Category: Speeches

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 24142, how many former CSA clients whose liability ended as part of the Department’s CSA case closure process arrears have been sent a notice setting out the validated child maintenance arrears balance on their former CSA case in each month since 1 April 2015.

Priti Patel

The table below shows the number of Arrears letters sent to the Parents with Care (PWC) as part of the case closure process.

Month	Apr-2015	May-2015	Jun-2015	Jul-2015	Aug-2015	Sep-2015	Oct-2015	Nov-2015	Dec-2015
Number of Arrears Letters sent to PWC	6,580	15,930	7,530	7,330	16,220	17,370	19,330	19,380	13,010

Notes

Figures rounded to the nearest 10

01/01/2023

Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-03-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 7 March (HL6225) and 8 March (HL6323), and the letter from the Chief Executive of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to both Lord Alton of Liverpool and the Department of Health on 7 March, whether there are any principled reasons why copies of the patient information and consent forms submitted to the HFEA by the person responsible in order to perform genome editing in human embryos by means of CRISPR-Cas9 have not yet been made publicly available; if so, what those reasons are; and if not, when they will place those documents in the Library of the House.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it is has no objections to these documents being placed in the Library. While licence applications and associated documents are not routinely placed in the public domain, inspection reports relating to licence renewal applications and the minutes of the licensing Committee’s decision, which contain lay summaries, are published on the HFEA’s website.

Licence applications may contain third party personal information. On this occasion, a copy of the research licence application and associated documents is attached with third party personal information redacted.

01/01/2023
Michael Fabricant – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Fabricant on 2016-04-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) cost of labour and (b) other expenses incurred by his Department was in producing its analysis of costs if the UK were to leave the EU; and how many man hours were required to produce that analysis.

Mr David Gauke

The British people are asking for the facts before they decide whether to vote Remain or Leave in the EU referendum. The Treasury’s analysis shows that if the UK leaves the EU, the UK would be permanently poorer and it estimates an annual loss of 6.2% of GDP after 15 years, which is equivalent to £4,300 per UK household.

The Treasury is appropriately resourced to support the Government’s priorities in Europe. However, it is not practical to identify full-time equivalent staff numbers.

01/01/2023
Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest number of suspended sentences is that one person has received before receiving a prison sentence in a (a) magistrates court and (b) Crown court.

Dominic Raab

Where the court imposes a custodial sentence of two years or less it may suspend the sentence, for up to two years, and also impose one or more community requirements. This is a decision for the independent judiciary. If the offender breaches a suspended sentence order, there is a statutory presumption that the custodial sentence will be given effect, unless it would be unjust to do so in view of all of the circumstances.

Repeat offenders can expect to go straight to prison if they commit a serious offence. Offenders serving suspended custodial sentences, however, have a lower re-offending rate than offenders serving immediate, short custodial sentences.

The highest number of suspended sentences received by one person who has not also received an immediate custodial sentence, as recorded on the Police National Computer (PNC) up to 31 December 2015, and the latest sentencing occasion being (a) in a magistrate’s court was 10 and (b) in the Crown Court was 6.

The highest number of suspended sentences received by one person, as recorded on the PNC up to December 2015, before receiving an immediate custodial sentence in; (a) a magistrate’s court was 9 and (b) the Crown Court was 8.

01/01/2023
Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential benefit to the UK economy of NHS investment in continuous glucose monitors for adults and children with Type 1 Diabetes.

Nicola Blackwood

No estimate has been made of the annual cost to people with Type 1 diabetes who self-fund a continuous glucose monitor.

In August 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence provided updated guidelines for both Type 1 diabetes and for children and young people with diabetes. In both, the cost effectiveness, as well as the clinical effectiveness, of continuous glucose monitoring was assessed. Both sets of guidelines outline specific clinical situations where the clinical and cost effectiveness justify consideration of the use of the technology.

01/01/2023
Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to ensure that standards of animal (a) welfare and (b) traceability are maintained when the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice

Animal welfare and traceability are a priority for this Government and and we have a manifesto commitment to include measures to improve animal welfare in future agriculture policy. We are currently considering the impacts of the decision to leave the EU, including for existing legislation and how appropriate standards are best delivered in the future.

01/01/2023
John Mc Nally – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mc Nally on 2015-11-06.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will visit the HM Revenue and Customs workforce in Cumbernauld to discuss their long-term employment at the tax centre there.

Mr David Gauke

There are no current plans for ministers to visit the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office in Cumbernauld. HMRC continues to engage its workforce on its transformation through a series of staff events. Further details of these plans were announced on 12 November.

01/01/2023
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to establish an independent external assessment of the reasons for the failure of the contract for older people’s services in Cambridge and Peterborough; and what plans they have for a moratorium on further large-scale procurements until lessons from that contract have been learnt.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England advises that it will be commissioning an investigation into the circumstances leading up to the termination of the contract between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group and UnitingCare Partnership LLP to deliver urgent care for the over 65s and adult community services. This will include the role of the Strategic Projects Team. NHS England is also considering how similar contracts will be managed and assured in the future.

01/01/2023
Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the trends in the level of farm borrowing.

George Eustice

Total UK farm borrowing in 2014 stood at £16.6 billion. Over the last 10 years borrowing has increased by nearly 70%, or by 34% in real terms (allowing for the impact of inflation).

However, the total value of UK farm assets has more than doubled in real terms over the last 10 years, largely due to the increased value of land. This has led to a significant increase in the net worth of the sector despite the rise in borrowing.

More details on the borrowing, value of assets and net worth of the sector can be found in the aggregate balance sheet for agriculture on the statistics (total farm incomes) page of the GOV.UK website.

01/01/2023
Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which national and local authorities have the powers to allow structures and equipment to be erected on or adjacent to highways in order to allow driverless vehicles to use those highways; which authorities would be responsible for giving technical accreditation and approval to such erections; whether a person responsible for the operation of a driverless vehicle requires a driving licence or some other kind of authorisation; and whether a person when operating a driverless vehicle is required to be present in that vehicle while it is moving or otherwise in operation on a highway.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Any structure off the highways would need local planning permission. For structures on the highways, local planning authorities have a power to stop the erection of structures within the permitted development rights of all highway authorities where they think there would be an environmental impact. This includes visual as well as other impacts.

The local Highway authority is responsible for technical approval of structures‎ within the highway boundary. In the case of the Strategic Road Network the agency would be Highways England and design would be in line with the requirements of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB).

In February 2015 the Government published “The Pathway to Driverless Cars”: a detailed review of the regulation around the use of driverless cars on UK roads. It established that it is possible for a driverless vehicle to be tested on UK roads provided that, among other conditions, a suitably qualified test driver or test operator would be in a position to take control of the vehicle if necessary. A test operator is someone who oversees testing of an automated vehicle without necessarily being seated in the vehicle, since some automated vehicles might not have conventional manual controls and/or a driver’s seat.

The Government is currently working to establish what changes to the domestic and international regulatory system will be necessary to safely enable the sale and use of driverless vehicle technology on UK roads.

01/01/2023