Category: Speeches

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-06-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current state of bilateral relations with Iran a year after the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in Vienna on 14 July 2015.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was agreed in July 2015 which, along with the subsequent lifting of international sanctions, represents a new era in Iran’s relationship with the wider world. Since my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) reopened our Embassy in August 2015, significant progress has been made in developing the bilateral relationship between the UK and Iran. We welcomed Foreign Minister Zarif to London on 4 February 2016, in what was the first bilateral visit of an Iranian Foreign Minister since 2003. We hope to be able to upgrade to the level of Ambassadors in the near future.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment of the effect of the Government’s welfare reforms on low-income households who are in fuel poverty since 2010.

    Caroline Nokes

    The Government’s reforms simplify the system for claimants, helping move more people into work, and reduce the cost for taxpayers. Throughout these reforms the Government is ensuring that the vulnerable are protected. In every year to 2020 spending on disability will be higher than in 2010.

    The Warm Home Discount scheme provides eligible households with a £140 energy bill rebate. This winter, almost a million low income working age households will be helped under the scheme.

    We are also reforming the Energy Company Obligation to have a greater focus on vulnerable and low income households. It will have a value of £640m a year from 2017 until 2022 and could reduce the energy bills of those who receive energy efficiency improvements by up to £300 per year.

    DWP provides help with the additional costs of heating during periods of severely cold weather to eligible claimants on certain income related benefits. In 2015-16, DWP made nearly 155,000 awards worth £3.9 million. For winter 2016/17 the cold weather payment rate will continue to be £25 for each seven day period of very cold weather.

  • Mark Williams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Mark Williams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Williams on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, on what grounds the decision was taken to refuse Crown consent for provisions within the Environment Bill currently passing through the Welsh Assembly.

    Stephen Crabb

    The Welsh Government has sought the consent of the Secretary of State to impose the biodiversity duty in the Environment (Wales) Bill on Ministers of the Crown. This request is the subject of ongoing discussions between the UK Government and the Welsh Government.

  • Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2015-12-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to produce a national strategy plan for the health and care of older prisoners.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The health and social care needs of older prisoners will continue to be managed through health needs assessments (HNAs). HNAs address these needs on a prison-by-prison basis, reflect the diverse health needs of prisoners, including older prisoners, and identify the health needs which inform health commissioning in that establishment.

    Public Health England, NHS England and the National Offender Management Service commission individual HNAs in all prisons in England on a regular basis, as part of the commissioning timetable.

  • Iain Wright – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Iain Wright – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of difficulties in recruiting embryologists in (a) England and (b) the North East.

    Ben Gummer

    Individual healthcare providers are responsible for ensuring that they have the right level of staffing to provide high quality care to their patients, including embryology services.

    Health Education England (HEE) was established in 2012 to ensure the National Health Service has access to the right numbers of staff, at the right time and with the right skills. In doing so, HEE works with key external stakeholders to develop its National Workforce Plan for England which sets out the number of training places it will commission in the year ahead to meet future local need.

    HEE will continue to work with its 13 Local Education and Training Boards and others to ensure that there are sufficient healthcare scientists, including embryologists, being trained to meet the future needs of patients.

    Currently HEE has 28 reproductive scientists in training (which includes embryology) and are planning a further 11 to start in 2016/17. It takes three years to train a reproductive scientist.

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority have advised that it is not aware of any issues concerning the availability of embryologists in the United Kingdom.

  • Baroness Scott of Needham Market – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Scott of Needham Market – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Scott of Needham Market on 2016-02-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are planning to take to ensure that council tax billing authorities pass on to parish and town councils the council tax support funding providing for those councils by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The patients with clinically actionable reports from the pilot phase are from rare diseases where improved knowledge of the causal mutation improves the management of the patient, their family members and possible future reproductive decisions. The patients diagnosed by whole genome sequencing had not been diagnosed using existing National Health Service panel tests. We are still evaluating the data from the 100,000 Genomes project to identify options for panel testing or other clinical sequencing strategies.

  • Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-03-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reported rise in anti-Semitism in the UK, in particular at universities, and what action they plan to take to tackle anti-Semitism in the light of that assessment.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    There is no place in our society, including higher education, for bigotry, hatred and any form of racism such as anti-Semitism. We expect universities to act swiftly to investigate and address any anti-Semitic incidents reported to them.

    Responsibility for ensuring students do not face harassment, abuse or violence rests with individual institutions, as a clear part of their duties under the 2010 Equality Act.
    The higher education sector is committed to tackling discrimination and challenging intolerance on campus. Bodies such as Universities UK (UUK), Guild HE and the Equality Challenge Unit provide support to institutions to help discharge their responsibilities through the provision of practical guidance, discussion and networking events to help share best practice across the sector.

    In addition, at the request of the Government, UUK have set up a task force to consider what more can be done to address harassment on campus, including on the basis of religion and belief. The Union of Jewish Students are part of the wider advisory group.

  • Louise Ellman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Louise Ellman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Ellman on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the policy is of (a) his Department and (b) the Vehicle Certification Agency on vehicle type approval engineers leaving the Vehicle Certification Agency to join vehicle manufacturers.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Central Department and the Vehicle Certificate Agency do not have a specific policy relating to staff leaving to join vehicle manufacturers. The conduct expected of a Civil Servant is written in the Business Appointment Rules, which are available online.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they have gathered on the contribution that the 64 million new trees to be planted by the Woodland Trust in England would make to carbon reduction or capture.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Government has not gathered any information about the contribution these trees would make towards carbon reduction or capture. However, the Forestry Commission’s Woodland Carbon Code Carbon Lookup Tables, suggest that 64 million trees planted as woodland could capture 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the first 50 years of their life.

  • John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that her Department’s purchasing policies support British (a) industry and (b) agriculture.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department’s purchasing policies support the Government’s commitment to do all it can to ensure UK suppliers can compete effectively for public sector contracts, in line with our current international obligations and guidance issued by the Crown Commercial Service.