Category: Speeches

  • John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the contribution of wider access to efficient refrigerated transport to reducing (a) food waste in developing countries and (b) carbon dioxide emissions.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID is working to support partner countries to tackle poverty and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by building sustainable infrastructure, increasing their access to clean energy and reducing deforestation. DFID recognises the importance of investment in trade and transport logistics to improve efficiency and reduce delays, which have major impacts on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. These improvements will have downstream impacts on many trade related issues including reducing the amount of spoilt goods from transit delays. We are engaged in this area in a number of ways. For example, Trade Mark East Africa is helping to improve the major trade corridors in East Africa to reduce the time and expense of transporting goods. Furthermore, the investment by CDC group into Grindrod, a South African logistics company, is enabling it to expand its transport logistics investments across sub-Saharan Africa. CDC is the UK’s development finance organisation with DFID as its only shareholder.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department will launch its consultation on the universal service obligation on superfast broadband; and for how long that consultation will be open.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    We intend to launch our consultation on proposals to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation in early 2016. The duration of the consultation will be proportionate to the issues under consideration, as advised by the Cabinet Office guidelines, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/492132/20160111_Consultation_principles_final.pdf

    “

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make assistance available to local authorities for the costs of disposing of abandoned boats, vessels and other sea-faring equipment.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Statutory Harbour Authorities (some of which are Local Authorities) have powers to deal with wrecks and unservicable and abandoned vessels within their harbour limits.

    These powers are available under sections 52, 56 and 57 of the Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 (exercisable by the Harbour Master) and in section 252 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. The powers allow the removal of wrecks and unserviceable and abandoned vessels and recovery of the cost of doing so from the owner or through disposal of the vessel.

    Where there is no statutory harbour authority or conservancy authority in place to use the powers in the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, under s253 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 the General Lighthouse Authority may use the same powers set out in section 252 to deal with such vessels where, in the authority’s opinion the vessel is, or is likely to become, an obstruction or danger to navigation or to lifeboats engaged in lifeboat service.

    The receiver of wreck, who only deals with wrecked vessels and is a statutory appointment under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, has powers under section 243 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 to dispose of unclaimed wrecks one year after they come into the receiver’s possession. The Act sets out the dissemination of the proceeds of sale after disposal expenses.

    Statutory Harbour Authorities operate on a commercial basis without ongoing support from Government and the General Lighthouse Authority are fully funded from a tax on shipping, receiving no money from the UK exchequer. There are no plans for any other funding to be made available.

  • Lord Craig of Radley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Craig of Radley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Craig of Radley on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Army Air Corps personnel have been asked in the past 12 months to repay retention or other alleged overpayments; and in each case, who was responsible for the error.

    Earl Howe

    The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave on 23 March 2016 (Official Report, column 2379) to the noble Lord, the Lord Trefgarne.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chidgey on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to discuss with the European Commission the effect of the deadlines placed on the ratification of trade agreements with developing countries where such deadlines could undermine the normal functioning of parliamentary engagement of these ratification processes.

    Lord Price

    EU Regulation 1528/2007 of 20 December 2007 states that ratification of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific partners should take place “within a reasonable period of time.” UK officials are in regular contact with the European Commission about the EPAs and we do not expect Regulation 1528/2007 to undermine the normal functioning of parliamentary engagement in the ratification processes for these agreements.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 23 May 2016 to Question 37442, what the (a) budget and (b) spend was for the three Northern Fund competitions for academy sponsors.

    Edward Timpson

    The Chancellor announced the £10m Northern Fund budget, for 2015-16, in his 2014 Autumn Statement. A total of £9,457,033.00 was spent on the three Northern Fund competitions. These are broken down as follows:

    • Competition 1: £4,717,464.00

    • Competition 2: £2,189,229.00

    • Competition 3: £2,550,340.00

  • Caroline Flint – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Caroline Flint – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department has taken to reduce the incidence of self-harm in prisons.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Government is committed to reducing the incidence of self-harm in prisons. All prisons are required to have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harm to themselves. These include the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process, which is a prisoner-centred, flexible care planning system for prisoners identified as at risk of suicide or self-harm.

    An additional £10m of new funding, supplemented by £2.9m from existing budgets, was recently allocated to the 69 prisons with the most concerning levels of violence and self-harm. The Justice Secretary is clear that safety in prisons is fundamental to the proper functioning of our justice system and a vital part of our reform plans.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of staff employed by her Department are non-UK nationals.

    Caroline Dinenage

    All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

    Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

    More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. However, there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

  • Lord Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the current capacity and reliability constraints on the East Coast Main Line railway will be comprehensively addressed in Control Period 6.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Government intends to articulate in 2017 its emerging priorities for improvements to train services and the national rail network (including possible enhancements to the East Coast Main Line) from 2019.

    In Control Period 5 the Intercity Express Programme will provide the infrastructure to operate new trains from December 2018 which will reduce journey times and increase capacity. Schemes as part of the East Connectivity Fund will also be delivered to improve capacity and reduce journey times, the first of which is enhancements in the Doncaster area set to be complete by May 2017.

  • Jonathan Edwards – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Jonathan Edwards – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will publish the minutes of all the meetings held during the St David’s Day process.

    Stephen Crabb

    I held a large number of meetings as part of the St David’s Day process. These included meetings with the parliamentary representatives of the four main political parties in Wales to identify which Silk Commission recommendations had political consensus to be taken forward. It was agreed that discussions at these meetings would remain confidential, and the Government has no plans to publish minutes.