Category: Speeches

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that apprentices in the retail and commercial enterprise sector are taught skills that they would not otherwise be able to learn on the job under a normal employment contract.

    Nick Boles

    In England, apprenticeships are jobs with an accompanying skills development programme to support the individual to achieve full competency in an occupation. The apprentice develops through a wide mix of learning in the workplace, formal off-the-job training and the opportunity to practise new skills in a real work environment.

    A key expectation of apprenticeships is that they must be more than just training for a single job or employer: they must ensure that apprentices can adapt to a variety of roles, with different employers, and develop the ability to progress their careers. This is set out in the apprenticeship framework or standard.

    The list of apprenticeships frameworks available for employers and training organisations is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-frameworks-live-list

    A list of all the apprenticeship standards approved by the Skills Funding Agency that are ready for employers and training organisations to use is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-standards-ready-for-delivery

    “

  • Mike Freer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mike Freer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Freer on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which (a) ministers and (b) officials of his Department will be present at the International Aids Conference in Durban in July 2016.

    Jane Ellison

    Officials from Public Health England will be attending the conference and feeding back to Ministers on the issues discussed.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the advice given in the Dancing To Our Own Tunes guidance by the National Survivor User Network, what assessment they have made of the involvement of black and minority ethnic service users in Clinical Commissioning Groups and local authorities.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department is committed to involving patients and service users in the development of national mental health policy. However, it does not monitor this engagement centrally.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what change there was in the amount of funding the EU Commission made available in structural funds to (a) Wales and (b) the Valleys for the period 2014 to 2020 from the period 2007 to 2014; what steps his Department took to limit such change; and if he will estimate the level of such funding that Wales will be allocated after 2020.

    Alun Cairns

    I refer my hon Friend to the letter signed by the then Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable MP, on ‘European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund: UK allocations 2014-2020’.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/307492/bis-14-772-uk-allocations-eu-structural-funds-2014-2020-letter.pdf

    The post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework has not been proposed.

    “

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) benefits and (b) risks of using electrical socket safety covers or inserts.

    Margot James

    The Department has not made an assessment of the benefits and risks of using electrical socket covers or inserts.

    Under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 all products placed on the UK market must be safe and any products that do not comply can be removed from sale by Trading Standards.

    There are no reports of death or injury as a result of the use of socket covers.

  • Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the quantitative easing programme on defined benefit pension schemes.

    Simon Kirby

    Monetary policy is set independently by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England. The minutes to the MPC’s August meeting, in which the Committee expanded its asset purchase programme, noted that ‘lower yields posed potential risks to some aspects of the functioning of the financial system, for example by increasing the deficits of many pension funds’ but concluded that ‘at present, however, those effects appeared to be relatively limited’.

  • Deidre Brock – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Deidre Brock – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether under any Act arising from the Scotland Bill the Scottish Government will be enabled to pay tax credits.

    Damian Hinds

    The Smith Commission agreement, agreed by all the main parties in Scotland, set out those benefits where power should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Tax credits were not amongst those benefits.

    However, under the current Scotland Bill clauses, the Scottish Government will have the power to top-up tax credits, as long as it does so through using its own resources. The Smith Commission agreement said that any new benefits or discretionary payments introduced by the Scottish Parliament must provide additional income for a recipient and not result in an automatic offsetting reduction in their entitlement to other benefits. Once the Scottish Government have been clear about how they want to use their new powers, we will work with them to understand the interactions between the reserved and devolved benefit systems.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 16 November 2015 to Questions 15832, 15826 and 16699, what options Ministers are considering in response to the research published by her Department in March 2012 on the extent of use and humaneness of snares.

    Rory Stewart

    In 2012 Defra published research on the extent of use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales. Following publication of the report, officials worked with stakeholders to explore options to improve the humaneness of snaring. Ministers are currently considering these options, including the issue of improved guidance on snaring.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish in full the report and recommendations of the investigation commissioned by NHS England into the circumstances leading up to the termination of the contract between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group and UnitingCare Partnership to deliver urgent care for the over-65s and adult community services.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England advises that it has commissioned David Stout OBE to carry out an independent review of the contract between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group and UnitingCare Partnership. The terms of reference are to establish, from a commissioner perspective, the key facts and root causes behind the termination of the contract in December 2015 and to draw out recommendations and lessons to be learned. This will include a review of documentation and discussion with staff members.

    Relevant individuals will be contacted during the course of the review to inform the findings. NHS England is also setting up a web page which will include an email address where comments and responses can be submitted. This will enable the public to contribute.

    The review is expected to start in January and to be completed in February 2016. NHS England plans to publish the review when complete.

  • Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23955, how much of those revenues were directed to his Department as fines for poor performance.

    Claire Perry

    None of the revenues relate to fines for poor performance paid to the Department as no fines were levied.