Category: Speeches

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the illustrative rota number 15 for junior doctors published by NHS Employers on 18 February 2016, for what reasons that rota requires junior doctors to work on consecutive weekends; whether rota 15 has been updated since its original publication; and whether the illustrative rotas will provide for more junior doctors to be on duty at weekends than there are at present.

    Ben Gummer

    Only a small number of junior doctors currently work one weekend in two and NHS Employers agreed with the British Medical Association (BMA) that they would work together to move towards no junior doctor working more than one weekend in three as part of an agreed future contract review process. No junior doctor will be required to work consecutive weekends. The illustrative rota concerned has been adjusted to reflect this. However, the BMA said in negotiation that doctors working very frequent weekends would prefer the flexibility to group weekends of work together in order to group weekends off. This will be possible by agreement under the new contract.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the claims relating to national minimum wage have fallen under section 2 of the Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014 since their entry into force.

    Nick Boles

    No estimate has been made of the number of National Minimum Wage claims falling under section 2 of the Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014 since they came into force.

    The Regulations introduced a two year limit on claims for unlawful deductions made to an Employment Tribunal, including claims for the National Minimum Wage. Alternative options remain for workers who are concerned that they have been underpaid the National Minimum Wage over a longer time period. This includes making a complaint to HMRC, who can investigate and issue a Notice of Underpayment on the worker’s behalf, going back up to six years. Claims can also be brought to the county court for breach of contract, where arrears can be claimed going back six years (five years in Scotland).

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the observations from the Minister for Children and Families of 1 February 2016, Official Report, volume 605, column 8P, when the consultation on mandatory reporting of child abuse will commence.

    Edward Timpson

    The Government will launch its consultation on mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect in due course. The consultation will run for the full twelve weeks. The Government will carefully consider the need for any further statutory measures in the light of responses.

  • Mary Glindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Mary Glindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Glindon on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what medical assistance the UK provides to the Peshmerga in the Kurdistan region.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The package of training that the Military training teams are providing to the Peshmerga includes medical instruction equivalent to the mandatory annual training for battlefield casualties that is delivered to UK troops.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people arrested on suspicion of illegally entering the UK between January 2013 and April 2016 have been (a) convicted of that offence and (b) subsequently removed from the UK.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    It would be a disproportionate cost to disaggregate this information.

  • Margaret Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Margaret Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Greenwood on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will carry out a trial of the introduction of personal budgets for employment support for disabled people.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Government recognises that people need support that is tailored to their needs. Personal Budgets are currently being trialled in Access to Work to offer customers greater flexibility to manage their Travel to Work or Support Worker costs. Initial findings from the trial are expected in early 2017.

    A Personal Budgets model was previously tested in the Right to Control Trailblazers, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Disabled people taking part in the trailblazers were offered greater choice and control over the support they received, as well as the option to take a direct payment and arrange their own support. The final evaluation report did not find any evidence that the Right to Control Trailblazers had a significant positive impact on customers, both overall and by subgroup.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2015 to Question 11489, if he will make available the minutes of the Data Steering Group.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Data Steering Group has been established, chaired by the National Statistician, John Pullinger, which brings together leading experts to advise government on the strategic direction of the new Government Data Programme. Notes of these meetings will be made available on the Government Data Programme blog page on GOV.UK in due course.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what projection she has made of a global temperature increases by (a) 2050 and (b) 2100 caused by greenhouse gas emissions trajectories (i) under current trends and (ii) if all Intended Nationally Determined Contributions are delivered; what the implications of such temperature rises are in the UK for (A) coastal towns and cities, (B) extreme weather events and (C) food security; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    The Department of Energy and Climate Change and Defra have supported the AVOID Research Programme to project long-term climate change scenarios to understand how emissions reductions translate to global average surface temperature change. Based on a snapshot of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) pledged by 1 October 2015, with an assumed continuation of comparable global emissions reduction to the end of the century, this analysis projects:

    (a) (i) by 2050, with continued rise in global greenhouse gas emissions, warming of between 2.3˚C and 2.6 ˚C;

    (ii) by 2050, if all INDCs are delivered and continued, warming of 2˚C;

    (b) (i) by 2100, with continued rise in global greenhouse gas emissions, warming of between 4.2˚C and 5.2 ˚C;

    (ii) by 2100, if all Intended Nationally Determined Contributions are delivered and continued, warming of 3˚C.

