Category: Speeches

  • Steve Rotheram – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve Rotheram – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to tackle landlords who knowingly rent out unsafe and substandard accommodation.

    Brandon Lewis

    Through the Housing and Planning Bill we are taking measures to tackle rogue landlords who rent out sub-standard accommodation. Our proposals include a database of rogue landlords and property agents, introducing banning orders for serious or repeat offenders, a tougher fit and proper person test, extending Rent Repayment Orders and introducing civil penalties for offences such as failing to comply with an improvement notice or overcrowding a property.

    In addition, over the last Parliament, we made over £6.7 million available to local authorities to help them tackle rogue landlords in their areas. We have also invited 65 local authorities to bid for a share of a further £5 million funding to tackle rogue landlords and will be announcing successful schemes shortly.

  • Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2015 to Question 11881, if he will discuss with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency the reasons for that agency not approving the pilot scheme for bike racks on the front of buses in Bath in 2015.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) rejected the pilot scheme because the design created significant additional hazards from the original bus design. These included both the structure of the bicycle rack when folded and deployed, projections of any bicycle on the rack, and a significant reduction of vision for the driver to the nearside front with a bicycle on the rack. These features were considered to increase significantly the likelihood of accidents and potential severity of pedestrian injury.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2016 to Question 24265, how much transitional funding has been allocated to meet costs deemed essential to the successful implementation of his Department’s area reviews but which cannot be met locally.

    Nick Boles

    Further details of the purpose and availability of the transitional funding facility will be available in due course.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many people of each (a) ethnicity, (b) religion and (c) occupation have received an honorary knighthood in each of the last 10 years.

    James Duddridge

    The following table provides the available information on all recipients of an honorary knighthood in each of the last ten years, including the range of their occupations and their nationalities.

    Nominators are given the opportunity to provide information on ethnicity of the person they are nominating, but rarely do. Information on the religion of honours nominees or recipients is not collected.

    [See attachment]

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-04-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 23 March (HL7103), why HMS Dauntless and HMS Lancaster are being placed alongside if there are sufficient people, spares and logistics support to run the Royal Navy.

    Earl Howe

    HMS DAUNTLESS entered the engineering training ship programme in February this year. Engineer training ships, generally in a period prior to undergoing a refit or an upgrade, are used to deliver training and provide accommodation alongside.

    HMS LANCASTER is presently alongside in Portsmouth and is being maintained with a minimal crew onboard until her refit. The Royal Navy has determined that HMS LANCASTER is not required as a training platform ahead of her refit, therefore a number of her crew have been redeployed in support of operational units and tasks.

    Such planned programming enables the Royal Navy to optimise the use of its ships and personnel through the operational cycles.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-05-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many fraudulently-obtained genuine passports HM Passport Office has detected in each year from 2010 to date.

    James Brokenshire

    The number of detections over the last 6 years is provided in the table below. This data is drawn from management information and includes the detection of current and expired documents. We are continuing to invest in passport counter fraud techniques. For example, we are in the process on introducing new facial matching technology and new data analytics tools to enhance the security of our processes and support fraud investigations.

    Financial Year

    Fraudulently Obtained Genuine Document Detections

    2010/11

    825

    2011/12

    1,096

    2012/13

    956

    2013/14

    1,223

    2014/15

    548

    2015/16

    1,013
  • Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2016 to Question 40440, on electoral register: Northern Ireland, if she will carry out an assessment of the effect on Northern Irish voters of the decision not to apply the extension to Northern Ireland.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    The Electoral Commission will review and report on the management and conduct of the EU Referendum later this year.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-09-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of a compulsory micro-chipping scheme for cats.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    It is good practice for owners to have their cats microchipped with their name and address. However, it is not Government policy to make such microchipping compulsory. The case for compulsory dog microchipping does not apply in the case of cats. Stray cats do not present the same level of public nuisance as stray dogs, which are required to be kennelled by local authorities and charities at significant cost and to the detriment of their welfare.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Sharon Hodgson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to ensure that high-speed broadband provision can meet the likely demand for such provision by 2020 of creative and digital companies in geographic clusters.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    This Government recognises the need for creative and digital companies to have access to have access to high-speed broadband, wherever in the UK they are located. The Government’s Superfast Broadband Programme is on track to deliver superfast broadband coverage to 95 per cent of UK premises by the end of 2017.Inaddition we are supporting seven pilot projects to explore ways to extend superfast broadband beyond 95 per cent of UK homes and businesses. The Government will also launch a public consultation early next year in preparation for the implementation of a new broadband USO by 2020, with the ambition to give people the legal right to request a connection to broadband with speeds of 10 Mbps,nomatterwherein the countrytheylive.

  • Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 17622, if he will identify separately the marginal costs associated with maintaining the Vanguard submarines in service for five years longer then envisaged.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    As announced in Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) 2010 we can extend the life of the existing Vanguard class submarines into the early 2030s. Cost estimates for supporting the ballistic missile submarines during the transition from Vanguard to Successor are not materially affected by minor changes to scheduled dates.