Category: Speeches

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will hypothecate revenue generated from Vehicle Excise Duty to local roads maintenance from 2017.

    Greg Hands

    All revenue generated through English VED from 2020-21 onwards will be used to fund the English strategic road network. This will ensure the Government can issue a second Roads investment Strategy for the period 2020-25, to follow the first strategy published at Autumn Statement 2014. Investment in our local road network will be set out as part of the Spending Review.

    In the period before 2020-21, VED revenues will continue to go to the Consolidated Fund which support general expenditure on public services including spending on local roads.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2015 to Question 15443, for what reason the (a) Government Legal Department’s expenditure on temporary agency staff and (b) Crown Prosecution Service’s expenditure on (i) consultants and (ii) non-payroll staff increased between 2010-11 and 2014-15.

    Robert Buckland

    The Government Legal Department (GLD) provides legal services to government. It engages temporary and contract staff as a way of managing short term variations in demand. Where an increase in demand for legal services is expected to continue for the medium or long term, the department will use temporary staff to resource the work until permanent staff can be recruited. The increase in temporary staff from 2010-11 to 2014-15 reflects increased demand for legal services and the growth of GLD as a result of the Shared Legal Services programme that has brought into one organisation legal teams from across government. As a result overall staff numbers have increased by 69% between 2010-11 and 2014-15.

    As outlined in the previous answer the actual expenditure incurred by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on consultants and non-payroll staff between 2010-11 and 2014-15 was as follows.

    Year

    Consultants

    Non-payroll staff

    2010/11

    £684,314

    £392,968

    2011/12

    £13,347

    £23,355

    2012/13

    £9,793

    £2,861

    2013/14

    £960

    £273,935

    2014/15

    £0

    £1,350,317

    Between 2010-11 and 2014-15 the CPS has actually reduced its expenditure on consultants by £684,314.

    In 2014-15 the CPS set up a project to manage the transition from its existing main Information Technology service provider. The Project Manager and remaining team are non-CPS staff, and their costs of £1,350,317 were the only non-payroll staff costs incurred last year.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost of backlog maintenance for each level of assessed risk was in the NHS (a) in total and (b) for each NHS organisation in each of the last five years.

    George Freeman

    The Backlog Maintenance cost reported by the National Health Service in total for the last five years is:

    Cost to eradicate high risk backlog

    Cost to eradicate significant risk backlog

    Cost to eradicate moderate risk backlog

    Cost to eradicate low risk backlog

    £ million

    £ million

    £ million

    £ million

    2010-11

    321.7

    1,021.6

    1,523.6

    1,298.7

    2011-12

    296.3

    926.4

    1,484.8

    1,316.3

    2012-13

    353.1

    1,002.0

    1,476.5

    1,204.3

    2013-14

    356.6

    1,016.7

    1,426.6

    1,241.8

    2014-15

    458.0

    1,062.1

    1,551.3

    1,266.5

    The equivalent data for each NHS organisation is attached.

    The Department collects data on backlog maintenance annually from the NHS trusts through its Estates Returns Information Collection. The data collected has not been amended centrally and its accuracy always remains the responsibility of the contributing NHS organisations.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the numbers of driving examiners in England on waiting times for tests; and what steps he is taking to encourage more examiners to qualify.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) undertake quarterly test forecast reviews to identify the likely demand of driving tests, from which it calculates the numbers of examiners required in order to service those demands. Those numbers are reviewed against the current examiners numbers and where increases are identified, these are factored into DVSA’s recruitment campaigns. DVSA usually run two recruitment campaigns per year, with additional campaigns where necessary i.e. where there has been insufficient take-up/success in geographical areas.

    This process has, over the years, generally worked well, but the unforeseen and exceptionally high increase in demand for driving tests in 2015. Across the whole of DVSA it has recruited 167 new driving examiners during 2015/16 with a further 60 either attending or booked on to new entrant courses. DVSA has also offered posts to a further 40 potential examiners.

    DVSA has also been re-prioritising the activities of examiners and offering them additional overtime in order to increase testing capacity.

    Over 2015 DVSA introduced a number of changes to the marketing of its recruitment campaign in order to try and encourage interest from wider and more diverse groups, additionally DVSA undertook two targeted campaigns for motorcycle examiners and LGV examiners.

  • Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Doocey on 2016-03-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children who have received a positive conclusive grounds decision in the National Referral Mechanism in the past three years have been refused asylum after claiming.

    Lord Bates

    Since January 2013, three (3) children received an initial decision to refuse asylum having previously received a positive Conclusive Grounds decision. Of these three refusals two (2) were subsequently overturned on appeal.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-04-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the sexual violence, harassment, threats and other forms of abuse against Sudanese women’s rights defenders; and what assessment they have made of what more could be done to end the range of abuses experienced including sexual violence.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    All instances of sexual violence, harassment or abuse against women are deeply concerning, but the recent Human Rights Watch report sets out a number of disturbing instances of harassment and abuse of female human rights defenders. The UK will continue to press the Government of Sudan to take action on sexual and gender-based violence. We are also funding a number of projects, including training for lawyers taking on court cases relating to public order laws and legal redress to victims of sexual violence. We assess that the Government of Sudan needs to take action on a number of fronts to end such abuses, including further revising the Criminal Act and other laws pertinent to the prosecution of sexual offences.

  • Calum Kerr – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Calum Kerr – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Calum Kerr on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government plans to become a founding donor of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies when it is launched at the World Humanitarian Summit 2016.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK has played a leading role in the development of Education Cannot Wait – a fund for Education in Emergencies, which will be launched at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23rd May at a special event co-hosted by the UK. Education in emergencies and crises is a priority for the UK and the International Development Secretary will be speaking at the World Humanitarian Summit on the UK’s role on this critical issue.

  • Carolyn Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Carolyn Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what further analysis is required to be undertaken by his Department before launching the next Triennial Review of gaming machine stakes and prizes.

    Tracey Crouch

    As previously stated in the House of Commons, Government is reviewing the situation and I hope to announce details of a review in due course.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made enquiries of, or representations to, the government of Syria in relation to its claim that the passport of Zaina Erhaim produced at Heathrow on her arrival in the UK had been stolen.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have made no enquiries of, or representations to, the Syrian regime on this matter. The UK Government has no contact with the Asad regime due to the atrocities it has committed against the Syrian people.

  • Toby Perkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Toby Perkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what role he expects the Single Source Regulation Office to have in the procurement of the Successor class submarine.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    All contracts related to the Successor programme that meet the conditions set out in Section 2 of the Defence Reform Act will be Qualifying Defence Contracts (QDCs) as defined by the Act and so subject to reporting to the Single Source Regulation Office.