Category: Speeches

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the effect will be on the Scottish Government’s block grant of the recent announcement of funding for Crossrail 2 for London and High Speed 3 for England.

    Greg Hands

    The Barnett Formula was applied in the usual way to the Department for Transport’s budget at Spending Review 2015, and will continue to be applied as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy at future Spending Reviews and other fiscal events.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress his Department has made on reaching its target of £1 trillion a year in exports by 2020.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government has a clear strategy for increasing both the value of UK exports, as well as the number of British exporters. This is set out in the Government’s evidence to the BIS Select Committee inquiry into Exports in January 2016. Progress in delivering against the target is reported by the ONS.

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  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the terms of reference and the membership of the Prevent Oversight Board.

    Mr John Hayes

    There are no plans to publish the terms of reference or the membership of the board.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the failures identified by the Care Quality Commission in the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust were first drawn to his Department’s attention.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Department’s attention was first drawn to issues in relation to South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAMB) NHS Foundation Trust’s NHS 111 service in autumn 2015.

    In March 2015, NHS England convened a risk summit meeting involving all partners following the suspension by SECAMB of their unofficial call-handling project. NHS England commissioned an external investigation which was published on 5 November 2015, while an initial report was shared with families involved with the SECAMB’s project in September 2015.

    Monitor, the then independent regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts (now part of NHS Improvement), announced on 28 October 2015 that it was taking action against SECAMB. Monitor’s requirements included the development of three reviews. The first; a forensic review of the project itself undertaken by Deloitte was published on 15 March 2016. Second, the Trust has commissioned an independent expert to lead a patient impact review following the call-handling project, which will be finalised shortly. Third, the Trust is required to undertake a full governance review and this will take place once the substantive board is in place.

    In the meantime NHS Improvement are working closely with the Trust to support it in addressing known governance, operational and quality issues.

    The Government has no plans to set up an inquiry.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to assist the government of Malawi with minimising the risk of corruption in the distribution of aid funds.

    James Wharton

    The UK does not provide any direct financial aid to the Government of Malawi. DFID has a zero tolerance approach to corruption and rigorous checks are in place to protect taxpayers’ money.

    DFID has an active programme of work in Malawi designed to tackle the root causes of corruption and protect the poorest from its effects. Through support provided to the Malawian law enforcement agencies since 2013, the UK has helped to convict those guilty of corruption-related offences to a total of 125 years in prison. DFID is also working with the Government of Malawi to strengthen its public financial management systems and increase the accountability of public officials.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect of the Global Fund’s decision to require integration of TB and HIV programmes.

    Grant Shapps

    As of December 2014, Global Fund programmes have supported 8.1 million people with HIV to access antiretroviral therapy and have detected and treated 13.2 million cases of tuberculosis (TB).

    Given the links between TB and HIV, DFID supports the Global Fund’s requirement for countries heavily burdened by the two diseases of TB and HIV to put forward unified and integrated applications for joint programming.

    Initial evidence from a recent independent review of the Global Fund’s strategy indicates that the Global Fund’s joint TB/HIV programming has enabled greater communication across disease-specific stakeholders. The Global Fund now needs to harness potential synergies and work towards greater joint service delivery to achieve maximum impact across these diseases.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish information on the socio-economic status of appointees to the Senior Civil Service in 2015.

    Matthew Hancock

    To govern modern Britain, the Civil Service needs to look and sound likemodern Britain. We need access to the broadest possible pool of talent, drawing on people from all backgrounds and all parts of the country.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-12-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reported decline in the population of resident and regular migrant butterflies in the UK, and whether they are taking any action to prevent further decline.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Defra publishes an annual indicator on butterfly abundance, using data collected by volunteers. Large fluctuations are typical of butterfly populations but in England the indicator shows that butterfly numbers have generally fallen since 1990, although with numbers of some common species stabilising over the last five years.

    In England, we will take forward our manifesto commitment to produce a 25 year strategy for the environment, which will include biodiversity. Our approach will be designed to meet the habitat needs of many species including butterflies. In England’s National Pollinator Strategy we are aiming to expand flower rich habitats across different types of land to benefit pollinators including butterflies.

    The England network of protected areas provides benefits for many species even when those areas are not specifically designated for the conservation of those particular species. This network includes local and national sites protected under domestic legislation and international sites protected under European and International law. Some of these sites are specifically designated for species of particular importance, including the marsh fritillary butterfly, which is a notified feature of a number of Special Areas of Conservation, designated under the Habitats Directive.

    Agri-environment schemes play a major role in the conservation of butterflies in England. For instance, across grassland habitats in Dorset, between 1990 and 2010 the marsh fritillary increased in abundance by around 278% on land managed under these schemes.

    In the summer of 2014 the critically endangered high brown fritillary experienced its best season since 2004 with numbers increasing by more than 180% as compared to 2013 across Dartmoor, Exmoor, and Morecambe Bay in Lancashire and sites in the Lake District.

    The Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package in the new Countryside Stewardship scheme contain options to improve habitats and provide nectar sources for butterflies. It will play a key role in supporting the National Pollinator Strategy.

  • Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Cox on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Veterans Welfare Service staff are permitted to represent ex-servicemen and women at tribunal hearings to contest War Pension Scheme decisions made by Veterans UK.

    Mark Lancaster

    Veterans Welfare Service staff are not permitted to act as representatives for veterans engaged in Pensions Appeal Tribunal hearings. They would, however, provide advice about the range of organisations that would be able to act as representatives, or explain how they could request someone of their own choosing.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to support the British Heart Foundations’ Wear It Beat It campaign.

    Jane Ellison

    We congratulate the British Heart Foundation (BHF) on its Wear It Beat It campaign, which aims to raise funds for research into heart disease.

    Heart disease is a vital area of research. The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds a wide range of research relating to these conditions, spending £49 million on cardiovascular disease research in 2014/15. The NIHR works in partnership with the BHF and other medical research charities.