Category: Speeches

Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the report produced by Ernst and Young for his Department in February 2012 on development options and safety standards at RAF Northolt recommended that an Engineered Material Arresting System be installed at RAF Northolt; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 28 January 2016 to Question 24027. The Mott MacDonald report referenced in that previous answer was an Appendix to the Ernst and Young study of February 2012.

01/01/2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2016 to Question 903912, what estimate her Department has made of number of postgraduate trainee teachers recruited in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb

The data requested has been attached to this answer and can be found in Table 1b at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2015-to-2016

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01/01/2023
Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they agree with the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) call for Europe to resettle 108,000 refugees each year for the next five years; and whether they accept the arguments in the IRC’s situation briefing dated 24 March.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government considers the resettlement of targeted groups of refugees, particularly the most vulnerable, to be a vital part of the international response to the current migration crisis. However, we do not support the setting of binding quotas or targets by any organisation, either at European or international level. In our view national resettlement schemes, run and co-ordinated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other partners, is the best way for each country to make its own contribution.

We have committed to resettling 20,000 vulnerable Syrians over the lifetime of this Parliament and we saw the first 1,000 arrive before Christmas 2015. This is in addition to the other resettlement schemes that we operate, including Gateway, under which 750 refugees from all over the world are resettled each year.

Resettlement is only one strand of the Government’s efforts. It complements our significant humanitarian aid programme, including £2.3 billion to the Syria region, and diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Syria. The Government is clear that this approach is the best way to ensure that the UK’s help has the greatest impact for the majority of refugees who remain in the region and their host countries surrounding Syria.

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, what steps she is taking to work with other departments to formulate the Government’s response to the recommendation of the Energy and Climate Change Committee in its Fifth Report of Session 2015-16, on Setting the fifth carbon budget, HC 659, that effective drivers need to be put in place by Government to encourage innovation and investment for transport, buildings and agriculture.

Andrea Leadsom

We are currently working closely with other Government departments to determine the right approach to reducing emissions in the 2020s.

We will publish the successor to 2011 Carbon Plan, in due course. The new plan will set out our policies and proposals for meeting the UK’s carbon budgets, and will cover all sectors of the economy, including transport, agriculture and buildings.

01/01/2023
Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which exceptional circumstances applied to each grant of family reunion made outside the rules during the last five years.

James Brokenshire

The Home Office does not hold the specific information in the format requested. The questions cover a number of different casework operations and the information is not recorded centrally in a way which can be reported on directly.

To obtain the information would involve examining individual case records and would incur disproportionate cost. We do not currently plan to change the data that is centrally recorded and published on this category of applications.

01/01/2023
Baroness Northover – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-09-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of smoking rates in low- and middle-income countries and how those rates are predicted to evolve over the next century; and how they take such rates into account in awarding development funding.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Government recognises the significant impact of tobacco use in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Tobacco use is the world’s single most preventable cause of disease and the number of tobacco users is increasing in LMICs. If current patterns of use persist, tobacco will kill about 1 billion people in the 21st Century. Evidence indicates that by 2030, over 80% of the world’s tobacco-related mortality will be in LMICs.

Tobacco use is also a major barrier to sustainable development. A major driver of social inequities, tobacco use imposes significant social, economic and environmental harm on individuals, families and national economies.

Given the recognised impact of tobacco on international development, the United Kingdom Government is funding a project to strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, using official development assistance funds. Through this project, we will share the UK’s experience in tobacco control to support LMICs to save lives by putting effective measures in place to stop people using tobacco.

01/01/2023
Sammy Wilson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sammy Wilson on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has for funding for voucher offers under the Superconnected Cities fund that were not taken up.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Broadband Connect Voucher Scheme was hugelysuccessful, and has benefitted 55,000 small and medium businesses (SMEs) across the UK. All broadband connections vouchers issued to SMEs before the scheme closed on 12 October that comply with the scheme’s terms and conditions will be funded.

01/01/2023
Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department has given to New Alliance in respect of farming in Africa; and what criteria that organisation was assessed against to receive such support.

Mr Nick Hurd

In 2012 the UK pledged to support the New Alliance commitment to inclusive agriculture growth. The UK contributes to projects in six founding member countries. These projects aim to improve incomes from agricultural production, and strengthen the food security and nutrition of poor smallholders farmers.

The UK also supports the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (managed by the World Bank) and other international agriculture research and policy initiatives.

All DFID funding undergoes thorough scrutiny and is linked to performance. This includes the value for money proposition and poverty impact. Each project is subject to annual reviews that are posted on the DFID Development Tracker website.

01/01/2023
Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the Egyptian government on Libya.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Foreign and Commonwealth Office ministers regularly discuss Libya with their Egyptian counterparts, as part of the united international effort to assist the formation of a government in Libya that can deliver stability, security, and prosperity for the Libyan people. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) continues ongoing discussions of Libya with his Egyptian counterpart, Minister for Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukhry. They previously discussed the subject in meetings in September and November.

01/01/2023

Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full-time equivalent personnel were employed by the (a) Royal Military Police, (b) Royal Naval Police and (c) Royal Air Force Police in each of the last six years.

Penny Mordaunt

The requested information, as at 1 April of each year, is provided in the following table:

Strength of Trained UK Regular personnel in the Royal Military Police (RMP), Royal Naval Police (RNP) and Royal Air Force Police (RAFP)

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
RMP	1,700	1,710	1,720	1,740	1,720	1,620
RNP	340	320	320	300	290	300
RAFP	1,480	1,450	1,360	1,200	1,110	1,140

Notes:

1. UK Regular Forces comprises Full-time personnel but does not include Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service personnel and Reservists.

2. RMP figures do not include approximately 2,900 Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS) personnel and a small number of "staff" (Colonel and above) who have a late arm/corps of Provost. Recent MPGS personnel numbers are available in Table 1 of the Service Personnel Statistics report:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/499082/Monthly_Service_Personnel_Statistics_January_2016.xlsx

3. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Numbers ending in 5 are rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid systematic bias. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sums of their rounded parts.

01/01/2023