Category: Speeches

Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to accelerate family reunification for unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government began work to implement the ‘Dubs amendment’ immediately after the Immigration Bill gained Royal Assent. Over 30 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act have been accepted for transfer since it received Royal Assent in May, the majority of these have already arrived in the UK.

We continue to work with the French, Greek and Italian authorities and others to speed up existing family reunification processes or implement new processes where necessary for unaccompanied children. We have seconded a UK official to Greece, we have a long-standing secondee working in Italy and will shortly be seconding another official to the French Interior Ministry to support these efforts.

We have established a dedicated team in the Home Office Dublin Unit to lead on family reunion cases for unaccompanied children. Transfer requests under the Dublin Regulation are now generally processed within 10 days and children transferred within weeks. Over 120 children have been accepted for transfer this year from Europe. We also continue to consult local authorities about the transfer unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK, where it is in their best interests.

01/01/2023
Biography information for Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Lord Beecham on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, of the 700 employers named and shamed” by them since October 2013 for failing to pay the minimum wage

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The National Minimum Wage naming and shaming scheme represents the end point of civil sanctions against employers who fail to pay at least the appropriate rate of minimum wage to their workers. Where there is evidence that an offence has been committed the case will always be considered for criminal investigation which may in turn result in prosecutions. But criminal investigations are reserved for the most serious cases of non-compliance.

Our number one priority is getting workers the money they are owed and the civil route is more successful in achieving this. Criminal investigations by HM Revenue & Customs and prosecutions by the Crown Prosecution Service will not necessarily result in arrears of wages being paid back to the workers. This would require further civil prosecutions following the Courts’ ruling.

Under the civil route, employers are not only faced with reputational consequences, but also face a financial penalty for breaking the law.

01/01/2023
Lord Grocott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Grocott on 2015-10-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 26 October (HL2541), whether they will publish the latest figures on the number of members of each party in the House, and the ratio of government to opposition members, including all those peers whose introduction has been scheduled.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

Including all those peers whose introduction or retirement has been advertised in House of Lords Business, and assuming no other changes to the membership of the House, as of 19 January 2016 there will be 249 members on the Conservative benches, 212 members on the Labour benches, and 112 members on the Liberal Democrat benches. This means that there will be 75 more peers on the benches of the largest two opposition parties than on the Government benches.

That will be 29 more peers than at the end of the 2009-10 session, when there were only 46 more peers on the benches of the largest two opposition parties than on the Government benches.

01/01/2023
Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many inspections were carried out under section 97 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 in each of the last 24 calendar months; which schools were so inspected; and whether each such inspection found that the institution breached section 96 of that Act.

Nick Gibb

This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. I have asked him to write to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

01/01/2023
Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support the recruitment of examiners for Gujarati GCSE and A level examinations; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb

This is a matter for the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) and I have asked its Chief Regulator, Glenys Stacey, to write to you. A copy of the letter will be placed in the House Library.

01/01/2023
Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what definition his Department use of the term exigency of duty.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence Police policy on overtime working states that:

"Exigencies of Duty should be interpreted as relating to situations where there is an unavoidable operational need, which necessitates a change of rostered duties".

01/01/2023
Simon Hart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there are special procedures for universal credit applications for prisoners with mental health issues.

Priti Patel

Prisoners are supported and advised whilst in prison on which benefits they can claim and how to make a claim and we are developing arrangements to enable them to make advance claims to Universal Credit.

Appropriate support measures for prison leavers with mental health issues will be considered following the initial claim interview.

Universal Credit is assessed and paid calendar monthly in arrears. Prison leavers will receive payment within the timescale of 5 weeks from the date of claim.

Prison leavers who are in financial need can apply for an advance payment of up to 50% of their total Universal Credit award following their initial interview.

The information requested in relation to the timescales for applications is not readily available for publication. To quality assure this information according to the standards of the UK Statistics Authority would incur disproportionate costs.

01/01/2023
Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect that changes in qualification requirements for studying a BSc in paramedicine will have on recruitment into that profession.

Ben Gummer

There are currently 30 Higher Education Institutions across the United Kingdom delivering Health Care Professions Council approved pre-registration paramedic programmes. Of these, there are now 22 (73%) that are delivering BSc (Hons) degrees.

The commissioned numbers in 2012/13 were 563, in 2013/14 were 722 and in 2014/15 were 853. Planned commission numbers for 2015/16 are 1,124 and for 2016/17 are 1,729. This shows there has been an increase of successful applicants who wish to enter the profession and are undertaking an appropriate pre-registration programme of higher education.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Whitaker on 2016-04-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, where a dog or horse is being micro-chipped and its owner is of no fixed abode, such as in the case of Gypsies and Travellers, whether they have considered allowing a mobile phone number or address of a friend or relation of the owner to be recorded rather than the owner’s address.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Owners of horses and dogs without a fixed address should provide the address of a family member or close friend with whom they keep in contact. Defra have worked with the veterinary representative organisations on their guidance for vets on microchipping of dogs.

01/01/2023

Kate Hollern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many foreign military sales contracts there have been since 2010; and what the value was of those contracts.

Mr Philip Dunne

The proportion of the defence procurement budget, and the defence budget spent on foreign military sales in each financial year cannot be provided. Under the Foreign Military Sales Agreement (FMS), Her Majesty’s Government commits to FMS cases with the US Government which then places contracts with industry to deliver our requirements. Additionally, FMS cases typically cover differing periods of performance, thereby making estimation of the commitment that would fall within each financial year unreliable.

The number of new cases, together with their values, committed to under FMS for each financial year is given in the table below. They do not equate to actual expenditure, accruals or contractual commitments and include contingency provisions.

Financial Year	No. of new cases	Value of new cases ($millions)
2009-10	22	995
2010-11	30	111
2011-12	33	284
2012-13	23	137
2013-14	25	301
2014-15	26	328
2015-16	32	245
2016-17 to date	6	13
Totals	197	2,414

01/01/2023