Category: Speeches

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Ofsted plans to inspect academy chains as well as individual academies; and if she will make an assessment.

    Edward Timpson

    Ofsted already inspects multi-academy trusts (MAT) through focused inspections of batches of academies within MATs. The published inspection outcome letters describe Ofsted’s assessment of the overall performance of the MAT, as well as a summary of the outcome of the individual academy inspections. The EFA provides assurance over the use of public funds and the MATs’ compliance with the accountability framework.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many public libraries have received funding from his Department to provide free wi-fi services since 2010.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Public libraries are funded and run by local authorities. However, the Government provided funding in 2015-16 which means that by March 2016, free WiFi will be available in 99% of public libraries in England. In total, 70 local authorities will have received funding of around £2.7 million to upgrade or install WiFi in 1017 public libraries. In addition, through the Government’s super connected cities programme, WiFi was previously installed in 288 libraries across 14 cities, UK-wide by the end of March 2015.

  • Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people claiming asylum from Yemen have had that claim refused and have subsequently been removed from the UK in each of the last five years; and to which country each of those people have been removed.

    James Brokenshire

    The attached table shows the number of enforced and voluntary departures for nationals of Yemen, who had claimed asylum at some point, in each of the last five years and their destination.

    The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of persons removed or departed voluntarily from the UK within Immigration Statistics. The data on removals and voluntary departures by destination are available in the latest release, Immigration Statistics: October to December 2015, table rv.06 from GOV.UK on the statistics web pages at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 14 of the Queen’s Speech 2016: background briefing notes, if he will define the terms (a) very remotest properties and (b) contributing to the cost of broadband installation in rural areas; and if he will estimate the number of properties in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency in that category.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Work is ongoing on the design of the broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) and the reasonable cost threshold. The independent telecoms regulator Ofcom will provide technical analysis and recommendations to help inform both of these, as well as identify the premises likely to be within the USO footprint. These are expected to be predominantly in rural areas, but there will also be urban and suburban homes and businesses eligible to request a connection under the USO.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the requirements for the Great Northern and Thameslink services to be Driver Only Operation contained in the Invitation to Tender for the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) Franchise apply to all other services across that franchise; what agreement is in place between GTR and his Department on Driver Only Operation; and if he will place that agreement in the public domain.

    Paul Maynard

    The requirements the Department specified for Driver Only Operation in the Invitation To Tender can be seen in that document on page 74. Govia proposed changes beyond what was specified in the Invitation to Tender in their bid. These were then contractualised in the Franchise Agreement as an obligation for the operator to fulfil. A copy of the Invitation To Tender and redacted Franchise Agreement is available on the DfT website.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations the Government has made to the US Department of Transportation on progress made on authorising Norwegian Air UK Ltd services from Gatwick and other British airports to the US, as permitted by the EU-US Air Transport Agreement in December 2015.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Government made a formal representation on this issue to the US Department of Transportation on 11 February 2016, which is recorded in the US DoT docket DOT-OST-2015-0261. Ministers and officials continue to make representations on this matter as and when opportunities arise.

  • 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 social housing providers in the four pathfinder areas for universal credit have applied for trusted partner status to allow for direct payment of the housing costs element in certain circumstances.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The first phase of the ‘Trusted Partner’ pilot started on Monday 28th September with 6 landlords all of whom are located within the Pathfinder areas.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total cost of clinical negligence in hospitals in each of the last 10 years.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The information requested is in the following table, provided by the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA).

    All payments made by the NHSLA in respect of clinical negligence claims against the NHS in hospitals in each of the last ten years.

    Year of Payment

    Total Paid £’000

    2005/06

    560,308

    2006/07

    579,390

    2007/08

    633,325

    2008/09

    769,226

    2009/10

    786,991

    2010/11

    863,398

    2011/12

    1,277,372

    2012/13

    1,258,880

    2013/14

    1,192,540

    2014/15

    1,169,587

    Notes:

    1. December 2015

    2. These figures cover England only.

    3. They represent payments under the various NHS LA Clinical negligence schemes:

    ‒ Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts;

    ‒ Existing Liabilities Scheme; and

    ‒ Ex-Regional Health Authorities Scheme.

    4. It excludes private insurance cases.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will amend its A&E waiting times target to set a target time for patients to wait from their arrival at hospital to admission.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England’s urgent and emergency care review is supporting the delivery of new ways of delivering urgent and emergency care to provide highly responsive, effective and personalised care as close to patients’ homes as possible and ensure people with more serious or life threatening emergency care needs are treated in centres with the very best expertise and facilities.

  • 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 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made in identifying ash trees with resistance to ash dieback disease; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    Investing in research is one of our key commitments in response to ash dieback. We have invested over £21 million into tree health research and the UK is leading the way on the work to identify resistant strains. Defra funded research has already identified three genetic markers for tolerance. This is a significant first step in developing trees with tolerance to the disease and testament to the innovation and dedication of our world leading scientists.

    The Government-funded screening trial of 155,000 ash saplings is also unprecedented in its scope.

    Collectively, our research is investigating the genetic basis for natural tolerance and screening our native ash trees for genetic markers; work is also underway to further our understanding of the pathogen, how it spreads and local management approaches to protect individual, high value trees.