Category: Speeches

  • 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 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received of alleged mass graves in Burundi.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    I am deeply concerned by the discovery of alleged mass graves in Burundi. I am aware that the UN is currently analysing satellite images to investigate reports of at least nine mass graves, including one in a military camp said to contain more than 100 bodies. There must be an impartial investigation into these allegations. Where crimes have been committed, those responsible must be prosecuted. In the margins of the African Union Summit the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) met the African Union’s Peace and Security Commissioner, Smail Chergui, and the Burundian Minister of External Relations and International Cooperation, Alain Nyamwite. He strongly urged the Burundian Government to accept responsibility for what was happening in their country and to take decisive action to improve the situation. We are exploring what more we can do to support the African Union’s leadership, and have intensified our efforts at the UN and with our EU partners to halt the violence in Burundi.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2016 to Question 21452, how many jobs at the Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust were abolished or relocated from Stoke-on Trent between May 2010 and 1 June 2014.

    Andrew Selous

    The former probation trusts ceased operation on 31 May 2014, as part of the previous Government’s Transforming Rehabilitation reforms. The trusts’ archived records are now held by the National Offender Management Service.

    Within the specified timescale, it is not possible to ascertain whether or not the information requested is held in the archives. I will write to the hon. Member in due course to let him know the position and to provide the information if we have it.

  • Jessica Morden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jessica Morden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to halve the level of the Severn Bridge tolls inclusive or exclusive of VAT following the return of the Severn Bridge to public ownership.

    Andrew Jones

    After the end of the concession, the tolls will be 50% lower than the toll level when the concession comes to an end. This isn’t on top of the removal of VAT.

  • Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-04-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assistance his Department provides for homeless people unable to provide documentation and information on previous tenancies to help them secure new tenancies.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Our ‘How to Rent’ guide, updated in February 2016 sets out the types of documents landlords and agents often ask from tenants when looking for new properties. They include confirmation of a tenant’s identity, immigration status, credit history and possibly employment status. Private landlords and letting agents operate on a commercial basis and they will decide which documents to request from prospective tenants based on their individual circumstances.

    The Government has provided a wide range of documents which can be accepted in Right to Rent checks in order not to disadvantage people who lack access to standard forms of identification such as passports and residence permits. Special consideration has been given to what documentation is available to people trying to escape homelessness, those fleeing domestic violence, ex-service people, and those leaving the prison system.

    Victims of domestic abuse who are staying in a refuge or hostel are exempt from the Right to Rent scheme. Those not in a hostel or refuge can also use a number of less standard documents to prove their right to rent. Acceptable documents include documents which should be accessible without having to return to a previous address, such as a letter from either their employer, a British passport holder, or local authority.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Ivory Coast about the number of prisoners being held for political reasons following the elections of 2010; what responses, if any, they have had; and whether they are in touch with local Roman Catholic bishops about that issue.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK has worked closely with the UN Special Representative for Côte D’Ivoire, and international partners to ensure that, as part of the national reconciliation process, those held in detention since the 2010/11 post-electoral crisis without formal criminal charges, or no charges to answer, were released. We welcome President Ouattara’s release of the final 3,100 such prisoners in January 2016. A further 265 prisoners remain on remand: all have been charged with criminal offences committed during the crisis. Following the visit of the UN Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Abidjan Prison on 10 June and subsequent meeting with President Ouattara, the Justice Minister has given an assurance that the trials will be completed by the end of December 2016. The UK continues to urge for the trials to be held in a timely manner.

    To promote national reconciliation, the UK and other international partners continue to press for the Government of Cote d’Ivoire to ensure that all parties responsible for human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law are brought to justice, no matter what their political affiliation. Whilst local Roman Catholic bishops have not directly contacted us, officials from our Embassy in Abidjan will engage with them on this issue.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-07-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the scope of the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurements working group has shifted from its original purpose, and if so, why.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    No, the Terms of Reference have not changed.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many households in (a) Scotland and (b) the Highland area of Scotland have their electricity supplies controlled by dynamically teleswitched meters.

    David Mundell

    We do not hold information on how many households in Scotland and the Highland area of Scotland have their electricity supplies controlled by dynamically teleswitched meters. In Ofgem’s response to the Competition Markets Authority’s Notice of Remedies published in August 2015, it was estimated that there were 160,000 households across Great Britain with dynamically teleswitched meters in operation at the end of 2014.

    The Competition Markets Authority’s Notice of Remedies is available online at:

    https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/561e1fbaed915d39bc000013/Ofgem__revised_with_additional_material_.pdf.

    “

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s (a) 2015 and (b) 2020 liability baseline is for service personnel for each top level budget.

    Michael Fallon

    The liability baseline for September 2015 and the predicted liability baseline for April 2020 are shown in the attached tables. This represents the implementation of decisions made in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 and the three Month Exercise.

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 33 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, how many posts he plans to lose in each section of his Department.

    Mark Lancaster

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 30 November 2015 to Questions 17752, 17733 and 17735.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what impact assessment he has made of the Government’s proposal to limit housing benefit for claimants in the social housing sector to local housing allowance rates from 2018.

    Justin Tomlinson

    This policy is still under development and full impact and equality impact assessments will be undertaken in due course.

    This measure is not being introduced until April 2018 and only then where new tenancies have been taken out or existing tenancies renewed from 1 April 2016.