Category: Speeches

Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the Exchequer was of providing free television licences to people over 75 years of age in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16 for qualifying residents in (i) the North East, (ii) Country Durham and (iii) Easington constituency.

Richard Harrington

In 2014/15 the cost of providing free TV licences to those 75 and over in the North East was £26.5m and it is estimated the cost for qualifying residents in Durham County local authority and Easington constituency was £5.3m and £0.8m respectively.

The cost of the free TV licences to those aged 75 and over in the North East for 2015/16 will be published on 21 September on the Gov.uk website. Breakdowns by County and Parliamentary Constituency use that North East expenditure estimate.

01/01/2023
Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department made of the financial viability of the Redcar coke ovens and blast furnace as a standalone operation without South Bank coke ovens.

Anna Soubry

We have made no such assessment. On liquidation of a company, it is the responsibility of the liquidator to sell the free assets of the company. In the case of SSI UK, this was the Official Receiver who is independent. I am informed that the Official Receiver did maintain operations at SSI, including the coke ovens, for a period while he tried to find purchasers for the assets of SSI UK but as of the 12 October, no purchaser had been found and the Official Receiver ceased operations of the coke ovens and blast furnace.

01/01/2023
Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 1.149 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, how local authority funding allocations for temporary accommodation will be calculated over the Spending Review period.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Spending Review and Autumn Statement announced that funding of the Temporary Accommodation management fee will be devolved to local authorities from 2017/18, giving them more freedom and flexibility in how they use this funding. Current levels of funding will be maintained and, in addition, councils will receive £10 million a year more. The Department for Communities and Local Government will set out the precise detail of how the new funding will be distributed in 2016/17. The Department will work closely with local authorities and other partners to ensure that funding will be allocated in order to most effectively help councils tackle homelessness.

01/01/2023
Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will ask Ofcom to compare the predicted and actual proportion of BT’s ducts that are able to have fibre blown through them without further civil works.

Mr Edward Vaizey

All ducts and poles in BT’s network beyond the telephone exchange are open to other providers, under the Passive Infrastructure Access obligation imposed by Ofcom, to provide primarily residential broadband services. In its Digital Communications Review. Ofcom is looking at the future role of passive infrastructure access in facilitating competition and innovation.

01/01/2023
Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offences of each type were committed by (a) sentenced female prisoners and (b) female prisoners held on remand who had their children with them in prison in each of the last three years; and which such offences were of each type in the violence against the person category.

Caroline Dinenage

The information requested is not centrally held, and could be collected only at disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023
Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, who will take on the responsibilities of the national clinical director of adult neurology if that role is not reappointed.

Jane Ellison

Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director, has undertaken a review of the National Clinical Director (NCD) resource designed to focus clinical advisory resources on areas where major programmes of work are currently being taking forward, or areas identified as priorities for improvement. As a result of the review, NHS England has proposed to change the way in which clinical advice is received in speciality areas in the future.

Where there will no longer be a specific NCD role, NHS England will secure expert clinical advice from its clinical networks and through its relationships with professional bodies and by appointing clinical advisors. For neurology it is planned that access to advice will be through clinical leads and members of the NHS England-funded neurology clinical networks, the Neurology Clinical Reference Group and Royal Colleges. It is expected that these new arrangements will be in place from 1 April 2016.

01/01/2023

Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers there were in (a) state and religious schools, (b) academies and (c) free schools in Burnley in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013, (v) 2014 and (vi) 2015.

Nick Gibb

The following table provides the head count and full-time equivalent (FTE) number of teachers in (a) Local Authority maintained schools and (b) free schools in Burnley in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013, and (v) 2014. There were no academy schools open in Burnley during 2010 to 2014. 2015 data will be available in June 2016.

	LA Maintained[1]	Free Schools[1]
	Head Count	FTE	Head Count	FTE
2010	919	824.7	0	0.0
2011	881	801.1	0	0.0
2012	875	806.0	0	0.0
2013	885	810.0	10	9.3
2014	873	806.5	21	19.3

Source: School Workforce Census

[1] Includes faith and non-denominational schools.

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01/01/2023

Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-05-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in (a) Burnley and (b) Lancashire have an Education, Health and Care 0-25 years Special Educational Needs plan.

Edward Timpson

Information on the number of children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan by local authority in January 2015 based on the SEN2 return is available on GOV.UK in the Statistical First Release ‘Statements of SEN and EHC plans: England 2015’: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2015 (Table 3).

This data is collected at local authority level and cannot be disaggregated to constituency level.

Data for January 2016 will be published on 26 May 2016.

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01/01/2023
Jake Berry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to facilitate customers switching suppliers in consumer markets.

Nick Boles

We are taking action to make it quick and easy to switch suppliers. Last year, we published six switching principles, urging industry to improve their processes.

The Government has challenged the mobile phone operators to unlock handsets for free, and the major operators have committed to doing so.

We are also legislating for easier switching in the communications markets in the Digital Economy Bill.

01/01/2023
Natalie McGarry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Natalie McGarry on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which reports commissioned by his Department from external bodies between 1 January 2015 and 31 August 2016 have not yet been published; when each report was commissioned for research; what the nature of the research commissioned was; from which external body or individual person the research was commissioned; what the value was of each such piece of research commissioned; on what date each report was received by his Department; for what reasons the research has not yet been published; and when he plans to publish each report.

Greg Hands

Between 1 January 2015 and 31 August 2016 the Department for International Trade (former UK Trade and Investment, Business, Innovation and Skills Trade Policy Group and UK Export Finance) commissioned 21 studies to external organisations which have not yet been published. The table attached contains the details. Information with regards to the value of the project cannot be disclosed until the projects are completed.

01/01/2023