Category: Speeches

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of changes to his Department’s policy on the criminal courts charge.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    From 24 December the Criminal Courts Charge will be suspended, pending a review of all financial impositions imposed in the criminal courts. There are no direct financial costs involved in making this change.

    The updated Impact Assessment estimated that the Criminal Courts Charge would bring in approximately £95m per annum in steady state (from 2019/20 onwards). The Impact Assessment can be found here http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/796/impacts.

    “

  • Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of flood defence spending in Leeds.

    Rory Stewart

    A proposal for a £188 million flood alleviation scheme for central Leeds was submitted to Defra in January 2010. The proposal was analysed and a number of concerns were identified. As a result of that analysis the Environment Agency agreed to work with Leeds City Council to consider alternatives. The City Council subsequently submitted a bid for the first phase of a phased scheme. We have committed £33 million to better protect Leeds City Centre, benefitting thousands of homes and businesses. No bid has yet been made for further phases.

    Whenever an exceptional event happens it is important to review what happened and how to prepare for the future, and the Environment Agency will be doing this following the recent flooding incident. The flood response in Yorkshire will be overseen by Transport Minister Robert Goodwill, who has been appointed as Flooding Envoy to the county and will track progress on recovery and identify lessons learnt.

    Work has also already started on the National Resilience Review, which is considering forecasting and modelling, resilience of key infrastructure and the way we make decisions on flood expenditure. The Review is being delivered by a cross-Government team and will be published in the summer.

    In response to the flooding, £40 million of funding has been committed to repair flood defences. Construction of the new flood defences is already underway. The Secretary of State will be discussing this issue and the future resilience of the city with Leeds MPs shortly.

  • Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Lord on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing the recommendations of Surrey County Council’s Surrey Rail Strategy: Crossrail 2 Assessment Final Report, relating to the extension of Crossrail 2 to Woking.

    Claire Perry

    No decisions on either further government investment in Crossrail 2 or the final route for Crossrail 2 have been made. The National Infrastructure Commission has been asked to provide advice to the government by Budget 2016 on the best approach to large-scale investment in London’s transport infrastructure and this will include consideration of Crossrail 2.

    Their advice will help inform decisions on any next steps for the scheme and therefore, prior to their advice, the Secretary of State is not in a position to make an assessment on the potential merits of an extension of Crossrail 2 to Woking.

    However, Transport for London and Network Rail analysis shows that Crossrail 2 would release capacity for additional services on the South West Main Line into Waterloo. This would mean that destinations across the region, including Woking and other towns and cities not on the proposed route, would benefit from more frequent and reliable services into London.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress has been made on Network Rail’s Capacity Plus study; which industry groups have contributed to that study; and when he expects that study to be published.

    Claire Perry

    Network Rail is continuing work on its Capacity Plus study. Train operating companies and freight operating companies, passenger transport executives and local authorities, High Speed 2 Ltd and the Department for Transport are engaged in the study process. Network Rail will set a publication date in due course.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how the UK economy has benefited from defence technology research and development.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    As stated in National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 (Cmd 9161), the UK conducts world-class innovation across all the major commercial technology sectors with national security applications, including aerospace, biotechnology and medical sciences, big data, cyber security, satellites, robotics and advanced materials.

    The defence and security industries make a major contribution to our prosperity. In the UK they employ over 215,000 people, predominantly highly skilled, and support a further 150,000, as well as 6,500 apprentices. In 2014, both industries had a collective turnover of over £30 billion, including defence and security export orders worth £11.9 billion.

  • Vernon Coaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Vernon Coaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vernon Coaker on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has for consultation on proposed reforms to the UK’s human rights framework in the devolved regions; and what the form, timing and content of such consultation will be.

    Dominic Raab

    This Government was elected with a mandate to reform and modernise the UK human rights framework. We will fully consult on our proposals before introducing legislation for a Bill of Rights and we will set out our proposals in due course.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent representations he has received from Sustainability and Transformation Plan leadership teams on the deadline for delivery of Sustainability and Transformation Plans.

    George Freeman

    Footprints were asked to make a submission by 15 April focusing on the critical decisions needed to drive sustainability and transformation. The next checkpoint will be on 30 June, when each footprint will submit the next draft of their plans. These will form the basis of a conversation with each of the 44 footprints. We are not aware of any representations on this deadline.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-06.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HM Revenue and Customs paid into the public purse from receipts from its 0845 telephone helpline number in each year before 2014; and what those funds so received were spent on.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs did not receive any revenue from 0845 telephone helpline numbers.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time for a final decision on a visitor’s visa application was in each of the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Published data on visa processing times is available from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data

  • 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.