Category: Speeches

Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) assaults and (b) serious assaults by prisoners on other prisoners were recorded at HMP Swansea during each of the last three years.

Andrew Selous

Statistics for assaults on prisoner on prisoner are published on an annual basis by calendar year in the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin annual assaults tables (see table 3.15 at the link below). https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/495430/safety-in-custody-assaults-dec-2014.xls.

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01/01/2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many concerted indiscipline incidents of each type have occurred in each prison establishment in each month since May 2005.

Andrew Selous

Violence in prisons has increased in recent years. The nature of offenders currently in custody and the widespread availability of new psychoactive substances have both contributed to making prisons less safe. There is no single, simple solution to the problems we face but we are making progress.

We have launched a two year Violence Reduction project to help us to gain a better understanding of the causes and characteristics of violence. We are also trialling the use of body worn cameras in prisons, training sniffer dogs to detect new psychoactive substances and have made it an offence to smuggle new psychoactive substances into prison. However, ultimately the only way to reduce violence in our prisons is to give governors and those who work in prisons the tools necessary to more effectively reform and rehabilitate offenders.

Many Concerted indiscipline incidents vary widely in nature and duration and many of these incidents are relatively minor and of short duration and cause little disruption to the prison regime.

Note: The figures included in the table attached, have been drawn from the NOMS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last case the figures may not be accurate to that level.

01/01/2023
Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many permanent secretaries are from a lower socio-economic background.

Matthew Hancock

Data on the socio-economic background of Permanent Secretaries is not available. We are introducing a metric of social mobility as part of our 2016 Talent Action Plan and this is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/talent-action-plan-2016-removing-the-barriers-to-success.

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01/01/2023
Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he supports the expansion of centres such as Travel for London’s planned cycling superhub to other parts of the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill

We support the development of cycle hubs that have all the facilities a cyclist needs in one place and are providing funding for a number of these hubs. We have already financed a number of these innovative hubs which have contributed towards the number of cycle parking spaces across England trebling since 2012.

We are monitoring with interest the development of the cycle superhub at Waterloo Station which will provide cycle parking on a much larger scale to ascertain the effectiveness of such a facility at other cities across England.

Cycling is a devolved responsibility for Scotland and Wales.

01/01/2023
Lord Naseby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Naseby on 2016-05-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will provide emergency funding from the international aid budget to help Sri Lankan citizens affected by the recent floods and landslides.

Baroness Verma

The UK provides substantial funding to international NGOs and UN agencies, enabling them to respond to disasters around the world, including Sri Lanka. This includes the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which was established by the UN and other leading donors to enable rapid emergency response. The CERF is doing an assessment of the situation following the rainfall and landslips in Sri Lanka. The UK, along with other leading donors, will provide support as required through this coordinated response mechanism.

The UK is the biggest contributor to the CERF, having provided in excess of $855m in the last 10 years. The UK also provides funding to the European Union humanitarian agency (ECHO) which is also undertaking an assessment.

01/01/2023
Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which Minister in his Department is responsible for NHS Property Services.

Mr Philip Dunne

NHS Property Services is a limited company 100% owned by the Secretary of State for Health, to whom it is accountable. Within the Department, Ministerial responsibility for NHS Property Services is delegated to my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Lord Prior).

01/01/2023

Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many level 3 apprenticeships have been available in her Department in each year since 2010; how many such apprenticeships were completed in full; and how many such apprentices subsequently progressed to level 4 or above.

Robert Halfon

The table below shows numbers of apprentices in the Department for Education in each financial year since 2009/10.

Financial Year	Number of Apprentices in DfE	Level
2009/2010	19	All Level 3
2010/2011	12	all Levels 2 and 3
2011/2012	0
2012/2013	32	all Levels 2 and 3
2013/2014	15	all Level 4
2014/2015	34	20 Level 4 14 Levels 2 and 3
2015/16	64	48 Level 4 16 Levels 2 and 3

The Level 4 apprentices were all from the Civil Service Fast-track apprenticeship scheme, which lasts at least two years. The Level 2 and Level 3 apprentices were recruited directly by the Department.

The Department does not hold information about progression between levels or numbers completing apprenticeships.

01/01/2023

Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government plans to take, other than by offering support to other countries in the region, to ensure that the UK meets its international obligations to refugees from the conflict in Syria.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK is at the forefront of the response to the Syrian crisis and has committed over £1.1 billion to date. This makes us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. We continue to play a leading role in encouraging the international community to contribute generously to the UN appeals. We are exploring with the UN and major donors how best to ensure that the momentum on fund-raising is maintained in the longer term, including in response to the upcoming 2016 Appeals.

The conflict raises significant protection concerns for civilians. We continue to call on all parties to the conflict to respect International Law and ensure free, unimpeded access for impartial humanitarian agencies to provide vital assistance to those in need.

01/01/2023
Lord Clark of Windermere – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clark of Windermere on 2015-11-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what restrictions there are on army officers being selected by a political party as a candidate for an elected post, such as police and crime commissioner.

Earl Howe

Members of the regular Armed Forces of the Crown are disqualified from membership of the House of Commons by the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 and from election to the European Parliament by the European Parliamentary Act 1978. Such personnel must therefore apply for permission to retire voluntarily or resign or be granted a free discharge from the Service before their formal adoption as a Parliamentary candidate or prospective candidate. Such personnel must complete their last day of service before their formal adoption as a candidate or prospective candidate.

No regular Service personnel or members of the Reserve Forces when serving on a full time Service commitment or additional duties commitment shall issue an address to electors or in any other manner publicly announce themselves or allow themselves to be publicly announced as a candidate or a prospective candidate for election to:

UK Parliament, European Parliament, Scottish Parliament or Parliament of the Irish Republic for any Parliamentary constituency;

the Northern Ireland Assembly or the National Assembly for Wales for any Assembly constituency;

any legislative assembly of the Commonwealth; or as a

Police and Crime Commissioner.

Any person to whom this applies and who desires to stand as a candidate or who seeks election as described above must make an application through normal Service channels to retire voluntarily or to resign or to be granted a free discharge. Such an application should be made as early as possible. Approval of an application will depend on the exigencies of the Service. On leaving the Service, an unsuccessful candidate will have no right to reinstatement. A candidate or prospective candidate must take all steps within his power to ensure that no public announcement of his candidature is made before he has retired, resigned or been discharged.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of flood defences in the Leeds city region.

Rory Stewart

Whenever an exceptional event happens it is important to review what happened and how to prepare for the future, and the Environment Agency will always do this after a flood incident.

The flood response in Yorkshire will be overseen by Transport Minister Robert Goodwill who has been appointed as Flooding Envoy to the county and will track progress on recovery and identify lessons learnt

Work has also already started on the National Resilience Review, which is considering forecasting and modelling, resilience of key infrastructure and the way we make decisions on flood expenditure. The Review is being delivered by a cross-Government team and will be published in the summer.

£40 million funding has been committed to repair flood defences in response to the flooding. Going forward, as part of our new flood defence programme, we have been working with Leeds City Council and we are investing £33 million in a project to better protect Leeds City Centre. Construction of the new defences is already underway.

01/01/2023