Category: Speeches

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Andrew Stephenson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department takes to ensure that overseas development aid spent via the EU is used for its intended purposes.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID officials sit on the management committees of the European Development Fund (EDF) and the Development Cooperation Instrument where they scrutinise EU programming to ensure it is well placed to achieve its development aims. DFID country offices also regularly engage with the EU delegations in-country on their development programming. DFID also uses EU audit systems (including the European Court of Auditors’ annual report which is scrutinised by Parliament) to dissect EU spend.

    The UK has strongly pushed for the introduction of a results framework and the Commission has now published its new framework, providing transparency about what is being achieved and accountability for the money spent. The first publication of results is expected by the end of 2015. The Results Framework has a similar design to that of DFID and other international donors – and will allow more rigorous scrutiny. The UK also secured significant improvements in the Implementing Regulations of EDF 11 which has improved the quality of programme documents and the availability of results data, which will feed into the new results framework. DFID continues to push for more effective programming, monitoring and evaluation, as well as enhanced transparency.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with the higher education sector on extending the new postgraduate loans scheme to part-time taught masters students aged over 30.

    Joseph Johnson

    A consultation on support for postgraduate study was launched in March of this year. The consultation sought views on the Government’s intention to introduce a new loan scheme for taught Master’s study and a review of how to broaden and strengthen support for postgraduate research. Consultation responses have been analysed and the Department is preparing its response.

  • Lord Truscott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Truscott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-12-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the current weekly costs of the Chilcot Inquiry.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Iraq Inquiry, which is independent of Government, publishes its annual costs after the end of each financial year. The Inquiry’s costs for FY 2014/15 were £1,358,500, providing an average weekly cost in the last financial year of £26,125.

  • Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kramer on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much is being spent on (1) billboards and poster sites, (2) television and radio advertising, (3) digital advertising, and (4) other forms of advertising, for the National Living Wage campaign.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The total budget allocated for the National Living Wage advertising campaign is £4.95 million. The campaign will run until the end of April and we expect to come in under budget.

    A breakdown of the anticipated costs for the campaign advertising can be found in the table below:

    Poster advertising £751,612.69

    TV and video on demand (VOD) £1,730,387.70

    Social media advertising £354,000

    Digital display advertising and Pay per click (PPC) £520,000

    Newspaper/magazine advertising £250,000

    Radio £299,826

    The Government’s new National Living Wage is a step up for working people, so it is important workers know their rights and that employers pay the new £7.20 from April 1 this year. Britain deserves a pay rise and as a One Nation Government we are making sure it gets one. The campaign will tell people about their entitlements and is targeted at employers, and workers currently earning the National Minimum Wage.

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests were made to her Department for a change of conditions of leave were approved in lifting the no recourse to public funds condition to the applicants conditions of leave in financial years (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2013-14 and (d) 2014-15.

    James Brokenshire

    The data requested is not available for each of the years requested and can only be provided from December 2014. The number of granted applications for a change of conditions to allow recourse to public funds between December 2014 and 30 September 2015 is as follows:

    Period

    Number of Granted Applications

    December 2014 – March 2015

    235

    April 2015 – September 2015

    680

    This response represents the closest reply that can be provided within the constraints of our data reporting system.

    The data provided is considered Management Information and is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of National Statistics.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (a) how much and (b) what proportion of the funding allocated to domestic violence services is specifically allocated to support children living in refuges.

    Karen Bradley

    The previous Government provided £40 million of dedicated funding for domestic and sexual violence services between 2011 and 2015 equating to £10 million per year. This funding was extended until April 2016, supplemented by an additional £10 million for refuges, and a £3.5 million fund to boost the provision of domestic violence services including refuges. We do not hold figures for the amount of funding which is spent on supporting children in refuges. It is for local areas to make decisions on the provision of safe accommodation, including refuges, and the support for victims of domestic abuse and their families. On 8 March, as part of our new Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, we announced £80 million of dedicated funding from 2016 to 2020 which includes support for refuges and other accommodation-based services, helping local areas ensure that victims of domestic violence and their children have the support they need.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Indian government on recent protests and clashes in the Handwara and Kupwara districts in Kashmir.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 26 April to PQ 34371 and 34380.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent house demolitions in the West Bank; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are concerned by reports that there has been a large increase in demolitions since the start of 2016, compared with the monthly average in 2015. Our Ambassador to Tel Aviv has raised our concerns on demolitions with the Israeli authorities, most recently on 15 May, and urged them to provide a legal route for Palestinians to obtain building permits.

  • Lord Lingfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Lingfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lingfield on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which local authority performance targets for special educational needs teams, or individual staff within those teams, align with current legislation and guidance, in particular in relation to (1) the production of education, health and care plans, and (2) the number of placements in special schools; and what actions they propose to take in response to that assessment.

    Lord Nash

    Local authorities are responsible for fulfilling the statutory duties on special educational needs (SEN) and disability placed upon them by the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice. This legal framework sets out clearly the process and timescales for producing Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans; and the process for determining the school placement of children and young people with EHC plans.

    Local authorities must issue final EHC plans within 20 weeks of commencing an assessment. Data published in May showed that 59.2% of EHC plans were issued on-time, excluding exception cases. Some areas are managing 100%. We have emphasised to local authorities that, where there are delays, they need to communicate clearly about them with families.

    The SEND Code of Practice is clear that EHC plans must be issued in sufficient time prior to a child or young person moving between key phases of education, to allow for planning and, where necessary, commissioning of support and provision at the new institution. The Children and Familes Act 2014 (Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) (No.2) Order 2014, as amended by the Children and Families Act 2014 (Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2015, require local authorities to prioritise the review of statements of SEN or Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) for children and young people approaching the end of an educational phase.

    Young people aged 19-25 are only able to draw on high needs funding from the Education Funding Agency where they have an EHC plan. Because some local authorities may not complete all the necessary transfers from LDAs to EHC plans by 1 September, EFA-funded institutions can continue to deliver programmes to 19-25 year olds where the young person has a Learning Difficulty Assessment and is receiving high needs funding, and where the local authority is in the process of an EHC assessment but has not finalised the EHC plan.

    The Department does not set targets for the performance of individual local authorities. The Department monitors very closely nationally-published data on local authority performance on SEN and disability and provides support and challenge as appropriate.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the performance of the Cheshire Patient Transport Service in the last 12 months.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    No assessment has been made. Assessment of the performance of patient transport services in Cheshire is the responsibility of its commissioners and the Care Quality Commission as the regulator of health services in England.