Category: Speeches

  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received since September 2015 on (a) consumer debt and (b) personal loans.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government has fundamentally reformed the regulation of consumer credit, transferring regulatory responsibility from the Office of Fair Trading to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA regime has been designed to strike the right balance between proportionality and consumer protection. The Government has ensured that the FCA has robust powers to protect consumers.

    Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with, and receive letters from, a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

    Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme outcomes for the BAME population.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England (NHSE) monitors clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs) performance against the recovery target for people who have received psychological therapies through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. In October 2015, 77 CCGs met the 50% Recovery Standard.

    The Department is working closely with NHSE to reduce the variation in recovery rates across CCG areas.

    NHSE is also supporting lowest performing IAPT providers to improve their recovery rates and is offering workshops to spread good practice to all commissioners and providers.

    The Government is aware of evidence that shows that people from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities are less likely to use psychological therapies. There is ongoing activity by NHSE in collaboration with the Department to encourage access to IAPT services by the under-represented groups.

    A BAME benchmarking tool has been developed and is currently being piloted by a number of IAPT services. This will assist services to improve access to people from BAME communities by helping those services understand the ethnicity of the population and whether this is reflected within the population they see. It asks services to assess whether outcomes for BAME communities are equivalent to non-BAME patients whilst also checking whether improvements for access to people from BAME communities have been made and specific training for therapists have been utilised. Once pilots are complete NHS England will publish the benchmarking tool for all services to access.

    Equality of access is an issue for wider mental health services and that is why the Mental Health Partnership Board is considering the issues around equality of access in mental health services, which includes the IAPT programme.

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre publish referrals and outcomes data by ethnic groups. NHSE intends to compare those numbers with BAME prevalence population data to highlight referrals and access rates for ethnic groups at CCG level. CCGs are responsible for taking the necessary actions to address any disparity.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on energy security of the UK leaving the EU.

    Amber Rudd

    When it comes to ensuring our families and businesses have secure, affordable and clean energy supplies they can rely on, the UK is better off being in Europe. The UK is leading the way in shaping EU energy and climate policies that strengthen our energy security, benefit consumers and help us tackle global climate change.

    Being a leading member of the EU helps improve UK energy security by attracting foreign investment, promoting competition and facilitating efficient and reliable cross-border energy trade.

    Unless the UK is prepared to be an EU rule-taker, keeping in lock-step with evolving EU energy and low carbon rules without any say on them, being outside the EU would create real and growing risks to energy security, consumer bills, and competitiveness.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.228 of Budget 2016, when he expects the new money guidance body to be established.

    Harriett Baldwin

    At Budget 2016, the government published its response to the Public Financial Guidance Review and launched a consultation seeking views on the government’s plans to restructure the statutory financial guidance providers – the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise. This paper, which closes on 8 June 2016, sets out a new delivery model for public financial guidance and seeks views on how, within this model, the proposed services could best be offered. The new delivery model is designed to better complement the financial guidance provided by the third sector and the industry and provide more targeted support for consumers.

    The government will consider the responses to this consultation over the summer, and in parallel, work closely with the affected organisations to finalise the delivery structure. A detailed timetable will be set out with the final response, which will be published in the autumn. The government has been clear that the three affected organisations will continue to provide guidance to consumers until at least 2018.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to instruct NHS England to commission fertility treatment centrally.

    Jane Ellison

    Information about clinical commissioning groups’ approach to commissioning fertility services is not collected centrally.

    The Department has not made any estimate of the proportion of children conceived in the United Kingdom using in-vitro fertilisation relative to those countries mentioned.

    The Department has no plans to instruct NHS England to commission fertility treatment centrally. Fertility services do not meet the criteria set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to be nationally commissioned by NHS England.

  • Graham Stuart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Graham Stuart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Stuart on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she expects her Department to have collated and put in a format ready to send all the information required by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China following its inspections of UK pig trotter production plants in April 2015.

    George Eustice

    We are working with the UK pork industry to collate the necessary data and information required by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China, which will be submitted by the end of June. The UK Agriculture, Food and Drink Counsellor, based in Beijing, has met with the Chinese authorities to raise the importance of this agreement and press for expeditious consideration of the UK application to allow exports of UK pigs’ trotters to commence as soon as possible.

  • Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many new job vacancies have been advertised in his Department each month in 2016 to date.

    Sir Alan Duncan

    Since 31 December 2015, the FCO has advertised 68 new UK-based job vacancies in the Conflict Security and Stability Fund (CSSF) and the Prosperity Fund, which are cross-Whitehall programmes administered by the FCO. These jobs are funded by the CSSF and Prosperity Fund respectively, not by the FCO administrative budget. The jobs are advertised at 5 weekly intervals.

  • Louise Ellman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Louise Ellman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Ellman on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make representations to his Danish counterpart on reopening the inquest into the death of commercial diver Stephen O’Malley in 2012.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Under powers in the Coroners Act 1988 (as amended) a new coroner investigation may be ordered by the High Court, with the authority of the Attorney General, where it is in the interests of justice to do so because of fraud, rejection of evidence, irregularity of proceedings or insufficiency of inquiry in the original inquest or new facts or evidence have come to light. It therefore falls outside the responsibility of the Secretary of State.

  • Baroness Randerson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Randerson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many officials in the Department for Transport were working as part of the team dealing with rail franchising in 2014–15 and 2015–16.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The information is not held in the format requested. Staff working in franchising sit in Passenger Services, with other staff carrying out much wider roles.

    The number of people (permanent and temporary) working in Passenger Services as at 31st March 2015 was 221.

    The number as of 1st December 2015 is 235.

    Our forecast requirements for future years are as follows:

    2016/17 246.25 Full-Time Equivalents

    2017/18 246.25 Full-Time Equivalents

    2018/19 234.25 Full-Time Equivalents

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proposals the Government made aimed at making fully transparent the financial management practices in each member state participant in the Joint Ministerial Council of British Overseas Territories at its fourth meeting in December 2015.

    James Duddridge

    The Government and Overseas Territories committed at the Joint Ministerial Council to work in partnership as appropriate to support capacity building and the development of expertise in public financial management and economic planning. This includes maintaining sound public finances, building economic resilience and ensuring value for money in use of public funds, including through effective use of audit.