Category: Speeches

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Written Statement of 26 May 2016, HCWS30, what proportion of the 1,500 roles will have ministerial exposure following the centralisation of policy functions in London.

    Joseph Johnson

    Co-locating policy teams with the Department’s Ministers and close to Parliament will provide opportunities for all staff to have more ministerial exposure, which helps improve understanding of government priorities.

    The Department does not expect a set number of roles to be consistently exposed to Ministers whilst others are not. This will be dynamic as resource demands shift over time and will depend on policy priorities.

  • Richard Bacon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Richard Bacon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Bacon on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much to date the NHS has paid Cerner in the last 10 years.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Department has not, over the last 10 years, made payments to Cerner for National Health Service systems. The Department does not hold information centrally about contracts that are held by NHS Trusts locally.

  • Grant Shapps – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Grant Shapps – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grant Shapps on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the cost of the Small Modular Reactor Competition (Phase One) to its completion.

    Jesse Norman

    As stated in the published Guidance, the objective of this initial phase was to inform the development of government policy and the design of any subsequent competition stages, by gauging market interest in developing, commercialising and financing Small Modular Reactors in the UK. As such, a cost assessment has not been undertaken.

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department advised the Northern Ireland Executive on human rights concerns and other sensitivities for Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas Ltd undertaking a contract for Bahrain’s prison system.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK Government continues to assist Bahrain in their reform agenda including by working with the Northern Ireland Cooperation Overseas programme, whose aims are to assist the Government of Bahrain to bring its justice system into compliance with international standards. The UK Government continues to have frank discussions with the Government of Bahrain about our concerns on human rights cases. We continue to encourage the Bahraini authorities to respect the rights of all its citizens and we have encouraged them to protect the universal rights of freedom of expression most recently at the UN Human Rights Commission meeting in September.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will hold discussions with Lloyds Bank on that company prioritising the payment of dividends to encourage small shareholders to retain shares for the long term, in advance of further sales of the Government’s stake in that company.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government is planning to encourage long-term share ownership in Lloyds shares, offering the incentive of bonus shares for longer-term investors.

    Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) remains a commercial company in which the Government is currently a shareholder. The Government’s shareholding is managed at arm’s length from HM Treasury by UK Financial Investments (UKFI). The Government does not involve itself in the commercial decisions of LBG. Whether or not to pay dividends to its shareholders is a commercial decision to be made by the bank’s independent management team.

  • David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of courts and tribunal buildings in England and Wales have wifi access.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    One of the main projects within the Criminal Justice Efficiency Programme was to introduce Wi-Fi throughout the criminal courts, allowing professional court users access to their home systems and the internet, improving their productivity and efficiency of flow of cases in court. With 158 courthouses already connected, the Programme is on track to deliver to all criminal courts well before summer 2016. Further courts may come into scope depending on the outcome of the consultation on the court estate which is currently underway. In addition to the wifi provided for professional court users many courts have commercially provided BT wifi solutions to allow court users to access the internet. These have been installed locally and no central record is held on the exact number of courts where this is available.

    We have secured over £700m of funding to invest in our courts and tribunals. We have worked closely with the senior judiciary to develop a plan for investing this in reforming the courts and tribunals so they can deliver swifter, fairer justice at a lower cost. This will include digitisation and modernisation of our IT infrastructure. This will mean court users can attend hearings remotely, and not be inconvenienced by having to take a day off work to come to court. It will also mean victims of crime can give evidence from somewhere they feel safe.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to (a) encourage the training of new behind the scenes production staff and (b) promote Britain’s position in the global film industry.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government announced up to £16 million in match funding in 2013 and a further £4m in 2015 to support skills in the Creative Industries, including training for behind the scenes production staff. The UK has one of the most generous film tax reliefs in the world. In 2014-15, the Government paid out £251 million in film tax relief, which attracted over £1 billion in investment to the UK last year. In 2015-16, the Government is also providing over £23 million in grant in aid alongside a projected £49 million in Lottery funding to support Britain’s position in the global film industry.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many deceased cats and dogs have been collected and identified by Highways England since the Department for Transport committed in March 2015 to ensure that it is mandatory for all new and existing contractors to collect and identify cats and dogs killed on the strategic road network.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Backbench Business Committee Debate on 2 March 2015, considered legislating collection and identification of pet fatalities on the strategic road network (SRN). During the debate key commitments were made to immediately make the necessary arrangements to ensure it is mandatory for all new contracts to collect and identify dogs and cats killed on the strategic road network and contact their owners, where possible, and to review how to retrofit the requirements to existing contracts.

    The review was completed in September 2015. Mandatory instructions were issued to Highways England service providers in October 2015. Since this time there have been the following dog and cat fatalities on the strategic road network:

    From October 2015

    Number of fatalities

    Number identified

    Dogs

    39

    14

    Cats

    42

    2

    Service Providers are required to make a search for a collar or disc at the incident sites. Where the owner’s details are found on a collar and/or disc, the remains are bagged, separate from any debris, taken to the depot and the owner notified as soon as possible to be given the option of collecting their pet.

    Where no collar/disc is found the entire body is scanned for microchips. Any positive identification is recorded and the appropriate identification body is informed (eg PetLog).

    If remains cannot be positively identified they are cold-stored, where facilities are available, for at least seven days or until the cold store is due to be emptied, whichever is sooner. If no owner has come forward at the end of the seven-day period, the remains are disposed of.

    Due to the high speed nature of the SRN it is impossible to guarantee that remains can be fully identified e.g. the microchip may have been lost in the collision. In this case, if the remains can be identified as a dog or cat, they are cold stored and as much information as possible is recorded.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many civil law suits have been brought against his Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998; how many such suits were settled out of court before a court judgment was delivered; and how much such settlements have cost the public purse since 2010.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The information requested is not available, as separate data for cases based wholly or partially on the Human Rights Act 1998 are not recorded.

  • Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of electrifying the railway line from (a) Crewe to Chester and (b) Chester to Holyhead.

    Claire Perry

    We await the industry’s advice on future investment priorities for the England and Wales network in the next Control Period, building on the Wales and other Route Studies. We continue to work with the industry, the Welsh Government and local groups, including the recently announced North Wales and Mersey Dee Region Task Force, to see what more can be accomplished to deliver better journeys for passengers and freight customers in this corridor. We welcome the recent submission by the Welsh Government of their Strategic Outline Business Case for electrification from Crewe/Warrington to Holyhead as a contribution to this work.