Category: Speeches

Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-06-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to introduce measures for airspace modernisation.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The UK’s airspace modernisation plan is set out in the Future Airspace Strategy which was agreed in 2011. This long-term strategy is now being implemented by the aviation industry and overseen by the Future Airspace Strategy Deployment Steering Group which is jointly chaired by the Civil Aviation Authority and NATS.

January 1, 2023
Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-09-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of people in the UK who do not have access to superfast broadband.

Baroness Mobarik

We want everyone to have access to high speed broadband as part of our commitment to building a stronger, more connected economy that works for all.

Through the Government’s investment of over £780 million, superfast broadband is now available to 90% of homes and businesses in the UK, compared to less than half in 2010. By the end of 2017 it will be available to 95% of homes and businesses.

But we are determined to go further, and extra funding from clawback and efficiency savings in the local broadband contracts with BT will allow this coverage to be extended.

We are also committed to introducing a Universal Service Obligation for broadband through the Digital Economy Bill. Our ambition is to set the minimum speed at 10Mbps – enough to meet the needs of a typical family and many small businesses so no-one is left behind.

January 1, 2023
David Simpson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to encourage the sale of UK produce to new global markets.

George Eustice

In October 2013 we launched the ‘Food and Drink – International Action Plan’. This has resulted in over 4,000 companies receiving Government support and contributed to securing nearly £1bn of business for these companies. We have opened over 100 new markets for exports of animal and animal products to non-EU markets and created a faster, more efficient electronic health certification process. We are in the process of developing a new Exports Action Plan with the industry, which is due to be launched early next year.

Defra Ministers continue to champion our excellent food and drink overseas. I visited Anuga (the world’s largest food and drink trade show) earlier this year and the Secretary of State has recently been to China to further market access discussions and support the launch of the ‘Food is GREAT’ campaign there. Earlier this month she also set out our plans for Great British Food, which will celebrate the wonderful food and drink the UK has to offer.

January 1, 2023
Michael Tomlinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of green belt land in Mid Dorset and North Poole has been redesignated as community land trust in the last five years.

Brandon Lewis

The Department does not hold information centrally on the amount or type of land held by community land trusts.

The Department’s annual Green Belt statistics monitor the amount of land designated as Green Belt in England and any changes to the designated area since the previous year. The statistics record the change by local planning authority.

Of the local planning authorities for which information was requested, the following have made changes to the Green Belt in the last five years:

East Dorset reduced the area of designated Green Belt in 2014-15 by 160 hectares to 16,720 hectares, a reduction of 1 per cent; and

Purbeck increased the area of designated Green Belt in 2012-13 by 460 hectares to 8,200 hectares, an increase of 6 per cent.

January 1, 2023
Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-01-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 30 November 2015 (HL3832), what assessment they have made of Eurostat’s figures for comparative police numbers in EU countries; whether they accept that police numbers in England and Wales per head of population are at 64 percent of the average of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain; and whether they consider police numbers in England and Wales to be at an appropriate level.

Lord Bates

Comparisons of police numbers between different EU countries should be made with extreme caution. This is because different countries have different legal systems, police responsibilities vary considerably, and there are differences in definitions used.

Decisions on the size and composition of the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities. What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are. All forces need to look at the way frontline services are delivered to ensure that the quality of service provided is maintained or improved.

January 1, 2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents at height have taken place in each prison in each month since March 2014.

Andrew Selous

The vast majority of incidents are minor in nature and resolved quickly and professionally without injury, damage or disruption to the running of the prison. Each incident is investigated fully to ensure lessons are learnt and best practice in managing incidents is shared across NOMS.

Many incidents at height are relatively short in duration, lasting less than 15 minutes, and take place on netting or over railings. Hostage incidents are relatively rare and in many cases of hostage taking collusion between the perpetrator and victim is suspected. We do not tolerate violence or disorder in our prisons. Prisoners who take part in violent incidents can be referred to the police for prosecution or receive additional time on their sentences following internal adjudication.

The tables attached provide numbers of incidents at height and hostage incidents in each month between March 2014 and December 2015 and broken down by establishment.

Note: These figures have been drawn from the NOMS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last case the figures may not be accurate to that level.

January 1, 2023
Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers are able to access mental health services.

Alistair Burt

No estimate has been made of the proportion of refugees and asylum seekers who require mental health treatment as this data is not routinely collected.

