Category: Speeches

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to maintain core funding for British schools and institutes abroad which promote UK higher education and research and the international reputation of the UK.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department for Business Innovation and Skills does not provide direct funding for British schools and institutes abroad which promote UK higher education and research and the international reputation of the UK. Core funding to some overseas research institutes such as the BASIS institutes sponsored by the British Academy, is provided through the science budget. The Government has protected the science budget in real terms to the end of the Parliament. The allocation for the National Academies for 2016-17 to 2019-20 provides for real terms protection for the British Academy’s BASIS programme, enabling the Academy to continue to provide the BASIS Institutes with substantial block grant support throughout this period.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will place in the Library any information her Department holds on the number of jobs imported coal supports in each of its source countries; and if she will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The number of jobs imported coal supports in each of its source countries is not information that the Department of Energy and Climate Change holds.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much funding his Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office did not receive any funding from the European Social Fund in either period.

  • Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the actions of Brighton and Hove City Council regarding its inquiries into children’s gender identity, rather than their physical sex, have been referred to the police in the light of any risk that such questioning might sexualise vulnerable young people.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Department for Education provides guidance on the Equality Act 2010 to schools which contains advice on the Public Sector Equality Duty and on the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.

    The Department has not inquired into the gender identity of children in January 2016 and has no correspondence on the matter.

    The addition of gender identity information on the pupil registration form was solely a decision of the Brighton and Hove City Council. They have the independence to make this decision.

    The Department does not hold details of any additional information collected by local authorities outside of those required by the Department for our centrally specified, mandatory data collections.

    The Department is not aware of any referral on this issue to the Police.

  • Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of measures to improve relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have continued to make progress on our relationship with Iran since we reopened our Embassies in August 2015, including through reciprocal ministerial visits and the reopening of our visa services.

  • Conor McGinn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Conor McGinn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to protect employment levels in (a) St Helens North constituency, (b) Merseyside and (c) the UK.

    Margot James

    This Government is committed to regional development and supporting growth up and down the country as we build an economy that works for everyone. We are focused on developing an industrial strategy that will boost productivity, create good jobs, and ensure sustainable economic growth. The employment rate in the UK is now at a record high of 74.5% and the unemployment rate is at its lowest level in over 10 years at 4.9%.

    We will continue to put power in the hands of local communities to drive economic growth. For Liverpool City Region, this includes implementing the devolution deal agreed with the Government in November 2015, which includes commitments around skills funding and co-designing future employment support for harder-to-help claimants. We will also work with Liverpool to deliver the city region’s Growth Deal which encompasses key projects across the city region and, for St Helens, includes improvements to Newton-le-Willows station and upgrades to the A570 to support growth in employment sites in the area.

  • John Glen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Glen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans (a) NICE and (b) NHS England has to issue a consultation on changes to the highly specialised technologies evaluation programme.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England launched a joint consultation on 13 October 2016 setting out proposed changes to the arrangements for the evaluation and adoption of new technologies, including on the methodology for the evaluation of highly specialised technologies.

  • Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2015 to Question 13632, on what dates in May 2015 he met (a) the Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) other ministers in HM Treasury to discuss the potential effects in Scotland of a carbon price support exemption scheme.

    David Mundell

    As indicated in my previous answers on this issue, I have had a number of meetings and discussions this year, both formal and informal, on the important issue of opencast restoration and in particular the proposal for a carbon price support exemption. These have included discussions with colleagues from HM Treasury, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Scottish Government and Local Authorities.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the effect on the household income of a family with two earners and three children which becomes a new claimant of universal credit and which is not migrating from a legacy benefit of the Government’s proposed changes to universal credit announced in the Summer Budget 2015 in each of the next four financial years.

    Priti Patel

    At the summer budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government’s commitment to move the UK from a high tax, high welfare, low wage society to a lower tax, lower welfare, higher wage society. This remains the case, and Universal Credit (UC) is delivering this.

    UC is a fundamentally different benefit to the legacy benefit system and provides people with support into, and to progress in work.

    Therefore there is no meaningful way of comparing an unreformed Tax Credit system with Universal Credit. The Government has committed to transitional arrangements as we reform the benefits and Tax Credit system. Those transferred by DWP from tax credits to UC will receive Transitional Protection. In addition, estimates of entitlements under UC of the sort requested will vary depending on assumptions on the level of earnings.

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20252, how she intends to monitor incidence of convictions for offences of domestic violence.

    Karen Bradley

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) publishes an annual violence against women and girls report, which includes national level data on the number of convictions for domestic abuse. The latest data, published in June 2015, showed that the volume of convictions in 2014-15 reached 68,601 – a rise of 10,325 convictions since 2013-14 and the highest volume ever.