Category: Speeches

Lord Scriven – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 2 November (HL2849) on the review of retention of custody images by police forces, when the review will be completed, and when the guidance will be published.

Lord Bates

The review is ongoing, and is anticipated to report before the Christmas recess. Specific stakeholders consulted as part of the review include the Biometrics Commissioner, the Information Commissioner, the Surveillance Camera Commissioner, the National DNA Database Ethics Group, the National Police Chiefs Council , the College of Policing and local police forces. The report can be expected to address the operational and legal issues and risks, and set out plans for implementation.

01/01/2023
Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to provide paramedics with on-the-spot blood diagnostic devices for the detection of medical conditions.

Jane Ellison

The provision of medical equipment for front-line ambulance service staff falls within the responsibility of individual ambulance trusts. Paramedics already do have access to, and routinely carry, some blood-testing devices for example, to check for blood sugar.

01/01/2023

Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what amount was spent on the maintenance and repair of (a) HMS Daring, (b) HMS Dauntless, (c) HMS Diamond, (d) HMS Dragon, (e) HMS Defender and (f) HMS Duncan for (i) planned maintenance and (ii) repair work in each of the last six years.

Mr Philip Dunne

The amount spent on Maintenance and Repair for the six Type 45 Destroyers is detailed in the table below rounded to the nearest half million:

Name of Ship	In-Service Date	Maintenance/Repair	Cost (£ million)
HMS DARING	July 2010	Programmed Maintenance	£7
Unprogrammed Work/Repair	July 2010	£4.5
HMS DAUNTLESS	November 2010	Programmed Maintenance	£4.5
HMS DAUNTLESS	November 2010	Unprogrammed Work/Repair	£4.5
HMS DIAMOND	July 2011	Programmed Maintenance	£9.5
HMS DIAMOND	July 2011	Unprogrammed Work/Repair	£3.5
HMS DRAGON	April 2012	Programmed Maintenance	£7
HMS DRAGON	April 2012	Unprogrammed Work/Repair	£2
HMS DEFENDER	March 2013	Programmed Maintenance	£2
HMS DEFENDER	March 2013	Unprogrammed Work/Repair	£3
HMS DUNCAN	December 2013	Programmed Maintenance	£1.5
HMS DUNCAN	December 2013	Unprogrammed Work/Repair	£2

The table below reflects the number of planned maintenance days per ship over the six year period. Repair work on individual ship systems takes place during both planned maintenance periods and operational deployments and data relating to the number of days’ worth of repair work is not collected. Unprogrammed work/repair figures shown cover the extension of maintenance periods.

Name of Ship	In-Service Date	Maintenance/ Repair	Duration
HMS DARING	July 2010	Programmed Maintenance	360
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	105
HMS DAUNTLESS	November 2010	Programmed Maintenance	215
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	20
HMS DIAMOND	July 2011	Programmed Maintenance	350
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	0
HMS DRAGON	April 2012	Programmed Maintenance	250
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	0
HMS DEFENDER	March 2013	Programmed Maintenance	100
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	0
HMS DUNCAN	December 2013	Programmed Maintenance	130
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	0

“

01/01/2023

Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many adult inpatient psychiatric beds there were in England in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table.

Average daily availability and occupancy rate¹ for consultant-led beds open overnight in the mental health sector, in each quarter from 2010-11

Quarter	Number of available beds open overnight	Occupancy rate
2010-11 Q1	23,515	87.1%
2010-11 Q2	22,929	86.7%
2010-11 Q3	23,740	85.9%
2010-11 Q4	23,607	86.6%
2011-12 Q1	23,253	86.8%
2011-12 Q2	23,208	86.8%
2011-12 Q3	23,016	87.2%
2011-12 Q4	23,121	87.2%
2012-13 Q1	22,550	87.5%
2012-13 Q2	22,269	88.3%
2012-13 Q3	22,496	87.2%
2012-13 Q4	22,268	88.6%
2013-14 Q1	22,109	88.3%
2013-14 Q2	22,025	89.2%
2013-14 Q3	21,931	88.1%
2013-14 Q4	21,731	88.6%
2014-15 Q1	21,750	89.8%
2014-15 Q2	21,618	89.6%
2014-15 Q3	21,446	89.4%
2014-15 Q4	21,374	89.5%
2015-16 Q1²	18,569	89.9%
2015-16 Q2	19,249	89.1%
2015-16 Q3	19,273	88.6%

Source: Bed availability and occupancy, NHS England

Notes:

Numbers of occupied beds are collected every quarter by consultant main specialty. Numbers of available beds are not collected by consultant specialty, because some beds may be available for more than one specialty to use depending on need. Instead, available beds are collected by four sectors within which beds are used flexibly. These sectors are general and acute, mental health, learning disabilities, and maternity. Occupied bed days by specialty are added to calculate occupancy rates for each of these sectors.
In 2015-16 Q1 several mental health providers ceased to submit a return, as a validation of beds data concluded that they were not satisfying the required criteria for consultant-led beds. This is the major factor behind the drop in the number of consultant-led, available mental health beds.

