Category: Speeches

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department has taken to support the Teesside Carbon Capture Storage Collective since the announcement of the reduction in government funds in that sector.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department of Energy and Climate Change continues to work closely with Teesside, including through providing funding to the Collective for further work on how Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), carbon usage, hydrogen production and other technologies could reduce carbon emissions from industrial processes.

    This support follows £1m previously awarded to Teesside as part of the 2013 Tees Valley City Deal, to undertake engineering and commercial studies into the scope for industrial CCS for the Tees Valley industrial cluster, and the October 2015 Tees Valley Devolution Deal, which committed DECC to work with Tees Valley to explore how it can continue to develop its industrial CCS proposals.

    Lord Heseltine’s recent report “Tees Valley: Opportunity Unlimited” welcomed the support that the Government is continuing to provide on industrial CCS in the Tees Valley area.

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations the Government has made to the government of Bahrain on reports of human rights abuses in that country.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are concerned by recent developments in Bahrain, and have responded robustly in public and private. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson) issued a statement on 17 July expressing concerns about the Bahraini High Administrative Court’s decision to dissolve the main Bahraini Shia opposition political society Al Wefaq. In addition, we have issued two further statements on 22 and 15 June expressing concerns about the nationality of Bahraini Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim being revoked, the suspension of Al Wefaq, the apparent prevention of human rights activists travelling to Geneva and the re-arrest of Nabeel Rajab. We regularly discuss human rights concerns and reform efforts with the Government of Bahrain, I did so during the biannual UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group meeting in Bahrain on 2 June.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on issuing visas for overseas academies to participate in research at UK institutions (a) during negotiations on the UK leaving the EU and (b) once the UK has exited the EU.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    There will be no immediate changes to the immigration status of foreign students or the way universities are able to recruit students. While the UK remains in the EU, European Economic Area and Swiss students will continue to have the same rights and status they had before the referendum. The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status of EU nationals already living and working in the UK, and the only circumstances in which that would not be possible is if British citizens’ rights in other EU Member States were not protected in return.

    The precise way in which the Government will control the movement of EU nationals, including students, to the UK after the UK has left the EU is yet to be determined and will be subject to the wider negotiations on the UK’s exit from the EU.

  • Heidi Alexander – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the total amount that will be spent on pay for junior doctors in 2015-16; and how many junior doctors will be employed in that year.

    Ben Gummer

    Data on the junior doctor paybill for 2015/2016 and those that will be employed over this financial year is not yet available.

    The latest data available relates to the financial year 2014/2015. For that year the substantive junior doctor paybill was £3.1 billion; and there were an average of around 53,000 full-time-equivalent junior doctors employed over the year.

  • Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what timetable he has set for tax credit claimants in Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency to migrate to universal credit.

    Priti Patel

    We are rolling out Universal Credit (UC) in a careful and controlled manner – an approach that was endorsed by the Major Projects Authority. UC is now available to single claimants, couples and families in Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency.

    Our plan is that existing benefit and tax credit claimants will be migrated to UC by 2020/21. Further details will be made available in due course.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

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

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to increase the affordability of homes in the Greater London area for people under the age of 30.

    Greg Hands

    The Government is committed to making the aspiration of home ownership a reality for as many households as possible. At the Spending Review the Government announced a series of measures which will help people under 30 in Greater London and elsewhere become homeowners.

    These include plans to deliver 200,000 Starter Homes to be sold at a 20% discount to first time buyers under 40 and 135,000 Help to Buy: Shared Ownership homes. Government also announced that it will introduce London Help to Buy, increasing the value of Help to Buy equity loans in London to 40% from 25%, as well as extending the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme for a further year to 2021. These schemes are also supported by the recently launched Help to Buy: ISA, through which the Government tops up mortgage deposit savings for first time buyers by up to £3,000.

  • Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of all (1) in-work, and (2) out-of-work, benefits paid in the UK as at March 2013 was received by recent EU migrants.

    Lord Freud

    I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Minister for Employment (Ms. Esther McVey) in the House of Commons on 20 November 2014 to Question number 211618 as below:

    While the Government checks the immigration status of benefit claimants to ensure the benefit is paid properly and to prevent fraud, traditionally that information has not been collected as part of the payment administrative systems.

    However, the Government is looking at ways to reform the current administrative system under Universal Credit so that it will systematically record nationality and immigration status of migrants who make a claim.

    The Government has made a radical series of changes over the last year to restrict the access by non-UK citizens from the European Economic Area to UK benefits and tax credits. This is in order to protect the UK’s benefit system and discourage people who have no established connection with the UK from moving here, unless they have a job or a genuine prospect of work, or have savings to support themselves until they do.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

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

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the rate of pay is for cleaners in 10 Downing Street.

    Matthew Hancock

    All staff and contractors based in Downing Street are paid at least the London Living Wage.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.205 of the Budget 2016, if he will publish the calculations referred to in footnote 143 on the potential costs to consumers of the rise in the standard rate of insurance premium tax.

    Harriett Baldwin

    We do not usually publish such calculations.

  • Lord Radice – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Radice – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Radice on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what contribution the Royal Navy has made to Operation Atalanta, and what contribution it is expected to make in the future.

    Earl Howe

    The United Kingdom fulfils its enduring commitment through the provision of the two-star Operation Commander (Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces and Commander United Kingdom Amphibious Forces in rotation). The UK also contributes Operation Headquarters facilities (OHQ) at Northwood and on average 60 members of OHQ staff, approximately 40% of the total OHQ.

    The Royal Navy (RN) will continue to contribute to Operation Atalanta. In addition the RN maintains a constant presence in the Gulf region. Anti-piracy and anti-terrorism measures are among a number of concurrent tasks carried out by the RN and supporting assets.