    All of these estimates are temperature changes relative to pre-industrial global average surface temperature and best estimates of the climate’s sensitivity to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations.

    Under the Climate Change Act 2008, the Government has a statutory role to produce, on a five-yearly cycle, an assessment of the risks and opportunities for the UK arising from climate change. The first Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) was published in 2012. It included consideration of impacts on our coastlines, on the frequency and severity of extreme weather, and on our food production. The CCRA used the 2009 UK Climate Change Projections to assess risks under different emissions scenarios up to the 2100s.

    The National Adaptation Programme report which Defra published in July 2013 sets out how we are preparing for the impacts of climate change. This sets out more than 370 actions across key sectors involving government, business, councils, civil society and academia.

    Work is underway on the second CCRA, which will include an up-to-date review of evidence on the effects of climate change. The CCRA Government Report and the associated evidence report will be published in January 2017. These will inform the next National Adaptation Programme due around 2018.

    The Global Food Security programme recently launched a joint research council five-year £15 million research call on resilience of the food supply chain, in partnership with Defra and the Food Standards Agency.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department spent on Continuity of Education Allowance in independent schools in financial year (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; how many children were in receipt of that allowance in each of those years; and which five schools had the highest spend on that allowance in each of those years.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    It is a condition of their employment that members of the diplomatic service must be prepared to serve anywhere in the world at any time during their career, sometimes at very short notice. Those with children have a legal obligation as parents to ensure that their children receive a full-time education from the age of five years. Most parents prefer to take their children with them abroad, but in some of the 168 countries and territories where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has UK based staff, we do not permit staff to take their children either for health or security reasons. In others, local schools of an acceptable standard are not available. It is longstanding practice that the FCO helps staff meet their potentially conflicting obligations by providing financial support for their children’s education in the UK where staff choose this, or are obliged to do so given local conditions in the country to which they are posted.

    Continuity of education is also an important factor, particularly at secondary level.

    The FCO refunds standard term fees up to a ceiling which is reviewed annually. Where staff opt to send their children to more expensive schools, staff meet the difference in cost. The maximum amount the FCO will pay is determined by an independent survey conducted by ECA International, which is used by public and private sector employers whose staff work across the world. Various factors, including availability of places (sometimes at short notice) and proximity of other family members, influence which schools staff choose for their children.

    FY UK School costs (CEA) Number of Children
    2012/13 £14,926,061 700
    2013/14 £13,704,118 (£13,162,823)*625 (604)*
    2014/15 £12,943,134 (£12,391,079)*593 (570)*
    *Cost to the FCO after reclaiming costs from other Government departments for their staff deployed overseas

    We are unable to provide the 5 schools that had the highest spend in each of those years as to do so would entail checking individual files, which would incur a disproportionate cost.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what reports she has received from (a) the Metropolitan Police and (b) other police forces of delays in processing Disclosure and Barring Service applications; and if she will make a statement.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) provides a formal monthly performance report to the Home Office and Home Office Ministers. This includes updates on the performance of police forces in meeting the Service Level Agreement (SLA) standards for the time taken to complete local disclosure checks.

    The DBS monitors the performance of all police disclosure units and works closely with any force, including the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), not meeting its targets. An MPS Gold Group is overseeing the recovery plan in place at the MPS and Home Office officials maintain a close oversight of the progress being made by assessing weekly reports and through regular attendance at the Group.

    It is a priority of the MPS, DBS and the Home Office to see improvements as quickly as possible and I will continue to monitor the situation closely.