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Category: Speeches

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many officials in his Department are working on climate change policy; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The Department leads on the Government’s clear commitment to tackle climate change. Many teams deliver against multiple cross cutting objectives

    Consequently, it is not possible to give an exact figure of the number of staff involved in this work. However, the Government has been clear in the need to meet our remission reduction targets while keeping our energy supply secure and low cost.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-10-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on research funding across all disciplines in universities in Yorkshire and the Humber.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government is committed to maintain and enhance the strength of our research base. This is why we have protected the science resource budget in real terms from its 2015/16 level of £4.7 billion for the rest of the parliament, as well as committing to invest in new scientific infrastructure on a record scale – £6.9 billion over the period 2015-2021 – including £65 million in the North East in 2014/15.

    The Treasury decision to underwrite the grants of competitively bid for EU research funding will give British participants and their EU partners the assurance and certainty needed to plan ahead for projects that can run over many years. We will ensure that the UK, including Yorkshire and the Humber, continues to be a world leader in international research and innovation.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans are in place to evaluate the implementation of the European Professional Card for healthcare professionals in phase 1 before it is rolled out to other professions, including doctors, in the light of changes that implementation will make to the powers of UK regulators.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The aim of the European Professional Card (EPC) is to simplify and streamline the recognition of professional qualifications process for the applicant. Improving the freedom of movement of professionals will give the National Health Service greater access to a range of skills to the benefit of patients.

    For health and care professions, the EPC will be introduced for nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists in 2016. It will not be introduced for doctors until 2018 at the earliest. The EPC will be introduced through an Implementing Act.

    The Department was involved in extensive negotiations with the European Commission and other Member States during the development of the Implementing Act and was successful in achieving a number of positive changes including increasing access to translations of documents, and ensuring that authorities can challenge the issuance of an EPC in another Member State under ‘justifiable circumstances’, which will be an important patient safety mechanism. We will continue to work with the health and care regulators and the Commission during the implementation process to mitigate any risks.

    The United Kingdom was also successful in receiving a commitment from the Commission that they will undertake an early review to ensure that any issues are resolved before the EPC is rolled out to any additional professions.

  • Lord Storey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Storey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria they use in auditing compliance with Tier 4 licences for non-EU students.

    Lord Bates

    All Tier 4 licensed sponsors are assessed against criteria set out in the published Tier 4 Guidance for Sponsors. This includes the following four documents:

    • Document one – Applying for a Tier 4 licence
    • Document two – Sponsorship Duties
    • Document three – Tier 4 Compliance
    • Appendix D – record keeping

    Some of the key criteria includes:

    • Ensuring that each sponsor has a genuine and lawful trading presence.
    • Ensuring that each sponsor holds the appropriate education oversight with the relevant external inspection body.
    • Compliance visits; where checks are undertaken to establish whether an institution’s HR functions are appropriate.
    • An annual basic compliance assessment (BCA); where the sponsor must meet demonstrate that their visa refusal, enrolment and course completion rates fall within the outlined requisites.
  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 20474, whether any businesses in receipt of funding from the apprenticeship programme for the creation of apprenticeships in the retail and commercial enterprise sector subject area have participated in the Government’s work experience programme for those on jobseeker’s allowance.

    Nick Boles

    We do not hold this information.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her speech at the Oxford Farming Conference on 6 January 2016, what additional powers she plans to grant to internal drainage boards and other groups to maintain local watercourses.

    Rory Stewart

    The Government believes that flood risk management work should be carried out by those best placed to do it. The Environment Agency (EA) works in close partnership with Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) and regularly discusses local watercourse maintenance plans with them, including to agree where IDBs could do work on the EA’s behalf, through public sector cooperation agreements. We will continue to discuss with IDBs and other groups where they could take on more responsibility and control of local flood risk management, including by facilitating flood risk partnerships.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what checks the UK Border Agency makes to determine whether a person who is not a UK citizen has any overseas criminal convictions at the time of their entry into the UK from another EU country.

    James Brokenshire

    The UK conducts 100% checks on arriving passengers in order to identify people of concern seeking to enter the country. All passengers are checked against police, security and immigration watchlists and where we are aware of individuals who pose a risk, Border Force officers can – and do – refuse them entry.

    We use the Second Generation Schengen Information System (SISII) to check whether the individual is wanted for an offence under a European Arrest Warrant. If he or she is, arrangements will be made for the individual to be detained at port, and arrested by the police for surrender to the Member State that has issued the Warrant.

    In September 2015, we introduced a new requirement for Tier 1 investor and entrepreneur applicants to supply an overseas criminal record certificate for any country they have resided in continuously for 12 months or more, in the last 10 years prior to their application. Failure to provide such a document when required to do so may result in their application being refused.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, to how many appeal hearings her Department did not send a representative at (a) First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) and (b) Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) in (i) 2012-13 (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government publishes the percentage of appeal hearings at which the Secretary of State for the Home Department was represented on a quarterly basis. Below is a table covering the 2012-2015 period.

    Appeal Representation Rates

    Quarters

    All hearings (%)

    First Tier (%) 3

    Upper Tier (%) 3

    Deportation (%) 2

    2012 Q1

    83%

    80%

    100%

    100%

    2012 Q2

    83%

    80%

    100%

    100%

    2012 Q3

    87%

    85%

    100%

    100%

    2012 Q4

    94%

    93%

    100%

    100%

    2013 Q1

    95%

    94%

    100%

    100%

    2013 Q2

    98%

    97%

    100%

    100%

    2013 Q3

    98%

    98%

    100%

    100%

    2013 Q4

    99%

    99%

    100%

    100%

    2014 Q1

    99%

    98%

    100%

    100%

    2014 Q2

    99%

    99%

    100%

    100%

    2014 Q3

    99%

    99%

    100%

    100%

    2014 Q4

    99%

    99%

    100%

    100%

    2015 Q1

    97%

    97%

    100%

    100%

    2015 Q2

    86%

    83%

    100%

    100%

    2015 Q3

    85%

    82%

    100%

    100%

    2015 Q4

    98%

    97%

    100%

    100%

    Appeal Representation Rates

    1

    The percentage of appeal hearings at first tier/upper tier/deportation where the Home Office was represented.

    2

    Deportation appeals show both first tier and upper tier representation rates.

    3

    The first tier/upper tier information excludes entry clearance appeals and deportation appeals.

    4

    All figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change.

    5

    This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.

    6

    Data refers ONLY to those cases recorded on the Casework Immigration Database.
  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2016 to Question 35476, whether the apprenticeship levy will be at the rate of 0.5 per cent on employers’ pay bills over £3 million in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20.

    Greg Hands

    Tthe government has confirmed that the apprenticeship levy will be set at a rate of 0.5% of company paybill and every employer will have a £15,000 allowance to offset against their levy liability. In practice, this means only employers with paybills greater than £3million will pay the levy. As with all policies, the government will keep the apprenticeship levy under review.

  • Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-06-09.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people are resident in the areas covered by each clinical commissioning group in England; and how many births were recorded in each such area in each of the last three years.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.