Category: Speeches

  • Lord Campbell of Pittenweem – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Campbell of Pittenweem – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Campbell of Pittenweem on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions since Typhoon aircraft were deployed to RAF Lossiemouth such aircraft were required to use Leuchars as a diversionary airfield; how many such aircraft were involved on each occasion; and what the reasons were for those diversions.

    Earl Howe

    I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my hon. Friend the then Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Mr Francois) on 5 January 2015 to Question number 219126. There have been no further occasions of Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth being required to divert to Leuchars.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when her Department plans to lay the Committee on Climate Change report on Compatibility of Onshore Petroleum with meeting UK carbon budgets and its response before Parliament.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department has received the Committee on Climate Change report. We are considering the report and will lay it before Parliament with our response in due course.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he and his officials have had with Public Health England about the collection of data on secondary breast cancer in (a) the West Midlands and (b) England.

    David Mowat

    Ministers, officials, Public Health England (PHE) and breast cancer charities are in ongoing discussions about secondary breast cancer data.

    The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), which is part of PHE, is supporting the direct reporting of recurrence data by all hospital trusts, as part of the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset (COSD). Since 2013 there has been the ability to report breast cancer recurrences in COSD, and in 2015 this was expanded to include all cancer recurrences, but these data are not yet being fully collected and submitted by all trusts.

    NCRAS is helping trusts improve their reporting by visiting, providing reporting guidance, and by giving rapid feedback on the number of recurrences they have submitted to NCRAS. To further support this work NCRAS is currently preparing to share new provider-level data for the whole of England on the data completeness of recurrence reporting within trusts.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many staff, at what grades, his Department has recruited in the (a) Market Access Budget, (b) Justice, Security and Migration, (c) Cross-Government Policy and Coordination, (d) Strategy and Planning, (e) Trade and Partnership and (f) Analysis Directorate.

    Mr David Jones

    The Department for Exiting the EU now has over 200 staff in London, plus the expertise of over 120 officials in Brussels, and we are still growing rapidly. We are not in a position to give a final total nor a breakdown by directorate as recruitment is ongoing.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Emma Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the average (a) export and (b) import tariffs paid by the UK to countries with whom the EU has a Free Trade Agreement was in each of the last five years.

    Anna Soubry

    Estimating the average tariffs on UK exports and imports to and from all the countries with which the EU has free trade agreements in each of the last five years would involve a disproportionate cost.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many complaints the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate has heard since the establishment of the inspectorate.

    Nick Boles

    The Employment Agency Standards inspectorate was established in 1995, following the abolition of licensing for employment agencies and employment businesses. It was previously known as the Employment Agency Licensing Office, which was established in 1981/82.

    The table attached sets out the number of complaints in relation to employment agencies in Great Britain from 1985 onwards. Figures are not available prior to 1985/6.

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent representations she has received on changing the way school performance data is published so that data on children in designation provision is disaggregated from data on children in mainstream schooling; and if she will make a statement.

    Edward Timpson

    We have received recent representations on this issue. Most recently we received a letter, on 8th January 2016, from Paul King, the headteacher of Green Lane special school, on behalf of designated provision and special schools in Warrington.

    We do not disaggregate the results of children in designation provision from the results of children in mainstream schooling when publishing performance data as to do so would be at odds with our principle of inclusivity. Designated provision caters for pupils with a wide range of special educational needs (SEN) and ability; disaggregating their results could suggest that we have a different or lower expectation of them. In many schools, children split their time between mainstream and designated provision. Disaggregating results would create an inconsistent approach between schools with separate provision and those where SEN children are integrated. This could create an incentive to either move SEN children from mainstream to designated provision, or to reduce the amount of integration in schools. However, the performance tables do provide additional contextual information on the number and percentage of pupils on roll with SEN.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the evidence given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 10 February 2016, how many operations UK Reaper drones have undertaken in Libyan airspace this year.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Government has a long-standing policy not to comment on intelligence matters.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to increase teacher recruitment in schools.

    Nick Gibb

    Ensuring there are high quality teachers in all schools is crucial to achieving our ambition of educational excellence everywhere. That is why the Government is investing over £1.3 billion to 2020 to attract new teachers into the profession. Our investment includes tax-free training bursaries worth up to £30,000 for top graduates in priority subjects in addition to grants to support new teachers who want to earn a salary whilst they train.

    We are continuing to support the expansion of the prestigious Teach First scheme which is now Britain’s largest graduate employer, and places top graduates in schools in disadvantaged areas.

    We are also offering training and support to former teachers to help them return to the classroom and have launched the National Teaching Service, which will place up to 1,500 outstanding teachers and middle leaders into the schools who need them most.

    To ensure that schools can play a leading role in selecting and training the teachers that they need, we have significantly expanded school-based routes into teaching so that over 50 per cent of trainees are now training through school-led programmes.

    Teaching continues to be a hugely popular career for top graduates and career changers, and we now have more, better-qualified teachers in our classrooms than ever before.

  • Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many illegal entrants were detected (1) on arrival at a UK ferry port, and (2) subsequent to having entered in a vehicle that had arrived at a UK ferry port, in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Our records currently indicate that the number of clandestine entrants detected at UK ferry ports was:

    2013 756

    2014 1,480

    2015 1,305

    As part of recent changes to the way data is recorded, management information from April 2011 has been refreshed and may differ from the data released in earlier responses.

    Previous figures provided for PQ 21106 showed that, at that time, our records indicated that 678 detections had been made at seaports in 2013. Under the new improved recording and reporting system, this figure has been updated to 756.

    Clandestine entrants detected in-country with a declared port of departure that is a ferry port:

    2013 676

    2014 1,343

    2015 1,630

    This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics. Because the source of this data is a live operational system, operational reports taking data from the system at different times will continue to reflect slightly different numbers.

    As part of recent changes to the way data is recorded, management information from April 2011 has been refreshed and may differ from the data released in earlier responses.

    Immigration controls operate at Calais, and as such detections at Dover are normally counted as in country. For the purposes of this question, detections at Dover are counted as "at a UK ferry port".

    For part (2), data on the ferry port of departure has been used as a proxy for port of arrival, as the latter is not recorded.

    Regarding part (2), it must be noted that data for port of departure is incomplete: over the three year period there are more than 15,000 clandestines detected in country with no port of departure recorded. The data for part (2) excludes clandestine entrants whose declared port of departure is Coquelles, as this is a rail port.