Category: Speeches

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to signpost commissioners to other appropriate services since the decision was taken not to prescribe specialist psychological services for deaf people as a specialised service; and what (a) number and (b) proportion of clinical commissioning groups commission specialist psychological services for deaf people.

    Alistair Burt

    The 2015 Adult Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Workforce Census report will be published by NHS England in early summer. Included within the report will be the number of services that currently provide therapy in British Sign Language (BSL) and how many therapists deliver these therapies nationally. People who wish to be referred to IAPT services that require BSL services may seek advice from their general practitioner. Information about local NHS services, including IAPT, is also available on the NHS Choices website.

    Information is not collected centrally on the number or proportion of clinical commissioning groups which commission specialist psychological services for deaf people.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of UN missions in South Sudan in protecting civilians in South Sudan.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has had significant effect in protecting civilians, most notably the 200,000 internally displaced persons who have sought shelter on its bases. However, the mission faces a number of challenges, not least continued obstruction and access restrictions by the parties to the conflict. The UK will continue to work with UNMISS to improve the effectiveness of the mission’s operations and is working with the UN to finalise the new military deployment of 250 – 300 British troops to the Mission announced by the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), in September 2015.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with ministers in the devolved administrations about improving the levels of voter registration.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    Following the May elections we look forward to working with the new Governments in Scotland and Wales on modernising and improving electoral registration. Electoral policy is not devolved in Northern Ireland but we are working with the Chief Electoral Officer to introduce digital registration. The Government is committed to helping ensure that everyone who is eligible to vote in polls is able to do so. Online registration makes it easier, simpler and faster for people to register to vote. Since the introduction of IER in Great Britain in 2014 there have been over 17 million applications to register to vote, with a majority of these applications online.

  • David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Morris on 2016-07-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to help self-employed people.

    Jane Ellison

    To reduce the tax burden for millions of self-employed people, the Government has announced that it will abolish Class 2 National Insurance – paid by the self-employed – in April 2018. This will see 3.4 million self-employed people gain £134 on average in 2018-19.

    Self-employed people have also benefitted from the successive increases to the income tax personal allowance, with a typical taxpayer paying over £1,000 less income tax in 2017-18 compared to 2010.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) humaneness and (b) effectiveness of badger culls since 2013.

    George Eustice

    The approach Defra takes to monitoring the effectiveness and humaneness of the badger control policy, including the Chief Veterinary Officer’s advice, can be found on GOV.UK.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Russian authorities about an international tribunal to investigate the destruction of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

    Mr David Lidington

    I wrote to the Russian Ambassador to the UK in July, prior to the vote in the UN Security Council on a Resolution to establish an international tribunal which would prosecute those found responsible from the criminal investigation into the downing of MH17. I made it clear that there must be accountability for this crime and we expected all UN Security Council Members to cooperate. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials also raised this issue with their Russian counterparts both in London and in Moscow and will continue to do so.

  • Lord Storey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current level of per capita funding for students in (1) school sixth forms in schools, (2) sixth form colleges, and (3) further education colleges.

    Lord Nash

    Funding for all 16-19 institutions comes from the same national funding formula. The national base rate for 16-19 year olds in full time education is £4,000 per student. Weightings related to disadvantage, programme costs and area costs are added to the base rate funding, to reflect additional costs faced by different institutions.

    The overall average units of funding for the 2015/16 academic year are:

    Schools and Academy Sixth Forms

    £4,567

    Sixth Form Colleges

    £4,670

    General Further Education and Specialist Colleges

    £4,973

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help young people engage with the digital economy.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government’s Digital Engagement team works in partnership with more than 90 signatories of the 2014 Digital Inclusion Charter, which supports programmes to increase young people’s engagement in digital skills and the digital economy. We also support the ‘Your Life’ campaign which is helping to change perceptions of technology and other STEM subjects among all young people. A network of STEM Ambassadors from industry and academia actively work with schools to encourage young people to choose STEM subjects, and embark on digital careers.

  • David Warburton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    David Warburton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Warburton on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of Ofcom’s review of the future regulatory framework of the independent television production sector; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Ofcom reported on the operation of the television production sector on 23 December. I am now considering that report, and will make a decision in due course.

  • Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations were received from (a) USDAW, (b) other trade unions, (c) ACS and (d) other trade and workers’ associations in response to the government’s consultation, Devolving Sunday trading rules, published on 5 August 2015; and what (i) number and (ii) proportion of those respondents answered (A) yes, (B) no and (C) otherwise to Question 1 in that consultation.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government received 7,171 responses to the consultation, though a significantly smaller number used the standard online consultation form and addressed the questions directly.

    USDAW responded to the consultation and its representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation. USDAW answered no to Question 1 in the consultation.

    TUC and the National Union of General and Municipal Workers (GMB) also responded to the consultation and their representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation. UNISON responded to the consultation but did not meet with officials. All three (100%) responded no to Question 1 in the consultation.

    ACS responded to the consultation and its representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation answered no to Question 1 in the consultation.

    The department does not hold full data from this consultation broken down by respondent type as a large portion of respondents chose to respond in their own words rather than addressing the consultation questions directly, and/or did not indicate the type of organisation they represented.