Category: Speeches

  • Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on the prison service of prison officers working longer before retirement.

    Andrew Selous

    The Alpha pension, which introduced a higher Normal Pension Age, was brought in under legislation. All consultation/negotiations with the Civil Service trade unions including the Prison Officers Association (POA) who are the trade union responsible for prison officers in the National Offender Management Service were carried out by the Pension Scheme Executive in Civil Service Pensions – Cabinet Office. The Pension Scheme Executive in 2012, held separate additional talks with the POA regarding the increase in pension age and offered a package under the Enhanced Effective Pension Age (EEPA). This provided an opportunity for staff to purchase a lower pension age, which would be subsidised by the employer. The POA membership through postal vote, rejected this offer.

  • Mark Menzies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mark Menzies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to close or relocate Jobcentre Plus at Westmorland House, Lytham St. Annes.

    Priti Patel

    The Department is in the process of reviewing all of its estates requirements as the current contract for most of the estate comes to an end in March 2018.

    Commercial negotiations are underway at this time and consequently it is not appropriate to comment on any sites.

  • Baroness Goudie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Goudie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Goudie on 2016-06-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to amend the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to deal with the mistreatment of migrant domestic workers by employers who exploit their employees’ vulnerable situation, in the light of the remarks by Baroness Hale of Richmond in paragraph 34 of the judgment on 22 June in Taiwo v Olaigbe and another [2016] UKSC31.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Government is considering the Judge’s remarks in the context of the wider support available to victims of modern slavery provided for in the Modern Slavery Act.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many women waited longer than two weeks for an abortion (a) in NHS hospitals and agencies and (b) with private providers in each year since 2009-10.

    Nicola Blackwood

    Comprehensive and comparable data is not collected centrally on waiting times for abortions performed in both the National Health Service and independent sector. Information on the average time between the two medical practitioners’ signatures is also not collected centrally.

    Because of the way information is stored the number of places where abortions took place in England and Wales is only available from 2013 to 2015 and is shown in the table below. All independent sector places perform abortions under contract from the NHS (previously known as NHS agency).

    Table: The number of clinics at which abortions took place, by clinic type, England and Wales 2013 to 2015

    Year

    Total number of clinics

    NHS Hospital

    Independent Sector

    Private Hospital

    2013

    348

    234

    97

    16

    2014

    354

    223

    117

    14

    2015

    385

    220

    151

    14

    “

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether the Government intends to (a) join the EU Customs Union, (b) negotiate a customs deal with the EU and (c) negotiate no customs deal as part of the process of the UK leaving the EU.

    Mr Robin Walker

    The Government has made clear we will pursue an exit deal that works for the unique circumstances of the UK.

    There is no benefit to Britain in providing a running commentary on every twist and turn of these negotiations.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to implement the family test.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The Family Test policy does not apply to DFID’s work as foreign policy is outside of the scope of the Test.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Written Statement of 10 December 2015, HCWS377, on universal credit and local authorities, what estimate he has made of (a) the number of people employed by local authorities to administer housing benefit, (b) the number of such employees likely to be made redundant as a result of the universal credit roll-out, (c) the total cost to the public purse of such redundancies, (d) the total number of staff that will be required to administer universal credit at a local level once the roll-out is complete and (e) the number of people currently employed by his Department in that capacity.

    Priti Patel

    The Local Authority associations estimate up to 5000 people are, in full or in part, engaged in delivering housing services and some of this work will continue in Local Authorities. There are over a million jobs in the Local Authority sector so with turnover we would expect opportunities for redeployment over the next 3-5 years as housing benefit for working age people is gradually phased out. We expect the number of people at risk of redundancy to be very small, but where Local Authorities are not able to redeploy people, we have said the Government will meet the costs of compulsory redundancy. Universal Credit will be delivered locally through our existing network of Jobcentres supported by a number of Service Centres. The number of staff employed will be determined by the number of people on Universal Credit, itself subject to the prevailing economic situation at the time. Our current estimate for the combined workforce in 2021 is 34,000

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many defibrillators are provided in each building her Department manages.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education provides the following number of defibrillators in each of its buildings:

    Building

    No. of Defibrillators

    Sanctuary Buildings, London

    3

    Earlsdon Park, Coventry

    1

    Bishopsgate House, Darlington

    1

    2 St Paul’s Place, Sheffield

    0

    Learning & Conference Centre, Nottingham

    0
  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 1 February (HL5390), whether the consent of both Houses of Parliament will be required before the granting of the BBC Royal Charter.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The BBC’s Royal Charter is granted by the Privy Council and all appropriate steps will be taken in advance of this, including debates in both Houses of Parliament. The format of these debates has not been decided.

  • Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to create a specialist centre for severe asthma in the South West of England.

    Jane Ellison

    Services for people with severe asthma are commissioned by NHS England in line with a national specification to ensure patient numbers are sufficient to support safe services. NHS England has no plans to change the way it commissions these services in south west England.

    Nationally, there are 27 trusts that have identified themselves as providing severe asthma services. NHS England is revising the national service specification to assist local teams in verifying and redefining the local service model to confirm the severe asthma services within each region.