Both refugees and asylum seekers are offered health assessments which include consideration of mental health issues, however we do not hold data on the outcome of these.

NHS England and clinical commissioning groups are committed to ensuring fair and equitable mental health care services for all, which includes all Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, including vulnerable migrants, in particular, refugees and those seeking asylum.

NHS England recently launched the Five Year Forward View Mental Health Task Force Report which clearly outlines action to be taken nationally, regionally, and locally to help improve mental health services for BME communities in England.

The full report is available via the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Mental-Health-Taskforce-FYFV-final.pdf

NHS England supported MIND to co-produce the Guidance for commissioners – ‘Commissioning mental health services for vulnerable adult migrants’ September 2015 launched February 2016. The Guidance aims to ensure National Health Service commissioners and providers provide timely and good quality mental health services for vulnerable migrants in particular refugees and those seeking asylum. The full report is available at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/gov/equality-hub/migrants/

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January 1, 2023
Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will undertake a review to establish the reasons for the Government underestimating the numbers of migrants from A2 countries when transitional controls on migration from those countries were relaxed and abolished on 1 January 2014; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

The European Commission has clearly said that the UK already meets the criteria for the implementation of the ‘emergency brake’ and the text of the agreement makes clear that, once the necessary legislation is in place, EU workers newly arriving in the UK will not have full access to our in-work benefits for up to four years.

The Home Office accepted the view of the independent Migration Advisory Committee that to produce such estimates "would not be sensible, or helpful to policymakers" and did not prepare specific forecasts of likely inflows from Romania and Bulgaria once restrictions expired on 1 January 2014. There are no plans to undertake a review of this decision.

January 1, 2023

Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of hotel bookings his Department made for its (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

The Department implemented the Crown Commercial Services solution for travel awarded to Redfern Ltd on 1 July 2012 with all information taken from that system. Hotel bookings prior to that date were facilitated via an alternative provider with the information requested not being readily available. Total spend on hotel bookings by financial year broken down by Ministers, special advisers and all officials is in the table below split by overseas and United Kingdom arrangements.

Table 1

REDFERN TRAVEL LTD	*July 2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015	2015-2016	Grand Total
Hotels Accommodation (Overseas) Total of which:	£19,771	£36,941	£86,181	£72,738	£215,631
Minister	£153	£223	£808		£1,184
Official	£19,618	£36,718	£85,306	£72,738	£214,380
Special Adviser			£67		£67

Hotels Accommodation (UK) Total of which:	£242,946	£369,386	£319,169	£272,203	£1,203,703
Minister	£118	£1,491	£747	£312	£2,667
Official	£242,828	£367,895	£318,337	£271,785	£1,200,845
Special Adviser			£85	£107	£192
Grand Total -UK and Overseas	£262,717	£406,326	£405,350	£344,941	£1,419,334

Expenditure information taken from the Department’s I-Expenses system, Table 2, contains hotel costs incurred by officials that was later reimbursed. There are no hotel transactions relating to Ministers or special advisers within the system however additional information on expenses for Ministers and special advisers may exist where claimed via the manual expense claim form (EXP1). Investigation of this source to identify costs associated with hotels would incur disproportionate costs.

Table 2
I-EXPENSES	This covers Accommodation UK and overseas for all staff. *No Ministers or Special Adviser costs

Sum of Amount
Financial Year	Expense Type	Total
2012-13	130 Hotels Accommodation (UK)	£15,861
	131 Hotels Accommodation (Overseas)	£14,128
2012-13 Total		£29,990
2013-14		£18,123
2014-15	130 Hotels Accommodation (UK)	£8,252
	131 Hotels Accommodation (Overseas)	£12,107
2014-15 Total		£20,358
2015-16	130 Hotels Accommodation (UK)	£4,933
	131 Hotels Accommodation (Overseas)	£6,918
2015-16 Total		£11,851
Grand Total		£80,322

January 1, 2023

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2016 to Question 40727, if his Department will increase the number of its employees based in Coventry in the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

Joseph Johnson

In the answer of 27 June 2016 to Question 40727 the reference to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in the answer was specifically to BIS HQ and not any of its agencies.

BIS has no plans to increase the number of HQ employees in Coventry, given the decision to move to a single HQ and policy centre based in London.

The Skills Funding Agency has a significant presence in Coventry and our estate plans include a further education funding centre whose final location is yet to be decided but will initially be in Coventry.

January 1, 2023