Category: Speeches

  • Keir Starmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Keir Starmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keir Starmer on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to provide long-term funding for the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education.

    Nick Gibb

    Every young person should learn about the Holocaust and the lessons it teaches us today. In recognition of its significance, the Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the national curriculum.

    Since 2008, the Department for Education has funded UCL Institute of Education’s Centre for Holocaust Education which has seen more than 7,000 teachers benefit from their programme since 2011.

    The Department has renewed the funding for 2016-17 and will continue to do all it can to promote, support and fund teaching of the Holocaust.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether it is their policy that FTSE 100 executive pay is a matter solely for shareholders or also for a wider group of affected stakeholders such as pension holders, customers, and the customers of similar companies.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the noble Lord.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-06-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to take steps to encourage Gulf States to allocate asylum spaces for Syrian refugees.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We recognise and welcome the substantial contribution made by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to the humanitarian aid response for Syria and the numbers of Syrians already in the Gulf. The Gulf states are now home to almost one million Syrians, and have pledged more than $3 billion in humanitarian assistance. Kuwait co-hosted the London Donor Conference in February 2016 where Gulf states pledged $739 million.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the UK’s departure from the EU is not delayed by general or presidential elections in other EU countries.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Prime Minister has been clear that we will not be triggering Article 50 before the end of 2016, and the detailed work now underway to prepare for our negotiation over exit is complete. Once we have triggered Article 50, a clear process and timeline then applies. We intend to work closely with other Member states to deliver a smooth and orderly departure in line with that process.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many meetings (a) Ministers of her Department and (b) officials of HM Prison Service have had with drone manufacturers in each quarter of each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Details of all ministerial meetings with external companies are published on gov.uk. Information on officials’ meetings is not held centrally.

    We remain vigilant to all incidents involving drones and take the threat they pose to prison security very seriously. We have already introduced new legislation to further strengthen our powers, so that anyone found using a drone in an attempt to get contraband into prisons can be punished with a sentence of up to two years imprisonment. We take a zero tolerance approach to smuggling of contraband into prisons and work closely with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to ensure those caught are prosecuted.

    A range of methods to counter the threat posed by drones are continuously being trialled and evaluated for their effectiveness across the prison estate.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received from mental health charities on the adequacy of mental health provision in NHS services; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    Ministers and Departmental officials regularly meet with various stakeholders, including charities, to discuss how to improve mental health services in the NHS. We will continue to seek opportunities to enhance the charitable sector’s valuable role in providing support to people with mental illness and their carers and families.

    The independent Mental Health Taskforce, which is chaired by the Chief Executive of Mind, brings together health and care leaders and experts in the field, including people using services, to lead a programme of work to create a mental health Five Year Forward View for the NHS in England.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what mechanisms are in place to ensure transparency of the ownership of limited partnerships; what plans he has to (a) improve such transparency and (b) ensure that such partnerships are not set up for money laundering purposes; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    To improve transparency, the Department has established a publicly accessible central register of people with significant control (PSC register) through the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.

    The PSC register will be an easily accessible single source of information about the ultimate owners and controllers of UK companies, Limited Liability Partnerships and Societas Europeae. From June 2016, these corporate entities will be required to make their beneficial ownership information publically available through the UK register of companies.

    It is already a legal requirement that the name of each of the partners of limited partnerships be submitted to Companies House on registration. This information is available to the public free of charge through the new Companies House beta service. Companies House also works collaboratively with other government departments and agencies to tackle crime and fraud, including money laundering.

    We are currently considering the scope of the UK register to ensure we comply with the European Union’s Fourth Money Laundering Directive, which requires corporate and other legal entities to obtain and hold beneficial ownership information.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to control the number of polecats.

    Rory Stewart

    Wildlife management is a devolved matter, so I can only respond on behalf of England.

    Defra’s general policy is that individuals should be free to manage wildlife within the law. In the first instance controlling polecats is the responsibility of the owner or occupier of the property where the problem occurs.

    Polecats are protected by the Bern Convention, which means the UK is obliged to protect their populations from unsustainable management and methods of control which are indiscriminate or capable of causing their local disappearance or serious disturbance. We meet our obligations through the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

    Whilst polecats are not protected from killing or taking, those who wish to kill or take polecats may not use methods prohibited by those pieces of legislation (for example poisons, traps, snares or nets), unless they acquire a licence from Natural England permitting them to do so.

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the results were of temperature tests to determine eligibility to receive winter fuel allowance of people living abroad in 2015.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The winter fuel payment eligibility criteria for people who normally live in the EEA, was changed for winter 2015-16. A temperature criterion was introduced by the DWP using information from a report it commissioned from the Met Office. This report showed the average winter temperature data for each EEA country and Switzerland and for the regions of the UK. The Met Office report was produced in 2012 and used information from a dataset for the reference period 1961-1990 available through the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia.

    The average winter temperature in the warmest part of the UK, the South West, is 5.6oC. This point is the basis for the changes made to the winter fuel payment eligibility criteria. People living in countries with an average winter temperature of no more than 5.6oC, or a temperature that is close enough to that to be statistically equivalent, are eligible for a winter fuel payment.

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much money has been received from the sale of former military sites and bases in Northern Ireland to date.

    Earl Howe

    Since 2005 the Ministry of Defence has received around £117 million in disposal receipts from the sale of surplus sites in Northern Ireland.

    All transactions were carried out in accordance with the Hillsborough Agreement.

    Over the same period, the Department gifted four bases to the Northern Ireland Executive with an estimated total combined value of £21 million. As outlined in a Written Ministerial Statement (HCWS509) released on 4 February 2016, there is also intent to gift an additional 59 surplus Service Family Accommodation units to the Northern Ireland Executive, with a combined value of £3.5 million.