Category: Speeches

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of relations between the UK and Burundi, and of the security situation in that country.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The security situation in Burundi remains fragile with continued abductions, illegal detentions, torture, gang rapes and killings. We are also concerned at the apparent recent increase in the number of targeted assassinations, most recently the assassination of Brigadier General Athanase Kararuza and his wife on 25 April and the attempted assassination of the Minister of Human Rights, Social Affairs and Gender, Martin Nivyabandi on 24 April. I join UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in condemning these attacks.

    We continue to make clear our concerns to the Government of Burundi. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) visited the country in December last year where he urged the Burundian government to engage in meaningful, inclusive dialogue with the opposition without preconditions. In January he met Burundian Foreign Minister Alain Nyamitwe to reiterate this message. Mr Duddridge writes regularly to Mr Nyamitwe to convey our concerns and to urge his government to take the necessary steps to resolve the current situation. Only a genuine and inclusive dialogue, based on the respect of the Arusha Agreement, will enable Burundian stakeholders to find a consensual solution to the situation facing their country.

    Our Ambassador to Burundi in Kigali travels regularly to the country to meet members of the Burundian Government and we will shortly be increasing the British Government’s presence in Bujumbura through the recruitment of a Burundi Coordinator.

  • Mhairi Black – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mhairi Black – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mhairi Black on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many former Crown post offices which have been franchised have (a) closed and (b) relocated since January 2010.

    George Freeman

    Post Office Limited runs and manages its directly managed Crown post offices. Changes to the Crown network and arrangements for employees of these offices are the operational responsibility of the Post Office.

    I have asked Paula Vennells, the Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to increase the number of nurses (a) qualifying and (b) subsequently working in the UK.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Since May 2010, there have been record number of nurses working in the National Health Service in England.

    In the Health Education England (HEE) Workforce Plan for England published in May 2016, HEE set out planned increases in the number of nurse training places in 2016-17. This is an increase of 14.8% in the total number of planned nurse training places since 2013-14.

    The changes to healthcare education funding from August 2017 means that we can move away from centrally imposed number controls and financial limitations, enabling universities to increase nurse training places by the end of the Parliament.

    Training and recruitment across the devolved administrations is a matter for that Government.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that deafblind people and those with complex needs are able to secure meaningful employment in all professionals contexts.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Government wants all disabled people and those with a long term health condition to fulfil their potential and achieve their aspirations. Every individual should have the opportunity to work and share in the economic and health benefits that work brings, regardless of their health condition or disability.

    We will soon publish a Green Paper that will explore a range of options for long-term reform across different sectors, targeting the factors which contribute to the disability employment gap. We are engaging with a range of stakeholders, including organisations that represent the needs of deafblind people, through our preparatory work and detailed consultation plans that will follow.

    Everyone has an important part to play in developing and making the transformative changes required to support disabled people into work.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the EU Birds and Habitats Directives.

    Rory Stewart

    The European Commission is running a REFIT Fitness Check of the Habitats and Wild Birds Directives. This is an evidence-based assessment of the Directives’ effectiveness and efficiency.

    Defra supports the Fitness Check as a normal part of good policymaking and is fully engaged with the review. Our contribution to the evidence gathering process is available online here:

    http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/legislation/fitness_check/evidence_gathering/index_en.htm.

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  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that people aged over 50 are protected from (a) household and (b) vehicle insurance scams.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government takes insurance fraud very seriously and has taken significant action in this area to protect consumers.

    The Government set up the Insurance Fraud Taskforce in January 2015 to investigate the causes of fraudulent behaviour and recommend solutions to reduce the level of insurance fraud, including household and vehicle insurance scams, in order to ultimately lower costs and protect the interests of honest consumers. Its interim report was published in March 2015 and a final report will be published shortly.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2015 to Question 16795, if he will undertake an assessment of activities by third parties fully funded by local authorities designed to influence Government and Parliament; and if he will extend the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity to cover such groups.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    We have continually made clear that local authorities should not be using taxpayers’ money to lobby Government; not least because they are free to contact Ministers and Members of Parliament to make their views known and indeed many do so on a regular basis. This is reflected in the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity.

  • Earl Attlee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Earl Attlee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Earl Attlee on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the UK competition authorities have made an assessment of the UK market in printer cartridges; and if so, what conclusions were reached.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) carried out a market study in 2001 on consumer IT goods and services, including the printer cartridge market. It noted that consumers may find it difficult to identify which printer manufacturer had the cheapest price overall – this included the upfront price of the printer and the price of cartridges over the life of the machine. The OFT worked with the industry to introduce a labelling scheme which allowed consumers to identify how many pages they could expect to print with a cartridge. This allows consumers to consider both the purchase price and the running costs of the printer.

    The Competition and Markets Authority took over the competition functions of the OFT in 2014.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the rate of pay is for cleaners in his Department.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The cleaning service at HM Treasury is provided by through a service contract, let by the landlord for 1 Horse Guards Road (Exchequer Partnership). HM Treasury does not directly employ cleaners.

    However, the contracted cleaners that work within 1 Horse Guards Road are paid £9.15 per hour which will increase to £9.40 in April 2016.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have been permanently excluded from school during Key stage 1 and 2 in the last three years.

    Nick Gibb

    Information on the number of permanent exclusions in state-funded primary schools is published at national and regional level in the Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England[1] series. Information on the number of permanent exclusions in primary academies from 2010/11 to 2013/14 inclusive can be found in Table 18a of the 2013/14 release and Table 16a of the equivalent release for earlier years.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

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