Category: Speeches

Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2015 to Question 13126, how many of the refugees who have arrived at RAF Akrotiri have (a) claimed asylum, (b) had such asylum claims accepted and (c) had such asylum claims rejected to date; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt

Following the arrival of 115 migrants at RAF Akrotiri on 21 October 2015, as at 12 November 2015, 60 migrants have claimed asylum. Six asylum seekers have been transferred so far into the Republic of Cyprus. The other asylum seekers are completing pre-requisite security and medical screening and we expect that they will transfer to the Republic of Cyprus asylum system shortly.

01/01/2023
Peter Dowd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Dowd on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of apprenticeships for people aged 16 to 19 years old.

Nick Boles

Apprenticeships are jobs which provide quality training; their availability is dependent upon employers offering opportunities. Our goal is for young people to see apprenticeships as a high quality and prestigious path to successful careers, and for these opportunities to be available across all sectors of the economy, in all parts of the country and at all levels.

There were 2.4 million apprenticeships starts delivered in the last Parliament, 26 percent of which were under 19. Our 2020 Vision sets out how we will reach 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020. This includes continuing employer-led reforms, making it more attractive for businesses to offer more apprenticeships.

We will continue to work with employers to encourage them to take on younger apprentices. Government fully funds framework apprenticeships for 16-18 year olds and will continue to do so. Other employer incentives include the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE), which offers payments of £1,500 per apprentice to employers taking on a young person aged 16-24. We are providing £85 million to extend AGE to the end of the 2016/17 academic year. The apprenticeship levy will put apprenticeship funding in the hands of employers and will encourage them to invest in their apprentices and take on more.

01/01/2023
Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-02-01.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of mineral rights on mortgage lending.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government has made no assessment of the effect of mineral rights on mortgage lending.

01/01/2023

Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has paid to staff in overtime in each of the last 24 months.

Mark Lancaster

The payment of overtime is permitted where a Ministry of Defence (MOD) employee below the Senior Civil Service is required to work beyond conditioned hours or on days that they would not normally be required to work. There has been a conscious effort to reduce overtime costs in the MOD, line managers must scrutinise overtime and encourage time off in lieu as an alternative. As a guiding principle, overtime should only be granted when taken in direct support of current operations, it is of essential business resilience, or when posts require routinely long hours and time off in lieu no longer represents a realistic alternative.

A summary of the amount of MOD expenditure on overtime payments in the last 24 months is shown below.

Month	£ million
March 2014	3.550
April 2014	5.990
May 2014	4.908
June 2014	7.172
July 2014	5.560
August 2014	5.744
September 2014	5.305
October 2014	7.050
November 2014	6.378
December 2014	5.416
January 2015	4.820
February 2015	6.726
March 2015	3.895
April 2015	5.018
May 2015	6.605
June 2015	6.039
July 2015	6.481
August 2015	6.313
September 2015	4.603
October 2015	2.424
November 2015	5.252
December 2015	6.576
January 2016	4.447
February 2016	6.232

01/01/2023

John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his oral contribution of 21 March 2016, Official Report, column 1268, on welfare, whether he plans to implement his Department’s proposal to cap housing benefit paid to social tenants at the level of local housing allowance.

Justin Tomlinson

The Government intends to implement policies that have already been announced. This includes the proposal to cap social sector Housing benefit at the level of the local Housing Allowance.

01/01/2023
Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many (a) applicants and (b) accepted offers of places there were for nursing degrees at each institution in 2014-15 from (i) A-levels and (ii) Access students.

Joseph Johnson

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publishes data on applications and acceptances for full-time undergraduate courses.

In 2015 the number of applications to nursing courses was 186,260 and the number of acceptances was 21,450. Each person can make up to five applications.

UCAS does not publish data on applicants or acceptances for nursing degrees broken down by either institution or entry qualification.

01/01/2023
Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answers of 7 April 2014 to Questions 194734 to 194737, who the independent marketing agent was for the sale of Brompton Road underground station.

Mark Lancaster

The independent marketing agent was Jones Lang LaSalle.

01/01/2023
Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the average length of time a person making an initial inquiry claiming social security benefit spent on the telephone in the last 12 months.

Caroline Nokes

The DWP’s benefit claim lines handle calls both enquiring about claiming benefit and making a claim to benefit. The average length of calls to these lines for the period 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016 was 00:12:56. For some benefits, systems require that the data collected includes time spent updating records after the conversation has ended.

Data sources: Operational Management Information System (OPMIS) and data supplied by outsource partners.

Please note this information is derived from the Department’s management information designed solely for the purpose of helping the Department to manage its business. As such, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics. As DWP holds the information internally, we have released it. However, it is possible information held by DWP may change due to operational reasons and we recommend that caution be applied when using it.

01/01/2023
John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his oral contribution of 10 October 2016, Official Report, column 81, on the Neighbourhood Planning Bill and the Land Registry, for what reasons he has chosen not to privatise the Land Registry.

Margot James

Government has always made clear the importance it attaches to land registration and the Land Registry in supporting an effective and functioning property market. As my Right Honourable Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government said on 10 October, whilst measures for the privatisation of Land Registry will not form part of the Neighbourhood Planning Bill, any decision on privatisation of Land Registry will be for the Government to make in the future. Following the close of the consultation on moving operations of Land Registry to the private sector Government is carefully considering its response, taking into account consultation responses received. It is only right that new ministers take the time to look at all the options before making a decision on the best way to proceed.

01/01/2023
Peter Dowd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Dowd on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s publication, Reviewing post-16 education and training institutions, of 20 July 2015, how much her Department expects to save as a result of implementing the proposals set out therin.

Nick Boles

Area reviews of post-16 education and training institutions are predominantly focused on general further education and sixth form colleges in order to ensure that there are high quality, financially resilient colleges across the country. Schools with sixth forms can opt in to a review, if they wish to do so, and if they have the agreement of the review’s local steering group.

Each review will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the current post-16 provision in the area which will include the offer made by schools with sixth forms. Regional Schools Commissioners and local authorities will sit on local area review steering groups. These groups will identify issues with school sixth form provision, including provision by academy sixth forms, free school sixth forms, and University Technical Colleges, and feed these issues into the reviews. We expect Regional Schools Commissioners and local authorities to take account of the analysis from area reviews in any decisions they make about future provision.

The reviews are aimed at delivering a skills system that meets the economic and educational needs of areas whilst also ensuring the long term sustainability of colleges to support productivity. Early evidence from the pilot reviews indicates that there is also potential for the reviews to secure efficiency savings.

01/01/2023