Category: Speeches

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on reaching a settlement with Gurkha soldiers who retired before 2000.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    The Government and the people of the United Kingdom hold the Gurkhas in the highest esteem and have done so throughout their 200 years of service to the Crown. Successive Governments have taken steps to ensure that the service provided by Gurkhas is appropriately recognised and reflects the terms and nature of that service, including in relation to pensions.

    These sentiments were most recently confirmed in the previous Coalition Government’s response to the All Party Parliamentary Group report on historic Gurkha grievances and the statement made by my hon. Friend the former Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans (Ms Soubry) on 29 January 2015 HCWS234.

    This reaffirmed successive Governments’ long standing approach to public sector pension provisions which is that an individual qualifies for a pension according to the rules of that scheme at the time, and that improvements to public sector pension or compensation schemes should not be introduced retrospectively because of the burden such an approach would place on the Exchequer.

  • Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of dairy products procured for his Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  • 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 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Royal Colleges on the introduction of microscopic magnetic bead injections for the treatment of strokes.

    Jane Ellison

    There have been no such discussions.

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many full-time equivalent caseworkers have been employed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in each year from 2006.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Equality and Human Rights Commission was formed in 2007 and is an independent body. The Commission is responsible for its own staff management, including the number of case workers it employs. I have therefore asked the Commission to write to the Hon. Member with the information requested.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many people were (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of offences under the Deer Act 1991 in 2015; and if he will make a statement.

    Robert Buckland

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of people who have been charged with, and prosecuted for, offences brought by way of the Deer Act 1991. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.

    Although it is not possible to identify the number of people charged with particular offences, records are held showing the overall number of offences in which a prosecution commenced in the magistrates’ courts. The table below shows the number of offences, rather than defendants, charged by way of the Deer Act 1991 during 2015. A single defendant may be charged with more than one offence.

    2015

    Deer Act 1991

    20

    Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

    “

  • Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how she plans for her Department’s reception baseline assessment to take account of pupils that move school.

    Nick Gibb

    When a pupil moves school, their reception baseline outcome will move with them. The Key Stage 2 outcome will be compared to the outcomes of all pupils nationally who had the same attainment in reception in order to determine how much relative progress the pupil has made. The progress outcome for the school will be created from the average relative progress of all its pupils.

    The government response to the primary assessment and accountability consultation can be found online at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/297595/Primary_Accountability_and_Assessment_Consultation_Response.pdf

    “

  • Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicola Blackwood on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much of his Department’s funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

    Alun Cairns

    The Wales Office allocates no funding specifically for research and development. The Department funds research and development on a case by case basis, and any future spend will be met from within the Department’s overall spending review settlement.

  • Bob Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Bob Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Blackman on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will place in the Library HM Revenue and Customs’ full workings, including the methodology, modelling and assumptions, which underpinned the figures included in the Tobacco Levy Consultation, published in September 2015, on the tobacco levy yield after behavioural effects.

    Damian Hinds

    The response to the tobacco levy consolation included the HMRC costing note and the DEFRA review of HMRC’s methodology, alongside consultation responses and the government’s summary. Since the government does not generally publish analysis of polices that do not go ahead, the publishing of these documents goes significantly beyond usual practice. HMRC also publish a methodological paper on tobacco entitled Econometric Analysis of Cigarette Consumption in the UK. This can be found on gov.uk.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect of high inflation in Malawi.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    Malawi has one of the highest rates of inflation in Africa: double digit inflation is commonplace. High inflation, alongside high fiscal deficits, debt and interest rates, are lowering business confidence and crowding out private investment. Social services are being delivered from a constrained budget with high levels of government borrowing. Poor harvests in 2015 and poor rainfall due to the ongoing El Nino are affecting the national economy and Malawi is now facing its worst food insecurity crisis in a decade. The UK and international partners are responding.

    DFID Malawi works closely with other development partners, in particular the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to monitor the macroeconomic situation in Malawi. The IMF’s Article IV Consultation in December 2015 concluded that “an appropriately tight fiscal policy is needed to support monetary policy actions aimed at placing inflation on a downward trajectory.” DFID is working with the World Bank to inform the Government of Malawi’s next Development Strategy.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make assistance available to local authorities for the costs of disposing of abandoned boats, vessels and other sea-faring equipment.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Statutory Harbour Authorities (some of which are Local Authorities) have powers to deal with wrecks and unservicable and abandoned vessels within their harbour limits.

    These powers are available under sections 52, 56 and 57 of the Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 (exercisable by the Harbour Master) and in section 252 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. The powers allow the removal of wrecks and unserviceable and abandoned vessels and recovery of the cost of doing so from the owner or through disposal of the vessel.

    Where there is no statutory harbour authority or conservancy authority in place to use the powers in the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, under s253 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 the General Lighthouse Authority may use the same powers set out in section 252 to deal with such vessels where, in the authority’s opinion the vessel is, or is likely to become, an obstruction or danger to navigation or to lifeboats engaged in lifeboat service.

    The receiver of wreck, who only deals with wrecked vessels and is a statutory appointment under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, has powers under section 243 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 to dispose of unclaimed wrecks one year after they come into the receiver’s possession. The Act sets out the dissemination of the proceeds of sale after disposal expenses.

    Statutory Harbour Authorities operate on a commercial basis without ongoing support from Government and the General Lighthouse Authority are fully funded from a tax on shipping, receiving no money from the UK exchequer. There are no plans for any other funding to be made available.