Category: Speeches

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 12 May 2016 to Question 37016, what assessment he has made of the change in the number of full-time equivalent paramedics employed by the London Ambulance Service over the last three years.

    Ben Gummer

    We are advised by London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (LAS) that during 2015/16, it recruited 717 frontline staff. In doing so, LAS achieved its recruitment target and filled all its available frontline posts.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to tackle and prevent organised dog fighting.

    George Eustice

    The Government considers that the necessary laws to tackle dog fighting are already in place. The police have specific powers under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to tackle dog fighting and work closely with the Special Operations Unit of the RSPCA to gather intelligence against gangs involved in organised dog fights.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make urgent representations to the Pakistani government on the case of Asia Bibi.

    Alok Sharma

    I remain concerned about Ms Asia Bibi ahead of her Supreme Court hearing due this week. We raise regularly our concerns about misuse of the blasphemy laws with the Pakistani Government, and continue to urge Pakistan to adhere to its international obligations and uphold the rule of law. During his visit to Pakistan in March, the former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), made clear our concerns about minority communities and misuse of the blasphemy laws. The UK supported the EU statement of October 2014 following the decision of the Lahore High Court to uphold the conviction of Ms Bibi. We will continue to work with our EU and other international partners to ensure our views are made clear to the Pakistani authorities.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many civil servants in her Department are members of trades unions; how much working hours facility time is claimed by each such civil servant; and what the cost of that facility time is to her Department.

    George Eustice

    The number of civil servants in the Core-Department, who are members of a trade union, is matter for the unions.

    The Cabinet Office publishes data relating to the Civil Service facility on a quarterly basis. The latest data is Quarter 4, 2014 and is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-union-facility-time

    “

  • Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 23 November (HL3659), why no national assessment has been made of the effect of hospital trusts charging disabled people to park their cars, and whether they have made any regional or local assessments about that issue.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS trusts have the power to charge for car parking under paragraph 20 of Schedule 4 of the National Health Service Act 2006. Foundation Trusts (FTs) have similar general powers under section 43(3) of the NHS Act 2006. Individual NHS organisations decide locally whether or not to institute charges and they also carry out any assessment of the impact of such charges.

    As part of an assessment, trusts consider a range of factors, including the availability of parking spaces, the existence of alternative transport options and the cost of providing car parking. Such matters vary from place to place and therefore cannot be centrally assessed.

    In addition, as public bodies, NHS organisations must ensure they are compliant with the public sector equality duty at Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. The conduct of equality assessments is a local matter and the outcomes are not collected centrally.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department’s report, Universal Credit Extended Gateway Evaluation, published on 6 December 2015, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the report’s finding on page 39, that participants in the study who were claiming universal credit were more flexible regarding the type of work they would consider at the outset than people claiming jobseeker’s allowance.

    Priti Patel

    The research finding that Universal Credit claimants appeared to be more flexible regarding the type of work they would consider is broadly consistent with other findings from the same research report that indicate that UC claimants are more engaged with the labour market than their JSA counterparts. UC claimants are spending longer on job search per week, and Universal Credit appears to be driving more active labour market behaviour, resulting in better labour market outcomes.

    The key finding from another recently published report entitled, ‘Estimating the Early Labour Market Impacts of Universal Credit’, is that UC has a substantial impact on the chances of people moving into work after they make a new claim. UC claimants were 8 percentage points more likely to get a job within 270 days of claiming than equivalent new claims to JSA made at the same time in similar areas by similar individuals.

  • Kate Hollern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kate Hollern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the estimated completion and entry into service dates are for each of the proposed Successor Trident submarines.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, we expect the first Successor submarine to enter service in the early 2030s. As detailed Planning Assumptions for Service Entry are classified, I am witholding that information.

  • James Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    James Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Davies on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps the Government has taken to encourage underground cabling connecting (a) wind farm and (b) other such installations to distribution centres in order to present visual amenity and prevent adverse environmental impacts.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government expects network companies to use the most appropriate technologies available to provide the required connection for the particular project in line with its customer’s connection needs, its statutory obligations to have regard to the environment and to mitigating adverse impacts where reasonable, and relevant planning requirements.

    This is reinforced by the Government’s energy National Policy Statements (NPSs) in particular NPS EN-1[1] and NPS EN-52, which make it clear that proper consideration should be given to all feasible means of connection, including undergrounding.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/47854/1938-overarching-nps-for-energy-en1.pdf

    [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/47858/1942-national-policy-statement-electricity-networks.pdf

    “

  • Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-03-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the staff who manage the gardens in Dorneywood country residence are employed as civil servants; whether such staff are enrolled under the civil service pension scheme; and under what terms and conditions such staff are employed with what pension entitlement.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Dorneywood is a charitable trust and its staff are employed by the charity. Therefore, Government keep no details of its staff’s pensions affairs.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department has spent on its industrial strategy in each year in which that strategy has been in force.

    Anna Soubry

    The industrial strategy was launched under the coalition Government in September 2012. The strategy was characterised by support for a number of sectors, in several areas where government action (via investment or otherwise) was identified to have an impact in promoting jobs and growth.

    These areas were access to finance, support for emerging technologies, creating a pipeline of skilled workers, government procurement and the development of supply chains.

    The figures below show how much money has been spent in the spend areas of Aerospace, Automotive and Agri-tech, in each year that it has been in force:

    13/14 (£)

    14/15 (£)

    15/16 (£) (Forecast)

    Euro-Transonic Wind-tunnel (part of the Agri-tech Catalyst)

    1,111,747

    683,000

    1,195,000

    Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI)

    72,697,664

    132,544,663

    128,877,536

    Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)

    –

    16,009,948

    32,358,783

    Agri-Tech Catalyst

    1,648,790

    1,959,154

    24,837,890

    Total

    75,458,201

    151,196,766

    187,269,209