Category: Speeches

  • Lord Rowlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Rowlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rowlands on 2015-12-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what basis, and by which process, the relevant shares of the proposed Apprenticeship Levy will be distributed to the devolved administrations.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    We are working with the devolved administrations to ensure fair and transparent funding and, as far as possible, to develop a system for administering the levy which complements the skills and apprenticeship policies of each of the devolved administrations. We are committed to doing all we can to make the system work for employers wherever they are in the UK.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will support the UK’s wine and spirit industry with further duty cuts in 2016.

    Damian Hinds

    The government continues to keep all taxes under review and decisions on tax policy are made by the Chancellor as part of the Budget process. Any changes to alcohol duties would need to take account of a wide range of factors, including the Exchequer impact, the impact on businesses, public health and the distributional impact of reform.

    The government is committed to supporting the UK wine andspirits industry. The duty onspirits was cut by 2% at March Budget 2015, building on the duty freeze at Budget 2014. The duty on wines below 22% abv has been frozen since March Budget 2015.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to prevent EU health tourism.

    Alistair Burt

    Since its inception in 2013, the Department’s Visitor and Migrant NHS Cost Recovery Programme has been working to design and implement key improvements to ensure that those people who should pay for National Health Service care are identified and charged.

    Achievements include:

    – The launch of the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) reporting incentive on 1 October 2014. All EHIC activity correctly reported by NHS secondary providers, so that the UK is able to make appropriate reimbursement claims from other member states, allows them to access an additional 25% funding;

    – The revision of the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations which came into force on 6 April 2015, reducing the number of exemption from charge categories and realigning the Regulations to the principle that the NHS is a residency-based healthcare system; and

    – Support and engagement with NHS providers through meetings with senior trust employees and the launch of a cost recovery support team to provide bespoke assistance to trusts to improve their processes for identifying chargeable patients and recovering funds owed, including those from Europe.

    The Department is currently consulting on the extension of charging overseas visitors and migrants using the NHS in England. Part of the consultation proposes to amend the residence definition for EEA nationals, by which they qualify for free NHS treatment in England. The consultation is due to conclude on 7 March 2016.

    The Department does not hold information on the cost to the public purse of EU health tourism.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in which circumstances magistrates are required to send cases to the Crown Court in cases in which their sentencing powers would be sufficient to deal with the cases in their court.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    There are a range of circumstances which would require magistrates to send cases within their sentencing powers to the Crown Court for trial including those involving indictable-only offences; or where the offence concerned is linked to one or more other offences which must be tried in the Crown Court; or where the defendant elects for a jury trial; or, in youth cases, where the offence involves an adult co-defendant who must be tried in the Crown Court.

    In accordance with the Allocation Guideline issued by the independent Sentencing Council, magistrates should take account of any potential mitigation and guilty plea, which would bring a case within their jurisdiction. Where they are uncertain about the adequacy of their powers, they should retain a case and commit for sentence if they later take the view that it falls outside their sentencing powers.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what provisions his Department has put in place to improve rolling stock as part of the rail franchise package for the North West.

    Andrew Jones

    The new Northern and TransPennine Express franchises commenced on the 1st April. By the end of 2019, they will have introduced significant improvements in Rolling Stock.

    The Northern franchise will deliver:-

    • 281 new carriages including 55 new Diesel and 43 new Electric trains – the first ever new trains specified for the Northern franchise
    • Additional diesel units cascaded from other franchises – refurbished to ‘as new’ standard
    • Removal of all Pacer trains by October 2019
    • All retained trains will be refurbished as new including Wi-Fi, media servers, passenger information systems, CCTV and accessible toilets with baby-change facilities

    This means that 30% of this expanded fleet will be new and will operate 2000 more services per week –a 12% increase. The additional trains will provide a 37% increase in morning peak capacity into the North’s 5 major cities by December 2019.

    The TransPennine franchise will deliver:-

    • 220 new carriages
    • All existing trains will be refurbished as new including Wi-Fi, additional power sockets, and real-time passenger information systems

    This means that 70% of fleet is new, the fleet size increases by two-thirds, provides 13million more seats, an 80% increase in morning peak seats by the end of 2019.

    These delivery plans as bid by the two operators during the Invitation to Tender process have been contracted within the franchise agreements.

  • Graham Brady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Graham Brady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Brady on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what information her Department holds on the viability of molten salt reactors to generate electricity.

    Andrea Leadsom

    In 2012, DECC published an ‘Assessment of advanced reactor systems against UK performance metrics’, which it had commissioned from the National Nuclear Laboratory. This analysis covered molten salt reactors.

    These can be found online at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/65502/6299-assessment-reactor-systems-uk-metrics.pdf

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/65503/6302-addendum-assessment-reactor-metrics.pdf.

    “

  • Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kramer on 2016-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the value of (1) imports, and (2) exports, from other EU member states to each local authority area in the UK.

    Lord Price

    Regional trade statistics at the local authority level are not available.

    Trade statistics showing the value of trade in goods between UK regions/countries (NUTS 1 level) and EU member states are available from the HM Revenue and Customs’ Regional Trade Statistics database.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-09-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for patients who have certain medical conditions, such as diabetes, mental health problems or other illnesses, to go into schools to talk to children about those conditions, to give them a better understanding of the nature of those illnesses.

    Lord Nash

    The national ‎curriculum sets the expectation that pupils study personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education in maintained schools and academies are encouraged to teach it as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.

    Schools and teachers should decide what to teach based on their pupils’ needs, and taking account of pupil and parent views, when planning health education as part of PSHE.

    We believe that schools are best placed to decide whether they draw on the support of patients or resources using patients’ perspectives when delivering PSHE.

  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to encourage UK nationals with expertise in trade negotiations to return to the UK from other EU countries to act as negotiators.

    Greg Hands

    The Department for International Trade has already established a strong and capable trade policy team with significant negotiating experience. The team has more than doubled in size since 23 June and is still growing. We will continue to hire the brightest and best talent from within the UK civil service and from elsewhere in order to deliver the best outcomes for the UK.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will exempt housing co-operatives from the right to buy scheme; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    Under the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation, there will be a presumption that housing associations will sell tenants the property in which they live, but there will be some broad circumstances where a housing association can exercise discretion to decline a sale. These circumstances include properties held by co-operative housing associations.