Category: Speeches

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24281, how many maritime patrol aircraft from (a) the US, (b) Canada, (c) France and (d) Germany were temporarily deployed to RAF Lossiemouth in 2015.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The table below shows the total number of maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), from the US, Canada, France and Germany, temporarily deployed to RAF Lossiemouth at some point during 2015.

    Country

    Number of aircraft

    US

    11

    Canada

    3

    France

    5

    Germany

    2
  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, at what age it is her policy that schools should start providing pupils with careers advice.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The government wants to see improvements to the extent and quality of the careers advice, guidance and inspiration that young people receive throughout their education, helping them to be better prepared for the world of work and able to take advantage of the opportunities available to them.

    Getting the chance to meet a wide range of people doing different jobs is particularly important for those children from disadvantaged backgrounds who have few successful role models, either at home or in their local communities. Tackling gender stereotypes needs to be done from an early age.

    The duty to secure independent careers guidance applies to pupils in years 8-13, but the government recognises the importance of exposing pupils to the world of work form an early age. That is why the government welcomes programmes, such as Primary Futures, that help to broaden the aspirations of young people from an early age. Primary Futures is a national initiative, led by the Education and Employers Taskforce and the National Association of Head Teachers, which enables volunteers from a wide range of professions to visit primary schools to inspire pupils.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received about possible revision of the seafarer’s earnings deduction incentive.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Chancellor has not recently received any specific representations about possible revisions to the seafarer’s earnings deduction.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to increase the proportion of men going to university.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone with the potential has the opportunity to benefit from higher education, irrespective of their background or gender.

    In the last academic year we saw record numbers of applicants and entrants to higher education, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

    In our recent guidance to the Director of Fair Access, we asked him to include among his areas of focus support for white working class boys who are among the groups with the lowest participation rates. Universities expect to spend more than £745 million through access agreements agreed with the Director of Fair Access on measures to improve access and success for students from disadvantaged backgrounds – up significantly from £404 million in 2009.

  • 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 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of the academy trusts approved to receive the Northern Fund for academy sponsors in the second competition which concluded in February 2016 operated schools which had not been inspected by Ofsted since becoming an academy.

    Edward Timpson

    Nine academy trusts were approved to receive the Northern Fund from the two competitions. All nine trusts (five in the first competition, and four in the second) were operating one or more schools that had not been inspected by Ofsted since becoming an academy at the time decisions were taken to award funding. Equally, all nine trusts had one of more schools that had been inspected at the time decisions were taken to award funding.

    Academy trusts will, at any point in time, be likely to have a mixture of academies, some of which will have been inspected as academies and some not. That is the nature of the inspection arrangements, and is why we considered a broad set of factors, including the overall performance of the trusts, to assess whether the Northern Fund would enhance their capacity and capability to improve underperforming schools.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the current work priorities are of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.

    Ben Gummer

    The IPA was formed on 01 January 2016, merging the existing Cabinet Office Major Projects Authority and HM Treasury’s Infrastructure UK. The IPA reports jointly to HMT and the Cabinet Office – and brings together the strengths of both departments – increasing co-operation and alignment in the centre of government on infrastructure and major projects.

    The Authority’s 6 key priorities are;

    1. To set the right policy environment for projects to succeed
    2. To give the market confidence to deliver
    3. To ensue projects and programmes are set up for success from the outset
    4. To ensure projects and programmes deliver their intended benefits
    5. To promote the right operating environment for project delivery
    6. To developing world-class project delivery & project finance capabilities across government
  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the indebtedness of people aged 18 to 25.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The government is committed to ensuring that young people can access the support they need in order to make informed financial decisions and avoid problem debt.

    To ensure that young people leave school with an understanding of personal finance, financial literacy was made part of the secondary school National Curriculum in September 2014; and the mathematics curriculum has also been changed to include topics on financial decisions. This means that for the first time, young people now learn about the importance of budgeting, sound management of money, credit and debt, as well as understanding different financial services and products.

    The government set up the Money Advice Service (MAS) in 2010 to enhance consumers’ understanding and knowledge of financial matters. MAS provides a single point of debt advice for consumers, including people aged 18-25, and allows those facing problems with debt to obtain free and impartial money advice. MAS also recently launched their nationwide Financial Capability Strategy, which will specifically consider how the needs of young people should inform provision going forward.

    The government is currently consulting on how the provision of public financial guidance could be made more effective for consumers.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the rules and regulations are on the use, style and designation in the UK accorded to dual nationals or nationals of Commonwealth realms who are recipients of a knighthood in any of those realms; and if he will make a statement.

    James Duddridge

    The Sovereign’s permission must be sought whenever a British national wishes to accept an award offered by another country. If permission is given, the award may be accepted, the insignia may be worn and the relevant post-nominal letters may be used. The Sovereign does not give permission for the formal use of the title “Sir” in the United Kingdom; only those British nationals, including dual nationals, awarded British knighthoods may use the title “Sir” in a formal context in the United Kingdom. The Sovereign acts with the advice of the Government. Nationals of all the Realms, awarded a British knighthood, are entitled to use the title “Sir” in the United Kingdom. The titles of Realm nationals, who are not British, and have been awarded a knighthood by their own country, are recognised in the United Kingdom as an official courtesy.

  • Lord Crisp – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Crisp – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Crisp on 2016-01-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the importance of mental health research and its contribution to improved mental health nationally.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Mental health research is vital for better prevention of mental illness, development and evaluation of effective treatments, and to inform organisation and delivery of high quality care. Research funders are working together in this field to identify priorities and co-ordinate activity. In November 2015, the Department and Royal College of Psychiatrists held a joint meeting to identify key questions for mental health research. Following this meeting, funding organisations met on 6 January to discuss the strategic co-ordination of mental health research.

    In 2014/15, the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) spent £27.7 million on mental health through its research programmes – expenditure higher than in any other disease area including cancer (£19.8 million). In all, the NIHR spent a total of £72.6 million on mental health research in that year, including research infrastructure and fellowships.

    Total NIHR investment in mental health research infrastructure (including that provided through NIHR biomedical research centres and the NIHR Clinical Research Network) has nearly doubled from £23.8 million in 2009/10 to £41.8 million in 2014/15.

    The NIHR has launched a new, open competition for biomedical research centre funding from April 2017 to March 2022. In this competition, a number of clinical areas of particular strategic importance to the health of patients are highlighted including mental health.

    The NIHR Clinical Research Network supports delivery in the National Health Service of studies funded by the NIHR itself and by eligible partners including the United Kingdom Research Councils and medical research charities. To date in 2015/16, the network has recruited 23,778 participants in 273 studies where mental health is recorded as the main specialty. The network will continue to monitor the study pipeline for mental health.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of pupils who achieved five A* to C grades at GCSE in 2015 received no higher than a B grade in any subject.

    Nick Gibb

    Of those pupils[1] achieving five A* to C grades at GCSE[2] in 2015:

    • 4.5% received no higher than a C grade in any subject

    • 32.8% received no higher than a B grade in any subject

    [1] Based on pupils at the end of key stage 4 in the 2014/15 academic year

    [2] Based on those pupils entering single award GCSEs only