Category: Speeches

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what representations her Department has received on reports that Syrian businesses approved by the EU and by the US government have received aid payments from the UN mission in Syria.

    Rory Stewart

    My Department has not made any direct aid payments to Syrian businesses. Our aid is delivered through the United Nations, international non-governmental organisations and other international organisations.

    The UN, which operates in a very difficult environment in Syria, has assured us that they comply with all relevant sanctions.

  • Owen Thompson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Owen Thompson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Thompson on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department plans to reduce the Big Lottery Fund budget for Scotland.

    Tracey Crouch

    In line with the arms’ length principle of lottery distribution, the Big Lottery Fund itself decides how much of its funding to allocate to Scotland and to each of the other home nations.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any decision has been made about the introduction of the new Long Service medal proposed by the Secretary of State for Defence in March.

    Earl Howe

    I can confirm that officials are currently working on the eligibility criteria for a new Long Service Medal. Details will be made available in 2016.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on how many occasions (a) knives, (b) guns and (c) other offensive weapons were found in schools and colleges in each London borough in (i) 2010 and (ii) the most recent year for which figures are available.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department does not hold information on the number of occasions knives, guns or other offensive weapons have been found in schools and colleges.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her Written Ministerial Statement of 17 December 2015, Bovine TB, HC 45409, when her Department plans to introduce statutory post-movement TB testing for cattle entering the low-risk area.

    George Eustice

    The legislation that will introduce statutory post-movement TB testing for cattle entering the low-risk area is expected to come into force on the next common commencement date, 6 April 2016.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the remit and nature is of the contracts Atos holds with the Home Office.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office holds three contracts with Atos.

    The first is “IND Procurement of Infrastructure Development and Support” (IPIDS), which provides application management supporting and hosting for major immigration IT systems. This contract expired on 31st January 2016, and a six-month transition period was invoked to provide support for a smaller subset of applications not covered by the replacement programme.

    The whole life cost of IPIDS was circa £220 million (exclusive of any additional project charges) until 31st January 2016. The maximum cost of the six-month transition period will be £642,000 (excluding VAT).

    The Department’s second contract with Atos is “Contain,” which is a direct replacement for IPIDS. The programme provides continuity for seven major Immigration IT systems, whilst work continues on the Immigration Platform Technology (IPT) platform. The Contain contract allows legacy immigration applications to be phased out whilst service continuity is preserved, and enables new applications delivered by the IPT programme to be brought in without disruption. The contract will run for a maximum of two years, and the total contract value is £18.1 million (excl VAT), which includes run and decommission costs.

    The third contract with Atos Worldline is a small G-Cloud Call-Off Agreement to enable passport application payments to be made online; the total contract value is £183,000.

  • Callum McCaig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Callum McCaig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2016-04-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on requiring multinational companies to disclose to the public the profits they hold in tax havens (a) in British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies and (b) elsewhere.

    Mr David Gauke

    I refer the Hon Member to the answer that the Chancellor gave to the Hon Member for Bethnal Green and Bow (Ali Rushanara) during Treasury oral questions on 19 April 2016.

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 11 May (HL8205), whether they hold information on the number of single line tracks on passenger lines in their records; and if not, why not.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Department for Transport does not hold detailed records of track layouts. These records are held by the Infrastructure Operators. The information is provided to the Department on request and is also available in commercial map publications at specialist railway bookshops.

  • Lord Foulkes of Cumnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Foulkes of Cumnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Foulkes of Cumnock on 2016-07-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the proposal by the Namibia Atlantic Aero Partnership for an air service from Namibia to St Helena.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The air service proposal from the Namibia Atlantic Aero Partnership has been assessed and was not considered a viable option.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans for South East London.

    David Mowat

    Local areas will submit their plans to the national health and care bodies for review in October, with further public engagement and consultation taking place from this point.

    We expect that most areas will take a version of their Sustainability and Transformation Plan to their organisation’s public board meeting for discussion between late October and the end of the year. We would also expect that most areas will publish their plans, for more formal engagement, during this period, building on the engagement they have already done to shape thinking. No changes to the services people currently receive will be made without local engagement and, where required, consultation.

    NHS England, with other national health and care bodies, released guidance to the local areas developing Sustainability and Transformation Plans entitled ‘Engaging local people’ in September 2016 which can be found on their website.