Category: Speeches

Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the outcomes have been of her Department’s programme of post-conflict development in Northern Uganda.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Post-Conflict Development Programme for Northern Uganda aims to improve service delivery in health, support the most vulnerable and help young people find employment, amongst other activities. This is in line with the new UK Aid Strategy which includes tackling the root causes of instability and conflict. Some of the main achievements include:
- Training 15,000 youth in vocational skills.
- Training 14,000 youth in entrepreneurialism.
- Construction of 1,738 homes for health workers and teachers to allow them to provide vital services in an under-served region, and reduce drivers of instability.
- Testing 60,992 children under five with high fevers for Malaria and providing treatment for those who were shown to be infected.
- Providing 10,000 food transfers in return for work to families at risk of malnutrition and unable to access employment opportunities due to the post conflict environment.
01/01/2023
Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what guidance there is for briefing relatives following Boards of Inquiry which take place when there has been an in-service death; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt

Boards of Inquiry were replaced in 2008 by Service Inquiries. The policy on Service Inquiries, which includes support to families, is laid out in Ministry of Defence Joint Service Publication (JSP) 832, Guide to Service Inquiries.

Further, JSP 751, Joint Casualty and Compassionate Policy and Procedures, provides the framework and direction on casualty management, from which the single Services develop and deliver their support for bereaved families. No distinction is made between operational and non-operational deaths.

Although JSPs 832 and 751 lay out the overarching policy and processes, the single Services may involve different organisations in supporting bereaved families according to individual need and local circumstances.

In the case of a Defence Safety Authority Service Inquiry, next of kin are offered a personal brief from the Inquiry President on the findings before they are published.

01/01/2023
Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of job outcomes in Scotland for the Work Choice programme in each of the last three financial years for which such information is available.

Priti Patel

For all Work Choice providers excluding Remploy, there have been 1,350 job outcomes in Scotland in the financial year 2013/14, 1,290 in 2014/15, and 700 in 2015/16.

01/01/2023
Lord Hague of Richmond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hague of Richmond on 2016-09-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made to implement the Elephant Protection Initiative since it was launched at the London Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade in 2014.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Government has conducted informal discussions with representatives of the arts and antique sector on the scale of legal trade in ivory currently taking place. An accurate assessment is challenging as records for antiques may not necessarily record an item as containing ivory where this is only a small component of a larger item. Extrapolation from available data indicates that sales of items containing ivory may be worth in the order of several tens of millions of pounds per annum.

TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring organisation, has recently published its report: “A Rapid Survey of the UK ivory market”. Although not an exact comparison with a survey conducted in 2004, TRAFFIC’s survey found the number of market stalls offering ivory for sale had declined by approximately two-thirds and the number of items offered for sale had halved. No new or raw ivory was seen in any of the physical market outlets or online platforms; only one ivory item seen for sale was reportedly from after the legal cut-off (1947) for antique ivory being sold without Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) documentation within the EU. Ivory is a key UK wildlife crime priority with an enforcement action plan in place to tackle risk. For example, UK Border Force through Operation Quiver has in particular successfully targeted ivory sent through postal systems.

We are actively exploring options with interested parties and other Government Departments about how to implement the UK Government’s manifesto commitment to press for a total ban on ivory sales. The UK has successfully lobbied for the EU-wide adoption of the existing UK ban on trade in raw ivory tusks, which was agreed through European Council Conclusions on an EU Action Plan on Wildlife Trafficking adopted in June. Trade in such tusks presents the greatest risk of poached ivory entering the legal market. In addition, these conclusions urged EU Member States to consider further measures to put a halt to commercial trade in ivory from elephants.

A substantial number of proposals on elephant and ivory related issues will be discussed at the Conference of Parties to CITES to be held in South Africa between 24 September and 5 October 2016. This will include discussions on the existing global ban on the trade in ivory, which the UK is committed to maintaining, and the role of domestic ivory markets in illegal trade. The UK is, and will continue to, play a full role in these discussions.

In relation to the confirmation by the USA Government to limit commercial trade in African elephant ivory to items more than 100 years old, with some exemptions, the then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Affairs, Rory Stewart, discussed this issue with the USA Government during a trip earlier this year. In addition officials in Defra are in regular contact with their US counterparts and have discussed the US measures on a number of occasions.

Finally on the Elephant Protection Initiative, this has grown from 5 to 14 members since the London Conference in February 2014. A Ministerial-level meeting of members to agree governance arrangements took place in Addis Ababa in September 2015. Range states have been supported to develop their National Elephant Action Plans and through these a number of priority conservation projects have been funded.

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2016 to Question 37550, what further progress has been made on reviewing the legal and financial implications of an alternative pavement parking regime; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones

The process for putting in place traffic regulation orders (TROs) was identified as a major factor affecting the enforcement of pavement parking. The Department for Transport is therefore now considering how best to address the general improvement of the TRO-making process and will provide further information once this is available.

01/01/2023
Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barbara Keeley on 2015-11-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of in-work households in Salford in receipt of tax credits with an underlying entitlement to working tax credit in each of the last five years had not had a claim with an underlying entitlement to working tax credit in the proceeding tax year.

Damian Hinds

The answers are only available at disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023
Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Attorney General, what factors the Crown Prosecution Service takes into account when assessing the reliability of evidence which is more than 30 years old.

Robert Buckland

Evidence is assessed in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors in arriving at a decision whether to prosecute a case. A prosecutor will look at whether the evidence is admissible in court, its importance in relation to the evidence as a whole, its reliability, accuracy, integrity and credibility. It is the duty of prosecutors to make sure that the right person is prosecuted for the right offence and to bring offenders to justice wherever possible. In doing so a prosecutor must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that a prosecution is in the public interest.

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-01-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made on analysis of responses to the pension transfers and early exit charges consultation, launched by his Department in July 2015; and when he plans to publish the response to the consultation.

Greg Hands

On Tuesday 19 January, the Chancellor announced his intention to legislate to place a duty on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to cap excessive early exit charges for those eligible to access the pension freedoms. This new duty will form part of the response to the government’s Pension Transfers and Early Exit Charges consultation, and will help people take full advantage of the pension freedoms. The government will be publishing its full response to this consultation shortly.

01/01/2023

Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2016 to Question 25465, if he will publish the (a) total value and (b) number of grants made by his Department in the last 12 months as part of (i) the Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development scheme, (ii) the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund, (iii) the Strategic Partnership Programme and (iv) Specific Policy Grants supporting Departmental policy.

Alistair Burt

The following information shows new grant awards made by the Department in the financial year 2015/16. Recipients of grants include voluntary organisations. The Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development scheme and the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund grant awards shown here span a period of up to three years.

Scheme / Programme	New Awards Made (£)	Number of New Awards made
Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development	£5,980,964	14
Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund	£2,789,777	25
Strategic Partner Programme	£4,020,000	23
Specific Policy Grants	£133,112,643	25

01/01/2023

Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of senior civil servants in his Department are women.

Mike Penning

The percentage of senior civil servants broken down by gender is reported on an annual basis within the Department’s Diversity report. The published report for 2014/2015 can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-report-2014-to-2015

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01/01/2023