Category: Speeches

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish the next Carbon Plan.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    We are engaging with a wide range of stakeholders and other government departments in order to meet the shared challenge of moving to a low carbon economy. The Emissions Reduction Plan will set out how we will meet our carbon budgets through the 2020s (the period covering the fourth and fifth carbon budgets).

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sharon Hodgson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken that children who have experienced abuse wait to receive support from therapeutic services.

    Jane Ellison

    In line with guidance published by NHS England in August, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have produced Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) for children and young people’s mental health with their local partners as proposed in Future in mind. These include plans for how CCGs will ensure that the needs of vulnerable groups, including children who have been sexually abused or assaulted, are met and will address the need for improvements and reduced waiting times, which will make it easier for children and young people to access high quality mental health care when they need it. All LTPs were received by 16 October 2015 and they are now being considered by NHS England. In addition, standard waiting times for mental health are being introduced for the first time, starting with standards on Early Intervention in Psychosis (came into force April 2015) and on Eating Disorders in Children and Young People (published in August 2015 and included in the local transformation plans produced by CCGs and now being assessed by NHS England).

    NHS England also published a Commissioning Framework for Adult and Paediatric Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Services in August 2015 which outlines the core services in SARCs and referral pathways to other services. These are now being rolled out throughout England.

  • Keith Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many lorries were scanned by lorry body scanners in Calais before entering the UK in each month of 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    To ensure the integrity and security of the UK border, Her Majesty’s Government cannot provide port specific statistics.

    Border Force operates a multi-layered search regime using a range of interventions to screen all freight vehicles entering the UK through the juxtaposed ports. This includes the use of specialist technologies such as Passive Millimetre Wave Imaging devices, heartbeat monitors and carbon dioxide detectors as well as physical searches by sniffer dogs, Border Force staff and specialist search contractors.

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many beds are (a) funded for and (b) provided by the Youth Justice Board at Medway Secure Training College.

    Andrew Selous

    The Youth Justice Board funds all 76 beds at Medway Secure Training Centre. The beds are provided by the contractor, G4S.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Royal College of Nursing on the effect of sugary drinks on obesity.

    Jane Ellison

    There have been no such recent discussions.

  • Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken by the Independent Police Complaints Commission to resolve complaints.

    Mike Penning

    Home Office officials work closely with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to monitor how they are delivering their objectives. The IPCC provide regular performance information to the Home Office, including information on the timeliness of completed cases, which are scrutinised closely by my officials as part of the business and corporate planning process. The Home office is working with the IPCC to develop appropriate performance measures for 2016-17, including more streamlined public access to IPCC timeliness information.

    On 7 March, the Home Secretary announced plans to reform the IPCC’s Governance, to make it more effective and more responsive to the public. These plans were published on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-the-independent-police-complaints-commission-structure-and-governance We continue to provide additional funding to support the IPCC to expand to deliver an increased volume of timely, high quality investigations. I will ask the IPCC to write to the Honourable Member in response to the request for average times to complete the complaints process, and will ask for this response to be made available in the House Library.

  • Lord Palmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    Lord Palmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

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

    To ask the Chairman of Committees, further to his Written Answer on 9 November 2015 (HL3053), whether the three sous chefs who left via a voluntary exit scheme were offered voluntary redundancy pay.

    Lord Laming

    There have been no redundancies in House of Lords Catering and Retail Services. In June 2015 three sous chefs applied to take Voluntary Exit following a restructuring of back of house services and received a Voluntary Exit package.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to hospital trusts on the discharge of frail elderly patients.

    Alistair Burt

    In this Parliament, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published a guideline on “Transition between inpatient hospital settings and community or care home settings for adults with social care needs” in December 2015. The guideline aims to improve people’s experience of admission to, and discharge from, hospital by better coordination of health and social care services.

    NHS England’s “Quick Guide: Improving Hospital Discharge into the Care Sector” also provides practical advice for local health and care systems on how to improve hospital discharge for people with packages of care at home or with care home places.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the immediate effect of the vote to leave the EU on UK research (a) in general and (b) funding.

    Joseph Johnson

    As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has made clear, while the UK remains a member of the EU, current EU funding and collaboration arrangements continue unchanged, including those that apply to students, researchers, and businesses. I am in close contact with Commissioner Moedas on the topic of Horizon 2020 funding, and I met with the Italian Minister for Education, Universities and Research on 11 July.

    The UK is world-class in research and innovation and we play a leading role in major European and international collaboration, including ESA and CERN.

  • Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that consumers are adequately informed about the option to switch to gas and electricity tariffs with zero standing charge.

    Jesse Norman

    Tariffs with zero standing charge generally have a higher unit charge than tariffs with a standing charge, as the cost to supply is only recovered when energy is used. This tariff may benefit low energy using households but not others. Under the terms in the supply licence, suppliers must provide individual customers with details of their cheapest tariff and an estimate of annual savings. Customers can shop around for the best energy deal that suits their needs by using a price comparison company that operates in accordance with the Confidence Code, a code of practice managed by Ofgem for accredited price comparison companies.