Category: Speeches

  • Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are aware of the recent case of 15 year-old Matthew Garnett who, as a consequence of being on the autistic spectrum, has been confined to a psychiatric intensive care unit for six months without having been moved to a more appropriate care facility, and what action they are taking to prevent such cases arising in future.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    We are aware of this case, and we welcome NHS England’s confirmation that Matthew will be moving to a more appropriate facility in the next month.

    Delivery of appropriate care for the few individuals with very complex needs will always be a challenge. The people who can best assess local care needs and ensure that those needs are met are local commissioners, though some people will require care that is commissioned on a national level for rare conditions, including some mental health conditions with comorbidities such as autistic spectrum disorders or learning disabilities. This includes inpatient treatment for children and young people with mental health conditions.

    NHS England is continuing Care and Treatment Reviews for children and young people with learning disabilities in inpatient settings and 52 week residential schools. These reviews ensure the care and setting are appropriate to the child or young person’s needs, and where needed, allow planned moves to community-based care or more appropriate inpatient accommodation.

  • 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, pursuant to the oral Answer of 12 January 2016, Official Report, column 697, what assessment he has made of whether evidence of the reported airstrike in Yemen on a market place in the Hajjah Governorate provides grounds for determining that international humanitarian law has been broken.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    We are aware of allegations regarding a strike on a market on north-western Yemen in Hajjah Governate on 15 March. The MoD monitors incidents of alleged International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations, including this incident, using all available information. The UK has encouraged Saudi Arabia to investigate allegations of breaches of IHL. The Saudi Arabian Government announced on 29 February that they are forming an independent committee to examine military activity in civilian areas in order to minimise possible civilian casualties; assess the Coalition’s rules of engagement; assess accidents, verification and targeting procedures and advise how they can be improved; and provide a clear, full and objective report for each investigation made including conclusions, lessons learnt and recommendations for future actions.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what progress has been made on the Near Neighbours programme.

    Mrs Caroline Spelman

    The Church Commissioners welcome the Government’s recent announcement of a further £1.5 million for the Near Neighbours programme, which is administered by the Church Urban Fund. This third round of funding for Near Neighbours will help it build on its successful track record of delivering projects up and down the country to transform local areas by strengthening relationships between those of different religious and ethnic backgrounds on issues of shared concern.

    The Near Neighbours programme has offered small grants between £250 and £5,000, providing seed capital for local groups and organisations who are working to bring together neighbours, to develop relationships across diverse faiths and ethnicities in order to improve their communities. The Near Neighbours grants fund has so far awarded seed capital worth £3.66m to over 1,120 projects. These projects have impacted the lives of 941,000 people and 71% of projects have continued to run after the initial seed capital was spent. All Near Neighbours projects are designed to change hearts and minds by bringing together different communities within a neighbourhood so that they can work together on issues of shared concern and common values.

    More information on Near Neighbours can be found on its website at: https://www.cuf.org.uk/how-we-help/near-neighbours

    “

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many female offenders received an immediate sentence of (a) less than six months and (b) six months or more in each police force area in Wales in each of the last six years; and what the offence group was for such offenders.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts taking into account all the circumstances of each case. In order to pass a custodial sentence the court must be satisfied that the offence is so serious that neither a fine alone nor a community order can be justified. Where a custodial sentence is imposed it must be for the shortest period commensurate with the seriousness of the offence.

    The number of female offenders who received an immediate sentence of (a) less than six months and (b) six months or more in each police force area in Wales by offence group from 2010 and 2015 can be viewed in the table. This information is a further breakdown of the sentencing data tool, published at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2015.

    “

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what works took place on the engines of the Type 45 Destroyers while they were collectively docked during the summer of 2016.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The planned maintenance periods in 2016 for all Royal Navy Type 45 Destroyers have included work on the propulsion systems.

  • 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 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his US and other NATO counterparts on the nuclear tests being conducted by North Korea; and what steps he is taking to help prevent North Korea’s development of a nuclear arsenal.

    Alok Sharma

    Following the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducting its fifth nuclear test on 9 September, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), made clear that the UK strongly condemned the test, which is a flagrant violation of binding UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions. The UK has worked closely with international partners for many years to respond to the nuclear weapons and missile programmes of the DPRK.

    The UNSC agreed wide-ranging sanctions following the fourth nuclear test in January, which contained some of the strongest measures the UNSC has ever adopted. As I said on 23 September at the UN Security Council meeting, "there is now a need to work immediately on further significant measures." The UK is working with international partners on further significant measures the UNSC can take in response to the fifth test.

  • Lord Kilclooney – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kilclooney – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2015-11-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they participated in the election observer presences at the recent elections in Turkey; and whether OSCE or Council of Europe observer delegations were also present at those elections.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The British Government deployed 2 Long Term Observers to join 18 other Long Term Observers in the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Limited Election Observation Mission for the early parliamentary elections in Turkey on 1 November 2015.

    Delegations from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE also observed the elections in Turkey on 1 November.

  • Nic Dakin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academies were in deficit in each year since 2009-10; and what the total deficit was in academies in each such year.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department does not hold this information in the form requested. Academies are operated by the legal entity of academy trusts, many of which operate multiple academies across multiple local authorities. As such, it is not possible to give local authority figures.

  • Pauline Latham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Pauline Latham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2015 to Question 18808, what assessment he made of the conclusion by the Independent Cancer Taskforce in its 2015 report entitled Achieving world class outcomes for cancer: A strategy for England 2015-2020 that faecal immunochemical testing has extremely poor rates of detection for precancerous polyps.

    Jane Ellison

    The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recently consulted on the use of Faecal Immunochemical testing (FIT) as an alternative screen test for bowel cancer. Both the UK NSC and the Independent Cancer Taskforce are supportive of the initial results of the FIT pilot, which indicates that this test is more acceptable to the screened population with a significant increase in participation (10%). The UK NSC has published its minutes from the November meeting and recommends a change to use FIT as the primary test to be used in the National Health Service Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.

    We are considering the UK NSC’s recommendation.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the budget of each Regional School Commissioner; who scrutinises and audits those budgets; how many staff are employed by each Commissioner; and whether those Commissioner budgets are made publicly available at the end of each financial year, and if so, how.

    Lord Nash

    Each Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) has an annual budget of approximately £560k for the 2015-16 financial year. This consists of a programme budget of £40k per region and an administration budget of approximately £520k. The programme budget is to cover costs related to events and other communications activities. The administration budget is for staff costs, for example salary and travel. In addition, each RSC also has a Head Teacher Board (HTB) budget of approximately £100k annually to recompense the HTB members’ employer for loss of staff time.

    There are a number of other budgets that are used to support the work of the RSCs and the delivery of the academies and free schools programmes, but these are not held by the RSCs themselves.

    In line with the Department for Education’s internal review and governance arrangements, RSCs are required to provide financial reports each month, as well as an assurance statement at year end. Their budgets are included within the annual financial scrutiny and audit of the DfE accounts carried out by internal audit and externally scrutinised by the National Audit Office (NAO).

    At present, each RSC office employs between 8 and 10 members of staff. The RSC and their office’s salary information are included within the Department’s salary details published on GOV.UK.