Category: Speeches

  • Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that regional museums and galleries are adequately funded.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Councils have almost £200 billion to spend on local services, over the lifetime of this parliament. It is for each local authority who know their area best to decide how to allocate its budget to provide museum services to its communities.

    In addition, through the Arts Council England, DCMS has increased funding for 21 Major Partner Museums Networks (130 Museums in total) from £20.3m to £22.6 million over 2015-2018. Regional museums can bid for funds from ACE’s £10 million per year Resilience Fund, and for lottery funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. We are also investing millions of pounds to boost local and regional museums, for example, £5 million towards a new South Asia Gallery at Manchester Museum and £2.5 million to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.

    As announced in our Culture White Paper, we will conduct a wide-ranging review into the museums sector that will examine local and regional museums, as well as Government-sponsored museums and the museums infrastructure nationally.

  • Baroness Thomas of Winchester – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Thomas of Winchester – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of cuts in the number of welfare rights officers and to legal aid, they will provide resources to Citizens Advice Bureaux, local mental health charities and disability organisations to provide support for disabled people who go to tribunal when appealing against their Personal Independence Payment assessment.

    Baroness Altmann

    Tribunal proceedings are designed to be straightforward and accessible to all. The tribunal panel is trained and possess special expertise to ensure that all issues which have a bearing on the outcome of an appeal are investigated irrespective of whether or not they have been raised by the parties.

    DWP does not provide funding for this purpose. Individual local authorities may provide funding for these types of organisations but it would be a matter for the individual local authority to decide.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-07-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 12 July (HL Deb, col 124), how many Syrian refugees have been settled in each of the 71 local authorities so far.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Progress on resettlement in each local authority is indicated in quarterly immigration statistics. The last set of statistics, published on 26 May 2016, showed that 1,602 Syrians were resettled in the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme between October 2015 and March 2016 and sets out how many were located in each local authority.

  • Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Will Quince on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of security at London City Airport after the recent protestor security breach.

    Mr John Hayes

    We keep aviation security under constant review. The Civil Aviation Authority, as regulator, has carried out a full investigation of the incident on 6 September, and will continue to monitor London City Airport’s response to the incident and subsequent investigation. For obvious reasons we would not comment publicly on the details of this response.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase research into the causes and types of rare diseases in England.

    George Freeman

    The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has invested significantly in world-class research infrastructure in the National Health Service, to provide the facilities and people to undertake and increase research into rare diseases.This includes significant funding through the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres and Units, the NIHR Bio Resource – Rare Diseases which provides opportunities for patients, their families and health volunteers to take part in early translational research on the basis of their genotype and phenotype, and the dedicated NIHR Rare Diseases Translational Collaboration that brings together the country’s leading researchers in rare diseases and promotes collaboration including with the life sciences industry.

    In 2012 the NIHR also launched a call for Applied Clinical Research on Very Rare Diseases as part of the researcher-led funding streams across six of the NIHR Research Programmes. This call was issued in support of the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases and in recognition of the need for increased high quality evidence on the organisation of super specialised services or their commissioning and to improve the health outcomes for sufferers of rare diseases.

  • Henry Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Henry Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when his Department plans to make an announcement regarding resettlement of the British Indian Ocean Territory by Chagos islanders.

    James Duddridge

    A twelve week public consultation ended on 27 October. Nearly 850 written responses were received from as far afield as Tanzania, Switzerland, Thailand, France, and of course the main Chagossian communities in the UK, Mauritius and Seychelles. Officials are continuing their analysis of these, and the results of meetings held with Chagossians in their own communities, to allow a decision on a way ahead soon.

  • Catherine West – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Catherine West – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether apprentices are required to achieve a Level 1 qualification, including mathematics and English, in order (a) to be entered for an Intermediate Level Apprenticeship and (b) for entries to be in accordance with the Specification of Apprenticeships Standards for England.

