Category: Speeches

Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to announce her decision on the Scottish Government’s consultation on the five remaining cross-border or offshore marine special protection areas.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

I wrote to the Scottish Government on 2 September giving agreement to public consultation starting on four proposed marine Special Protection Areas that are partly in offshore waters. I also informed the Scottish Government that Defra was not yet in a position to start consultation on the English part of the proposed Solway Firth Special Protection Area, but that we would keep them updated on our position.

01/01/2023

Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the budget for schools renovation was in each year from 2010 to 2016.

Nick Gibb

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) does not hold a breakdown of funding information, in the format requested, in relation to the removal of asbestos or renovation of school buildings.

Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, the primary responsibility for managing asbestos lies with the person or persons responsible for the maintenance or repair of a building. For schools, this will be the local authority, school governors or academy trust.

The table below summarises the capital budgets from 2011-12 to 2016-17 that were provided for school maintenance, refurbishment and rebuilding, including where appropriate the removal and/or safe containment of asbestos-containing materials. As these works are covered by the capital funding programmes listed below, the Department does not allocate a separate budget for this purpose; and there are no plans to do so in future years.

The Department does not hold directly comparable allocation or expenditure data on prior years.

(All values £m)	2011-12 Budget	2012-13 Budget	2013-14 Budget	2014-15 Budget	2015-16 Budget	2016-17 Budget
School Condition Allocations (funding provided to local authorities and voluntary-aided schools)	1,054	861	749	699	690	661
Devolved Formula Capital (funding provided direct to schools)	185	162	149	138	134	130
Funding for academies, multi-academy trusts, state-funded special schools and other specialist providers for state-funded pupils (including DFC).	161	376	504	562	576	617
Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP) (delivered by central government)	0	0	90	603	999	1,050
Total	1,400	1,399	1,492	2,002	2,399	2,458

01/01/2023

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential savings to the budgets of Clinical Commissioning Groups from the use of the drug bevacizumab in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration instead of ranibizumab.

Lord Prior of Brampton

No assessment of the potential savings to clinical commissioning group budgets has been made as there are two other effective licensed treatments for wet age-related macular degeneration recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

01/01/2023
David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2015 to Question 17647, if he will carry out a survey of women’s attitudes to state pension equalisation.

Justin Tomlinson

The Department has no plans to carry out a survey of women’s attitudes to State Pension age equalisation. It has been Government policy since 1995 that the inequality between men and women’s State Pensions Ages must be removed.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Whitty on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the effect of the reduction of the budget of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on activity and staffing in relation to air quality.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Budgets for 2016/17 to 2020/21 have not yet been finalised. Defra’s internal business planning process is still underway, and it would not, therefore, be appropriate at this time to comment on how particular policy areas may be affected.

01/01/2023
David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 24570, if she will make it her policy that creative subjects must be included in the new EBacc.

Nick Gibb

I refer the Honourable Member to my response to PQ 24570, submitted to Parliament on Thursday 4 February 2016, in which I explained that EBacc subjects are part of a broad and balanced curriculum and that there is space in the wider school curriculum to teach other subjects alongside the EBacc subjects.

On 3 November 2015 the Secretary of State for Education launched a public consultation seeking views on the government’s proposals for the implementation of the English Baccalaureate. The consultation closed on 29 January 2016 and the government response will be published in the spring.

01/01/2023
Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to discuss with the UNHCR the number of refugees now in detention in Thailand in unhealthy conditions and what can be done to speed up their release; and whether they plan to make representations to the government of Thailand on the detention of women and children, including pregnant women, and early release of all sick detainees.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We continue to work with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Thailand on a wide range of refugee issues. From our conversations with them we understand that the time taken to assess asylum applications in Thailand depends on the circumstances of each case. It can vary from a few months to a couple of years.

We are concerned about the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand. Although Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, we have pressed the Thai authorities to apply international humanitarian norms and standards when handling these vulnerable groups. We are also working with the Thai authorities to improve conditions of detention.

01/01/2023
James Cartlidge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2016-04-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of new buy-to-let mortgage loans over the next five years which will be advanced on an (a) capital repayment and (b) interest-only basis.

Harriett Baldwin

HM Treasury has not made any estimates of the proportion of new buy-to-let mortgage loans over the next five years which will be advanced on a (a) capital repayment and (b) interest-only basis.

01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the border policy is for the Sovereign Base Areas.

Penny Mordaunt

Those entering the Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) including the two crossing points from north Cyprus are subject to immigration checks conducted by SBA Customs and Immigration personnel to confirm their identity, nationality and permissibility to enter the SBA. These border crossings are recognised points of entry into the EU. This process is consistent with the current procedures used in the Republic of Cyprus. No border control exists between the SBA and the Republic of Cyprus.

01/01/2023
Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment his Department has made of the barriers that prevent women from attending cervical screening.

Jane Ellison

There is a range of work going on to understand the reasons for the decline in cervical screening uptake amongst women aged 25 to 29 and to try to address them. They include:

a) Data and information – access to data, cleansing, benchmarking for providers, timely and useful information for commissioners;

b) Behavioural insight – communication with commissioners, providers, patients and public;

c) Commissioning levers – commissioning contracts in public health (S7a) and primary care;

d) Partnership work – relationships with commissioners and providers; and

e) Sharing best practice – what works well, evaluation and how to embed quality improvement

Public Health England (PHE) is working with colleagues in NHS England and Health and Social Care Information Centre to implement the Accessible Information Standard which is intended to improve access to services for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Through the re-development of cervical Information Technology systems opportunities will arise to review how to help improve uptake.

PHE supports providers to help meet the Accessible Information Standard through the provision of high quality information for people with learning disabilities or sensory loss. A national group of experts and service users has been set up to oversee this work and will be updating the existing easy read leaflets and developing new materials over the next 18 months.

PHE is aware that there are a range of factors which may act as barriers in hindering women from attending cervical screening. It is hoped that through the STRATEGIC (Strategies to Increase Cervical screening uptake at first invitation) interventions will be identified to help minimise barriers and assist women to attend screening whilst increasing uptake across all quintiles. The STRATEGIC trial was completed in 2015 and researchers are expected to publish findings later this year.

01/01/2023