Category: Speeches

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy is on future collaboration with the EU on fish stock management; and what discussions she has had to date with the European Commission on that matter.

    George Eustice

    Exit from the EU presents us with an opportunity under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to improve the way in which waters within the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone are managed. Defra officials will be working with the new Department for Exiting the European Union, Devolved Administrations and stakeholders to develop proposals that will allow the UK to best take advantage of this opportunity.

    No formal discussions have taken place with the European Commission at this stage.

  • George Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    George Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Howarth on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to increase investment in decentralised renewable energy to benefit the world’s poorest people.

    James Wharton

    The UK Government is playing a leading role in improving energy access in developing countries. DFID has a range of programmes which are working with developing countries to ensure renewable energy markets work effectively as well as supporting energy businesses to grow, and providing consumers with access to funding to buy solar goods. For example, our Energy Access Ventures programme is investing in off-grid electric and we are delivering green mini-grid solutions across Africa.

    Through the UK Government’s Energy Africa campaign we are working with solar firms to help them access the finance they need to expand their businesses, create jobs and help reach millions of people in Africa without electricity access.

  • David Warburton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Warburton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Warburton on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department is giving to rural nurseries to ensure they are able to meet the Government’s commitment of providing 30 free hours of childcare.

    Caroline Dinenage

    We have recently consulted on a comprehensive set of reforms to the early years funding system, and one of our proposals is to allow local authorities to use a rurality/sparsity supplement in their local funding formulae, in recognition that there may be unavoidable higher costs to providers operating in sparsely populated, rural areas with limited demand. We are currently considering all responses to the consultation and are planning to publish the government’s response in the autumn.

    We are also keen to gather learning and test how the extended entitlement will operate in a range of area types, including rural areas. Through Early Implementation of the 30 Hours Free Childcare entitlement, Northumberland, one of our early implementer local authorities, is looking specifically at how the extended hours work for and impact on providers operating within the most rural postcodes in Northumberland. Since September, over 500 children in rural parts of Northumberland have been benefiting from a 30 hours free childcare place a year early.

  • Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much centrally-provided capital funding has been provided to each further education college in each of the last five years.

    Nick Boles

    The amount of centrally-provided capital funding provided to each further education college in each of the last five years is shown in the attached table.

  • Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicola Blackwood on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of his Department’s funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    I refer the hon. Member to para 6.44 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 (Cm9161) for the proportion of our defence budget dedicated to science and technology.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many appeals on practical driving tests were (a) heard by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and (b) found (i) in favour of and (ii) against the appellant in each year since 2009-10.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has a complaints procedure, which is published on GOV.UK.

    Current law does not allow the test result to be overturned; the examiner’s decision is final.

    Complainants have the right to appeal if they think the examiner did not carry out their practical test in line with regulations.

    If the complainant lives in England and Wales, they have six months after the test date to appeal to the Magistrates court about the way the test was conducted. The Magistrates court can look at whether the test was carried out in accordance with regulations; however, it cannot change the result of the test. Should the Magistrates court find that the test was not conducted in line with regulations, it may offer a compensation payment or free retest.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23662, if she will make an assessment of the risk of coal sourced by owners of power stations in the UK coming from countries where safety and labour standards in mining are poor.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Decisions on where to source coal are a commercial matter for the owners of coal-fired power stations. Contracts for the purchase of coal are awarded to individual mining companies, not countries. The majority operators of power stations in the UK are members of BetterCoal, an industry-led initiative which is taking action to promote responsible coal mining and has established a set of ethical, social, and environmental principles which companies in the supply chain are expected to align with.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has made to reallocate UK aid funding from cross-EU funds and programmes in the event of the UK voting to leave the EU.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    At the February European Council the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU. The civil service works to support the government’s position.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much funding her Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    My Department has not received any funding from the European Social Fund in either of the periods requested. Implementation of the European Social Fund in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-04-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to sustain aerospace engineering capability and capacity in the South West region.

    Anna Soubry

    We work closely with aerospace companies and their representative organisations, in particular the West of England Aerospace Forum (WEAF), in the South West through the Aerospace Growth Partnership (AGP) to tackle barriers to growth, boost exports and grow high value jobs. As part of this work we are investing heavily in the sector to support the industry’s private investment in technology, competitiveness and productivity, manufacturing capability and skills.

    The work of the AGP includes businesses of all sizes in the South West region including large players such as Airbus, Finmeccanica Helicopters, GE Aviation, GKN, Rolls-Royce, Safran Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, UTC Aerospace Systems, as well as their many medium and small sized suppliers, and other specialist aerospace businesses.