Category: Speeches

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment the Government made of the risks associated with the deployment of Royal Navy personnel on active duty in the Seychelles.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Prior to any Port visit the Royal Navy reviews the latest Government threat assessment for that country and takes appropriate action to mitigate any risks to its personnel. This is as true for the Seychelles as any other location. Before personnel go ashore they are briefed about any risks they may face and they are advised on any appropriate personal security measures.

  • Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency on (a) that agency’s staff survey results and (b) recent industrial action affecting that agency; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Initial discussions on the 2015 People Survey results for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) have taken place in senior management fora. Further discussions are planned, including within existing DVSA governance arrangements.

    The Department for Transport officials have been working closely with the management side at DVSA to try to resolve the industrial dispute, and to help ensure that the disruption to public services is kept to a minimum. The Permanent Secretary for Transport has written twice to the unions since the dispute began urging them to suspend their action and return to discussions with DVSA management.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications in which (a) towns, (b) cities and (c) regions for Tier 2 (General) restricted Certificate of Sponsorship have been rejected on the grounds that the job is in an establishment which provides a take-away service in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

    For the future, the Government intends that Tier 2 should be restricted to roles where there are genuine skills shortages or which require highly-specialised experts. We asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on how to achieve this, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers. The MAC has now submitted its advice and the Government is considering the report carefully.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that criminalisation of the use or possession of drugs, or injecting equipment, does not deter (a) people from seeking services because of fear of arrest and prosecution and (b) harm-reduction service providers from offering assistance because of concerns about their own legal liability.

    Karen Bradley

    The 2010 Drug Strategy contains a clear ambition that drug users will be supported to become drug free. The UK is a good example of how it is possible to achieve good health outcomes while retaining a criminal offence for drug possession. Service providers are encouraged to create a confidential environment for users to discuss their drug dependency. In addition, data on an individual’s substance misuse is collected in a way which preserves their confidentiality. We will shortly be publishing a new Drug Strategy

    The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and its regulations support healthcare providers, including drug treatment services, by providing exemptions for the supply of injecting equipment and other drug paraphernalia where there is evidence that their provision and use will help prevent harm or support recovery. The most recent example of this was the exemption made in 2014 to enable the lawful provision of foil.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what powers are available to (a) parish, (b) district and (c) county councils to dispose of abandoned boats in coastal areas; and whether a disposal cost recovery scheme exists for such disposals.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Statutory Harbour Authorities (some of which are Local Authorities) have powers to deal with wrecks and unservicable and abandoned vessels within their harbour limits.

    These powers are available under sections 52, 56 and 57 of the Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 (exercisable by the Harbour Master) and in section 252 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. The powers allow the removal of wrecks and unserviceable and abandoned vessels and recovery of the cost of doing so from the owner or through disposal of the vessel.

    Where there is no statutory harbour authority or conservancy authority in place to use the powers in the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, under s253 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 the General Lighthouse Authority may use the same powers set out in section 252 to deal with such vessels where, in the authority’s opinion the vessel is, or is likely to become, an obstruction or danger to navigation or to lifeboats engaged in lifeboat service.

    The receiver of wreck, who only deals with wrecked vessels and is a statutory appointment under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, has powers under section 243 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 to dispose of unclaimed wrecks one year after they come into the receiver’s possession. The Act sets out the dissemination of the proceeds of sale after disposal expenses.

    Statutory Harbour Authorities operate on a commercial basis without ongoing support from Government and the General Lighthouse Authority are fully funded from a tax on shipping, receiving no money from the UK exchequer. There are no plans for any other funding to be made available.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2016 to Question 29775, in what format information is held on the value of child benefit claims in respect of children living in another EEA country or Switzerland.

    Damian Hinds

    Around 7m people are receiving Child Benefit. To extract and collate the value of all payments made to EU migrants for children living outside the UK in the format requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Information relating to the number of Child Benefit claims paid to families with children living overseas is available in the Government publication , “The best of both worlds: the United Kingdom’s special status in a reformed European Union”. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-best-of-both-worlds-the-united-kingdoms-special-status-in-a-reformed-european-union

    “

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to facilitate new academy sponsors in the North as part of the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy.

    Nick Gibb

    Our White Paper, Education Excellence Everywhere, sets out the range of support we will offer to schools across England.

    Where schools are failing, Regional Schools Commissioners will identify a suitable academy sponsor to turn them around. In areas where there are too few sponsors, we will recruit new sponsors, including high-performing schools and more sponsors from business, charity and philanthropy. We will also encourage existing sponsors to expand, increasing incentives and minimising barriers, learning from the investment we have already made through the Northern Sponsor Fund.

    For other struggling schools, we will ensure there is nationwide coverage of system leaders (teaching schools and National Leaders of Education), who will be expected to work with weaker schools to support them to improve. To help achieve this, we will improve how we designate system leaders by introducing a more sophisticated approach based on timely and accurate data rather than relying heavily on Ofsted judgements. We will also partner schools with the potential to become strong system leaders with existing teaching schools and National Leaders of Education.

    Through the Department’s strategy for Achieving Excellence Areas, we will target our existing programmes to secure sufficient high quality teachers, leaders, system leaders, sponsors and members of governing boards on the areas of greatest need. At the Budget, the Government announced that we will invest an additional £20 million a year to build on this strategy to raise education standards across the Northern Powerhouse. The allocation of this funding will depend on the identified need and will be reassessed each year, based on the evidence.

    For the additional funding announced in the budget, decisions on how the funding will be allocated for the 2016-17 financial year will be made by the autumn of this year and will be informed by the emerging findings of the review by Sir Nick Weller. We will be publishing the terms of reference for Sir Nick Weller’s review shortly.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department and its executive agencies spent on the publications (a) Who’s Who, (b) Burke’s Peerage and (c) Debrett’s in each year since 2010.

    Karen Bradley

    This information is not available, except at disproportionate costs.

  • Neil Gray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Gray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will estimate the number of working parents and carers receiving universal credit who will be required to work increased hours under in-work conditionality that (a) are unable to work full-time hours and (b) will require flexible working arrangements.

    Damian Hinds

    The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to protect families paying debts over time from bailiff fees, court charges and interest rates; and if he will consider a statutory breathing space for families in debt.

    Simon Kirby

    The Government noted the report with interest and is grateful for the important work that The Children’s Society does. The Government is committed to supporting individuals in problem debt.

    The Government is exploring whether some form of “breathing space” would be a useful and viable addition to the range of formal and informal debt solutions available to consumers and creditors. Officials in HM Treasury and the Insolvency Service have been asked to discuss this issue with stakeholders and the Government will report back this autumn.