Category: Speeches

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to participants in the Syrian peace process to encourage them to consider a statement urging an end to the use of long-term siege of civilian populations in Madaya and other such settlements.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK has consistently condemned any illegal use of siege tactics and called on all parties to the conflict in Syria to allow the safe, unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid and to respect all relevant provisions of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), as set out in numerous UN Security Council Resolutions.

    The UK played a key role in the passage of UNSCR 2254 of 18 December 2015, which specifically calls on the parties to allow rapid, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to besieged and hard to reach places.

    It is deplorable that the regime, which is responsible for most of the sieges, has only approved 10% of UN requests over the past year to deliver aid to besieged and hard to reach areas. The regime’s allies, including Russia, must do much more to ensure the regime complies with its obligations. We continue to make this clear in our diplomatic engagements on Syria.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice of 26 January 2016, Official Report, column 129, how many staff in his Department were given an end-of-year appraisal rating of outstanding in each year since 2010.

    Dominic Raab

    The new Ministry of Justice (MoJ) appraisal system incorporates a guided distribution which sets the parameters for the number of Outstanding, performance markings. MoJ adopted a staggered approach to implementing the new cross government performance management system. Launch dates were as follows:

    • MoJ HQ, agencies Arms Length Bodies (excluding National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and National Probation Service (NPS)) – April 2013
    • NOMS – April 2014
    • NPS – June 2014

    Please note that the term Outstanding was not used across all MoJ business groups prior to the introduction of the new system.

    2010-2011

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    Top Performance Management Review Markings Total

    11587

    10892

    9100

    9252

    7580
  • 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 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his policy is on replacement of Vector protected patrol vehicles.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Vector was finally removed from service in 2015 and is currently awaiting disposal. Protected mobility capability is currently provided by a range of vehicles from the existing core fleet, including former Urgent Operational Requirement platforms retained in service following their return from Afghanistan. In the longer term, the Multi Role Vehicle (Protected) series of platforms will provide a light to medium protected vehicle capability.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department has given to Southampton City Council on the level of funding that will be available for discretionary housing payment in future years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Local authorities, including Southampton City Council, were informed of their Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) funding allocation for this financial year on 4 February 2016.

    Southampton City Council have been allocated DHP funding of £624,817 for 2016/17, a 35% increase from their 2015/16 allocation and local authorities are able to top up Central Government funding by a maximum of two and a half times this figure using their own funds

    This package of Discretionary Housing Payment funding (£870 million over 5 years) will enable Local Authorities to provide support to the most vulnerable claimants.

  • Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the budget is for food produced for her Department’s offices at Smith Square, London; and what proportion of food produced for her Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.

    George Eustice

    Defra does not set a budget for food served in the canteen at its Smith Square offices (Nobel House). Catering services are provided by a private company under contract to Defra which leases facilities in Nobel House and provides food to staff without subsidy. Spending on food is determined by the contractor based on sales receipts from Defra staff.

    Defra has worked with its current supplier to align the existing contract with the requirements of the balanced scorecard.

    The amount of food sourced from British producers for Nobel House was 56% (Jan-Mar 2016). This figure includes non-indigenous products; including drinks such as tea and coffee. It marks, overall, an improvement of 4% over the previous quarter. Furthermore, all meat, milk and yoghurt served in Nobel House is produced in the UK.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many civil servants in her Department are paid through limited companies.

    Sir Desmond Swayne

    DFID does not pay any civil servants through limited companies.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish a list of all secondees to his Department from (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years; and what the role was of each of those secondees.

    Caroline Nokes

    The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Julie Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Julie Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to promote the welfare of members of the armed forces.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Armed Forces Covenant ensures that those who serve and have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, are treated fairly. In June 2013 the Chancellor announced that the financial commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant would be made permanent through a £10 million fund per annum in perpetuity from 2015-16.

    The Annual Report on the Armed Forces Covenant from December 2015 detailed a number of achievements of which this Government can be proud, including allocating £40 million for accommodation projects for veterans; the £200 million Forces Help to Buy Scheme; and a world class centre for excellence for the training and delivery of Defence Medical Services.

    In 2016 to date under the large grants scheme we have awarded a total of almost £7.5 million to 24 projects supporting community integration, criminal justice system initiatives and the co-ordination and delivery of support. Under the small grants scheme we have awarded a total of almost £2.4 million to 150 community integration projects. Depending on the quality of the bids, we hope to be able to announce the preferred bidder for the Veterans Gateway Service in November, as well as further tranches of Covenant Grant funding.

    In January 2016, the Department published the first ever Armed Forces Families Strategy, embracing seven key themes – partner employment, accommodation, children’s education and childcare, community support, specialist support, health and wellbeing, and transition. This is now routine business supporting our families.

    We have reviewed our casualty and compassionate processes, and this autumn we are introducing a new reserves welfare health-check. In the last year Defence has enabled payroll deductions for Service personnel to take advantage of the savings and cheap loan facilities from selected credit unions. This facility was extended to veterans in receipt of a pension in March 2016.

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

    Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will introduce a bill to reform the regulation of healthcare professionals; and if he will make a statement.

    Ben Gummer

    This Government is grateful for the work of the Law Commissions of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in reviewing the regulation of health and (in England) social care professionals.

    The Law Commissions made 125 recommendations to reform the existing complex and burdensome regulatory system. The joint four UK country response to the Law Commissions was published on 29 January 2015 which accepted wholly or in part the vast majority of its recommendations.

    The Department is currently reviewing how best to take forward the work of the Law Commissions. We hope to be able to provide an update on this work soon.

  • Huw Irranca-Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Huw Irranca-Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to reduce (a) carbon emissions and (b) air pollution from maritime transport and air transport.

    Andrew Jones

    Given the international nature of the maritime and aviation sectors, the UK works primarily through UN’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and International Maritime Organization (IMO) to ensure strong action on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at a global level is taken.

    We are working with other states in ICAO to agree a global CO2 standard for aircraft and a global market-based measure to tackle aviation emissions growth, both of which will be subject to important decisions in 2016. We also continue to support the use of regional emissions measures, such as the Aviation EU Emissions Trading Scheme in the absence of a global measure. On air pollution from aviation, we are also working in ICAO to reduce particulate matter emissions, following the organisation’s introduction of a standard to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.

    With maritime emissions, the UK is working in the IMO towards developing global data collection systems on ships’ CO2 energy efficiency. Moreover, following the introduction of a new 0.1 per cent sulphur limit on 1 January 2015, there has been a significant reduction in sulphur pollutants emitted by ships operating in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea emission control areas.