Category: Speeches

  • Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he has taken to improve diversity in public service broadcasting.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    This Government is committed to improving diversity in public service broadcasting. We have continued to push on this agenda and keep the spotlight on all major broadcasters. I am encouraged by the steps they have began to take to improve the levels of diversity in the industry but I continue to press them to do more.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the implications for his Department’s policies on devolving Sunday trading regulations are of the findings of the report from Oxford Economics, Economics impact of deregulating Sunday trading, published in September 2015, on losses in sales for the convenience store sector.

    Anna Soubry

    In formulating its final proposals, the Government has carefully considered all the evidence submitted during the consultation process.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of free-flow technology on the Severn Bridge.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government is considering the future of tolling arrangements at the Severn Crossing once the concession ends. I expect to consider the merits of free-flow technology in this context, although no options have yet been developed. To help understand whether this may be worth pursuing, my Department is attempting to estimate the potential traffic benefit of removing the barriers, though this work is not yet complete.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the waiting time to receive an electric wheelchair through NHS Wheelchair Services after being determined eligible to receive one.

    Alistair Burt

    No data is currently available in relation to waiting times for wheelchairs for 2014-15. A new national data collection has been introduced (from July 2015) to all clinical commissioning groups to allow for transparency and benchmarking their services. Data has so far been published for quarter 2 and quarter 3 2015/16. However, this is a new collection and does not yet provide an opportunity to draw national or regional comparisons.

    The new dataset is part of the work that NHS England is taking forward in partnership with service users, carers and others to lay the foundations for improvement across the country. A tariff for wheelchairs will enable commissioners to move away from simple contracts, and so increase efficiency and better align resources with service users’ needs; support and resources for clinical commissioning groups will help them improve their commissioning of wheelchair services.

  • Conor McGinn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Conor McGinn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of converting schools into academies in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) Merseyside.

    Edward Timpson

    It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

  • Baroness Goudie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Goudie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Goudie on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the £660 million to be available to Northern Ireland and the southern border counties under PEACE IV, and other EU Structural Fund subventions, will continue to be made available to those areas.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    As the Prime Minister has made clear, while the UK remains a member of the EU, current EU funding arrangements continue unchanged. It will be for the government under the new Prime Minister to begin the negotiation to leave, and set out arrangements for those currently in receipt of EU funds.

  • Lord Polak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Polak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Polak on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will provide the names of the receiver organisations currently reported as Supplier Name Withheld” for the £5.49 million in disbursements given to the Norwegian Refugee Council for legal assistance in the West Bank and Gaza from September 2013 to May 2016.”

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    All disbursements listed on the Development Tracker for the programme entitled ‘Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC): Legal Assistance to prevent demolitions and displacement in the OPTs’ have been made directly to the NRC, which is the supplier for this programme. Due to a technical issue inherent in the Development Tracker management information system, some supplier names appear as withheld when in fact they should be published. Our central management information team is working on a solution to this problem.

  • Nick Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nick Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons the Rural Payments Agency was not able to make advance basic payments from 16 October 2015.

    George Eustice

    The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) remains focused on making full payments from December. The RPA is on track to make full payments on 2015 Basic Payment Scheme claims as soon as possible within the payment window, making the majority of payments in December and the vast majority by the end of January 2016.

  • Michael Tomlinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Michael Tomlinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of green belt land in the Poole Unitary Authority area has been redesignated as community land trust in the last five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department does not hold information centrally on the amount or type of land held by community land trusts.

    The Department’s annual Green Belt statistics monitor the amount of land designated as Green Belt in England and any changes to the designated area since the previous year. The statistics record the change by local planning authority.

    Of the local planning authorities for which information was requested, the following have made changes to the Green Belt in the last five years:

    East Dorset reduced the area of designated Green Belt in 2014-15 by 160 hectares to 16,720 hectares, a reduction of 1 per cent; and

    Purbeck increased the area of designated Green Belt in 2012-13 by 460 hectares to 8,200 hectares, an increase of 6 per cent.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to make funding available for remedial work on the flood defences on the north bank of the River Ribble, east of Miller Park; and when that remedial work is planned to take place.

    Rory Stewart

    Remedial work on flood defences on the north bank of the River Ribble, to the east of Miller Park, will take place in two phases.

    Preston City Council started the first phase of temporary repair work on 18 January 2016. The target date for completion is 22 January 2016.

    The Environment Agency recovery programme will prioritise repair works across Cumbria and Lancashire using a risk based approach. The level of protection offered by flood defence assets will be restored by autumn 2016. This programme will include the second phase of permanent repairs to the flood defences on the north bank of the River Ribble.

    The Environment Agency is not aware of any damage to flood defences east of Miller Park requiring remedial works.