Category: Speeches

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the National Wildlife Crime Unit in preventing wildlife crime in the UK and in rescuing animals illegally held in captivity.

    Rory Stewart

    The Government appreciates the important work which the National Wildlife Crime Unit carries out in tackling wildlife crime. It has not, however, conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of its contribution to preventing crime or rescuing animals.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what funding has been received by organisations in Northern Ireland from the Community Covenant Grant Scheme.

    Mark Lancaster

    All of the applications from Northern Ireland under the first round of the 2015-16 Small Grant Covenant Grant Scheme were successful, amounting to just over £35,000. This is in addition to the £80,000 already awarded under the now closed Community Covenant Grant Scheme.

    This funding is in addition to the £35 million of Libor money which the Chancellor agreed to transfer to support the Armed Forces community. The fund has supported 96 charities and good causes in a variety of ways across the UK. We anticipate that the Armed Forces community in Northern Ireland will benefit from a number of UK-wide projects which have received funding.

  • 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 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on what dates the inter-Ministerial group on tourism has met; and who is a member of that group.

    David Evennett

    The inter-ministerial group on tourism meets quarterly. The first meeting was held on 16th September 2015 and Ministers will meet again in February. Membership is composed of the following Departments, and attendance is subject to the agenda for the meeting:

    • DCMS
    • BIS
    • Home Office
    • DCLG
    • DfT
    • HMT

    DEFRA.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff in his Department have relocated (a) out of London and (b) into London in each of the last five years.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills does not hold that information centrally. To gather and analyse this information would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Lord Aberdare – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Aberdare – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Aberdare on 2016-03-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what funding will be available to firms which are too small to pay the Apprenticeship Levy when it is introduced in 2017 to enable them to continue to offer, or begin to offer, apprenticeships, and how much those firms will have to contribute themselves.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Employers with a pay bill of less than £3 million will not have to pay the levy. This is more than 98% of all employers. These employers will continue to have access to government funding to support apprenticeships. We will provide further details on the support available later this year.

  • Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which residential and nursing homes he has visited in an official capacity in 2016; and what the date was of each such visit.

    Jane Ellison

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and his team have visited the following hospitals in an official capacity in 2016 to date.

    Secretary of State for Health

    29 January 2016 Kings College Hospital, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, King’s Health Partners

    5 February 2016 Coombe Wood Perinatal Mental Health Unit, Park Royal Centre for Mental Health, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

    14 April 2016 Oxford University, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

    Lord Prior

    6 January 2016 Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust

    20 January 2016 East Surrey Hospital, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

    3 February 2016 St Thomas Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

    18 February 2016 Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

    16 March 2016 Southmead Hospital, North Bristol NHS Trust

    22 March 2016 Guy’s Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

    24 March 2016 Royal Derby Hospital, Derby Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust

    24 March 2016 Lings Bar Hospital, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

    12 April 2016 Royal Brompton Hospital, Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust

    Ben Gummer

    14 January 2016 Watford General Hospital, West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust

    21 January 2016 Salford Royal Hospital, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust

    21 January 2016 St Mary’s Hospital, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

    15 February 2016 Royal Cornwall Hospital, at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

    16 February 2016 Mount Gould Hospital, Livewell Southwest

    16 February 2016 Tiverton and District Hospital, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust

    17 February 2016 Dorset County Hospital, Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

    17 February 2016 Southampton General Hospital, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

    29 February 2016 St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

    14 March 2016 St Thomas’ Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

    Alistair Burt

    3 March 2016 St Pancras Hospital, Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust

    11 March 2016 Wythenshawe Hospital, University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust

    17 March 2016 Kings College Hospital, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

    14 April 2016 Clock View Hospital and Ashworth Hospital, Mersey Care NHS Trust

    George Freeman

    7 March 2016 CityLabs, Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Oxford Rd, Manchester

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and his team have visited the following primary care services in an official capacity in 2016 to date.

    Secretary of State for Health

    15 January 2016 Hillfoot Surgery, Pudsey, West Yorkshire

    Alistair Burt

    11 February 2016 Copes Pharmacy Ltd, London

    11 March 2016 Five Oakes Family Practice, Manchester

    Jane Ellison

    4 February 2016 The Acton African Well Woman Clinic, Hillcrest Surgery, London

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and his team have visited the following residential and nursing homes in an official capacity in 2016 to date.

    Secretary of State for Health

    5 February 2016 Coombe Wood Perinatal Mental Health Unit, Park Royal Centre for Mental Health, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

    Ben Gummer

    15 February 2016 St Julia’s Hospice, Cornwall Hospice Care

    Alistair Burt

    25 February 2016 The Betty and Asher Loftus Centre, London

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to participate in the initiative of the government of France for ending the conflict in Israel and Palestine.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We will continue to work closely with the French government to ensure that their initiative makes a constructive contribution that encourages the parties to resume negotiations.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the Small Schools Taskforce report on free school meals.

    Nick Gibb

    The small schools taskforce was made up of a number of local authority and private sector caterers and manufacturers who were unpaid but could claim expenses. The total value of the contract to deliver action arising from the School Food Plan was £204,000. We are able to directly attribute around £10,000 of this to the work of the Small Schools Taskforce; in addition there would have been small amounts claimed in expenses for the other taskforce members.

    The majority of the findings from the Small Schools Taskforce report are already in the public domain following the publication of the toolkit for small schools, which is available at: http://www.thegreatschoollunch.co.uk/media/169570/CFT-SmallSchoolToolkit.pdf

    “

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons the Government did not support proposals by the Netherlands for the UN Human Rights Council to set up an independent inquiry into civilian deaths in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    ​We worked hard with international partners to secure a strong resolution to help the situation on the ground in Yemen. The resolution includes a commitment to increase the number of international human rights experts in the Yemen Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) operation, making clear the independent mandate for OHCHR to conduct their own investigations. The resolution also maintains the technical cooperation programme for OHCHR to strengthen the National Commission in Yemen, which we believe will make a difference on the ground. We look forward to reports from the OHCHR next year.

  • Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of respect for human rights in Nepal.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We note the milestone represented by the new Nepalese Constitution and welcome the adoption of 31 different rights, which include rights for women and Dalits. However, we are concerned about discrimination against women in the citizenship provisions and the violence which followed the adoption of the Constitution. We welcome progress on Nepal’s implementation of the recommendations made in 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review on transitional justice but remain concerned about amnesty provisions and the absence of legislation to criminalise torture.

    We issued a statement and a series of recommendations to this effect on 4 November 2015, at the 23rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/world-location-news/uk-statement-on-nepal-at-the-23rd-session-of-the-universal-periodic-review-geneva-2-to-13-november-2015

    “