Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many licensed firearms there are in the UK broken down by police force area.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The table provided contains statistics on the number of licensed firearms and shotguns, by police force area, in England and Wales as at 31 March 2015.

    At this time there was a total of 1.34 million licensed shotguns and 0.53 million licensed firearms.The Home Office does not centrally hold any estimates for unlicensed firearms.

    Figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provisions they have in place to ensure that those studying in academies receive adequate sex and relationships education.

    Lord Nash

    The government believes that all children should have the opportunity to receive a high quality and appropriate sex and relationship education (SRE). SRE is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools, and many primary schools also teach it in an age-appropriate way.

    Academies do not have to teach SRE but many choose to do so as part of their statutory duty to provide a broad and balanced curriculum. When academies do teach SRE they are required through their funding agreement to have regard to the Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance.

    The guidance makes clear that all SRE should be age-appropriate and helps young people to develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with her ministerial colleagues in other departments on the use of the development aid budget by those departments; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    The Secretary of State for International Development has regular meetings with her ministerial colleagues in other departments and discusses a range of issues.

  • Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has considered referring the junior doctors’ contract dispute to ACAS.

    Ben Gummer

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State is not ruling out conciliation – however, we believe it is still possible to have meaningful talks. We have already sought independent views on contract reform – having asked the independent Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists Remuneration (DDRB) for recommendations which formed the basis of our offer, an offer which the British Medical Association have so far refused to talk about. Both the BMA and the Government gave evidence to the DDRB. We continue to urge the BMA to come back round the table, and there are no preconditions to any talks, though of course the Government reserves the right to make changes to contracts if no progress is made on the issues preventing a truly 7 day NHS. That was promised in the manifesto and endorsed by the British people at the last election.

    The DDRB made 23 recommendations and proposed that these should be the basis for national level negotiations between the BMA and NHS Employers, which the Government accepted. The DDRB’s report was published in July this year.

    The BMA has refused to accept these independent recommendations as the basis for negotiations. The Government continues to urge the BMA to return to talks and to work in partnership with NHS Employers to agree a new contract that works for junior doctors and patients.

  • Robert Flello – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Robert Flello – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that lorry drivers have the correct status for the purposes of tax payment.

    Mr David Gauke

    It is the responsibility of engagers to determine the correct status of workers they engage. HM Revenue & Customs have developed an Employment Status Indicator to help engagers: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-status-indicator

    There is also further help with the status of lorry drivers: www.hmrc.gov.uk/Manuals/esmmanual/ESM4210.htm

    HM Revenue & Customs is aware that false self-employment presents a tax risk and has deployed compliance resources to address that risk.

    “

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what tests a person convicted of death by careless or dangerous driving is required to undertake being allowed to drive again.

    Andrew Jones

    If a person is convicted by the Courts of death by careless or dangerous driving and disqualified he/she will need to retake a theory test and an extended driving test in order to get their full driving licence back. An extended driving test must last no less than 60 minutes.

  • Graham Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Graham Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with (a) East Lancashire and (b) Blackburn and Darwen clinical commissioning groups on the cost of outsourced mental health services.

    Alistair Burt

    No Ministers in the Department have held such discussions with East Lancashire and Blackburn and Darwen Clinical Commissioning Groups.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the removal of mental health quality premium measures in NHS England’s Quality Premium Guidance 2016-17 on mental health outcomes.

    Alistair Burt

    The 2016/17 Quality Premium (QP) scheme has been designed to support the delivery of the major priorities for the National Health Service, as set out in the Five Year Forward View and in the NHS Mandate. The QP scheme is reviewed annually, with the intention of having a range of high impact measures addressing a range of priorities across the Five Year Forward View.

    However, there is scope for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to focus on mental health, if this is a local priority area in 2016/17. Each CCG is expected to select three local indicators from a menu of suitable measures aligned to the Right Care programme, which sets out a clinically led methodology for improvement and reducing variation in care. This menu includes 17 mental health indicators.

    The QP scheme is a part of NHS England’s wider incentive system, including the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme, which includes an incentive focussing on improving the physical health for patients with severe mental illness.

    As the QP will be retaining mental health as an indicator there has been no new assessment of the effect of removing.

    While there have not yet been any formal meetings with mental health charities about this, following the Mental Health Taskforce report, NHS England are keen to work with stakeholders-including mental health charities- to develop a new and robust mental health indicator for potential inclusion in the 2017/18 QP. This will align with the additional funding to drive improvements in ‘Improved Access to Psychological Therapies’ access from April 2017.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2016-04-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies of the report by the Office for Tax Simplification’s, The closer alignment of income tax and national insurance, published in March 2016.

    Mr David Gauke

    Budget 2016 announced that the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) will review the impacts of moving employee National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to an annual, cumulative and aggregated basis and moving employer NICs to a payroll basis. After this review, the Government will respond in full to the OTS’s review of the closer alignment of income tax and NICs.

  • Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale on 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure that the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies will meet the objectives set by the Sustainable Development Goals of leaving no-one behind, and will focus on the most marginalised children, including girls, minority communities and children with disabilities.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK is committed to all children benefitting from a quality education by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 4 and over-arching principle to leave no-one behind. For these reasons, the UK has played a leading role in the development of Education Cannot Wait.

    A key focus for Education Cannot Wait will be on ensuring that marginalised children and young people are able to access a quality education. This includes refugees and internally displaced children, as well as children facing barriers to their education because of their gender, disability or other factors. This focus is reflected in the Fund’s indicative headline results, which commits to providing “Inclusive education [that] reaches the most marginalised children and young people in crises” with a target of “100% of supported education opportunities demonstrate increase in education for girls, disabled and those in remote locations”.

    The UK will continue to engage closely during Education Cannot Wait’s inception phase, to ensure that this commitment is fully reflected in its final design and results frameworks.