Category: Speeches

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many UK civil servants, and of what grade, who work in units, directorates or sub-departments within the FCO are charged with EU policy formulation, advising on EU policy or enforcing EU policy.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Staff in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) Europe Directorate lead on providing advice to FCO Ministers on European Union (EU) and EU-related issues. However, staff in other Directorates in London, as well as staff in our diplomatic missions around the world, also on occasion work on EU or EU-related issues. It is not possible, therefore, to give precise figures.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which regulations his Office introduced as a result of EU legislation in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015 to date; which regulations his Office expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2016 and (ii) 2017; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

    Matthew Hancock

    No regulations were introduced by the Cabinet Office as a result of EU legislation in 2013 and 2014.

    So far in 2015 the Cabinet Office has introduced the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 which have estimated net annual savings of £3.6 Billion. No further regulations arising from EU legislation are planned for introduction in 2015.

    Looking ahead to 2016 two regulations are expected to be implemented by the Cabinet Office as a result of EU legislation. These are the Utilities Contract Regulations and Concessions Contract Regulations.

    Details of all the estimated costs to the Public Purse and Private Sector are provided in the table below:

    Year

    Title of Regulation

    Cost to Business

    Cost to Public Purse

    2013

    None

    2014

    None

    2015

    Public Contracts Regulations 2015

    £3.6Billion saving

    2016

    Utilities Contract Regulations

    £0.14M

    £0.09M

    Concessions Contract Regulations

    £0.3M

    £0.85

    2017

    None

    “

  • Ms Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Ms Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ms Margaret Ritchie on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development on (a) sheep carcase classification and (b) price reporting for sheep; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    The Commissioner has established a series of workshops on the future of the sheep sector in the European Union. This forum is providing an opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues relevant to the sector, including carcass classification and price reporting. Defra and the devolved administrations are fully engaged in these discussions.

    In addition, Defra and the devolved administrations are contributing to the Commission’s review of regulations on carcass classification and price reporting as part of the EU Commission’s legislation simplification programme.

  • Baroness Finlay of Llandaff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Finlay of Llandaff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when and by which ministerial department the decision was taken to cancel the transfer of police custody healthcare services to the NHS; when that decision was announced; and what were the reasons for that change of policy.

    Lord Bates

    My rt hon Friend the Home Secretary has decided that a reallocation from the overall police settlement in respect of custody healthcare costs would not be appropriate at this time. This decision was communicated to Police and Crime Commissioners on 17 December 2015 in correspondence on the provisional police funding settlement. Police and Crime Commissioners will therefore retain responsibility for commissioning such services, and have flexibility to prioritise resource towards police custody healthcare, based on local needs.

    In most areas police forces and NHS Commissioners have already developed close effective partnerships in respect of custody healthcare provision and we expect that they will continue to build on these.

  • Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) deaths, (b) missing persons incidents and (c) sexual assaults or serious crimes against the person have been reported against UK citizens whilst at sea in each year since and including 2010.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department for Transport does not hold statistics on the number of UK citizens who die at sea, become missing persons or are the victims of sexual assault or serious crimes against the person whilst at sea.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment the Government made of the effect on (a) high streets, (b) small businesses and (c) post offices of the temporary changes to Sunday trading laws during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

    Anna Soubry

    The Office for National Statistics analysed the impact of the short term Olympic relaxation of the Sunday trading rules and found that it was not possible to make any inference from the data. They found no definite pattern amongst the growth rates of retail sales and noted that other factors, such as the weather and time of year, will have impacted sales.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what independent scrutiny her Department commissioned of reports of invalid and questionable results in English Language tests conducted by ETS.

    James Brokenshire

    We are disappointed by the decision of the recent Upper Tribunal. Once we have the full determination we will carefully consider next steps, including appealing the decision.

  • Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Cox on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance they are providing for the reconstruction of schools in north-east Nigeria following the destruction of those schools by Boko Haram.

    Baroness Verma

    DFID is supporting the Government of Nigeria’s “Safe Schools Initiative” to help protect children at school in north east Nigeria, provide schooling to children displaced by the violence and support to the school reconstruction efforts of the Government of Nigeria. This includes support to the UN to provide temporary learning spaces for more than 3000 children.

  • Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times he has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and his Ministerial team are working closely with their Scottish Government counterparts. The Secretary of State will be visiting Scotland shortly, and also attending the Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Attorney General, if he will publish a list of all secondees to the Law Officers’ Departments from (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years; and what the role was of each of those secondees.

    Robert Buckland

    There have been no secondees from any consulting firm to the Attorney General’s Office, Government Legal Department, Crown Prosecution Service or Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate in the last three financial years.

    The Serious Fraud Office had one KPMG employee with them on secondment in 2015-16 covering a Principal Investigator role as an accountant on an operational case team.