Category: Speeches

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 16786, what estimate he has made of the (a) total, (b) staffing and (c) resources cost of conducting area-based reviews of post-16 education and training institutions.

    Nick Boles

    The Departments and their agencies will undertake this work with no additional staffing. Additional costs will be minimal. The Departments and agencies have re-prioritised from within existing resources to accommodate the additional work, including providing access to additional advice and support from further education and six form colleges Advisers.

  • Huw Irranca-Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Huw Irranca-Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to reduce (a) carbon emissions and (b) air pollution from maritime transport and air transport.

    Andrew Jones

    Given the international nature of the maritime and aviation sectors, the UK works primarily through UN’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and International Maritime Organization (IMO) to ensure strong action on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at a global level is taken.

    We are working with other states in ICAO to agree a global CO2 standard for aircraft and a global market-based measure to tackle aviation emissions growth, both of which will be subject to important decisions in 2016. We also continue to support the use of regional emissions measures, such as the Aviation EU Emissions Trading Scheme in the absence of a global measure. On air pollution from aviation, we are also working in ICAO to reduce particulate matter emissions, following the organisation’s introduction of a standard to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.

    With maritime emissions, the UK is working in the IMO towards developing global data collection systems on ships’ CO2 energy efficiency. Moreover, following the introduction of a new 0.1 per cent sulphur limit on 1 January 2015, there has been a significant reduction in sulphur pollutants emitted by ships operating in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea emission control areas.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what the Government’s timetable is for introducing measures to place a duty on larger employers to publish information about bonuses paid to men and women as part of their gender pay gap reporting.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Eliminating the gender pay gap is a key priority for this government. We will shortly seek views on the draft regulations requiring large private and voluntary sector employers in Great Britain to publish information about differences in the pay and bonuses paid to male and female employees. The government wants to commence these regulations at the earliest opportunity. We have also pledged to extend these requirements to the public sector. Public bodies will be covered by different regulations, following a further consultation that we will issue soon.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.92 of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, Cm 9161, what additional funding the Government intends to provide for investment in the Special Forces; and when that funding will be provided.

    Michael Fallon

    As the Prime Minister announced on 16 November 2015, there will be a £2 billion programme of new investment in the Special Forces over this Parliament.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on small and medium-sized enterprises of the decision to replace research grants for companies with loans.

    Joseph Johnson

    Like many of our competitor economies, we are looking to provide a range of innovation finance products to meet the needs of businesses; this will still include grant funding. Some countries (like France, Finland, or the Netherlands) make use of a variety of financial instruments to support innovative businesses. We have been working to understand how we can apply these established approaches to support, drive and encourage innovation in the UK. In the coming months we will be conducting market research to engage with, and fully understand the needs of, innovative businesses of all sizes in the UK. As part of the first phase of implementation the Government will announce the details of a pilot and accompanying evaluation in late 2016. The pilot will test specific financial products ahead of progressing to full roll-out.

  • Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of dairy products procured for his Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.

    Jane Ellison

    Details of dairy products procured for use in in the Department’s catering contract and sourced from British producers for the last reporting period, January to March 2016, are as follows:

    Dairy sub-category

    Total spend

    British Spend

    Butter

    £297.30

    £0.00

    0%

    Cheese

    £4,244.55

    £2,547.61

    60%

    Cream

    £184.59

    £184.59

    100%

    Milk

    £7,148.74

    £7,148.74

    100%

    Yoghurt

    £1,997.24

    £1,997.24

    100%
  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what proportion of staff in his Department were (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2015-16.

    David Mundell

    The proportion of Scotland Office staff who were (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2015-16 is shown below.

    Year

    Payroll

    Non-payroll

    2010-11

    100%

    0%

    2011-12

    96%

    4%

    2012-13

    97%

    3%

    2013-14

    98%

    2%

    2014-15

    91%

    9%

    2015-16

    93%

    7%
  • Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to publish data on the number of (a) low, (b) medium and (c) high level sanctions applied to universal credit claimants (i) before and (ii) after challenges.

    Damian Hinds

    The Department updated its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in February 2016. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently assessing the data for UC and will only release information once the necessary quality assurance work has taken place. These statistics will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.

    Universal Credit official statistics and the Departments release strategy can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics

    “

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Royal Air Force F35B Lightning II jets have completed testing for shipborne rolling vertical landing in cooperation with US Air Force and US Navy assets.

    Harriett Baldwin

    UK F-35B simulation trials for Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landing (SRVL) are ongoing. SRVL trials at sea are scheduled to commence as part of the UK’s First of Class Flying Trials aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth in late 2018.

    “

  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure that people in Hove have access to GP surgeries offering seven-day primary care.

    Alistair Burt

    We are committed to ensuring that everyone will be able to access a general practitioner (GP) appointment in the evenings and on weekends as part of our plan for a 7 day NHS by 2020.

    Through the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund, 125,000 patients in Brighton and Hove have had access to seven-day primary care through four ‘primary care clusters.’ The local clinical commissioning group are now evaluating this scheme and discussing plans for what to take forward.

    There is also a walk-in centre in central Brighton which is open from 8am to 8pm daily to serve the needs of Brighton and Hove residents. There is no need to be a registered patient with the health centre to use the walk-in service; it is available to everyone in Brighton and Hove. The service offers treatment, information and advice for a range of minor illnesses and injuries.