Category: Speeches

  • Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of interviews for a first-time adult passport application was conducted on a face-to-face basis in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales.

    James Brokenshire

    In 2015, Her Majesty’s Passport Office interviewed 222,264 adult customers applying for their first passport. Of these 218,742 (98.41%) were face-to-face interviews in person. The remainder were carried out using our Video Interview Service, typically used in the more remote parts of the country. The interview is undertaken by Her Majesty’s Passport Office staff over a video link, and the customer is accompanied at all times by one of our partner organisations.

    This is broken down by country to:

    England: 189,252 (99.99%) in person interviews

    Northern Ireland: 3,965 (100%) in person interviews

    Scotland: 15,496 (85.83%) in person interviews

    Wales: 10,029 (91.24%) in person interviews

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average level of funding for GPs in (a) Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group, (b) comparator clinical commissioning groups and (c) England was in each of the last 3 years.

    Alistair Burt

    Data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that the funding for general practitioners (GPs) in Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was £31,892,320 in 2013/14 and £33,578,245 in 2014/15.

    The comparator CCGs fall into the area of Wessex. The average level of funding for GPs in comparator CCGs was £40,243,811 in 2013/14 and £43,300,640 in 2014/15.

    The average level of funding for GPs in England was £36,169,099 in 2013/14 and £37,868,835 in 2014/15.

    Data is not available for earlier years.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

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

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance he has given to HM Revenue and Customs on the use of powers in the Finance Act 2014 to issue accelerated payment notices for seeking retrospective tax payments.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has the power to seek upfront payment of disputed tax in certain avoidance cases.

    The legislation is not retrospective. It does not create any new tax liability; it simply alters where the tax sits while the liability is being disputed.

    The taxpayer can continue to dispute the case and will be repaid with interest should they win.

    At 31 March 2016 HMRC had issued over 46,000 accelerated payments notices, representing over £4.8bn of tax in dispute; and over £2.5bn had been received.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what support he has provided to local authorities and the construction industry to encourage the promotion of self-build schemes for constructing new homes.

    Gavin Barwell

    We have a strong commitment to supporting and encouraging the growth of self- and custom build homes.

    The Government has implemented new legislation requiring most local planning authorities to hold and have regard to registers for those seeking to build their own home in a local authority area. Subject to Parliamentary processes, in the Autumn we will also introduce secondary legislation flowing from the Housing and Planning Act 2016 which will require local planning authorities to find and give permission to suitable land reflecting the demand demonstrated by the registers. We have made available £32 million in new burdens funding over the Spending Review period in order to support local planning authorities in meeting these new requirements.

    In the 2015 Spending Review, the Government also announced a £3 billion loan fund of which £1 billion is specifically earmarked for short term loans to support small and medium builders and custom build projects and is designed to provide further support for the legislation that we have introduced.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to what forms of hostel accommodation he plans to apply the housing benefit cap.

    Caroline Nokes

    The Secretary of State announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 15 September 2016 that we would be deferring the application of Local Housing Allowance Rates in the social sector for all those living in supported accommodation until 2019/20.

    At this point we will bring in a new funding model which will ensure that the sector continues to be funded at current levels, taking into account the effect of Government policy on social sector rents.

    The Secretary of State also announced that a formal consultation would be published shortly.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to support more programmes or competitions for university students and recent graduates to encourage them to embrace entrepreneurship.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    This Government fully supports the promotion of entrepreneurship in higher education. In 2013/14, the Higher Education – Business and Community Interaction survey found that there were over 4,600 new graduate start-ups, up from 2,357 in 2009/10.

    The Government is championing closer collaboration between universities and business through the National Centre for Universities and Business which is supported by HEFCE, the Research Councils and Innovate UK. Higher Education Innovation Funding, delivered by HEFCE, also supports university collaboration with industry, the commercialisation of research, and promotes entrepreneurship, enterprise education and broader knowledge exchange.

  • Nick Hurd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Hurd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Hurd on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the direct and indirect cost to the UK economy of disability through blindness and visual disorders.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department has not made a recent estimate of the direct and indirect cost to the United Kingdom economy of disability through blindness and visual disorders.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of the application in the UK of elements of best practice in regulation of commercial cat breeding in other EU member states.

    George Eustice

    There are no proposals to change legislation on cat breeding in this country. However, the welfare code is currently being updated so that modern standards are clear for anyone keeping cats.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) CRB checks and (b) Disclosure and Barring Service checks have been carried out in each of the last 10 years.

    Karen Bradley

    The table below shows the total number of Standard and Enhanced certificates issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service over the last 10 years. The figures include applications for volunteer roles, which are processed free of charge.

    Organisation

    Financial Year

    Standard & Enhanced Certificates Issued

    CRB

    2005/06

    2,776,378

    CRB

    2006/07

    3,278,031

    CRB

    2007/08

    3,323,402

    CRB

    2008/09

    3,856,583

    CRB

    2009/10

    4,301,313

    CRB

    2010/11

    4,312,533

    CRB

    2011/12

    4,074,241

    CRB (to Nov-12)

    2012/13

    2,842,832

    DBS (from Dec-12)

    2012/13

    1,223,773

    DBS

    2013/14

    3,948,733

    DBS

    2014/15

    4,111,856
  • Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were (a) granted and (b) refused on the basis of the results of the harm-benefit analysis carried out on those applications by the Animals in Science Regulation Unit.

    Karen Bradley

    I refer the Hon. Member to the response I previously provided to her question on 4 February 2016 (24508). The Home Office does not keep records of applications that have been rejected / refused or withdrawn at the concept or at the drafting stage.