Category: Speeches

  • Derek Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Derek Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that every young person covered by the youth obligation receives appropriate financial advice, education and support for the first six months as part of their preparation for work.

    Priti Patel

    From April 2017, we will be introducing the new Youth Obligation for Universal Credit claimants aged 18-21 who we expect to look for work. This new programme of support will help young people develop skills and experience to get on in work.

    The first three weeks of this will be a Work Coach led Intensive Activity Period (IAP), where young people on the Youth Obligation will complete a set curriculum of activity designed to help establish them as effective full time job-seekers straight away and support them into work as soon as possible.

    Once the claimant has completed the curriculum they will continue to see a dedicated IAP Work Coach who will work with them, continuously reviewing what was achieved during the intensive start-up period.

    We will be conducting a stakeholder engagement exercise to help inform the design of the Youth Obligation and will be inviting stakeholders with an interest in the provision of financial advice.

    We will set out our policy design for the Youth Obligation in due course.

  • Jenny Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jenny Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jenny Chapman on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cautions have been given for any offence in each police force area in each of the last three years.

    Mike Penning

    The number of cautions recorded in each police force area during 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 are provided in the attached table. These are based on data published by the Home Office which are available by police force area and offence type at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

    Cautions data published by the Home Office are based on the number of offences recorded by the police that resulted in cautions by the police.

    The Ministry of Justice publish caution data based on the number of offenders cautioned which are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/428954/data-behind-interactive-data-tools.zip

  • Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Shuker on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to improve the frequency of services to Luton Airport Parkway in the 2018 East Midlands franchise specification.

    Claire Perry

    Detailed work on the 2018 East Midlands franchise specification will begin in the Spring, and as with all franchise competitions, a public consultation exercise will take place later this year to help inform the specification for the next long-term franchise.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many licenses issued under the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 are currently in force; and how many applications for such licenses for what reasons have been (a) granted, (b) refused, (c) suspended and (d) revoked in the last 12 months.

    George Eustice

    Under the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 there are currently two licences in force. One of these licences was suspended for twenty days in December 2015. Applications for renewals of both of these licences have been received and are currently being considered.

    In May 2015, Defra also received an application for a licence from a further circus. As that circus subsequently decided not to tour in England in 2015 their application was discontinued without Defra making a decision whether to grant or refuse the application. In the last 12 months, no other applications for a licence have been received by Defra and no others have been refused, suspended or revoked.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to make available to the Northern Ireland Executive funds received from the Government’s application to the EU Solidarity Fund to help flood affected areas.

    James Wharton

    The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February and we continue to refine our cost estimations.

    At the date the application was made, the Government had not been approached on this matter by the Northern Ireland Executive.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how the final decision on proposals to centralise all policy functions to one headquarters in London and close the Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place will be made once the consultation on those proposals has finished.

    Joseph Johnson

    The final decisions on whether to centralise all policy functions a single headquarters, and to close the Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place, will be made by the department’s Executive Board following the end of consultation with staff and Trade Unions in May.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to continue supplying Orkambi to cystic fibrosis patients currently receiving that drug as part of a clinical trial in the event of that drug not being approved for NHS use by the NICE.

    George Freeman

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is currently appraising Orkambi (lumacaftor-ivacaftor) for the treatment of cystic fibrosis homozygous for the F508del mutation.

    NHS England has advised that it has published policies that cover the different circumstances where a patient is on a clinical trial and where the drug is not subsequently approved for National Health Service use. In the circumstances of a commercially funded trial it is normally the responsibility of the manufacturer or the hospital to consider whether they wish to continue making it available to individual patients.

  • 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.

  • Kevin Foster – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kevin Foster – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what additional earnings above base pay are received by consultants by decile.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Relevant information is shown in the following table. This includes deciles of total National Health Service earnings and non-basic pay per person received by consultants for the 12 months ending December 2015. These figures use the earnings of only those staff who worked all 12 months in this period and will not include consultants’ private income.

    Decile

    Total non-basic pay

    Total earnings

    1

    £2,987

    £76,700

    2

    £7,011

    £87,675

    3

    £12,194

    £95,849

    4

    £17,540

    £103,212

    5

    £22,881

    £110,180

    6

    £28,942

    £117,916

    7

    £36,531

    £126,950

    8

    £47,066

    £139,056

    9

    £64,759

    £158,935

    10

    £481,287

    £577,147

    The following table sets out mean annual NHS earnings and mean annual non-basic pay NHS earnings per person received by consultants for the 12 months ending December 2015.

    Mean non-basic pay

    Mean earnings

    £29,225

    £113,569

    Source: NHS Digital, Provisional NHS Staff Earnings Estimates, Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). NHS Digital is the trading name for HSCIC.

    Notes:

    1. Mean annual non-basic pay per person is the mean amount, over and above of basic pay, paid to an individual in a 12 month period, regardless of the contracted full time equivalent (FTE) and including additional programmed activities.
    2. Figures in the table are provisional NHS Staff Earnings estimates.
    3. As expected with provisional data, some figures may be revised prior to the next publication as issues are uncovered and resolved.
    4. Figures rounded to the nearest pound.
    5. These figures represent payments made using the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) system to NHS staff who are employed and directly paid by NHS organisations.
    6. Figures based on data from all English NHS organisations who are using ESR (two Foundation Trusts do not use ESR).
    7. These figures include all payments made through the ESR.
    8. NHS Digital seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data.
    9. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality. Where changes impact on figures already published, this is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses.
  • Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Attorney General, whether the Serious Fraud Office is undertaking an investigation into defeat devices used by Volkswagen in emissions tests.

    Jeremy Wright

    As and when matters are brought to the attention of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) they are assessed in the context of the SFO’s remit to investigate fraud, bribery and corruption. If appropriate, relevant matters will be considered for criminal investigation in line with SFO internal procedures. The SFO does not comment on its assessments or their status at any one time but does publish on its website details of those cases formally adopted for criminal investigation, when this is possible without prejudice to the investigation.