Category: Speeches

  • Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will extend the deadline for submissions on his Department’s Consultation on aids and appliances and the daily living component of personal independence payment.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department’s consultation on aids and appliances and the daily living component of PIP began on 10 December 2015 and is scheduled to run until 29 January 2015, a period of 7 weeks and one day.

    The time period for the consultation was decided in line with the Government’s consultation principles guidance. This advises that consultations should typically run for between 2 and 12 weeks, but that “the timing and length of a consultation should be decided on a case-by-case basis”.

    As we are consulting on the specific and discrete issue of how aids and appliances are accounted for when determining eligibility to the daily living component, we feel 6 weeks is an appropriate length. The last PIP consultation, on the Moving Around activity, also lasted for 6 weeks. As the consultation is running over the Christmas period this was extended by 8 days.

    The Department therefore believes that the existing consultation deadline allows reasonable time in which to respond.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) security situation in Afghanistan, (b) extent of the Deash presence in Afghanistan and (c) nature of the relationship between Daesh and the Taliban.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) continue to provide security in the vast majority of the country, but in some parts of Afghanistan the situation is fluid as Taliban forces seek to put ANDSF under pressure. NATO and US continue to train, advise and assist the ANDSF. We assess that the Daesh affiliate in Afghanistan and Pakistan aims to expand its presence in Nangarhar Province in the east of Afghanistan. They are subject to military action by Afghan and US forces and they also face resistance from the Taliban with whom they are competing for influence.

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

    Caroline Flint – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of his Department’s invoices for goods and services supplied by (a) private companies and (b) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are completed on time; and what proportion of the (i) number and (ii) value of contracts between his Department and private companies are held by SMEs.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) aims to pay 80% of its invoices within five working days and payment performance is published on gov.uk at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence/about/procurement#ministry-of-defence-payment-performance. This shows that during the first three quarters of 2015-16, the MOD paid around 97% of its invoices within five days and 99.9% within 30 days. A comprehensive breakdown of the proportion of invoice payments made to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to private companies is not held.

    Information on MOD contracting with SMEs is also published online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-industry-trade-and-contracts-2015. This shows that in 2014-15, the MOD placed around 440 new contracts directly with SMEs, with a collective value of around £320 million.

  • 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 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on what date his Department plans to host a round table on ad blocking; who he plans to invite to that event; and what outcomes he expects from that event.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    There are currently plans to host a roundtable with representatives from all sides of the argument to discuss ad blocking in the coming weeks. Once we have heard their views, we will consider what role there is for Government.

  • Liz McInnes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Liz McInnes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government takes to provide drug harm reduction information for young people and parents.

    Jane Ellison

    FRANK provides impartial, reliable and confidential information and advice about drug use. Public Health England (PHE) updates FRANK to reflect new and emerging patterns of drug use and is currently considering how best to enhance the service to remain in line with young people’s media habits and strengthen situational advice to reduce risks to young people.

    Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol education prevention and treatment services to young people and parents. PHE supports local authorities in this work by providing a range of supportive guidance and materials, as well as bespoke data, value for money tools, topical briefings, and advice on good practice.

    PHE is supporting a range of prevention and information programmes for young people and parents, including jointly funding Mentor UK’s Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service which is a web-based platform for sharing information and resources aimed at schools and practitioners working in drug and alcohol prevention.

    PHE also provides Rise Above, an online social marketing programme that aims to reduce the uptake of risky behaviours, including drug taking, by young people aged 11-16. It aims to give them the skills required to make better decisions in ‘risky’ situations to delay and prevent them from engaging in exploratory behaviours.

  • 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 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the savings to his Department’s budget arising from the Government’s decision not to automatically roll-out broadband to all households and businesses.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government’s plans to implement a broadband Universal Service Obligation will have no impact on the Department’s budget for the roll out of superfast broadband. The contracts we have put in place with Openreach mean that the more homes and businesses that sign up for superfast broadband, the more money Openreach has to return to local authorities to extend the roll out even further. So far, Openreach has confirmed more than £200 million of savings that can be reinvested, over and above the £1.7bn of public funding already allocated, and we expect more funding to be confirmed in due course. We will be reinvesting that funding to extend superfast broadband to as many additional rural homes and businesses as possible.

  • Chloe Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Chloe Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chloe Smith on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the performance of (a) the National Probation Service and (b) community rehabilitation companies in placing ex-offenders into employment in (i) Norfolk and (ii) England.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    We assess the performance of the National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) through a range of service levels and, for CRCs, through a robust contract management and assurance process. Performance information against these service levels is published quarterly but it does not include an assessment of performance in placing offenders into employment. We have, however, introduced enhanced measures of resettlement which include the recording of employment at the start and end of the sentence and at the end of the licence supervision period for any offender. We aim to include this in future publications, for both CRCs and the National Probation Service, once data collection has bedded in.

    We closely monitor and robustly manage providers to make sure they fulfil their commitments to maintain service delivery, reduce reoffending, protect the public and provide value for money to the taxpayer.

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

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45695, on railways: fares, for what reason his Department uses the Retail Price Index as an index for inflation; and if he will consider using a different index for inflation.

    Paul Maynard

    The use of the Retail Price Index (RPI) is consistent with the general indexation approach adopted across the rail industry. The Office of Rail and Road uses RPI as the index for Network Rail’s revenues e.g. Track Access Charges. RPI is used widely across Government, including for index linked bonds, vehicle exercise duty, alcohol and tobacco duties, air passenger duty and climate change levies.

    It is worth noting that the July 2016 figures for RPI (published on 14 September 2016) and average weekly earnings growth stood at 1.9% and 2.3%, respectively. Each July’s RPI figure is used to set regulated rail fares from January 2nd the following year. On this basis average earnings continue to remain ahead of allowable regulated rail fares increases.

  • Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the age-standardised mortality rate of people declared fit for work by his Department since December 2011.

    Priti Patel

    The information as requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the clinical and ethical justifications for setting the benchmark in the NHS Supply Chain generic project plans for a national formulary for wound care that 80 per cent of patients will be treated using clinically appropriate dressings.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The wide variety of choice in the current system is leading to duplication of wound care products. This can create more complexity for nurses and clinicians, making their clinical decisions more difficult and potentially leading to over specification and variation in standards of care. Of the 4,796 wound care products available through the NHS Supply Chain, 34% of lines have had no sales in the last 12 months.

    Providing an agreed set of National Health Service requirements for wound care products will start to reduce this duplication, complexity and therefore potential risk, helping to improve patient outcomes through less variation in care.

    This issue was also highlighted by 74% of respondents to a Royal College of Nursing survey run by Nursing Times (Dec 2014) seeing opportunities to reduce duplication on wound care products, (more than any other type of product).

    The project is part of a wider piece of work the Department is working with the NHS Supply Chain on to deliver £300 million of savings by October 2018. Central to this is reducing the number of specifications and variations by category so the NHS can leverage its scale and deliver clinically appropriate solutions that represent ‘value for money’. Such approaches are common in other countries and help drive savings, improve clinical standards and protect front line nursing.