Category: Speeches

  • Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many square meters of stores facilities are available at (a) MOD Grantown-on-Spey, (b) MOD Llanwrst, (c) MOD Fairbourne and (d) MOD Crickhowell; when storage was built in each of those establishments; what the average cost of those storage facilities is; and if he will make a statement.

    Mark Lancaster

    The square metres of storage space at each of the four locations are as follows:

    Training Centre

    Storage Space (sqm)

    Force Development Training Centre (FDTC) Crickhowell

    302

    FDTC Fairbourne

    400

    FDTC Grantown-on-Spey

    400

    JointSchool for Adventurous Training Instructors (JSATI) Llanwrst

    502

    Records of when the storage facilities were built are not held. However no storage facilities have been built in the last year. Scoping work for a new storage facility at FDTC Crickhowell is ongoing.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans he has to help persuade Overseas Territories leaders to make registers of beneficial ownership publicly available.

    James Duddridge

    The Government is in discussion with the governments of the Overseas Territories on their plans to improve company transparency. The Territories have agreed to hold beneficial ownership information in central registers, or similarly effective systems, which need to meet the three criteria the UK set out in a letter to Territory leaders in March 2015. These are laid out in the answer my hon. Friend, the Member for South West Hertfordshire (David Gauke MP), gave on 16 October 2015 (PQ10437, PQ10438 and PQ10448).

  • Chris Heaton-Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Chris Heaton-Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Heaton-Harris on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department has provided to the European Commission on whether criteria for triggering the proposed emergency brake on EEA welfare payments have been met.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Government has had detailed technical talks with the European Institutions, during which information was shared across a range of issues including the nature of the United Kingdom’s welfare system.

  • Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made by his Department or NHS England of the effect of minor ailments services provided by community pharmacies on demand for the services of GP practices and other parts of the NHS; and what assessment he has made of the effect of planned reductions in funding for pharmacies on those services.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England has taken account of the potential impact of a pharmacy minor ailments service on general practitioner services and other parts of the National Health Service. The findings of the Minor Ailment study (‘MINA’ study), conducted by the University of Aberdeen, in collaboration with NHS Grampian and the University of East Anglia, on behalf of Pharmacy Research UK in 2014, were considered. In addition, evaluations of local minor ailments schemes have continued to inform decision-making about local commissioning of such schemes.

    Community pharmacy is a vital part of the NHS and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

    The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.

    We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, other pharmacy bodies and patient and public representatives on our proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

    Local commissioning and funding of services from community pharmacies, such as minor ailment services, will be unaffected by these proposals.

  • Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that local authorities are properly informed and involved in decisions to distribute asylum seekers.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office maintains active partnerships with the local authorities that have volunteered to become dispersal areas across the UK and funds regional Strategic Migration Partnerships (SMPs) to plan the dispersal of asylum seekers across the region. The partnerships consider the impact on communities and local services so that adjustments can be made where appropriate. This ensures that community cohesion, social welfare and safety issues are properly considered.

    SMPs act as a focal point allowing the sharing of expertise and vital information between the Home Office, its asylum accommodation providers, local government, health, education and the police, ensuring coordinated planning and leadership on asylum dispersion. They also consider other funded objectives such as initiatives in support of visa policy; modern slavery; immigration sanctions and improvement; vulnerable children (including Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children) and adults; No Recourse to Public Funds policies of local government; EU migration and integration.

    The Home Office, our housing contractors and the SMPs work closely with local authorities to ensure we can accommodate asylum seekers in appropriate accommodation.

  • Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with other EU member states about whether, in the event of the UK leaving the EU, British citizens settled in EU member states would have an automatic right to remain in the countries where they have settled.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    No such discussions have been held. As I said in my previous response of 25 April (HL7678), the Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU. Should the UK choose to stay in the EU, British citizens will be able to work, live and retire abroad as they do now. UK citizens get a range of rights from our membership of the EU. If the UK were to leave the EU, all of these rights would have to be covered in a successor arrangement. If we left the EU without agreeing what would happen to these rights, it would at the least bring them into serious question, creating difficulty for UK citizens who relied on them.