01/01/2023

Paul Beresford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Beresford on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will arrange a meeting between the Photo Marketing Association and the Passport Office to discuss ensuring that future digitally-supplied ID photographs meet International Civil Aviation Organisation compliance standards and are supplied by photographic professionals.

Mike Penning

Photographic requirements for the British passport are set out in www.gov.uk and are fully compliant with standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. HMPO does not currently require passport photographs to be supplied by photographic professionals and there are no plans to change this.

The PMA is a member of the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) with whom HM Passport Office has been actively discussing our digital services to ensure open and transparent engagement with all photographic providers.

01/01/2023
Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the provision of video on demand access services.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Ofcom, the regulator for video on demand services, is reviewing how to improve the provision of access services on video on demand services.

01/01/2023
Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which sources independent of the Saudi government are assessed by the UK Government regarding the alleged use of cluster munitions by the Saudi led coalition in Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK Government considers a range of information regarding the conduct of the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition in Yemen. This includes UN sources, INGO reports, open sources such as social media, and our internal government sources which includes UK Defence Intelligence reports. This comes from government sources, foreign governments, the media and international non-governmental organisations. The UK ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 4 May 2010 and, in line with our obligations under the Convention, we have always made it clear to the Saudi Arabians that we cannot support the use of cluster munitions in any circumstances and we continue to encourage Saudi Arabia, as a non-party to the Convention, to accede to it.

01/01/2023
Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-09-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of private landlords who will be affected by the tax relief change to higher rate taxpayers announced in the Summer Budget 2015.

Jane Ellison

HMRC estimate that 1 in 5 landlords will pay more tax as a result of this measure.

Given that only a small proportion of the housing market is affected by this change, the Government does not expect these changes to have a large impact on rent levels or house prices. The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) also expects the impact on the housing market will be small.

The Government will double the housing budget from 2018-19 and has set out the most ambitious affordable housing plan since the 1970s to support working people in their aim to own their own home, together the measures in the plan amount to over £20 billion of investment in housing between 2016-17 and 2020-21.

The level of housing benefits is dependent on a number of factors such as, household and individual circumstances in regards to employment and household income, inflation and rents. The Government does not expect a large impact on rent levels from this policy, and any impact would be dampened in the short term due to other policy decisions. Therefore, the government does not anticipate changes to the overall level of housing benefits as a result. Nevertheless, the government will continue to monitor rental levels charged in the private rented sector.

Landlords are required to maintain their properties to a legal minimum standard. The reform to the wear and tear allowance means that all landlords will now be able to offset the costs of replacing furnishings in their properties removing the previous disincentive to do so. The Government therefore does not think that the changes to the tax rules will reduce standards for tenants.

Some landlords may face difficult decisions regarding their properties. This is why the Government has chosen to act in a proportionate and gradual way. Basic rate income tax relief will still be available on a landlord’s finance costs, the restriction will not be introduced until April 2017 and then it will be phased in over 4 years. This gives landlords time to plan ahead of the changes.

01/01/2023
Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect on the economies of Commonwealth states of the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

My noble Friend, The Rt Hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns, Minister for the Commonwealth, has recently recently met a range of Commonwealth High Commissioners to hear their views on challenges and opportunities for Commonwealth countries following the EU referendum result. I have also discussed the issue with Ministers from a range of Commonwealth countries in Asia and the Pacific. Some voiced understandable concerns and uncertainty, including around impact on areas like EU development assistance. However, many saw opportunities following the decision, particularly in the areas of trade and stronger relations with the UK. We will continue to be a strong and energetic global advocate for Commonwealth interests, including with European allies. The Government’s aim is that our departure from the EU should cause as little disruption as possible for all our trading partners. Leaving the EU will allow the UK to develop new economic relationships and Commonwealth countries will form a key part of our work in this regard. We will be co-hosting with Malta the inaugural Commonwealth Trade Ministers’ meeting in London next year. This is an excellent opportunity to discuss how we can increase cooperation. Boosting trade and investment across the Commonwealth will be crucial to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

01/01/2023
Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-11-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the recent attack on Camp Liberty, whether they have joined the United States and the UNHCR in condemning the attack, and calling for an independent investigation and prosecution of those responsible, and for the government of Iraq to take additional security measures to protect those who remain in Camp Liberty.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We strongly condemn the shameful attack against the civilian residents of Camp Liberty in Iraq on Thursday 29 October. Officials from our Embassy in Baghdad raised the attack with the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office on Friday 30 October and made clear the importance of an urgent and comprehensive investigation into the incident and ensuring that all those responsible are brought to justice.

In all of our engagement with the Government of Iraq on this issue, including at Ministerial level and in our statements, we have emphasised the importance of the Iraqi government doing everything possible to ensure the safety of the residents of Camp Liberty. We support the UN calls for more to be done to protect the residents.

01/01/2023