Category: Speeches

  • Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of UK premises has access to ultrafast broadband; and what steps she is taking to increase the number of such properties.

    Matt Hancock

    There is no agreed definition of ultrafast broadband. According to the independent broadband information website thinkbroadband.com – who define ultrafast as download speeds of more than 100mbps – approximately 50% of UK premises have access to ultrafast broadband.

    Virgin Media have announced plans to extend their coverage by up to 4 million premises by 2019 through their Project Lightning roll-out. This roll-out has funding support from the UK Guarantee Scheme which has been put in place the government. BT also plan to make available ultrafast speeds to 10 million premises by 2020. Smaller providers, such as CityFibre, Gigaclear and Hyperoptic, are also investing to provide ultrafast services.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the reasons are for the time taken to publish the findings and recommendations of Dame Louise Casey’s Review into Opportunity and Integration in the UK.

    Sarah Newton

    Dame Louise Casey’s independent review on boosting opportunity and integration in isolated and vulnerable communities will report to the Prime Minister and be published in due course.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what additional contribution in cash terms they expect the NHS to make to the NHS Pension Scheme in 2016–17.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The NHS Pension Scheme is a ‘pay as you go’ pension scheme without financial assets. The last valuation in 2012 identified a deficit of £10.3 billion in the notional fund which is met by contributions from employers.

    No additional contribution is expected from the National Health Service in 2016-17. NHS employers will continue to pay the standard employer contribution rate of 14.3%.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what reasons DTT platforms were excluded from the scope of his Department’s balance of payments consultation.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government consulted on issues related to the must offer provision in the Communications Act in its consultation – ‘The balance of payments between television platforms and public service broadcasters’. Analysis of responses is ongoing and the Government will publish a response in due course.

  • Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if the Government will issue issuing an apology to the indigenous people of Australia for British nuclear tests carried out on their land in the 1950s and 1960s.

    Mark Lancaster

    In 1968, Australia signed an agreement with the UK confirming that the clean-up of all test sites had been completed satisfactorily. As announced to the House on 10 December 1993,(Official Report, column 421), the Government agreed to make an ex gratia payment of £20 million to the Federal Government of Australia as a contribution to the cost of the further clean-up of the Maralinga site. A copy of the note giving effect to this agreement was placed in the Library of the House. The note also records that the Government of Australia indemnified the Government of the UK against claims from Australian nationals or residents. The Government now regards the matter as closed.

  • Baroness Massey of Darwen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Massey of Darwen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Massey of Darwen on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether it is their policy that all schools should follow the School Admissions Code, and if so, why objections to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator that have been upheld have been described by the Secretary of State for Education as vexatious”.”

    Lord Nash

    All maintained schools and academies are required to comply with the School Admissions Code.

    Currently, legislation allows ‘any person or body who considers that a maintained school or academy’s arrangements are unlawful’ to refer an objection to the Schools Adjudicator. However, the Adjudicator raised concerns in her recent annual report that, in some instances, groups and individuals appear to have referred objections in an attempt to influence government policy.

    We want to ensure that the Adjudicator is able to focus on the concerns that parents may have about their local school’s admission arrangements, and is not held up by the need to also consider large numbers of objections referred by interest groups from outside the area. We are, therefore, proposing that only local parents and local authorities should be able to refer objections to the Schools Adjudicator.

    We will be conducting a full public consultation in due course and will give careful consideration to all the views expressed in that consultation.

  • Baroness Parminter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Parminter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Parminter on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many seized dogs are being held by police services across the UK, and how many of those have been held for over one year.

    Lord Bates

    This information is not collected centrally.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the incidence and nature of human rights violations in South Sudan.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The UK is deeply concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in South Sudan. A range of reports indicate that sexual violence and attacks on civilians remain widespread and that war crimes and/or crimes against humanity may have been committed, if established in a court of law. Bilaterally we are raising our serious concerns directly with the Government of South Sudan and pressing for action. At the regional level we are calling on the African Union to rapidly establish the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. And internationally we are pressing for a UN arms embargo to be put in place. We also undertook extensive lobbying to help secure a new Commission for Human Rights for South Sudan at the UN Human Rights Council in March.

  • Robin Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Robin Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robin Walker on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of the introduction of Flood Re on people seeking to access affordable flood insurance in areas of high flood risk.

    Rory Stewart

    Flood Re launched last month, and will ensure people will have access to affordable flood insurance. Flood Re will achieve this by providing reinsurance, with high risk customers having their policies ceded to Flood Re by their insurer. Flood insurance policies ceded to Flood Re have premiums and excesses within set limits based on Council Tax band.

    As of today, 29 insurers are using Flood Re and it remains important that consumers shop around to obtain the best price. A review of the Flood Re scheme will take place in 2019.

  • Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, for what reasons the Government did not extend the European Union Referendum (Voter Registration) Regulations 2016 to Northern Ireland to enable late registration by any method; and if she will make a statement.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    The registration deadline extension for the EU Referendum was implemented following system disruption to the online registration portal in Great Britain. The extension did not apply to Northern Ireland because online registration will not be available in Northern Ireland until later this year and voters there were not disadvantaged by the system disruption in GB.