Category: Speeches

Sharon Hodgson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will fund the NextGen Skills Academy higher apprenticeships in order better to support games employers.

Nick Boles

We are introducing a UK-wide levy for all larger employers to help fund the increase in quantity and quality of apprenticeship training in England. The levy will put employers in charge of how and where apprenticeship budgets are spent by creating a fund which they can use to pay for external training for their apprentices.

As part of the apprenticeship reforms, employer-led Trailblazers are designing new apprenticeships to meet their skills needs. Over 1300 employers – including in the Digital Industries and Visual Effects sectors, such as Framestore – are currently involved in designing new apprenticeship standards. These include apprenticeships in occupations at a range of levels such as Digital & Technology Solutions Professional (L6); Software Developer (L4); Junior 2D Artist (Visual Effects) (L4); Games Quality Assurance Technician (L4) and Assistant Technical Director (Visual Effects) (L4).

The NextGen Skills Academy links to Amersham and Wycombe College and was awarded £2.7m of Employer Ownership Pilot funding for a 3 year project focusing on the VFX, animation and games industry in September 2014. The project is now led by Framestore and managed by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.

01/01/2023
Angela Rayner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the implications for the financial position of students of offering loans to 19 to 23 year olds who are undertaking further education.

Nick Boles

Loans have been available to those aged 24 and over studying at levels 3 and 4 in further education since April 2013. We are now making them available to those aged 19-23 and extending them to levels 5 and 6. Advanced Learner Loans remove the barrier of paying up-front fees for courses.

Learners do not repay their loan until they can afford to. Repayments on the loan are taken when the individual is earning more than £21,000 per annum and is at the rate of 9% of their earnings above this level.

Loans enhance shared responsibility for skills funding, recognising that much of the benefit of advanced vocational study goes to the learner.

01/01/2023
Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent representations he has received in favour of Government involvement in any part of the running of departments or divisions of Rolls Royce connected to that company’s production of the Nuclear Reactor Component of the Successor Programme.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Ministry of Defence has received no such representations.

01/01/2023
John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2016-02-10.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was raised from VAT on (a) air source heat pumps, (b) solar panels, (c) draught shipping, (d) insulation, (e) wood fuel boilers and (f) ground source heat pumps in each of the last five years.

Mr David Gauke

This level of detail is not requested on VAT returns and therefore data is not available on how much VAT was raised on (a) air source heat pumps, (b) solar panels, (c) draught shipping, (d) insulation, (e) wood fuel boilers and (f) ground source heat pumps in each of the last five years.

01/01/2023
Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions RAF personnel were embedded with US forces during (a) operational deployments and (b) training exercises in each of the last six years; and how many such occasions involved the use of the P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

Penny Mordaunt

The use of the P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft in the US is predominantly limited to those personnel embedded with the US Navy as part of the Seedcorn Initiative. The Seedcorn programme in the US on P8 aircraft started in 2012 with 20 personnel involved and has remained at 20 for each subsequent year (allowing for minor fluctuations during transitory periods).

Outside of the Seedcorn Initiative, the total number of RAF personnel embedded with US forces over the past six years is as follows:

2010 – 52

2011 – 52

2012 – 48

2013 – 49

2014 – 46

2015 – 47

2016 – 46

Once personnel are embedded with another nation the RAF retains no command relationship with those personnel. Therefore, information on training exercises undertaken is not held.

With respect to operational deployments, I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by the Defence Secretary on 17 December 2015: (Official Report, column 98WS) where he provided data on the UK Service personnel embedded in other nations’ armed forces and deployed on or in support of operations. This will be updated in the next Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts. Information specific to RAF personnel is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Information on whether any of these deployments involved the P-8 aircraft is not available. However, I am able to confirm that one of the US embed posts does involve flying the P-8A outside of the Seedcorn Initiative.

