UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Whitaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    Baroness Whitaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Whitaker on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Chairman of Committees whether the House will provide further bicycle parking spaces, and if so, when.

    Lord Laming

    The House of Lords currently has 47 covered bicycle parking spaces in State Officers’ Court, 12 spaces in Chancellor’s Court and six spaces in Black Rod’s Garden. The House keeps opportunities to increase the number of spaces under review, and following completion of works on the Cast Iron Roofs and Chancellor’s Court, will consider again the provision of further bicycle parking spaces.

  • Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their priorities for the UN Open Ended Working Group on nuclear disarmament, taking place from 22 to 26 February, and what expertise the UK can offer on issues of non-proliferation.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK is not attending the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) on nuclear disarmament in Geneva. The UK, along with the four other Non-Proliferation Treaty Nuclear Weapons States, voted against the resolution establishing the OEWG at the UN General Assembly First Committee. The Government works with international partners and various organisations to ensure that UK experience and expertise helps to tackle the threat of weapons proliferation but believes that productive results can only be ensured through a consensus-based approach that takes into account the wider global security environment.

  • James Cartlidge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    James Cartlidge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made in setting out and implementing a national strategy for areas of outstanding natural beauty; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) partnerships and conservation boards, along with National Park Authorities, are a vital part of the fabric of the nation. Whilst there are no current plans to either set out or implement a specific national strategy for AONBs, I recognise that they make a significant contribution to realising Defra’s wider ambitions for the natural environment, and they are engaged in our ongoing development of a 25 Year Plan for the Environment.

  • David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Morris on 2016-04-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to introduce maternity pay for self-employed women; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government has continued to improve the support and flexibility of parental pay and leave, spending around £3 billion a year on maternity payments to support pregnant women and new mothers and to help them achieve a better balance between their work and home lives.

    Self-employed mothers can receive Maternity Allowance. The standard rate of Maternity Allowance is the same as the standard rate of Statutory Maternity Pay.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the NHS will distinguish between sexuality and gender identity in the collection of data for people accessing Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services.

    Alistair Burt

    The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies dataset does not currently make the distinction between sexuality and gender identity. The dataset has two fields that may be of relevance to this question:

    Sexual orientation, which is the current sexual orientation of a person and has the following valid codes:

    1

    Heterosexual

    2

    Homosexual Gay/Lesbian

    3

    Bi-sexual

    4

    Person asked and does not know or is not sure

    9

    Unknown

    Z

    Not stated (Person asked but declined to provide a response)

    Gender, which is the current gender of a person. Note that the classification is phenotypical rather than genotypical; i.e. it does not provide codes for medical or scientific purposes. It has the following valid codes:

    0

    Not known

    1

    Male

    2

    Female

    9

    Not specified
  • Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maggie Throup on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve the maintenance and safety of unadopted roads.

    Andrew Jones

    The maintenance and safety of unadopted roads or private streets are the responsibility of the land owner. The decision on whether or not local authorities adopt roads, and therefore maintain them at the public expense, rests with each individual local highway authority.

    To help improve the process around road adoption for new developments, my department has been working with housebuilders and local authorities on the production of an Advice Note. This was published for consultation in January 2016 and the final version should be published later this year.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 28 June 2016 to Question 40810, on NHS Protect, what the categories of offence were for each of the prosecutions listed.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Information on the date a prosecution commenced for each case from 2010-11 to 2015-16 and the category of offence from 2010-11 to 2012-13 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The date the investigation commenced for each case and the category of offence from 2013-14 onwards are shown in the attached table.

  • Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she has taken to ensure that the additional £40 million of aid her Department allocated in June 2015 to Yemen benefits its intended recipients.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    To ensure UK aid reaches its intended recipients, we work with trusted and impartial actors such as UN agencies and NGOs who have a strong track record of prioritising assistance to those most in need, and delivering and monitoring assistance in difficult and dangerous places. We operate a zero tolerance approach to fraud and corruption and have an independent monitoring programme to provide assurance on what we are delivering.

    Since the start of the crisis in Yemen, UK aid has assisted at least 700,000 people directly affected by the conflict including vulnerable host communities, internally displaced people and migrants. We have provided critical support for healthcare, malnutrition, water and sanitation, protection and shelter. We have also continued to strengthen and protect local capacity and community assets from further shocks by providing agricultural and other livelihoods assistance.

  • Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many operational frontline staff are employed at the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau; and how many of those employees were employed on (a) 1 May 2015 and (b) 1 November 2014.

    Mike Penning

    With regards to the number of call-handling staff employed by the Action Fraud helpline:

    • As of December 2015 there were69.78 FTEs

    • As of May 2015 there were 81.92 FTEs

    • As of November 2014 there were 84.67 FTEs

    With regards to the number of frontline staff employed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB): The NFIB is overseen by the City of London Police, it is not a public facing part of the Force, so does not employ any frontline staff.

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of how many new homes will be built on green belt land in England during 2016.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    We do not collate information centrally on the number of sites that are available for residential development. Local planning authorities are required to identify and update annually a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide five years worth of housing against their housing requirements. Whether those sites are in the Green Belt is again a matter for local planning authorities to consider in line with national planning policy, which makes clear that Green Belt boundaries should be altered only in exceptional circumstances.