Category: Speeches

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost of using external agencies for recruitment to Senior Civil Service posts in his Department in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The actual Departmental cost of using external agencies for recruitment to Senior Civil Service posts in each of the last 5 years is:

    Financial Year

    Cost (£)

    2010/11

    3,944

    2011/12

    0

    2012/13 ¹

    394,511

    2013/14 ¹

    362,616

    2014/15 ¹

    141,232

    ¹ Includes Child Maintenance Group expenditure which joined DWP in August 2012.

    Data excludes NDPBs

  • Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many training courses on cyber-crime are provided for police officers.

    Mike Penning

    There are a number of training courses dealing with cyber crime available to police officers, for example, through the College of Policing and other external providers. The Home Office does not hold a central record of the number of such training courses. Furthermore, the Home Office does not hold a central record of how many police officers have completed training courses on cyber crime in the last six months or in the last year. However, the Government recognises that driving up cyber knowledge and capabilities at the local policing level is very important, that is why we are delivering training in cyber crime to officers in local police forces funded by the National Cyber Security Programme. The second phase of the Mainstream Cyber Crime Training course was launched on 30 September 2015 by College of Policing. This is a modular course consisting of a series of self-teach and interactive modules accessible to all police officers and staff, and which gives an introduction to how to recognise and investigate cyber crimes.

    Cyber Security, including combating cyber crime, is a top priority threat to national security. That is why we have invested over £90 million over the last five years to bolster the law enforcement response, and we will continue to invest. As the Chancellor announced on 17 November, we plan to almost double investment in cyber security, including cyber crime, to £1.9 billion over the next five years. This will enable us to continue to invest in training for police officers at the national, regional and local levels.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department issues to pharmacy services on sending direct mail marketing to customers and targeting potential customers using the NHS logo.

    Alistair Burt

    Pharmacy services are bound by the NHS Identity guidelines at:

    http://www.nhsidentity.nhs.uk/all-guidelines/guidelines/pharmacy/introduction

    “

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils who were (a) permanently and (b) temporarily excluded from school were recorded as having mental health conditions in each of the last five years.

    Edward Timpson

    The number of pupils recorded as having a mental health condition who received a permanent or fixed period exclusion is not held by the Department.

    The number and proportion of pupils in national curriculum year group 10 and 11 with an autistic spectrum disorder primary need who were excluded in each of the last 5 years can be found in the attached table.

    Information on the number of fixed period and permanent exclusions for all pupils, including separate breakdowns by national curriculum year group and special educational need provision, is available in the ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England’ National Statistics release[1].

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

    “

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-03-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made to date on negotiating with the European institutions for permission to apply a zero-rate of VAT on women’s sanitary products.

    Mr David Gauke

    I have written to the European Commission and other Member States setting out our strong view that Member States should have full discretion over what rate of VAT they can apply to these products, and that this should be considered in the context of the Commission’s Action Plan on VAT.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants making the transition from employment and support allowance to jobseeker’s allowance have received a decision assurance call; and what the outcome was of each such call.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to protect freedom of religion or belief in Syria.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Syria’s conflict has developed from peaceful protests against the government in 2011 to a violent insurgency that has complex international angles. Asad’s brutal actions have fuelled sectarian violence and the growth of Daesh. His regime is ultimately responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. We support the efforts of the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan De Mistura, to seek agreement on a process of political transition in Syria. We are clear that there can be no military solution to the conflict. The UN led negotiations remain the best opportunity to end the conflict and achieve political transition away from Asad, leading to an inclusive government which can represent all Syrians.

    The UK, as a core member of the International Syria Support Group has agreed that protecting the rights of all Syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religious denomination is fundamental. This means seeking to ensure that Syrian minorities are included and safeguarded as the political process progresses. We are supporting non-governmental efforts to promote dialogue between different ethnic and sectarian groups in Syria, as we seek further progress on a political settlement.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-07-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to enable child refugees and migrants who are now in France but who have close relatives in the UK to make take-charge requests.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    As stated in Written Answer HL649 on 27 June under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015 the UK and France have committed to ensur-ing that provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and a UK asylum expert was seconded to the French administration earlier this year to facilitate the improvement of all stages of the process.

    We continue to work closely so that both the UK and France can fulfil our re-spective obligations under the Dublin Regulation to family members, including unaccompanied children, who qualify for transfer to the UK under the Regula-tion’s family unity provisions.

    The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which inform unaccompanied children and others of their right to claim asylum in France and the family reunion process. Whilst the management of migrants in Calais is the responsibility of the French Govern-ment, the UK recognises that vulnerable people in the camps are at risk from exploitation and trafficking. This is why the UK Government funds a project, run by a French NGO, to identify and direct vulnerable people to protection, support and advice within France.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 28 June 2016 to Question 40810, on NHS Protect, what the categories of offence were for each of the prosecutions listed.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Information on the date a prosecution commenced for each case from 2010-11 to 2015-16 and the category of offence from 2010-11 to 2012-13 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The date the investigation commenced for each case and the category of offence from 2013-14 onwards are shown in the attached table.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what work his Department has commissioned to identify the distribution across the nations and regions of the UK of exchange-only lines on the telecom network that are incompatible with fibre to the cabinet broadband technology.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The vast majority of phone lines across the UK connect to the nearest telephone exchange via a street cabinet, which can be upgraded to deliver fibre broadband. Estimates are not available of the number of premises served by exchange only lines which connect directly to the local exchange rather than via one of BT’s street cabinets. There are a variety of reasons why exchange only lines are created. For example, for rural exchanges serving few premises where there was no need for cabinets, or for urban exchanges where it may have been a more cost-effective. Exchange only lines present a greater engineering challenge to deliver fibre broadband than those connected via street cabinets but technical solutions are available. One solution is to rearrange the existing network, lay new cables to reroute lines to new cabinets. This technique was developed as part of the BDUK Superfast Broadband Programme, and the number of exchange only lines is reducing all the time as roll out under the programme continues.