Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Jolly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Baroness Jolly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jolly on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial remuneration the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst has received from the training of nationals of (1) Bahrain, (2) Kuwait, (3) Oman, (4) Qatar, (5) Saudi Arabia, and (6) the United Arab Emirates, in each year between 2005 and 2016.

    Earl Howe

    Defence has a long and proud tradition of training overseas military and civilian personnel at its training establishments throughout the UK and this is an essential ingredient of Defence Engagement. Training establishments such as Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) offer international students prestigious courses which remain highly prized. Courses currently undertaken by foreign nationals are the Commissioning Course, the Army Reserve Commissioning Course, the Professionally Qualified Officer Course and the International Trainer Development Course.

    These courses expose international partners to UK policy, and promote concepts of accountability, human rights and transparency. They are important in building skills which enable other countries to deal appropriately with their own internal problems, thereby contributing to regional security. The courses are paid for by a combination of self and UK funding. Information on the number of foreign nations in receipt of training at RMAS is provided in the attached table.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department has issued to its officials to support implementation of the Family Test.

    George Eustice

    The Family Test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014. Produced in collaboration with third sector partners from the Relationship Alliance, the guidance outlines the basis for the Family Test and provides policy officials with information on how the test should be applied when formulating policy and my Department follows that guidance – Family Test Guidance. Defra has a team leading on the Family Test who collaborate with the Department for Work and Pensions.

    Defra is following the guidance to embed and implement the test in the policymaking process and where the test identifies impacts on the family it will be evidenced as part of the formal Impact Assessment.

  • Lord Moonie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Moonie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moonie on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers have sufficient network bandwidth capabilities to make full use of the situational awareness and tactics which the F-35 can offer the Royal Navy; and what plans they have to enhance that use.

    Earl Howe

    The current network bandwidth installed on the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers is sufficient to carry out the endorsed scope of carrier strike operations. As with all programmes, requirements and opportunities are kept under constant review and amended where necessary.

  • Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications from care leavers between the age of 18 and 25 were made for reconsideration or appeal of a sanction decision in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested in respect of care leavers is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions NHS England has had with Health Education England and the Royal Colleges on multi-professional training.

    Ben Gummer

    The report of the National Maternity Review: Better Births, published earlier this year, set out wide-ranging proposals designed to make care safer and give women greater control and more choices. Multi-professional education and training were among a number of recommendations that the report made.

    Health Education England (HEE) has established a Maternity Safety Steering Group (MSSG) which first met in December 2015. The MSSG has representatives from the Department of Health, NHS Litigation Authority, NHS England, Public Health England, the Royal Colleges, Institute of Health Visitors, Perinatal Institute for Maternal and Child Health and British Association of Perinatal Medicine. The group works in collaboration to consider what training programmes are available and used in trusts, and to identify appropriate training packages to cover all aspects of maternity safety.

    NHS England is working closely, and will continue to have regular discussions, with partners across the system to discuss multi-professional and multi-disciplinary training, including the Royal Colleges, HEE and the Department. These discussions include the implementation of the recommendations of the National Maternity Review report.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will estimate the amount of structural funding that the EU Commission will allocate to Northern Ireland in the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    The UK’s 2014-20 allocation for Structural Funds was 5 per cent less than for the 2007-13 period. The Government therefore allocated the UK’s nations an equivalent 5 per cent less for 2014-20 than in the previous period. Northern Ireland’s allocation for 2014-20 is €513.4m.

    The post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework has not been proposed.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many former special advisers of her Department submitted applications under the business appointment rules between June 2014 and October 2015.

    Sarah Newton

    The information requested is available at:

    www.gov.uk/government/organisations/advisory-committee-on-business-appointments

    where details of all recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments in response to applications submitted under these rules are published.

  • Lord Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in resolving problems of damage to rights of way caused by off-road vehicles and trail motorcycles.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The responsibility for the management of off-road vehicles and motorcycles on public rights of way lies with local highway authorities and National Park Authorities, who have considerable powers to deal with problems of damage through the use of traffic regulation orders and also through the use of voluntary constraint agreements.

    No recent assessment of the state of the off-road network has been made, but previous research has shown that problems are localised.

    In order to share knowledge and build on existing best practice Defra and Natural England have set up a one-off forum for motor vehicle stakeholders in November to share their experiences and discuss ways of working together in the future.

  • Lord Ouseley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Ouseley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 2 November (HL2863 and HL2866), and in the light of the fact that data about the detention of different groups of mental health patients under different segregated regimes, and the number of police call-outs to mental patient wards to deal with incidents involving different groups of mental health patients, are not collected centrally, whether they have any plans to change the way in which they collect data about patients in mental health wards.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department of Health and Care Quality Commission (CQC) currently use a range of processes to monitor the quality of mental health services, including inspections, surveys, notification of the CQC by providers of certain events and analysis of national data collections. As part of this process the Health and Social Care Information Centre reviews of the content and frequency of data collection through the Mental Health and Learning Disability Minimums Data Set.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what reasons statistics on National Lottery good causes expenditure has not been updated on the gov.uk website since December 2014; and when he plans to publish those updated statistics.

    Tracey Crouch

    We have encountered significant technical difficulties in updating the National Lottery Grants Database which have proved much more complex to resolve than anticipated. The delay in updating is very unfortunate however we have been working hard to resolve the issue and expect an update to be accessible in the New Year. Meanwhile, information about grants can be found on the websites of many distributors.