Category: Speeches

  • Lord Harrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Harrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultation or correspondence they had with companies offering employee share ownership schemes before announcing the withdrawal of HM Revenue and Custom’s valuation check service.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been consulting representative bodies through the Valuation Fiscal Forum over the last 18 months.

    HMRC has not withdrawn valuation services that are most relevant to employee share ownership schemes.

    These include:

    • Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI),

    • Company Share Option Plans (CSOP),

    • Save As You Earn share option schemes (SAYE),

    • Share Incentive Plans (SIP) and

    • Employee Shareholder Status (ESS).

      HMRC has, however, announced a review of the valuation services for those schemes and is consulting interested parties.

      HMRC has withdrawn valuation checks for income tax and PAYE that are not part of these recognised employee ownership schemes. Most people submitted acceptable valuations and therefore the valuation service offered was not seen as needed.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to address the high cost of fertilisers for farmers.

    George Eustice

    The trade in fertilisers is part of a global market and prices are determined by the market place. Defra monitors farmer input costs, which include fertilisers, and farmers have access to advice on the efficient use of these products under the industry-led Greenhouse Gas Action Plan.

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

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons GP practice lists have been closed in East Grinstead; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England has advised that the Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is using the predicted population data from the developing estates strategy to model health services to meet the increased demand. NHS England further advises that it is working closely with the CCG to develop an action plan for local primary care services in East Grinstead.

    NHS England is responsible for commissioning of primary care in Mid Sussex. NHS England advises that only one general practitioner practice in Grinstead has closed its list to new patients and two others have applied to close their lists but are still currently being allocated patients by NHS England.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-07-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will encourage technology companies to sign up to the Women in Finance Charter.

    Simon Kirby

    The government launched the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter to take forward Jayne-Anne Gadhia’s recommendations following her review into the representation of senior women in financial services.

    Firms that have signed the Charter are committed to implementing four key industry actions to improve gender diversity in financial services. On 11 July the government announced that 72 firms have signed the Charter, including a number of financial technology (fintech) firms. Together these firms employ over 530,000 people in the UK, with headquarters across the UK, USA, Europe and Asia.

    Harnessing the talents of women in financial services is one of the government’s key priorities and we are committed to ensuring that as many financial services firms as possible, including fintechs, sign the Women in Finance Charter.

  • Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gill Furniss on 2016-10-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will review the UK’s support for the Saudi-led coalition forces operating in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK supports the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition military intervention, which came at the request of legitimate President Hadi, to deter aggression by the Houthis, and allow for the return of the legitimate Yemeni Government.

    As set out in UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions 2216, the UNSC continues to support President Hadi as the legitimate authority in Yemen.

  • Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many clinical commissioning groups implement in full the Infertility Network UK recommendations on access to IVF treatment.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department funded Infertility Network UK (INUK) to develop advice to NHS Commissioners on standardising eligibility criteria for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment. The Department has consistently encouraged NHS Commissioners to have regard to this advice. The INUK advice is listed as a resource for clinical commissioning groups (CCG) in the NHS England “Commissioning Fertility Services Factsheet”.

    National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines recommend that eligible couples should receive three full cycles of IVF treatment. The Government has made clear that blanket restrictions on treatment are unacceptable and all decisions on treatment should be made by doctors based on a patient’s individual clinical needs and in line with NICE Guidelines.

    While we have not made an assessment of access to IVF treatment, we are aware of the annual survey by Fertility Fairness. I have written to stakeholders, including Fertility Fairness, and invited them to discuss what could be done to improve the provision of IVF services along with representatives of NHS England and Monitor.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate how many new EU regulations and directives have been implemented in the UK in 2015 which affect British manufacturing industries.

    Anna Soubry

    All regulations implementing EU legislation that were introduced in 2015 and their associated impacts can be found on legislation.gov.uk.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much UK aid has been provided to (a) Bougainville and (b) Papua New Guinea in each of the last three years.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    UK official development assistance to Papua New Guinea in calendar years 2012, 2013 and 2014 (the most recent years for which full data is available) was £1.3 million, £1million and £1.1 million respectively. Disaggregated data for funding specifically to Bougainville is not available.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to facilitate the development of an improved labelling code in the UK.

    George Eustice

    The Food Information Regulations (No. 1855) were introduced in 2014 and has resulted in better and more consistent labelling of food in a number of areas, including allergen labelling, ingredients labelling and, from the end of this year, nutrition labelling.

    Origin labelling is also improved by these Regulations with new rules on origin labelling of meat of poultry, sheep, goat and pigs introduced in April last year. In addition, we look forward to prospective implementing acts on origin labelling of ingredients of foods, including meat and dairy, where this is different from the place that the food itself was made. The Government is fully engaged in these discussions and expects them to result in improved labelling of meat and dairy products in due course.

    We have been pressing for mandatory origin labelling on dairy products, in particular lightly processed dairy products such as butter, cheese and cream but have met with some resistance from the European Commission. We will continue to press for these improvements.

    .

  • 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 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 17 March (HL6801), what plans they have to introduce locally managed and self-financing schemes to deal with air pollution and the provision of urban bus services.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    We do not have specific schemes focused on self-financing urban bus services and air quality. However the Government is investing significant funding to help local authorities improve air quality and reduce emissions of harmful pollutants. This includes provision to bus fleets.

    The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published an air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide in December 2015 setting out a comprehensive approach to meeting our ambition for the UK to have some of the cleanest air in the world, including by implementing a new programme of Clean Air Zones. Under the Plan, by 2020 the most polluting vehicles, including older polluting buses, will be discouraged from entering the centres of Birmingham, Leeds, Southampton, Nottingham and Derby. DEFRA has allocated funding to help these five cities implement Clean Air Zones. Additionally cities including Oxford, Norwich and Brighton have already taken steps to introduce zones to ensure the operation of cleaner buses in their areas.