging diversity in leadership positions in the culture sector.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    In the recently published Culture White Paper we made it clear that more needs to be done to encourage diversity in leadership positions. From this year, Arts Council England will publish data on leadership looking at the diversity profile of Chief Executives, Artistic Directors and Chairs of the organisations that they fund. In December 2015, the Arts Council announced four new strategic funds for diversity, totalling £8.6 million. This included £2.1 million for the Elevate fund which has been created to develop the strength, management and governance of diverse-led organisations outside the Arts Council’s National Portfolio. A new £2.6 million Change Makers fund will fund long-term relationships between National Portfolio Organisations and aspiring arts leaders from the BME and deaf and disabled communities, providing valuable experience to individuals. Both of these funds are now open for applications.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the report of the Independent Cancer Taskforce entitled Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: a strategy for England 2015-2020, published in July 2015, what steps Monitor and NHS England have taken to introduce new sanctions for any provider not fully complying with electronic prescribing.

    Jane Ellison

    The independent Cancer Taskforce recommended that new sanctions should be introduced to encourage e-prescribing. A mechanism to enforce contractual sanctions for non-delivery of adult chemotherapy e-prescribing systems has been created from April 2016, which requires development of an action plan by 30 June 2016 and full implementation by 31 March 2017. For children, teenagers and young adults, providers will be required to produce a robust implementation plan by 30 September 2016 and to achieve full implementation by 30 September 2017.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-07-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning reports of Israeli troops shooting a Palestinian with Down’s Syndrome who posed no threat to those troops.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not made any representations to the Israeli authorities on this specific case, we have raised our concerns with the Israeli authorities in the past about the Israel Defence Forces’ use of live fire, urging robust and transparent investigations where appropriate.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds in the number of people in a permanent vegetative state in the UK; and how many such people are cared for by the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

    David Mowat

    Information on the number of people in a permanent vegetative state is not collected centrally.

    Brighton and Sussex University Hospital are currently not caring for any patients in a permanent vegetative state.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure adequate expertise in local housing market conditions among staff administering universal credit in jobcentres.

    Priti Patel

    The role of DWP is to administer the payment of Universal Credit (UC) and within that there is a Housing Cost element. The Local Authorities (LA) and Valuation Office keep their existing roles by providing valuation and housing advice. UC claims are assessed in UC service centres, not jobcentres.

    UC is being rolled out in a safe and controlled way to allow us to adapt and grow the capability we need over time. To support UC in assessment of the housing costs as part of delivering the live service, LA staff have been seconded on a short term basis to support improvements in housing cost knowledge for staff in UC Service centres.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make representations to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to implement the review of staffing and deployment agreed with trades unions in February 2014.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) regularly shares staffing data with the Trade Union Side (TUS) and has met them on many occasions since February 2014 to discuss matters including, but not limited to, staffing and deployment. A timeline was agreed with the TUS for these discussions to conclude on 23 September 2015 in order for them to ballot members on the position reached. Despite the final position on these talks being rejected by the TUS DVSA offered to continue discussions, on an ongoing basis, about staffing and deployment.

    DVSA is currently engaged in talks via ACAS with the Prospect Union, who have suspended industrial action, and hopes to be able to do the same with the Public and Commercial Services Union.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 1 July 2015 (HL811), on what dates the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference has discussed human rights; what specific topics were discussed; who attended those meetings; and what actions were taken as a result.

    Lord Dunlop

    Article 2 of The Belfast Agreement made provision for the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIGC). The BIIGC last met in 2007.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they last raised the issue of human rights with the governments of (1) Saudi Arabia, and (2) Iran.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We regularly raise our concerns over human rights in Saudi Arabia with the Saudi Arabian government, and did so most recently on 22 February. We repeatedly call on the Iranian government to guarantee the human rights of all Iranians and will continue to do so. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), most recently raised the issue with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif when he visited the UK on 5 February.