Category: Speeches

  • Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 24 March 2015 to Question 227804, if his Department plans to commission further research on (a) patterns of long-term prescription of dependency-forming medicines and (b) the scale of addiction to benzodiazepines, z drugs and other such medicines.

    George Freeman

    The Department has commissioned the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Public Health Research Consortium to conduct a study to explore patterns of prescribing for specific medicines that have a risk of dependence, using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. These include: benzodiazepines; z-drugs; opioid-containing prescription drugs for pain; and the GABA-ergic drugs, pregabalin and gabapentin.

    This study will not assess dependence on such medicines, because being in receipt of a prescription is not indicative of dependence. However, it will seek to explore the circumstances in which prescriptions of medicines with a risk of dependence are issued. A better understanding of prescribing patterns is an important step in helping clinicians identify patients at risk of dependence on the medicines they prescribe.

  • Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if HM Revenue and Customs will investigate enforcement of the minimum wage at Sports Direct.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government takes the enforcement of National Minimum Wage very seriously.Any worker who believes that they are being paid below the minimum wage should make a complaint to the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reviews every complaint that is referred to them by the Acas helpline. Additionally, HMRC collate and analyse data from various sources in order to identify those employers who are potentially more likely to be underpaying National Minimum Wage, so that they can undertake targeted enforcement against those employers.

    For reasons of confidentiality, HMRC do not divulge information relating to the affairs of an individual or company or confirm whether or not there is an ongoing enquiry.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of (a) white and (b) non-white people convicted of a crime were sentenced to immediate custody for each category of offence in each of the last five years.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The proportion of persons sentenced to immediate custody for indictable offences, can be calculated through table 5.20, part of chapter 5: defendants tables of the Race and the Criminal Justice System: 2014 which can be located at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/race-and-the-criminal-justice-system-2014

    “

  • Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the Accelerated Access Review will ensure that people with epilepsy will have access to drugs found by whole genome sequencing to be effective in treating the cause of their individual epilepsy.

    George Freeman

    The Accelerated Access Review, chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, will make recommendations to government on reforms to accelerate access for National Health Service patients to innovative medicines and medical technologies making our country the best place in the world to design, develop and deploy these products. The terms of the reference for the review focus on faster access to innovations, which may include drugs identified through whole genome sequencing as effective for the treatment of epilepsies affecting individual patients.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports his Department has received on alleged mistreatment and torture of British citizens in detention in the United Arab Emirates since 2011.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Consular Directorate is aware of 37 cases of British nationals who have made allegations of torture or mistreatment in detention in the United Arab Emirates since and including 2011. The FCO takes all allegations or concerns of torture and mistreatment seriously and takes action appropriate to the circumstances of each case, including raising these with the Emirati authorities where we have permission from the individual.

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will provide dedicated funding to HM Revenue and Customs for the investigation and tackling of tax evasion and avoidance through the use of offshore companies, in light of the leaked documents relating to the operations of Mossack Fonseca.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government has introduced tough new powers and game-changing measures to tackle offshore and onshore tax evasion, and as recently as the summer Budget 2015 gave HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) an additional £800 million to invest in expanding compliance and tax evasion work. This is expected to recover £7.2 billion in tax over the next five years.

    The Government is introducing a criminal sanction for corporates facilitating tax evasion, and launching a taskforce, jointly led by HMRC and the National Crime Agency (NCA). Drawing on investigators, compliance specialists and analysts from HMRC, NCA, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), its purpose will be to swiftly obtain and analyse the Mossack Fonseca papers and take rapid action where there is evidence of wrongdoing. The taskforce will look beyond tax into all potential areas of financial crime and other regulatory breaches.

    The taskforce will provide a progress report to the Chancellor and Home Secretary later this year. The report will set out the their initial assessment of the information in the Panama papers and proposed actions for further analysis and strategy for pursuing any evidence found of wrongdoing and regulatory breaches.

    Additional resourcing of £10m will ensure that the taskforce’s work can be done on top of departmental commitments. Where resource is moved into the task force, existing roles will be back filled as soon as possible.

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

    Lord Marlesford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Marlesford on 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the legal requirements for MOT testing are a devolved matter in Scotland; what assessment they have made of the requirement for new vehicles to be subject to MOT testing after the first three years of use; and which other EU countries follow the present UK practice.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The legal requirements for MOT are not a devolved matter in Scotland. Following the commitment made by the Chancellor in the July 2015 budget statement, the Department for Transport is currently developing a public consultation and impact assessment which will consider options for extending the frequency of the first test for some vehicles. The consultation will take into account the potential benefits to consumers, the government’s safety priorities, as well as the impact a change may have on MOT garage businesses. I anticipate that the consultation will be published in the summer. The other EU countries currently requiring a vehicle to have an initial roadworthiness inspection at 3 years, as per the current GB practice are; Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Bulgaria.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-07-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to establish a working group of voluntary organisations and officials to help the 20,000 Syrian refugees to settle successfully in the UK.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Refugee Resettlement Programme has established a strategic engagement group consisting of representatives from the programme, NGOs, the Syrian diaspora and service providers for resettled refugees. The group meets quarterly and has a number of objectives including providing targeted expertise that will help inform policy and operational delivery of the UK’s resettlement routes and promoting a better understanding of the factors that contribute to successful resettlement. The group is chaired jointly by the Resettlement Programme and the Refugee Council.

  • Jo Churchill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jo Churchill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Churchill on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what change there has been in passenger numbers on trains in Suffolk since 2010.

    Paul Maynard

    The number of journeys made by rail in Suffolk during 2014-15 has increased by 23% since 2009-10, in line with the strong growth nationally in rail journeys. The number of journeys since 2009-10 is shown below.

    Year

    Number of journeys in Suffolk

    Percentage change from the previous year

    2014-15

    6,121,321

    -0.1%

    2013-14

    6,129,781

    1.0%

    2012-13

    6,068,473

    6.7%

    2011-12

    5,688,434

    4.9%

    2010-11

    5,423,631

    9.1%

    2009-10

    4,971,597

    –

    Source: The Office of Rail and Road

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department’s proposed deadline is for closing the 1993 and 2003 Child Support Agency IT system.

    Caroline Nokes

    The closure of existing child maintenance cases on the 1993 and 2003 schemes is proceeding as planned. The timetable for the closure of the underlying 1993 and 2003 child support IT systems is currently under consideration.