Category: Speeches

  • Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department has allocated to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council for local road maintenance in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Andrew Jones

    Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is part of the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority which will receive £85.1 million in capital funding from the Department for Transport for local highways maintenance from 2015/16 to 2020/21. This funding is for all authorities within the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority except Birmingham which has an operational highway maintenance project funded through the Private Finance Initiative. The Department does not hold information on the highway maintenance funding Solihull receives from the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority.

  • Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken through the Commonwealth to promote abolition of the death penalty in all Commonwealth States.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Government supports a moratorium on use of the death penalty across the Commonwealth and works diplomatically and by means of projects to promote abolition in individual Commonwealth countries. Some Commonwealth member states are steadily moving towards abolition. Relatively few persist with carrying out executions and several are contemplating legislative reform. Fiji abolished the death penalty altogether in 2015.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make it her policy to remove the deadline for the installation of SMETS 1 meters as a result of software upgrades making such meters compatible with her Department’s requirements.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government remains committed to ensuring the industry and consumer benefits of SMETS2 meters operated through the Data and Communications Company (DCC) are realised as soon as possible, while providing industry sufficient time to transition from SMETS1 to SMETS2 meters.

    The Government considers that a SMETS1 end-date of 12 months from availability of all DCC functionality strikes this balance; however we reserve the right to review the end date.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2016 to Question 37587, whether she is taking steps to reduce the time taken to process applications for the remaining children in refugee camps in Calais.

    Mike Penning

    Where an asylum claim is lodged in France by a minor with close family connections to the UK, both governments are committed to ensuring that process are in place to expedite reunification. Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and the UK has seconded an asylum expert to the French administration to improve all stages of the process of identifying, protecting and transferring relevant cases to the UK. We continue to work with the French Government to improve processes.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made an estimate of overall headcount and spending on civil servants across all Departments over the next five years.

    Ben Gummer

    Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each department to determine based on their individual operational and policy requirements. Each department has their own spending agreement with HM Treasury for this Parliament and are responsible for ensuring they have the right workforce and capability in place to deliver their commitments.

    Earlier this year, departments published their Single Departmental Plans, setting out the key programmes of work required to deliver the Government’s Manifesto commitments. Departments have been developing plans to ensure they have the workforce required to deliver their Single Departmental Plans.

    The Civil Service constantly reviews its capabilities in order to deliver the Government’s agenda. Cabinet Office is working with all departments across the Civil Service to better understand their capacity and capability requirements over this Parliament following the decision to exit the EU, but it is too early to make a detailed assessment at this stage.

  • Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the appropriateness of the use of amalgam in dental fillings.

    Alistair Burt

    Dental amalgam has been in use for over 150 years to restore teeth in millions of patients and, apart from rare instances of hypersensitivity, no adverse reactions have been identified. Alternative dental restorative materials are not so easily, quickly and reliably placed. Neither are they so durable. Due to improvements in oral health, the number of restorations is decreasing with the result that the safe management and disposal of dental amalgam is more easily achieved.

    The World Health Organization report Future Use of Materials for Dental Restorations November 2009 concluded that dental amalgam remains a dental restorative material of choice in the absence of an ideal alternative. The Department concurs with the conclusions of the report which can be found at:

    http://www.who.int/oral_health/publications/dental_material_2011.pdf

    “

  • Baroness Thomas of Winchester – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Thomas of Winchester – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Access to Work scheme can fund, or help fund, the installation of a disabled toilet in a workplace.

    Baroness Altmann

    Access to Work is able to help with adaptations to Premises and Equipment.

    In all cases where adaptations to premises are required, advisers will look to see what reasonable adjustment has first been made in accordance with employers obligations under the Equality Act.

    Dependent on the size of the business, an employer contribution may also be sought.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of non-priority single homeless people in the UK in each year since 2010-11.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Information on homeless households not in priority need is already collected and published in table 770 of the homelessness live tables which can be viewed at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness

    No information is collected on the household type of households found to be not in priority need.

    “

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of judges have received (i) diversity training since 1 January 2012 and (ii) no such training; and what proportion of such training included transgender issues.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Judicial training is a matter for the judiciary. The Judicial College organises training on behalf of the Lord Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals.

    All judges and magistrates receive diversity training during their induction training with social context issues, including diversity also forming part of their continuation training. Equality and diversity issues are also woven into all course materials. The Judicial College has also issued an Equal Treatment Bench Book which provides guidance on the range of equal treatment issues likely to arise in courts and tribunals, and includes transgender issues. This is publicly available at https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/publications/equal-treatment-bench-book/

    “

  • 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 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2016 to Question 30367, at which schools in East London Jobcentre Plus plans to offer Support for Schools in the 2015-16 academic year.

    Priti Patel

    Jobcentre Plus Support will be demand led and focused on those schools in the most disadvantaged areas of East London. In conjunction with the Careers & Enterprise Company JCP are considering which schools will be offered support. Details will be announced in due course.