Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Helic – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Helic – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Helic on 2015-11-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the UN Security Council decisions on Women, Peace and Security, whether they have made representations to the UN that future peace conferences or peace negotiations on the situation in Syria should include a direct role for Syrian women’s groups.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The second meeting of the International Syria Support Group in Vienna on 14 November agreed an outline timetable for Syrian peace negotiations, leading to transitional governance, a new constitution and elections within eighteen months. The International Syria Support Group will now meet on a regular basis, in parallel with Syrian-led discussions facilitated by UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan De Mistura, to take forward this process.

    Ministers and senior officials have made regular representations to the UN Special Envoy and other UN officials to impress upon them the importance of the inclusion of Syrian women’s groups in the peace process. We continue to encourage the moderate Syrian opposition to be gender-inclusive and were pleased that a senior female activist accompanied the Syrian National Coalition President, Khaled Khoja, on his official visit to the UK earlier this month. Our programmes of support to grass roots peace-building initiatives and civil society groups inside Syria support this objective, and are designed to ensure that Syrian women’s voices are heard and that they are represented in political negotiations.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of whether there has been a reduction in the number of claims brought to the courts as a result of the provisions of the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015.

    Dominic Raab

    The Act only came into force on 13 April 2015. As is normal practice, a formal assessment of its impact may be carried out after three to five years.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the findings of his Department’s right to buy pilots; what recent estimate he has made of the total cost of providing discounts to tenants eligible for that scheme nationwide and the number of council homes which will need to be sold in the course of that scheme; and what recent assessment he has made of the ability of housing associations to provide a like-for-like replacement for homes sold in the area local to those homes.

    Brandon Lewis

    As set out in the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation, tenants of housing associations will be eligible for the equivalent discounts that are available under the Right to Buy (up to £77,900 and £103,900 within London). The Government has been clear that the sale of high value vacant council housing will pay for the cost of compensating housing associations for the discount, so the Right to Buy will be cost neutral. Ahead of full implementation, we have launched the Right to Buy pilot with 5 housing associations.

    Overall there will be an ongoing evaluation of the Right to Buy pilot with the pilot informing the design of the full scheme.

    We are engaging with local authorities and are in the process of updating data that will be used to help inform the high value threshold. Every home sold under the voluntary Right to Buy will result in a new additional home being built nationally.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the number of women who become war widows before 6 April 2005 and remarried between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015.

    Mark Lancaster

    Between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015, 195 war widow(er)s remarried regardless of when they became a war widow(er).

    After becoming a war widow prior to 6 April 2005, 135 women remarried between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015.

    In line with Defence Statistics’ Rounding Policy for War Pension Scheme data, figures have been rounded to the nearest five.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to introduce annual early-intervention top-ups for local authorities after the revenue support grant has been phased out.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    My rt. hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (George Osborne) announced that by the end of this Parliament, local government will retain 100% of its business rates. As part of this, existing central government grants to local government, such as Revenue Support Grant, will be phased out and councils will be given new responsibilities and greater powers to shape their local areas.

    We have lots of work to do over the coming months to work out the details on this new system, including how to manage the risk to local authorities of changes in their local tax income. We will, therefore, be consulting widely with colleagues and with local government on this as we move towards implementation.

  • 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 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many cases of alleged international humanitarian law violations by the Saudi coalition within the Yemen conflict presented to the UK and Saudi authorities by NGOs have been investigated by the Government.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK has encouraged Saudi Arabia to investigate allegations of breaches of International Humanitarian Law.

    The Saudi Arabian Government announced on 29 February that they are forming an independent committee to examine military activity in civilian areas in order to minimise possible civilian casualties; assess the Coalition’s rules of engagement; assess accidents, verification and targeting procedures and advise how they can be improved; and provide a clear, full and objective report for each investigation made including conclusions, lessons learnt and recommendations for future actions.

    We monitor the situation closely and we welcome any further information non-governmental organisations can provide to supplement the range of information we consider from a variety of sources.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish a draft Public Service Ombudsman Bill.

    John Penrose

    We remain committed to this reform and will publish draft legislation in due course.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what options his Department is considering for making access to an expanded range of cancer drugs available through the NHS after the end of the Cancer Drugs Fund.

    George Freeman

    The Government remains committed to the Cancer Drugs Fund which has so far helped over 84,000 patients in England access the cancer drugs they need. £340 million has been allocated to the Fund in 2016-17.

    NHS England has advised that it envisages, under the new arrangements that are being introduced for the Cancer Drugs Fund, that a greater number of cancer drugs will be funded from baseline commissioning. This will be as a consequence of more appropriate pricing arrangements proposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers and better evidence being available through the Fund as to longer term patient outcomes.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-09-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans for HM Revenue and Customs to deliver the services currently conducted by Concentrix under the tax credit error and fraud contract upon the end of that contract.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs is currently considering various options for service delivery, in line with contractual obligations and considerations under the agreement with Concentrix.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Blencathra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2015-11-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to take steps to ensure that all grants awarded by the tobacco policy team in the Department of Health are awarded on a competitive basis.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    All grants awarded to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in the last five years have been awarded under Section 64 powers. There are a range of different circumstances under which it would not be appropriate or represent best value for money to run a competed scheme. The grants awarded to ASH have been assessed as most appropriate for the non-competed route.

    The assessment of any grant application for funding from ASH is undertaken by members of the Tobacco Control policy team. Following this assessment, the Grants Hub makes a decision regarding whether or not to approve the application. These policy assessments contain policy advice to Ministers and so are not made public. Approvals are required from Ministers and from HM Treasury or are subject to a Departmental approval process that has been agreed with HM Treasury.

    To identify relevant representations the Department has received would result in disproportionate cost.