Category: Speeches

  • Lord Oates – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Oates – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Prime Minister last visited Africa to promote trade, investment and economic development; which countries he visited; and when he next intends to make such a visit.

    Lord Price

    Details of ministerial visits overseas are published on a quarterly basis and can be accessed via the gov.uk website. For security reasons, the Prime Minister’s engagements are announced as and when appropriate.

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answers of 6 June 2016 to Questions 37441 and 38348, why North Middlesex Hospital is not being supported by the Emergency Care Intensive Support Team via the Emergency Care Improvement Programme.

    Ben Gummer

    We are advised by NHS Improvement that North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust was not supported by the Emergency Care Intensive Support Team (ECIST) during 2015/16 as it did not fall within the criteria at the time of selection for enrolment in the Emergency Care Improvement Programme.

    However, following concerns regarding the Emergency Department waiting time performance at the Trust, we are aware that NHS Improvement and NHS England jointly arranged a review of the system’s emergency care pathway by the North West Utilisation Management Unit.

    We understand that in response to the findings the system has developed a ‘safer, faster, better’ programme to address issues across the pathway.

    We are informed that the Trust requested support from ECIST at the end of April 2016. A tailored support programme is currently being developed. This will include visits from clinicians and improvement managers from ECIST.

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many officials of his Department are (a) on secondment from external companies and (b) engaged as external contractors or consultants; and what the cost is of engaging such people.

    Greg Hands

    Following her appointment on 13 July 2016 the Prime Minister established the Department for International Trade (DIT). The DIT aggregates UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), UK Export and Finance (UKEF), Trade Policy Units from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), as well as some new hires.

    Until such time as a transfer of functions order establishes the Secretary of State as a corporation sole, DIT remains a unified Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department for accounting purposes.

    Since the department was formed in July there have been no secondees appointed from the private sector. Secondees previously in post with syndicate organisations have moved across to DIT on legacy terms.

    Contractors in post with syndicate organisations have also moved across to DIT on legacy terms. Since the department was formed in July the number of contractors remains 217 with incumbent costs, as tabled below.

    DIT Secondees

    Monthly Costs

    DIT Contractors

    Costs for financial year 2015/16

    Trade Policy & Ministerial (BEIS)

    1

    £0.00

    1

    £14,982

    International Trade & Investment (UKTI)

    *12

    £14,299.27

    196 – as of 01/09/16

    £24 million

    UK Export Finance

    0

    –

    20 – as of 01/09/16

    £2.54 million

    Total

    13

    £14,299.27

    217

    £26.5 million

    Table Notes:

    The majority of secondees are funded by seconding companies. Costs are based on collective monthly salaries of DIT funded secondees.

    Actual numbers of contractors fluctuate throughout the year as do costs. Contractor costs reflect the level of senior specialist, technical and commercial knowledge required by the former UKTI department to support British businesses in international markets, and with overseas investors looking to invest in the UK.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to increase the number of household waste recycling centres that accept liquid paint.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Government has been engaging constructively with the British Coatings Federation on making better use of leftover paint, including identifying potential regulatory barriers to its recycling and remanufacture and how these might be overcome.

    The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) encourages consumers to recycle and re-use household paint by providing information through the Recycle Now website. This includes a postcode locator which helps pinpoint local Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) that accept leftover paint. The Government’s Innovation in Waste Prevention Fund has also supported a pilot paint re-use project in Cheshire involving local charities, working with HWRCs and housing associations to increase paint donation and minimise disposal. WRAP will publish a summary of the project, lessons learned and a video case study later in the year.

    In terms of public procurement, it is for each Government department to consider sustainability and put this into practice in its own procurement activity. Government Buying Standards do not currently include remanufactured paint. WRAP has recently published a guide on ‘How to Include Re-use in Local Authority HWRC Procurement’.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners released under a Home Detention Curfew in Devon were returned to prison after breaking the conditions of such a curfew between 2011 and 2014.

    Andrew Selous

    The number of prisoners released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) in England and Wales has fallen in recent years. This is principally due to the reduction in the number of prisoners eligible for the scheme.

    The Ministry of Justice only collates data on the number of prisoners released on HDC who are then recalled to prison for breach of their curfew conditions and this data is only available for England and Wales as a whole. It would incur disproportionate cost to isolate from this overall data those recalled prisoners who had been released on HDC from prisons in Devon.

    This data is published and can be located at the following link (table A3.5 details HDC recalls):

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/424903/prison-releases-annual-2014.xlsx

    “

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) acute and (b) non-acute beds there were in each London hospital in each year since 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    Information on bed availability and occupancy is published every quarter.

    The attached table shows the average daily number of available (a) general and acute and (b) maternity, mental health and learning disability beds that were open overnight and open day only and under the care of a consultant in London trusts in each quarter since 2010.

  • Pauline Latham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Pauline Latham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many public relations and communications staff have been hired directly by the NHS in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department does not hold the requested information.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many grants of what value were made by his Department for meningitis research programmes in each of the last five years.

    George Freeman

    Since 2011, the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has made the following awards through its research programmes and fellowship schemes for research relating to meningitis:

    – Impact of conjugate vaccination on population immunity to pneumococcal and meningococcal disease in England: immunosero-epidemiological analysis (£605,843; 2013-15); and

    – Improving the diagnosis of meningitis in adults in the United Kingdom (£415,242; 2013-16).

    In addition, the NIHR funds research relating to meningitis through:

    – the NIHR Clinical Research Network;

    – NIHR Biomedical Research Centres;

    – NIHR Clinical Research Facilities for Experimental Medicine; and

    – Health Protection Research Units.

    Since 2011, the Department’s Policy Research Programme has made the following award for research relating to meningitis:

    – Characterisation of meningococcal carriage isolates from UK MenCar4 study (£199,990; 2016-17).

  • David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23886, whether asset-sharing in Syria, Iraq or Libya was considered at the meeting of the Reaper User Group that took place on 14 to 18 March.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The MQ-9 Users Group primarily discussed generic, future interoperability between US, UK, French and Italian Reaper operators, particularly in terms of software standards, logistics and training. The sharing of assets in Syria, Iraq and Libya was therefore not discussed explicitly.

  • Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assistance his Department provides to prevent job losses in highly-skilled manufacturing businesses.

    Anna Soubry

    We are creating a highly competitive business environment to make the UK an attractive location for advanced manufacturing investment, boosting skills and protecting spending on innovation and cutting edge manufacturing technologies. This drives the strong productivity growth, and exports, that will sustain the UK as a leading manufacturing nation.