Category: Speeches

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2016 to Question 28328, what estimate his Department has made of the number of officials who will work in the unit dedicated to assisting negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement in each of the next two years; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    No such estimate has been made. The number of officials working in the Transatlantic and International Unit will vary according to the state of the negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. There is no predetermined staffing level.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Israeli counterpart on the response increase of home and structure demolitions by Israeli authorities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in February 2016 .

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    I have not raised this specific issue with my Israeli counterpart. However, we remain deeply concerned by Israel’s policy on demolitions and regularly raise the matter with the Israeli authorities, most recently on 13 April.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department had made of the capacity of rail services between Coventry and London; and if he will make a statement.

    Claire Perry

    Rail services between Coventry and London are currently provided by the West Midlands and InterCity West Coast franchises. These franchises are due to be replaced when they expire in October 2017 and April 2018 respectively. The Department has completed a consultation in respect of the replacement West Midlands franchise, and commenced another in respect of InterCity West Coast earlier this month. The outcomes of those consultations, including the key challenges and opportunities that the Department has identified for those franchises, will be published in due course.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the threat of ash dieback disease to biodiversity across the UK; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    A series of research projects, jointly funded by Defra, has looked into the ecological impacts of ash dieback and investigated possible woodland management options which might ameliorate the problems caused by ash dieback. The results from this work have been published[1]. The research found that there are tree species that share ecological traits or support some of the species associated with ash trees. However, there is no single tree species that would be able to fill the niche provided by ash in terms of both its ecosystem characteristics and biodiversity contribution.

    The Forestry Commission provides advice to woodland managers about how best to manage and adapt to ash dieback, for example, by planting a variety of tree species as diversity brings resilience to pests and diseases.

    [1] http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5273931279761408

    “

  • Baroness Redfern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Redfern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-09-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the relationship between those NHS Trusts in the greatest level of deficit and those with the highest proportion of private finance initiative income.

    Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

    In 2012, the Department identified a small cohort of major acute trusts where the private finance initiative schemes were one of the factors affecting financial sustainability. These trusts have been given access to a £1.5 billion support fund over a period of 25 years which has been available since 2013/14.

    It is the role now of NHS Improvement to ensure that National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts assess the impact of different expenditure items at NHS trusts to ensure that NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts have arrangements in place to secure financial health. NHS Improvement’s focus is then on supporting that individual provider to fix its financial problems, for example through interim financial support or longer term solutions in that health economy.

  • Lord Avebury – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Avebury – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Avebury on 2015-11-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether it is now possible to establish baseline data that could be used to determine whether the law on caste discrimination is working effectively.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    This Government has been giving consideration to the legal position on caste discrimination in light of the Tirkey v Chandhok Employment Appeal Tribunal judgment which suggests there is an existing legal remedy for claims of caste-associated discrimination under the ‘ethnic origins’ element of Section 9 of the Equality Act 2010.

    Our consideration of the research report commissioned by the coalition Government, designed to determine the feasibility of conducting a national survey to quantify the extent of caste discrimination in Britain, is part of this process.

    We remain mindful of the Open Government Action Plan published by the Coalition Government in 2013, to the extent that this concerns the results of commissioned research.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much has been allocated to Syria under the (a) Conflict, Stability and Security Fund and (b) Conflict Pool in (i) 2015-16 and (ii) the next four financial years.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund has allocated £55 million to Syria for the current financial year. Funding for the next four financial years has not yet been agreed by the National Security Council. The UK has delivered over £100m in non-humanitarian support to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon since the start of the crisis from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund and its predecessor, the Conflict Pool. This has focussed on strengthening the moderate opposition, building resilience against extremists, fostering civil society structures in besieged areas, promoting Human Rights, delivering basic governance and laying the foundations for a more peaceful and inclusive future for Syria. Further details of this can be found on the Gov.uk website. The UK has always punched above its weight in helping deal with the effects of the Syria crisis. That’s why the Prime Minister announced that we will commit at least £1 billion to reconstruction in Syria.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to reduce beer duty by one per cent.

    Damian Hinds

    The government is committed to supporting the beer industry. The tax on a typical pint of beer was cut by a penny at March Budget 2015, building on the duty cuts at Budget 2014 and Budget 2013.

    The government continues to keep all taxes under review and decisions on tax policy are made as part of the Budget process.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK armed forces personnel cultural advisers are currently deployed on overseas operations.

    Penny Mordaunt

    There are currently seven members of the Defence Cultural Specialist Unit deployed on operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the use of money laundering services abroad by UK citizens.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government believes that money laundering is a critical enabler of both terrorism and serious and organised crime. This is why the UK’s own anti-money laundering regime contains controls and supervisory mechanisms which aim to make the UK financial system a hostile environment for illicit finances, whilst minimising the burden on legitimate businesses and reducing the overall burden of regulation.

    The Government expects UK citizens to comply with anti-money laundering regulations both at home and abroad and works hard, particularly through the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), to improve global standards and combat money laundering.