Category: Speeches

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of (a) UK firms based in Wales that trade with other EU member states and (b) people employed by those firms.

    Anna Soubry

    HMRC Regional Trade Statistics on the number of firms trading with the EU are publically available through the UKTradeInfo website.

    HM Treasury has published estimates of the number of UK jobs linked to EU exports broken down by region. These are available through the GOV.UK website.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to table 1.5 of HM Revenue and Customs’ document, Measuring tax gaps, published in October 2013, how much revenue was lost as a result of the tax gap in (a) tax evasion and (b) the hidden economy in each year since 2009-10.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs published its latest tax gap estimates on 22 October 2015 in Measuring tax gaps 2015 edition. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470540/HMRC-measuring-tax-gaps-2015-1.pdf

    The tax gap by behaviour is set out in Figure 1.6 (page 11) and Table 1.5 (page 19). As behaviour estimates are made using management assumptions and judgement, they should be used as a broad indication.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK (a) flight crew, (b) ground crew and (c) intelligence analysts have served on US P-8 Poseidon aircraft under the Seedcorn exchange programme; and what the cost to the UK public purse has been of deploying those people since the start of that programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Seedcorn programme in the US on P8 aircraft started in 2012 with 20 personnel involved and has remained at 20 for each subsequent year (allowing for minor fluctuations during transitory periods). As the Seedcorn programme is an aircrew initiative, no ground crew or intelligence analysts have served on US P8 under it.

    The total cost of the Seedcorn programme since inception is some £14.1 million. It is not possible to break out actual costs for personnel by location and aircraft type.

  • Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to stop the shipment of UK nuclear waste to Andnyamantha homelands in Australia up to 2020.

    Jesse Norman

    There is a very small quantity of Australian owned radioactive waste currently stored in the UK. We anticipate that this will be returned to Australia in due course in line with contractual commitments. The location of any storage and disposal facilities for this waste will be a matter for the Australian authorities.

    Any shipment of radioactive material out of the UK will comply with all relevant international laws and use ships which meet national and international requirements.

  • Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Saville Roberts on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who will be appointed to lead the S4C review.

    Matt Hancock

    The Government committed to a comprehensive review of S4C in 2017 covering remit, funding and governance. Further details including the Terms of Reference, timetable and process will be announced in due course.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will meet providers of (a) supported housing and (b) specified housing to discuss the effect of the proposed change to social rents on the viability of those types of housing.

    Brandon Lewis

    We welcome the opportunity to engage with the supported housing sector to understand how the sector’s views can best be accommodated as we implement our policy. Ministers and officials have been discussing this issue with the National Housing Federation and a number of providers.

    We plan to except specialised supported housing, residential care homes, nursing homes and PFI-funded Extra Care housing from the rent reductions. We are continuing to work with the sector on this issue to ensure the most vulnerable are protected.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much income from passengers was earned by the Isle of Wight Island Line in each of the last five years.

    Claire Perry

    We do not have the running costs of the Isle of Wight Island Line in each category of expenditure in each of the last three years. What we do have are the figures for 2014/15 as supplied by SSWT:

    Costs

    £m

    Staff costs

    2.093

    Station Lease costs

    1.298

    Depot Track Renewals, Maintenance, Materials

    0.66

    Track access and Electric Traction

    0.123

    Other

    0.443

    Total Costs

    4.617

    SSWT have informed us that the Island Line generated the following income in each of the last five years:

    2010/11 = £0.9m

    2011/12 = £1.0m

    2012/13 = £1.0m

    2013/14 = £0.9m

    2014/15 = £0.9m

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the public policy implications arising from the recent reports that one 41-year old man has fathered up to 800 children by providing his gametes to women seeking to become pregnant.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    According to media reports, this particular case concerns private arrangements made between individual women seeking sperm for home insemination and the man providing the sperm. There is no third party involved. Such private arrangements between a man and a woman are not regulated. We understand that there is also no evidence to support the claim of up to 800 children having been born.

    It is important that women seeking sperm donation treatment fully understand the benefits of using clinics licensed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

  • Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government has spent on debt collection activity in each of the last seven years.

    Matthew Hancock

    This information is not held centrally. Individual departments are responsible for managing their own debt.

  • Lord Clement-Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Clement-Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria NHS England and NICE will apply when deciding on the commercial agreement to be put in place to provide treatment to patients under the conditional approval route in the new Cancer Drugs Fund.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England has advised that it intends to publish new detailed standard operating procedures for the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) by June 2016. These will include any further general details concerning the nature of managed access agreements associated with a drug’s entry into the Fund.

    The Accelerated Access Review (AAR) is actively engaging with NHS England to ensure alignment between the work of the review on speeding up access for National Health Service patients to innovative and cost effective new medicines and the CDF. The AAR is looking at the capability of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS England and the Department to support innovative pathways for the assessment, adoption and reimbursement of treatments.