Category: Speeches

  • David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to Written Statement HCW588 on Infected Blood Payment Scheme, whether his Department has made an estimate of how many bereaved people will receive less support after 2016-17 than they do now.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The reformed scheme will provide a payment to all those with hepatitis C, even if they have been treated, for the current spending review period. A review of the scheme will take place towards the end of this spending review period.

    All those who are currently bereaved partners/spouses and all those who will be bereaved partner/spouses in future will receive a £10,000 lump sum payment and will have continued access to discretionary support. Discretionary support will continue to be available to the bereaved, as well as to infected individuals.

    All infected individuals who are registered with Skipton as having hepatitis C stage 1 (nearly 2,500 people) will be eligible for the new stage 1 annual payment.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the number of cattle which have died of disease or were put down on account of disease in each of the last five years.

    George Eustice

    Defra collects data on cases of notifiable or reportable diseases, as per a legal requirement. The department does not estimate the number of all cattle or all pigs which have died of disease or were put down on account of disease as the department does not collect cattle or pigs death data.

    There have been no pig deaths due to notifiable disease in Great Britain in the last 5 years. There were two cattle deaths in 2015 from Anthrax. The most recent data on Bovine Tuberculosis is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain

    “

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress is being made on the accelerated access review for drugs for rare cancers; by what date he plans for that review to be concluded; and if he will set a deadline by which arrangements must be in place for the assessment of new drugs.

    George Freeman

    The Accelerated Access Review which was set up to look at speeding up access to innovative drugs including those for rare diseases, devices and diagnostics for National Health Service patients has been making strong progress since it was first announced in November 2014.

    The review which is independently chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor has been engaging stakeholders extensively over the summer to gather evidence on the big questions the review is considering, and has developed a number of emerging solutions.

    Sir Hugh published his interim report of the review on 27 October 2015. The report is high-level, direction-setting and grounded in evidence gathered through the review’s stakeholder engagement to date. The review is embarking on a second phase of engagement with stakeholders to further build the evidence, stress-test and refine the reports interim findings.

    The review will conclude with Sir Hugh making his final recommendations to Government by April 2016. The Government will thereafter consider how best to respond.

  • Lord Moynihan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Moynihan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moynihan on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether all governing bodies of sport will be eligible for financial support to ensure that their lead employees and senior volunteers with responsibility for implementing or overseeing governance arrangements within their governing boards can sit the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Sport Governance and Administration.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government expects the highest standards of governance from all our sports bodies in the UK and is working with UK Sport and Sport England to foster this. UK Sport and Sport England set standards that are a condition of funding, covering leadership, governance, financial management and administration, and also provide support and expertise to help national governing bodies to meet them where necessary. The recent triennial review recommended that UK Sport and Sport England should bring together both the governance requirements and the support arrangements for the next funding cycle.

    Ensuring that those responsible have the right skills is an important aspect of achieving high governance standards.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assurances he has received from the government of Saudi Arabia that no British-made equipment was used in recent executions in that country.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK operates one of the most rigorous and transparent arms export control regimes in the world. Each application for an export licence is subject to a rigorous case-by-case assessment against these high criteria. The British Government is satisfied that the current licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK’s export licensing criteria and that we are not in breach of our international obligations. No licence is issued if it does not meet these requirements. This includes the export of arms to Saudi Arabia.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what statutory arrangements are in place to penalise rail franchises which consistently perform poorly; and how often such arrangements have been called on since 2010.

    Claire Perry

    Section 55 of the Railways Act 1993 (as amended) gives the Secretary of State power to make an Enforcement Order where a train operator contravenes a term of the franchise agreement. Such an Order may require the train operator to take specified steps to address the contravention and can include a requirement to pay a penalty if the Train Operator contravenes the Order.

    Section 57A of the Railways Act 1993 (as amended) gives the Secretary of State a separate power to impose a penalty for contravention of a term of the franchise agreement as an alternative to making an Enforcement Order or in addition to such an Order (provided that the Order does not include a penalty provision).

    Since 2010 no train operator has been required to make a payment for breach of an Enforcement Order under section 55. Some 13 Enforcement Orders under Section 55 have been issued, and one train operator has been required to make a penalty payment imposed under section 57A.

  • Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Murrison on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential of Westbury to become the north-south/east-west rail hub for the central south of England.

    Claire Perry

    The importance of Westbury as an interchange station for South West Trains and Great Western Rail services is not underestimated by the Department, and is already a mini hub and crew point for some of the inter-regional services (Bristol to Portsmouth and Weymouth). However, Bristol is the key hub for the region, and the Department has therefore made no such assessment regarding Westbury.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding his 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.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    DCMS received no funding from the European Social Fund (ESF) programme during the period specified.

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people who will be affected by proposed changes to debt repayment arrangements under universal credit.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Analysis undertaken by DWP has identified a large number of variables that will affect debt repayments from individuals claiming Universal Credit.

    This includes, but is not limited to; the number of people claiming Universal Credit, the level of Universal Credit award they receive, the amount of debt they have (across DWP, HMRC and Local Authorities), the approach for recovering debt from Universal Credit and the approach for recovering debt by deduction from earnings.

    Considering this, it is likely that most Universal Credit claimants with existing debts or debt repayment arrangements will be affected to some degree. At present there is insufficient data to predict the effects of these variables accurately.

    Given the scale of the change, the likely confidence interval for forecasts for any time after 2016-17 is too large to give a meaningful or indicative answer at this time.

    However, as Universal Credit rolls out, DWP will continue to analyse all available data to give a wider view on any changes to debt repayment agreements that are being seen under Universal Credit.

    In addition, DWP will continue to work with HMRC and Local Authorities in developing forecasting models to show the changes that people with debt will see as their benefit payments move to Universal Credit.

  • Lord Jopling – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    Lord Jopling – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Chairman of Committees, further to his Written Answer on 6 June (HL91), what, if any, is the specification for ermine robes with regard to the materials used, and whether there would be any impediment to clothiers, such as those in the Far East, providing robes for peers either for purchase or for hire.

    Lord Laming

    As set out in the Standing Orders of the House of Lords Relating to Public Business: “When Her Majesty comes publicly to the House, the Lords shall be attired in their robes or in such other dress as may be approved by Her Majesty”. A proposal for robes other than those presently used would be considered by the appropriate authority.