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Category: Speeches

  • Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to raise awareness of the seriousness of stalking (a) through social media and (b) otherwise.

    Karen Bradley

    Stalking is a deeply disturbing crime which can leave its victims living in fear for years. That is why we introduced new legislation in 2012 which made stalking an offence in its own right.

    To mark National Stalking Awareness Week, we are using Twitter to raise awareness of the increases in prosecutions and convictions for these crimes to help improve victim confidence in the criminal justice system.

    The Government has committed £80 million to support victims of violence against women and girls, including, stalking, between 2016 and 2020. This includes funding for the National Stalking Helpline run by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. Additionally, we have consulted on the introduction of a new civil Stalking Protection Order to tackle perpetrators at an early stage to help prevent victims becoming targets of a prolonged campaign of abuse. Our response to this consultation will be published in due course. Through the Police Innovation Fund, we are supporting the police to identify ways to manage the significant volume of online material in abuse, harassment and stalking cases, so that evidence can be collected more easily and a strong case built to bring a prosecution.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with (a) Crohn’s disease and (b) ulcerative colitis have been treated with biological drugs in each of the last five years.

    George Freeman

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended four different biological drugs for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the collective term for Crohn’s disease and colitis, for use after the failure of conventional therapies or in patients for whom such therapies are not appropriate. The National Health Service is legally obliged to fund medicines and treatments recommended by NICE’s technology appraisals.

    Although information concerning the exact number of people with IBD who have been treated with biological drugs in each of the last five years is not available, and no specific assessment of access has been made, some data are collected as part of the IBD audit. The IBD audit programme is commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership on behalf of NHS England and Wales (with additional funding from Healthcare Improvement Scotland), as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme, and carried out by the Royal College of Physicians.

    The biological therapies part of the IBD audit aims to assess nationally: the efficacy of biological therapies in the treatment of IBD; the safety of biological therapies in the treatment of IBD; and IBD patients’ views on their quality of life at defined intervals throughout their use of biological therapies. The latest round of audit findings, published in September 2015, showed treatment continued to be effective and that patients were receiving treatment with biological therapies at earlier stages of disease. More information can be found at the following link:

    www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/ibd-biological-therapy-audit

    “

  • Lord Wills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Wills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2016-07-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have applied to study Design and Technology in teacher training colleges.

    Lord Nash

    The latest published data, from 30 June 2016, shows that 1,370 applications have been submitted for Design and Technology ITT courses, either to a university or a school-led route.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much compensation her Department paid for the unlawful detention of individuals under immigration powers in each of the last three financial years; for what categories of reason such compensation was paid; and how many such payments were made for each such category of reason.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Our records indicate that over the past 3 financial years (covering 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15), that a total of £13.8 million has been paid out to 573 claimants, as per the below table. All of whom were paid compensation following a period of unlawful detention.

    Financial Year

    Total Unlawful Detention Compensation payments (£ million)

    Number of claimants for the last 3 financial years

    FY 2012-13

    £ 5.0

    195

    FY 2013-14

    £ 4.8

    199

    FY 2014-15

    £ 4.0

    179

    Caveat to provided data: This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.

  • Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make it his policy to eliminate UK Export Finance investments in coal plants and coal mining overseas.

    Anna Soubry

    There are no plans to ban support for exports of goods and services to coal plants and coal mining overseas. However, applications to UK Export Finance (UKEF) which fall within the ambit of the OECD Common Approaches for Officially Supported Export Credits and Environmental and Social Due Diligence will require that coal projects meet international, environmental, social, and human rights standards to qualify for support.

    UKEF is participating in discussions in the OECD with the aim of achieving a multilateral agreement on limiting the provision of export credits for coal-fired power projects and an agreement is expected to be reached later in November.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the effectiveness of Government’s response to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.

    James Duddridge

    The UK intervention in Sierra Leone was instrumental in containing the Ebola epidemic and preventing the dire predictions from global health bodies materialising. Now that Sierra Leone has been declared Ebola transmission-free, our focus is to help the Government to develop a new approach to the delivery of services that will improve resilience and enable the country to handle future crises independently, whether they be health-related or caused by other factors.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will consider making young adult carers eligible for the vulnerable groups component of the bursary which provides financial support for 16 to 19 year olds.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Government recognises the valuable service that young carers provide both to their community and their families. It is vital that they are not disadvantaged in their education, and have the same access to education, career choices, and wider opportunities as other young people.

    In November 2015, officials from the Education Funding Agency met representatives from the Carers Trust to discuss how best to support young carers through the 16-19 bursary fund. We will work with the National Association of Managers of Student Services to review the use of the discretionary bursary fund and amend our funding guidance to ensure that institutions prioritise the needs of young carers.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions his Department has had with the Ministry of Defence on the future of Sheffield Forgemasters and the successor programme.

    Anna Soubry

    My Department is in regular contact with MoD on a wide range of supply chain issues including in the steel sector. These discussions include individual steel plants such as Sheffield Forgemasters.

  • Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which British Overseas Territories will be included within the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

    Anna Soubry

    Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) made between the EU and other countries do not automatically apply to Overseas Territories. However, the UK does work to ensure that the impact of FTAs on Overseas Territories is assessed and taken into account during negotiations.

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

    Lord Mawson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawson on 2016-03-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when litter was last removed from the southern end of the M11 in East London, how often such litter is removed, and by whom.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The last time that litter was removed from the southern end of the M11 in East London was 17 March 2016.

    Highways England clears litter from the M11 on a daily basis, on the sections where it safe to do so, without using traffic lanes, such as the verges with hard shoulders. The M11 slip roads and verges with no hard shoulder are litter picked on a six weekly cycle with lanes closed to protect the work force.