Category: Speeches

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the Section 104 Order covering fatal accident inquiry military deaths will come into force.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Section 104 Order aims to make a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) mandatory for any Service personnel who are killed in the course of their duties in Scotland. This provision will bring Scotland in line with the equivalent position in England and Wales. The Order is scheduled to be made in December 2016 subject to agreement from both UK and Scottish Ministers.

  • John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2016-06-20.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to bring forward VAT proposals to comply with the European Court of Justice judgement of 2015 on green products.

    Mr David Gauke

    The UK has applied a VAT reduced rate of 5% on 11 different types of energy saving materials since 2001. That existing reduced rate remains in place and is unchanged.

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to prohibit the use of hands-free kits by drivers of commercial coaches.

    Andrew Jones

    The Highway Code makes it clear that drivers need to be in control of their vehicles at all times. That means that drivers need to ensure that they use any device in their vehicles in a safe way when driving.

    Driving while using a hands-free kit is legal and previously published research estimated that whilst a hands-free kit is distracting, it is safer than using a hand-held device.

    Many cars now have built in hands-free kits and we are working with the industry to ensure that safety and legislation keeps pace with new technology as it develops.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what review his Department has conducted of homelessness in the West Midlands; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    One homeless family is one too many. We have provided more than £500 million to local authorities to prevent homelessness since 2010, which has resulted in 935,800 households, including 121,400 in the West Midlands region, being prevented from becoming homeless. The Department will continue to work with local authorities and the voluntary sector to tackle homelessness.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether diabetes is defined as a disability, and if so, what assessment they have made of the impact of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on diabetics in the UK.

    Lord Freud

    Under the Equality Act 2010 a person has a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Diabetes is a long term health condition and how disabling it is for people will vary depending on, amongst other things, severity and how well it is managed. The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July. These are available on the Parliament website.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect of civil service redundancies in the last 12 months on the effectiveness of departments’ work.

    Matthew Hancock

    To remain the best in the world, the Civil Service needs to respond to both the challenges and opportunities of our times.The Civil Service continues to require new and different skills to respond to the fiscal environment, global competition and changes in technology, whilst at the same time delivering better services more efficiently: in short, doing more for less.

    The size of the Civil Service has already reduced by 20% since March 2010 and has helped save taxpayers £2.8bn over the last Parliament. Despite this reduction in numbers, employee engagement rates were higher in 2015 than in 2010 and departments have successfully maintained delivery of our public services.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment the Regulatory Policy Committee has made of the devolution of Sunday trading rules.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government’s estimates of the economic impact will be independently scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee and their assessment will be published in due course.

  • Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kramer on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect to have balanced the structural deficit excluding capital expenditure.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The measure of the structural deficit that excludes capital is the ‘Cyclically-adjusted current budget’ (CACB). According to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s November 2015 ‘Economic and fiscal outlook’, the CACB is forecast to reach a surplus by 2017-18 of 0.5 per cent of GDP.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether Parliamentary authority is required for UK ratification of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

    Anna Soubry

    We expect the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement will be a mixed agreement covering areas of both EU and Member State competence. In that case, it will be subject to agreement by each EU Member State, the EU Council and the European Parliament. As part of this process the agreement will be laid before Parliament for scrutiny before it is ratified by the UK. We will confirm the procedures for Parliamentary approval when it is presented for signature.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools founded since 2015 are compliant with section 5 of the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010.

    Nick Gibb

    The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010 were replaced by the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, which came into force on 5 January 2015.

    58 fee paying independent schools have been registered since 1 January 2015. Not all of these have been inspected since registration. The normal procedure is for an independent school to be inspected in their first year of operation.

    14 schools have had a standard inspection since registration, and two schools have had material change inspections. Three of the standard inspections do not yet have a report available due to them having taken place very recently.

    Of the 11 inspection reports available, only one shows a failure to meet standard 5.

    All schools will have been inspected prior to registration and judged likely to meet all of the standards. Schools are not permitted to register unless the Secretary of State is satisfied that the school is likely to meet all of the standards on registration.