01/01/2023

Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the public sector spend on health per head of population in real terms for each of the years from 1990–2015; and how in each of those years that compares with GDP per head.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The total UK Public Sector expenditure on health per head of population in real terms and GDP per head between the financial years 1990-91 and 2014-15 has been set out in the table below:

Real per capita (2015 £)	Health	GDP
1990-91	848	19,624
1991-92	911	19,368
1992-93	980	19,516
1993-94	1,023	20,050
1994-95	1,085	20,793
1995-96	1,104	21,248
1996-97	1,093	21,716
1997-98	1,116	22,421
1998-99	1,151	23,066
1999-00	1,198	23,780
2000-01	1,280	24,494
2001-02	1,388	25,047
2002-03	1,491	25,640
2003-04	1,637	26,358
2004-05	1,748	26,794
2005-06	1,825	27,521
2006-07	1,857	27,927
2007-08	1,912	28,449
2008-09	1,986	27,492
2009-10	2,072	26,605
2010-11	2,047	26,898
2011-12	2,021	27,158
2012-13	2,022	27,292
2013-14	2,049	27,801
2014-15	2,074	28,361

The expenditure figures set out in this table are drawn from the HM Treasury Public Spending Statistics (PSS) publications.

In addition to expenditure on services by the Department of Health, this includes health expenditure by other central departments, local government and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Please Note:

UK government expenditure on the health function is only available on a financial year basis.
Health expenditure recording switches from a cash basis to an accruals basis in 1998-99
Population is taken from the mid-year figure for each calendar year that falls in the respective financial year.

01/01/2023

Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make it her policy to support French proposals for an EU-wide carbon floor price.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government supports the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) as a market-based approach to cap emissions and achieve least-cost decarbonisation. Negotiations to reform and strengthen the EU ETS for the next phase of the system starting in 2021 are still in the early stages. Proposals to set thresholds for the EU carbon price are one of many options open for discussion. The Government believes that the implementation of the Market Stability Reserve, as agreed in 2015, is essential to strengthening the EU ETS carbon price in the long-term and to providing a strong, stable low-carbon investment signal.

01/01/2023
Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will provide a schedule of communications that have taken place between the Government and the governments of (a) Bahamas, (b) Mexico and (c) any other country relating to the disappearance of Rebecca Coriam in March 2011 from the Disney Wonder cruise ship.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Consular documents show that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office communicated initially with the Government of Mexico as the Disney Wonder was in Mexican Waters when Ms Coriam was discovered missing. We subsequently communicated with the Government of the Bahamas. As the ship’s flag state, the Bahamian Government was responsible for the investigation into Ms Coriam’s disappearance.

01/01/2023
Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-09-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that Teesside is not disadvantaged by the withdrawal of EU funding when the UK leaves the EU.

Mr David Gauke

To ensure stability and certainty in the period leading up to our departure from the EU, the Chancellor has announced that structural and investment fund projects in the UK that are signed before the Autumn Statement will be guaranteed. In addition, projects where UK organisations bid directly and competitively for EU funding, such as Horizon 2020 funded projects, will be guaranteed by the UK Government if the bids are won before our departure.

Leaving the EU means we will want to take our own decisions about how to deliver the policy objectives previously targeted by EU funding. Over the coming months, we will consult closely with stakeholders to review all EU funding schemes in the round, to ensure that any ongoing funding commitments best serve the UK‘s national interest, while ensuring appropriate investor certainty.

01/01/2023

Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the relationship between household income and (a) taxi and (b) bus use.

Andrew Jones

The number of trips and distance travelled per person per year for different household income levels (based on data for households in England in 2014) are given in the table.

Household income is gross equivalised income, which accounts for household size and composition.

	Real household income quintile
	Lowest real income level	Second level	Third level	Fourth level	Highest real income level	All income levels
Trips per person per year by main mode:
Local and non-local buses	96	72	53	43	35	60
Taxi/minicab	14	11	9	9	10	10
Distance (miles) per person per year by main mode:
Local and non-local buses	465	407	308	251	193	326
Taxi/minicab	61	43	42	51	85	56

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01/01/2023