Category: Speeches

Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

Information concerning the number of people diagnosed with osteoarthritis on an annual basis is not collected and the Department has made no specific estimate of the cost of osteoarthritis to the NHS. Although some relevant costing data are captured, such as those relating to hip fracture, total costs are not available, as additional costs are incurred out of hospital and in other services where data are not available.

01/01/2023
Lord Rennard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the completeness of the electoral register as at 1 December 2015, broken down by (1) the UK in total, (2) country, (3) local authority and (4) constituency.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Electoral Commission is expected to publish their assessment of the completeness and accuracy of the first full electoral registers under IER this summer. This will provide a breakdown at a country level but not by local authority or constituency. The previous study of this nature was based on the last registers prior to the introduction IER, published in February/March 2014.

01/01/2023
Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what contracts for delivery of IT services have been concluded between the Government and Google in the last five years.

Matthew Hancock

Since January 2011, as part of the Government’s transparency programme, details of central government contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. Since 1 April 2015, wider public sector bodies, including local authorities, have also been required to publish details of contracts above the value of £25,000 on Contracts Finder.

Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: http://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive

Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search

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01/01/2023
Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-24.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times Dorneywood has been redecorated in each of the last five years.

Harriett Baldwin

The Dorneywood estate is the responsibility of the Dorneywood Trust. As such the Government does not hold details of redecoration or repairs to the estate.

01/01/2023
Alan Mak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Mak on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of diplomatic and economic relations between China and the UK.

Mr Hugo Swire

Our relationship with China is strong and prosperous. We are building on the global partnership established during last year’s Chinese State Visit, by cooperating on international challenges and boosting trade and investment. We also have frank discussions on difficult issues including steel over-capacity, human rights and the South China Sea.

01/01/2023
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-04-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the positive findings of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs research Digestate and Compost in Agriculture, what action they are taking to increase the volume of food waste going to anaerobic digesters rather than to incinerators.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

It is wrong for good surplus food to go to waste when it could go to people. For food waste which is unavoidable and inedible, anaerobic digestion is the most environmentally beneficial means of dealing with it.

The Waste Framework Directive sets out a priority order for waste treatment: the waste hierarchy. We have departed from the waste hierarchy to place anaerobic digestion above – rather than on a par with – composting and other energy recovery technologies for the treatment of food and garden wastes. We explain this position in our “Guidance on applying the waste hierarchy”. While local authorities are best placed to determine local collection arrangements, they must have regard to this guidance.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has recently published guidance to local authorities on how to introduce or improve the effectiveness of food waste collection systems. WRAP is also looking at whether greater consistency in how waste is collected has the potential to improve recycling rates.

The “Food Waste Recycling Action Plan”, soon to be published by WRAP, aims to bring together industry and local authorities to increase the supply and quality of household and commercial food waste to the food waste recycling industry.

01/01/2023
Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-06-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the 2013 Report of the European Court of Auditors EU Direct Financial Support to the Palestinian Authority said (1) that a number of civil servants in Gaza were being paid without going to work, and (2) that the EU was not using its leverage on the Palestinian Authority to promote reforms; and what assessment they have made of the EU allocation of 252.5 million euros to the Palestinian Authority in 2016 through PEGASE.

Baroness Verma

The European Court of Auditors report of the EU’s Direct Financial Support to the Palestinian Authority assessed the European External Action Service’s and the European Commission’s management of the direct financial support provided through the PEGASE mechanism to the Palestinian Authority. The report is accessible in the public domain.

The UK is supportive of the EU’s programme of financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority, which supports delivery of essential basic services to Palestinians and helps maintain the viability of the two-state solution.

01/01/2023
Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-09-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offices in Scotland the Government plans to close by 2020; and what changes there will be in the total number of HMRC employees working in Scotland.

Jane Ellison

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) plans to create two new regional centres in Scotland in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 2019-20, accommodating between 5,700 and 6,300 full time equivalent posts by 2025. As work is transferred to the regional centres HMRC plans to close ten offices in Scotland by 2020. The changes are part of a ten-year transformation programme to deliver better public services at lower cost to the taxpayer. Scotland has 12 per cent of HMRC’s total workforce and that will not change with modernisation.

HMRC believes that its responsibilities will be unaffected by the changes. Staff are receiving guidance and training to deal with any enquiries relating to the Scottish rate of income tax, as with any other tax issues.

01/01/2023
Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will release some revenue support grant funding for local authorities to help councils affected by sudden increases in need once 100 per cent of business rates income is devolved to local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones

We recently conducted a consultation on our approach to the implementation of 100% Business Rates Retention. This consultation included questions on how to take account of changes in need over time, how to manage volatility in business rates income and how to distribute funding between different tiers of government. My officials are currently considering the 454 responses we have received to this consultation and we will publish a summary of the responses and our proposed way forward in due course. In the meantime, we will continue close collaboration with the Local Government Association, other groups representative of local government, and individual local authorities, in taking this work forward.

01/01/2023

Clive Lewis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to chart 4.2 of the Annual Fuel Poverty Statistics Report 2015, published by her Department on 28 May 2015, what proportion of the (a) local authority, (b) owner-occupied, (c) private rented and (d) housing association households are in fuel poverty.

Andrea Leadsom

The number and proportion of fuel poor households in England by tenure are shown below:

*Tenure*	*Local Authority*	*Owner occupied*	*Private Rented*	*Housing Association*
2003 – Number of fuel poor households (000s)	496	1,220	483	215
2003 – Proportion of households (%)	21	8	25	14
2013 – Number of fuel poor households (000s)	193	1,104	816	234
2013 – Proportion of households (%)	12	8	19	10

01/01/2023