Category: Speeches

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of implementing the Natural England report, Vital Uplands, published in 2009, in respect of restoration of deep upland vegetation to control hillside water run-off and valley flooding.

    Rory Stewart

    The Vital Uplands report of 2009 was withdrawn by the previous Natural England Board and Management Team. Natural England, the Environment Agency, Defra and by academic institutions continue to closely monitor the complex science and evidence around upstream mitigation, through peatland, forestry and other natural measures. Some such measures have now been funded by the Government and piloted in schemes such as that in Pickering in Yorkshire. Natural upstream mitigation will be a key element of our planning at a catchment level, currently being taken forward through the Cumbrian Floods Partnership and our 25-year Environment Plan.

  • 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 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what role the UK pharmaceutical industry is playing in the development of a vaccine for the Zika virus.

    Jane Ellison

    The United Kingdom pharmaceutical industry will play a leading role in the development of a vaccine for the Zika virus, in collaboration with a range of the UK’s infectious disease experts, who are world leaders in this area.

    In the Spending Review, the £1 billion Ross Fund, run jointly by the Department of Health and Department for International Development, includes over £350 million for the development of new vaccines, drugs and diagnostics for infectious diseases.

    Particularly noteworthy within this, the UK Vaccine Network, with up to £120 million of funding, brings together industry, academia and Government to finance the development of new vaccines for priority infectious diseases with epidemic potential, including Zika. Indeed, the Network will launch a major funding call to finance the development of vaccines for Zika and other priority diseases at the end of February.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls have been made to the Universal Credit 03456000723 number to date; what the average duration is of such calls; what the average cost is of each call; and how much revenue in total has been generated by these calls.

    Priti Patel

    To date, 2.2million calls have been answered by Universal Credit agents. The average call duration is 07:29 minutes. This information includes calls to the 0345 number and to the 0845 number it replaced.

    Calls to 0345 numbers are charged to the customer at the same rate as a call to a standard local or national geographic number. The cost is dependent on the customer’s tariff and will be taken from inclusive bundled call minutes where applicable.

    Information about call charges are available at the following link https://www.gov.uk/call-charges

    .

    The Department generates no revenue from these calls and is unable to comment on revenue generated by other parties

    “

  • 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 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department owed in late payments to small and medium-sized enterprises in each year for which data is available.

    Anna Soubry

    When making payments, the core Department does not differentiate between small, medium and large enterprises as many small and medium sized businesses can be found at various tiers of the procurement chain.

    The Department takes prompt payment very seriously and records show that in the current financial year to the end of February 2016, 96.4% of all valid invoices (by volume) were paid within 5 working days. When looking at the overall value, this equates to 99.8% paid within 5 working days and 99.99% of invoices were paid within the 30 day standard contractual terms.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of a vote to leave the EU in the forthcoming referendum on (a) the process for child adoption and (b) the number of children adopted.

    Edward Timpson

    The EU referendum vote will have no bearing on the UK’s adoption process as there are no uniform rules applicable in all EU countries and every country applies its own rules. The adoption system in England is underpinned by the Children Act 1989 and Adoption and Children Act 2002 and associated statutory guidance. We do not collect centrally information on how many children from EU member states have been adopted in the UK.

  • Zac Goldsmith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Zac Goldsmith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Zac Goldsmith on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress his Department has made on supporting the establishment of marine protected areas in the high seas.

    James Duddridge

    The UK led negotiations within the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources which resulted in the establishment of the world’s first high-seas Marine Protected Area (within the Antarctic Treaty area) and supports the establishment of further Marine Protected Areas within the area covered by the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The UK is also a leading member of the OSPAR Commission which has designated seven Marine Protected Areas in the high seas of the North-East Atlantic and works closely with other regional and international organisations to manage these.

    The UK supports, and is fully engaged, in the work at the United Nations seeking an agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity and the need to establish a mechanism to deliver marine protected areas in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure an effective balance between its policies on tackling radicalisation and protecting people at risk of Islamaphobic attacks.