    Nick Boles

    In order to maximise accessibility, there are no centrally set entry requirements to start an apprenticeship. However, as apprenticeships are jobs with training, individual employers may set their own entry requirements for a specific apprenticeship.

    The government does set requirements relating to training and achievement in English and maths during apprenticeships. This is because English and maths are fundamental to career progression and access to further learning.

    All apprenticeship frameworks must comply with the Specification of Apprenticeship Standards for England (SASE). Under SASE, English and maths qualifications are a mandatory component of all Intermediate and Advanced apprenticeships. However, all adult apprentices are assessed for prior learning, and people who start an apprenticeship with current English and maths qualifications at the right level need not repeat these.

    We are reforming apprenticeships to ensure that they are based on standards designed by employers.The government sets minimum requirements for apprenticeship standards, though employers are able to go further in the standards they design. They are able to specify a higher level of English and/or maths achievement or to specify a particular qualification or qualifications where this is needed for a particular occupation or sector. . The minimum requirements are – passing level 1 English and maths and taking the test for level 2 before taking the end-point assessment for an intermediate apprenticeship; and passing level 2 English and maths before taking the end-point assessment for an advanced or higher apprenticeship.

  • Angela Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Angela Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Eagle on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on the potential effect of China obtaining market economy status on steel dumping across the EU.

    Anna Soubry

    My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues, EU Commissioners and EU counterparts about a range of issues, including Market Economy Status (MES) for China. He most recently discussed trade aspects of the steel industry with Trade Commissioner Malmstrom on 20 January.

    We are awaiting a European Commission proposal on granting MES. We understand that the Commission will also be undertaking a detailed assessment of the economic impacts of granting MES as part of their consideration of this issue. We will examine any proposal and assessment carefully. The Prime Minister has previously stated that he will make the case for China to be granted MES but China will need to show that it is committed to becoming more open as it becomes more prosperous. In considering the Commission’s proposal it will be important to consider the wider trade and international political context including compliance with international commitments. If China is granted MES, the Commission will still be able to pursue anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases and impose measures where evidence of dumping or subsidy is found.

    The government is strongly in favour of effective trade defences to tackle unfair trade practices. The Government voted in favour of anti-dumping measures on steel products in July and November and lobbied successfully for an investigation into re-bar. The Government is also pushing for faster, more effective action to deal with dumping of steel: this was one of the conclusions of the Extraordinary Competitiveness Council on Steel in November. The Secretary of State also raised the issue with the Trade Commissioner.

    The Government is playing an active role in the European Commission’s steel stakeholder’s conference summit on 15 February and is supporting a robust discussion of the issue of overcapacity through the EU’s ongoing dialogue with the Chinese.

  • 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 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were victims of online fraud in (a) Burnley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West in each year since 2010.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of victims of online frauds committed annually.

    The Office for National Statistics recently published a provisional estimate of 5.1 million fraud offences a year in England and Wales, based on trial data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales. This did not include details of how many fraud offences were online or on the number of victims of online fraud.

    The ONS also published the number of frauds referred to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) in the year to September 2015 – 604,601. It is not possible to establish how many of these were online.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on local economies of stone theft.

    Karen Bradley

    Stone theft has a detrimental effect on towns and communities across England and Wales. The impact of these crimes includes both the economic cost to the victim, but there are also wider costs to the community, for example where schools, churches or heritage items are targeted by criminals.

    We have received no recent representations from local authorities on this issue, nor have we had recent discussions with the police on stone theft specifically. However, the police are working with Historic England, the Crown Prosecution Service and others to share intelligence and shape good practice in tackling and preventing heritage crime, such as stone theft.

    We would encourage all victims of stone theft, whether individuals or organisations, to report instances of these crimes to their local police, so that the crimes can be properly recorded and investigated. The local response is a matter for individual chief officers of police and Police and Crime Commissioners, taking into account the specific local issues and demands that they face.

    We are satisfied that the existing legislation provides the police and courts with sufficient powers to respond to stone theft.