Category: Speeches

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether housing association tenants who part-buy their properties under shared ownership will be able to use Right To Buy to purchase either a share or all of that property.

    Brandon Lewis

    As is the case with the existing Right to Buy, the agreement with housing associations and the National Housing Federation to extend Right to Buy discounts to housing association tenants will not apply to those people who already own a share in their home, including those who purchased their home under shared ownership.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK officials are based in China; and how many were based in that country in (a) 2010, (b) 2005 and (c) 1997.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) publishes the number of UK FCO officials overseas in its Annual Report. In the financial year 2014/15 there were 114 UK FCO officials based in China and in the financial year 2010/11 there were 113 UK FCO officials based in China. Information prior to 2010 is not held in a way that enables us to accurately report the staffing position overseas.

  • Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which body will have the responsibility for conducting reviews of the funding caps on apprenticeship standards and frameworks.

    Nick Boles

    The Institute for Apprenticeships will advise on funding rates for all newly developed apprenticeships and, where appropriate, the funding rate for standards and assessment plans when they are reviewed.

  • Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have had discussions with local government organisations in Jammu and Kashmir about the unmarked graves in north Kashmir where civilians or combatants were buried between 2006 and 2009.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK has not had discussions with local government organisations about this issue.

  • Lord Vinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Lord Vinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Vinson on 2016-10-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider introducing the national interest test for mergers and acquisitions that was part of the brief of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission into the brief of the Competition and Markets Authority.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    As we build an economy that works for all, the Government will keep the law on mergers and acquisitions under review.

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the withdrawal of Government funding of free TV licenses from the over 75 on future availability of such free licences.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government is committed to protecting pensioner benefits for the entire period of this Parliament, and the agreement to transfer responsibility for over-75s TV licences to the BBC makes no change to that commitment. People who are over 75 will still receive a free TV licence under the terms of this.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the amount of funding will be for the Starter Homes Local Authority Funding Programme in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    We announced, as part of the outcome of the Spending Review in November, a £2.3 billion Starter Homes funding package to support the delivery of our manifesto commitment to build 200,000 Starter Homes by 2020. This is part of the £8 billion we are investing to deliver 400,000 new affordable housing starts. Further details about this funding will be announced shortly.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 21502, airstrikes in Syria, whether the robust process referred to includes an assessment of the number of civilian workers likely to be deployed in such installations and the potential number of casualties and other collateral damage from such airstrikes.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Yes. This is the most important part of the process.

    “

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the smallest geographical unit is for which data on the performance of the Disclosure and Barring Service is gathered for enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

    Karen Bradley

    The performance data that the Disclosure and Barring Service gathers routinely is at national level and is published here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-dataset-1-disclosure-progress-information-disclosed-and-update-service-subscriptions

    Also published on the website is the performance of individual police forces in processing applications referred to them by the DBS:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-dataset-5-police-disclosure-unit-performance

    The DBS works continually to improve its response to data requests. I will write separately to the Honourable Member about recent work on constituency data.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will produce a strategy on how the UK’s steel requirements will be met over the next (a) 12 months and (b) five years.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government’s believes that the best way to meet the UK’s steel needs over the next twelve months and five years is to ensure a viable future for the steel industry in Britain, as well as to work for fair and open global steel markets. To this end we have taken action on the five short-term asks of the steel industry, for example on unfairly-traded imports, energy costs, procurement, and emissions regulations.

    A new Steel Council will provide a forum for industry, unions and government to consider how to improve the competitive position of the UK steel sector in the longer term. We will continue to work actively with partners in this sector, local taskforces and the EU and International Community to support our steel industry.