Category: Speeches

  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-10-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the UK received in funding from the European Investment Bank in the last three years.

    Mr David Gauke

    While the UK remains a full member of the European Union it retains all of the rights, obligations and benefits that membership brings. The long-term relationship between the UK and the EIB will need to be resolved as part of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

    The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the UK Governor of the European Investment Bank and continues to fulfil his governance duties. The Chancellor continues to meet his European counterparts on a regular basis to discuss a range of issues.

    The EIB publish all loans made to UK borrowers as well as details on all future projects yet to be financed. Between 2013 and 2015, the UK received €20.7bn in EIB financing. The link below provides full details on EIB lending to the UK.

    http://www.eib.org/projects/regions/european-union/united-kingdom/index.htm

  • Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much UK aid was provided to countries on the EU Commission tax haven blacklist or identified as zero tax jurisdictions in the financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID uses a range of criteria to inform how we allocate aid across countries. These criteria include, for example, current and projected poverty levels in the country, the country’s ability to self-finance its development (e.g. through domestic taxation), and the likely effectiveness of UK aid.

    A number of EU member states maintain lists of jurisdictions for tax purposes against criteria concerning tax transparency and/or the prevailing tax rate. The EU does not maintain a blacklist; however a list of 30 jurisdictions that featured on 10 or more member state lists was compiled and then superseded by a recent European Commission update.

    This update included UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories which had the UK’s signature of the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters extended to them in 2014. The updated individual member state lists can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/gen_info/good_governance_matters/lists_of_countries/.

    Of the 30 jurisdictions named in the original list, 14 received UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2013 (the most recent year for which consolidated figures are available). Of these 14, only three (Liberia, Montserrat and Vanuatu) received ODA from DFID for development and humanitarian assistance in that year. Details of funding amounts to these 14 jurisdictions can be found at the Statistics on International Development 2014 page of the gov.uk website.

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, by when he plans for his Department to achieve its target strength for the Army Reserve.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    I refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by my right hon. Friend the previous Secretary of State for Defence (Philip Hammond) on 19 December 2013, (Official Report, column 124WS) on Future Reserves 2020, and the accompanying document that was placed in the Library of the House which sets out the planned growth of the trained strength of the Reserve Forces, together with the enlistment targets for the next five years.

    I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 October 2015 to the hon. Member for Strangford (Mr Shannon) to Question 11812 which explained the improvements we have made to ensure we reach our target strength of 35,000 trained volunteer Reservists by 31 March 2019.

  • Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what support lottery regulations permit to be given to gaming, live digital and other features of cultural technology.

    Tracey Crouch

    National Lottery funding supports projects within the four good causes – arts; sport; heritage; voluntary and community. The arts good cause covers a broad range of arts and media forms and there are no specific regulations against funding gaming, live digital and other features of cultural technology. Decisions on which individual projects to fund are made by the twelve Lottery distribution bodies.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2015 to Question 19012, how many households in the North East and Houghton and Sunderland South constituency are in receipt of child tax credits (a) not equal to but higher than the mode and (b) not equal to but higher than the mean for each year in the data sets provided in that Answer.

    Mr David Gauke

    The number of families in receipt of Child Tax Credit broken down by region and parliamentary constituency can be found in the following publications.

    2013/14: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-tax-credits-finalised-award-statistics-geographical-statistics-2013-to-2014

    2012/13: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-tax-credits-finalised-award-statistics-geographical-statistics-2012-to-2013

    2011/12: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-tax-credits-finalised-award-statistics-geographical-statistics

    2010/11: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121103084242/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/child-wtc-geo-may12.pdf

    “

  • 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.

  • 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 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that community pharmacies are not adversely affected by the localising of clinical pharmacists in GP surgeries.

    Alistair Burt

    Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service 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 have been in detailed discussions with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) since December 2015 regarding the Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond, including the proposal for a Pharmacy Access Scheme. In parallel, we also want to hear views on our proposals from across the sector and from patient groups. We published our open letter to the PSNC on 17 December 2015 and on 27 January 2016 we published a set of slides setting out the proposals with a foreword by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer.

    We announced on 16 March 2016 that the consultation period was to be extended to allow more time to develop the proposed changes with the PSNC and others. It will now close on 24 May 2016.

    Once we have carefully considered the outcomes from the consultation, we are looking to communicate final decisions as soon as possible, so that pharmacy contractors are fully informed some months before the funding reduction starts from October 2016.

    The role of the general practice pharmacist is distinct from the role of the pharmacist in a community setting. However, they are synergistic. Pharmacists working in general practice will, in the main, work with patients who have long term conditions to support them with their medicines and self-management of their condition by helping with the development and review of individual care plans. These patients will not generally be those with minor illnesses which can be treated by seeing a pharmacist in a community setting and for whom community pharmacy will remain the first, and most appropriate, option.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-04-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the DVLA plans to implement the European Commission’s advice on lifting that authority’s prohibition on driving for people who experience night-time hypoglycaemia.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) led a campaign to change European legislation to exclude hypoglycaemic attacks while sleeping or “night-time hypoglycaemia” as a bar to driving. A proposal for a Commission Directive was submitted through the European Commission’s Regulatory Fitness Programme and is awaiting approval by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.

    Member States will be required to apply the provisions from 1 January 2018.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much was spent on non-payroll staff in his Department in 2015-16.

    Mr Mark Francois

    My Department spent the following amounts on non-payroll staff in 2015-16, as will be reported in our Annual Report and Accounts:

    Cost of contingent labour (agency staff and contractors) – £2,858,046

    Cost of consultants/consultancy – £511,460

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many convictions there have been for offences relating to cases of immigration marriage fraud in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The table below gives the number of individuals who were successfully prosecuted by Home Office Immigration Enforcement for offences relating to immigration marriage fraud.

    Year

    Successfully prosecuted

    2014/15

    121

    2015/16

    37

    Prior to 2014, the records were not held centrally.

    The decrease in the number of referrals to the Home Office can be aligned to the introduction of the Immigration Act 2014.

    This legislation extends the notification period for those seeking to marry up to 70 days and provides time for the Home Office to investigate whether the marriage is sham. The effect of this is that those marriages deemed to be sham can be prevented from taking place.