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

    Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2016 to Question 37876, what (a) number and (b) proportion of penalty charge notices issued between January and December 2015 related only to medical exemption certificates.

    Alistair Burt

    Between January and December 2015, a total of 34,142 penalty charge notices were issued to patients declaring they held a valid medical exemption certificate, which the National Health Service Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) was unable to verify. This equated to 7.92% of all penalty charge notices issued.

    During the same period, a total of 9,170 of these were subsequently retracted when the patient proved their right to exemption. This equated to 26.86% of all penalty charge notices issued for medical exemption certificates.

    Often the reason the penalty charge notice is retracted is because the patient has not informed the NHSBSA of a change of address or surname. This means the record of the medical exemption does not match the patient information on the prescription form. If a patient provides details of a valid medical exemption certificate, the penalty charge notice is retracted and the medical exemption record is updated to ensure further notices are not issued in error.

    Following the introduction of prescription charge exemption checking, it became apparent some people receiving penalty charge notices had a qualifying medical condition, but had not applied for a medical exemption certificate. In response, a new process was introduced in early spring 2015. This means that if someone submits a valid application for a medical or maternity exemption certificate within 60 days from date of the penalty charge notice, the outstanding penalty charge is cancelled but the prescription charge is still recovered.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment his Department has made of the UK’s right to halt the Article 50 process before the end of the two-year period allocated to EU exit negotiations.

    Mr David Davis

    The referendum result delivered a clear mandate for an EU exit and it is the duty of the Government to make sure we do just that. The Prime Minister has been clear that there must be no attempts to remain inside the EU and no attempts to rejoin it through the back door. Brexit means Brexit and we are going to make a success of it.

  • Peter Aldous – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Peter Aldous – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Aldous on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the Government plans to monitor the phased in landing obligation requirements (a) generally and (b) for North Sea cod in 2017 to ensure that no illegal discarding or high grading is occurring; and what the level of (a) observer coverage and (b) electronic monitoring coverage is planned for 2017.

    George Eustice

    Responsibility for ensuring compliance with the Landing Obligation (LO) rests with Defra, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and the UK’s Devolved Administrations. After an advisory period, and for the vessels for which it is responsible, the MMO is ensuring that fishing vessels are fully compliant with LO requirements while working at sea through inspections, including those made by Royal Navy offshore patrol vessels.

    Fishing vessels are selected for inspection at sea using a risk-based and intelligence-led approach. Any illegal discarding or high grading discovered is dealt with in-line with the MMO’s compliance strategy. Coastal inspectors have received guidance and instruction on the LO, covering both pelagic and demersal fisheries. This guidance is updated in-line with regulatory changes every year, and coastal inspectors are monitoring both fish markets and landings.

    We are currently working with industry to continue a scheme that will fully document certain catches using electronic monitoring equipment in 2017, and going forward, as the LO is phased in.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of the referrals made by the NSPCC human trafficking and modern slavery helpline between July 2014 and June 2015 were made to the police.

    Karen Bradley

    The NSPCC-run modern slavery helpline was launched in July 2014, as part of a wider awareness-raising campaign, to better support potential victims of modern slavery. For the period July 2014 to July 2015, £50,000 was made available to the NSPCC to run the modern slavery helpline. To support the launch of the helpline, training was provided by existing staff in the NSPCC child trafficking advice centre, the Metropolitan police’s human trafficking unit and the Modern Slavery Unit to NSPCC call-handlers at zero cost.

    The NSPCC helpline routinely records the number of contacts made each month, how they are made, and by whom. The helpline also records the gender, age and nationality of potential victims, where that information is known or presumed. Between 31 July 2014 and 31 July 2015 the NSPCC modern slavery helpline received, in total, 849 contacts. These were comprised of 491 referrals, 107 advice cases and 251 enquiries. During the period 31 July 2014 to 31 July 2015 the helpline received a total of 57 contacts from potential victims themselves and in that same period the NSPCC made 272 referrals to the police. The NSPCC does not hold data on the number of contacts referred to the helpline by the police and other agencies that were subsequently referred back to those agencies.