    Sarah Newton

    The Government is determined to tackle hate crime and extremism wherever it occurs.

    The Government’s Prevent strategy, published in 2011, explicitly tackles all forms of terrorism. That includes protecting individuals who are at risk from far right and Neo-nazi extremism, as well as those vulnerable to Islamist extremism.

    Prevent is about safeguarding people who are at risk of radicalisation. Prevent does not target a specific faith or ethnic group. Rather, Prevent protects those who are targeted by terrorist recruiters. Currently the greatest threat comes from terrorist recruiters inspired by Daesh. Our Prevent programme will necessarily reflect this by prioritising support for vulnerable British Muslims, and working in partnership with British Muslim communities and civil society groups.

    The Prevent programme is implemented in a proportionate manner that takes into account the level of risk in any given area or institution. In some areas the risk of far right extremism may be significant and we would expect in those circumstances for Prevent activity to focus on the far right threat.

    Far right extremism often brings with it the threat of anti-Muslim or antisemitic attacks. We have a strong record of action against Islamophobia and antisemitism and deplore all religious or racially motivated crimes.

    We strongly condemn the increase in attacks on Muslims that have been seen in this country in recent years. We know the majority of people in United Kingdom join our condemnation, and we have seen great examples of individuals and communities standing together to tackle this hatred.

    Muslims make an enormous contribution to British society. They are all too often the victims of hatred and intolerance in this country and overseas. This Government is determined to act to protect British Muslims.

    The United Kingdom has in place one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to protect communities from hostility, violence and bigotry. We will keep it under review to ensure it remains effective and appropriate in the face of new and emerging threats. We also published a new Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan on 26 July which will drive forward action against all forms of hate crime, including anti-Muslim hatred. This will be taken forward in partnership with communities to ensure we target the harm that hate crime causes.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to help reduce long-term unemployment.

    Damian Hinds

    The number of people in employment is increasing and the latest figures show that the employment rate has remained at the record high of 74.5%. There are more people in work than ever before (31.81 million) – up 106,000 on the quarter and 560,000 on the year.

    The number of long term unemployment is 443,000 – the lowest level since 2008.

    Universal Credit, the Work Programme and the Jobcentre Plus Offer, is reforming the welfare system to improve incentives and provide more effective support to those without work.

    Work Coaches have the flexibility to offer all claimants a comprehensive menu of help which includes skills provision and job search support. All claimants who are long term unemployed can access the tailored, back to work support on offer from the Work Programme, which provides support for those who are more at risk of long-term unemployment.

    An Employment and Health Related Service is being launched in 2017. The Work and Health Programme is a new programme that will harness the expertise of private, public, voluntary and community sector providers to deliver sustained work for disabled people, disadvantaged groups and the long term unemployed.

    There is also to be a new Youth Obligation from April 2017. From day 1 of their claim, young people will participate in an intensive support regime equipping them with vital skills to not only find a job, but build capability to sustain work. After six months they will be expected to apply for an appropriate apprenticeship, a traineeship, gain work skills or go on a mandatory work placement to give them the opportunities they need to get on in work.

  • Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of animals exported to (a) EU member states and (b) countries outside the EU in the last year.

    George Eustice

    Figures for the last calendar year are provided below. The estimate for EU countries is based on figures obtained from HM Revenue and Customs which draw on information provided by VAT-registered firms. Actual trade levels may be higher.

    Exports to European Member States

    Breeding cattle

    4

    Sheep

    161

    Poultry

    10, 354

    Horses, asses and mules

    1

    Other animals

    5

    Total

    10,525

    Exports to countries outside the EU

    Poultry

    4,252

    Horses, asses and mules

    1

    Other animals

    2

    Total

    4,255
  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to the US (a) government and (b) Congress on comments made by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on banning Muslims from entering the US.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We have not made any formal representations to the US Government or Congress. However, the Prime Minister, my right hon Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has made clear that he completely disagrees with Mr Trump’s comments, which the Prime Minister described as “divisive, unhelpful and wrong”.