Category: Speeches

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which post offices in each constituency have moved to premises shared with private sector organisations; and which organisations each such post office is sharing with.

    Margot James

    The provision and location of post offices is the operational responsibility of Post Office Limited.

    I have asked Paula Vennells, the Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the Hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alistair Carmichael – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passports submitted in support of an application for naturalisation as a British citizen were found to have a counterfeit Home Office stamp purporting to grant settlement in each year since 2010.

    James Brokenshire

    Information on how many individuals submitted a passport with a counterfeit stamp purporting to a grant settlement, in support of a naturalisation application is not aggregated in national reporting systems. This information could only be obtained by a disproportionately expensive manual case by case search to collate the data.

  • Lord Crisp – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Crisp – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Crisp on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to review their current immigration policies so that international students, qualified researchers, and experts across the health and science sectors can more easily enter the UK and participate in training, run courses, and attend meetings and conferences.

    Lord Bates

    We keep all categories of entry and the application process under regular review. The Home Office recently concluded a wide ranging review and consultation that led to the changes to the Immigration Rules for visitors in April this year. The changes included consolidation and simplification of all visitor categories from fifteen into four routes to provide flexibility on the activities a visitor can do, as well as some expansion of the permitted activities. These included business related activities such as participating in or running training courses, meetings and conferences.

    Under the Immigration Rules, visitors are allowed to teach one-off classroom sessions in the UK without pay and their sponsors are welcome to provide funding for flights and accommodation.

    More details on what people can do when visiting the UK and how to apply can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa and the detailed Immigration Rules for Visitors can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-v-visitor-rules

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2015 to Question 16795, if he will undertake an assessment of activities by third parties fully funded by local authorities designed to influence Government and Parliament; and if he will extend the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity to cover such groups.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    We have continually made clear that local authorities should not be using taxpayers’ money to lobby Government; not least because they are free to contact Ministers and Members of Parliament to make their views known and indeed many do so on a regular basis. This is reflected in the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity.

  • Earl Attlee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Earl Attlee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Earl Attlee on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the UK competition authorities have made an assessment of the UK market in printer cartridges; and if so, what conclusions were reached.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) carried out a market study in 2001 on consumer IT goods and services, including the printer cartridge market. It noted that consumers may find it difficult to identify which printer manufacturer had the cheapest price overall – this included the upfront price of the printer and the price of cartridges over the life of the machine. The OFT worked with the industry to introduce a labelling scheme which allowed consumers to identify how many pages they could expect to print with a cartridge. This allows consumers to consider both the purchase price and the running costs of the printer.

    The Competition and Markets Authority took over the competition functions of the OFT in 2014.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the rate of pay is for cleaners in his Department.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The cleaning service at HM Treasury is provided by through a service contract, let by the landlord for 1 Horse Guards Road (Exchequer Partnership). HM Treasury does not directly employ cleaners.

    However, the contracted cleaners that work within 1 Horse Guards Road are paid £9.15 per hour which will increase to £9.40 in April 2016.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have been permanently excluded from school during Key stage 1 and 2 in the last three years.

    Nick Gibb

    Information on the number of permanent exclusions in state-funded primary schools is published at national and regional level in the Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England[1] series. Information on the number of permanent exclusions in primary academies from 2010/11 to 2013/14 inclusive can be found in Table 18a of the 2013/14 release and Table 16a of the equivalent release for earlier years.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

    “

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure that affected women and their partners have access to bereavement counselling after early miscarriage.

    Ben Gummer

    The mandate to NHS England makes it clear they should ensure the National Health Service meets the needs of each individual with a service where people’s experience of their care is seen as an integral part of overall quality.

    It is for the NHS locally to ensure appropriate facilities and services are in place to support parents following pregnancy loss. To assist NHS commissioners and providers, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Standards for Gynaecology and Standards for Maternity (2008) sets out clear standards for the level of care provided to help women and their partners experiencing pregnancy loss, including the availability of skilled staff to support parents following a stillbirth or miscarriage. In addition, the Department has supported the publication of Health Building note 09-02, which sets out guidance on the planning and design of maternity care facilities, including the facilities available for women and families who suffer bereavement at any stage of pregnancy.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Freedom of Information requests have been refused by his Department in the last 12 months.

    Matthew Hancock

    Statistics in relation to Freedom of information requests are publically available on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-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 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the application waiting times for people resident in Liverpool, Wavertree constituency who are seeking asylum.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    All asylum claims are considered on their individual merits and based on the information provided throughout the process. Some decisions can be taken more quickly than others, for example if further information is needed to reach an informed decision it can take longer. If an asylum claim is refused then the claimant might appeal against that decision.

    All straightforward claims are decided within 6 months.