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Category: Speeches

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much compensation the Government is liable for in its contract with Agility Trains in the event that the new IEP fleet cannot be introduced according to its planned timescales due to delays to either (a) the Great Western Mainline electrification programme or (b) East Coat Mainline IEP enabling works.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    During the period 2009-10 to date, the following numbers of ministers have been entitled to use Government cars:

    2009-10

    4

    2010-11

    4

    2011-12

    4

    2012-13

    4

    2013-14

    4

    2014-15

    5

    2015-16

    5

    As a result of a series of changes, including closure of the Government mail service, overall operating costs have fallen from £20.956m in 2010/11 to £6.325m in 2014/15. During the same period the number of vehicles in the GCS for use by ministers have fallen from 227 to 78.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of NHS psychological therapists are Improving Access to Psychological Therapies practitioners.

    Alistair Burt

    There were 756 training places commissioned for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (Adult IAPT) programme in 2014/15. The commissioning intention for 2015/16 is 946.

    Information is not available of what proportion of National Health Service psychological therapists are IAPT practitioners. We also do not hold information on the number of hours worked by IAPT practitioners and other therapists.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-01-05.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount that his Department will pay to the Government Property Unit in rent for buildings in 2015-16.

    Harriett Baldwin

    No payments were made to the Government Property Unit for rent during 2015-16 as rent for buildings is instead paid directly to the relevant landlord. We estimate no payments will become due to the Government Property Unit during the remainder of the period.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to monitor and evaluate levels of cycling and attitudes to cycling in (a) London, (b) the Cycle Cities and (c) the rest of the UK.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Transport is largely a devolved matter in the UK, and the delivery of scheme-level monitoring and evaluation is the responsibility of the transport authority implementing the intervention. In London, transport is the responsibility of the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL). The Department has no direct involvement and therefore does not undertake monitoring and evaluation of cycling levels or attitudes in London; this work is the responsibility of Transport for London.

    Outside of London, there are a number of work-streams that the Department is involved in which directly or indirectly monitor uptake of and / or attitudes to cycling. These are listed below. Much of this monitoring and evaluation work applies to England only; where the work expands geographically, this is clarified below.

    • The Department is working with the Eight Cycle Cities on the Cycling Ambition to capture evidence on levels of cycling and attitudes to cycling.
    • Active Lives Survey (formerly known as the Active People Survey) publishes data on cycling by adults in England. This is available at Local Authority level, and DfT is currently funding a temporary boost in numbers of people completing the survey in Cambridge, Norwich and Oxford.
    • On attitudes to cycling, we fund a specific transport module on the British Social Attitudes survey.
    • The National Travel Survey (NTS) also captures information on uptake of cycling. From 2013 onwards, the National Travel Survey has covered England only.
    • The Department will deliver an analysis of programme-level findings (also known as a ‘meta-analysis’) from the twelve Large Projects from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) 2011 -15. We estimate around a third of LSTF funding is invested in cycling interventions. An interim meta-analysis was published in November 2015 and a final meta-analysis is due Spring 2017.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to facilitate the development of an improved labelling code in the UK.

    George Eustice

    The Food Information Regulations (No. 1855) were introduced in 2014 and has resulted in better and more consistent labelling of food in a number of areas, including allergen labelling, ingredients labelling and, from the end of this year, nutrition labelling.

    Origin labelling is also improved by these Regulations with new rules on origin labelling of meat of poultry, sheep, goat and pigs introduced in April last year. In addition, we look forward to prospective implementing acts on origin labelling of ingredients of foods, including meat and dairy, where this is different from the place that the food itself was made. The Government is fully engaged in these discussions and expects them to result in improved labelling of meat and dairy products in due course.

    We have been pressing for mandatory origin labelling on dairy products, in particular lightly processed dairy products such as butter, cheese and cream but have met with some resistance from the European Commission. We will continue to press for these improvements.

    .

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department has invested in (a) large facilities and (b) other (i) national and (ii) international capital projects managed by the Research Councils in each of the last ten years.

    Joseph Johnson

    This Government a record £6.9 billion in new equipment, new laboratories and new research institutes across the UK from 2015/16 to 2020/21.

    Details of investments in large facilities and national and international capital projects by the Research Councils is held by the Councils themselves, in line with the delivery responsibilities placed on the Partner Organisations that BIS funds. We do not hold this level of information for the period you request centrally, however, aggregate capital expenditure for each of the seven Research Councils is available through their individual delivery plans, which are published and available online.

  • 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 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had (a) with his international counterparts and (b) within international organisations on private sector marine vessels conducting armed anti-piracy operations in support of merchant shipping in international waters.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK Government has had no discussions with international counterparts on private sector marine vessels conducting deliberate operations against pirate vessels (i.e. ‘private navies’). The Government does however discuss the use of Vessel Based Armouries (VBAs) at the International Code of Conduct for Private security in Switzerland and with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). VBAs allow Private Maritime Security Companies to off-load and collect weapons from international waters before leaving and entering the High Risk Area for piracy. The UK Government only permits the use of armed guards on UK flagged vessels operating inside the East Africa/Indian Ocean ‘High Risk Area’ as defined by industry.

  • Stephen Pound – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen Pound – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Pound on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will re-open the consultation on pharmacy dispensing models and displaying prices on medicines that closed on 17 May 2016 in order to allow respondents to take into account revised information on the safety profile of hub and spoke dispensing models.

    Alistair Burt

    The consultation on changes to medicines legislation including on ‘hub and spoke’ dispensing did not rely on any specific safety profile of hub and spoke dispensing. Instead, the consultation document specifically asked consultees to provide evidence on the issue. Nevertheless, the responses to the consultation have raised issues around removing the bar on ‘hub and spoke’ dispensing between retail pharmacies that are not part of the same business that the Department would like to explore in more detail with stakeholders’ representatives before progressing any legislation. It does not now envisage changes to the legislation on this issue commencing on 1 October 2016.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-07-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many requests for taking a trivial commutation of an occupational pension have been (a) granted and (b) refused due to the pension value exceeding £30,000.

    Jane Ellison

    I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to her by my Hon. Friend the then Economic Secretary on the 13th June (Written Question 39027)

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of households in receipt of universal credit qualify for (a) free school meals and (b) free NHS prescriptions; and how many such qualifying households are in receipt of those benefits.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested is not available.