Category: Speeches

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total cost to Network Rail was of acquiring the ownership of freight sites under Project Mountfield; and what overall revenue received by Network Rail from those sites in 2014-15.

    Claire Perry

    This was a commercial matter for Network Rail. I understand that the total cost to Network Rail of acquiring the ownership of freight sites under Project Mountfield was £220 million.

    The overall revenue figure for 2014/15 was £5.2 million which represents a 5 month period – November to March – given the transfer of sites occurred in October 2014.

    Network Rail is forecasting this to grow to £16 million per annum by 2017 alongside realising significant operational efficiencies.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which road projects his Department plans to finance from the (a) £49 million previously announced to repair roads following Storms Desmond and Eva and (b) £130 million set out in paragraph 1.239 of the Budget 2016; and how much he plans to allocate to each such project.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department for Transport is allocating £180 million to help assist local highway authorities affected by the storms this winter season. This includes a further £130 million as announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget 2016.

    It will be for each local highway authority to decide on how this funding will be spent in in Cumbria, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Greater Manchester and Durham in repairing damaged local highway infrastructure.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-04-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 6.50 of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, if he will ensure that the refresh of the defence industrial policy includes measures to (a) maximise export potential, (b) generate intellectual property rights and (c) promote engineering skills in the defence and aerospace sector.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Government remains committed to the principles set out in the 2012 National Security Through Technology White Paper. We will always strive to get the best value for money for the taxpayer in a way that strengthens national prosperity. This will be our approach in refreshing defence industrial policy and in promoting an innovative, skilled and globally competitive UK defence sector.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will introduce an indicator on the use of manual pulse checks to screen for atrial fibrillation.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The decision on which indicators should be included in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) is decided through annual negotiations. In England, NHS Employers on behalf of NHS England, and the General Practitioners’ Committee on behalf of the British Medical Association, decide which indicators are included within the QOF.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for producing a menu of indicators suitable for inclusion in the QOF.

    NICE has advised that, in February 2016, it consulted on potential new indicators for the NICE indicators menu, including two new indicators on the use of manual pulse checks for atrial fibrillation. The NICE indicators advisory committee will review feedback to the consultation at its next meeting on 13 June 2016 and the outcome of this review will determine future work in this area.

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-07-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consulted experts in the field before publicly welcoming the acquisition of ARM Holdings by SoftBank, and whether they would similarly welcome a rival bid from an international private equity investor.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    SoftBank has made it clear that it intends to invest in ARM, keep its HQ in the UK, and at least double the employee headcount in the UK. The Government welcomes this. No rival bids for ARM have so far been made.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the job vacancy notice DFT/649/16/DFTC, published by his Department in October 2016, how his Department expects the report and slide pack which form part of the project to write the story of High Speed 2 from inception to the present day to be used; and who his Department expects to use that report and slide pack.

    Andrew Jones

    It is important that we do ensure good documentation of major projects across government to learn from the past and ensure knowledge is shared easily. I will consider in due course what is the right way to do this but the advertised recruitment is not going ahead.

  • Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of teacher training degrees incorporate modules on working with children aged 0 to 5 years.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Early Years Initial Teacher Training was introduced in 2013. Early Years Teachers are specialists in early childhood development, trained to work with babies and young children from birth to five. Early Years Initial Teacher Training trainees who successfully meet the Teachers’ Standards (Early Years) are awarded Early Years Teacher Status. All modules of Early Years Initial Teacher Training courses include working with children aged 0 to 5 years. All initial teacher training courses that lead to the award of Qualified Teacher Status also cover the 3 to 18 age range.

  • 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, when he plans for the increase in (a) Royal Navy and (b) Royal Air Force personnel provided for in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 to take place.

    Mark Lancaster

    On current planning assumptions, the new military personnel numbers provided for in the Strategic Defence and Security Review will begin to come into effect in 2016 and will be achieved by 2022 for the Royal Navy and 2018 for the Royal Air Force.

  • Michael Fabricant – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Michael Fabricant – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Fabricant on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which countries have not had an official visit by a Minister in his Department since May 2010.

    Joseph Johnson

    The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However details of Ministers’ overseas travel are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-business-innovation-skills&publication_type=transparency-data

    “

  • Johnny Mercer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Johnny Mercer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Johnny Mercer on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the GRIP 2 studies required for the Peninsula Rail Task Force’s survey will be available in order for the survey to be completed in June 2016.

    Claire Perry

    Department for Transport officials are working with Network Rail and the Peninsula Rail Task Force within the context of the changes that will come from Hendy re-profiling and the Bowe review to establish which further studies are required to inform the Peninsula Rail Task Force report of June 2016 and the funding that could be available to support this development work.