Category: Speeches

  • John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils are home schooled; and how many were so schooled in (a) 2005 and (b) 2010.

    Edward Timpson

    Data for the numbers of children educated at home in England are not collected by the Department for Education. Some local authorities maintain voluntary registers of children educated at home but as they have no statutory basis, they cannot be regarded as an authoritative source of data.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for each medicine reclassified from (a) prescription only medicine to pharmacy medicine status, (b) pharmacy medicine to general sales list medicine status and (c) prescription only medicine to general sales list medicine status in the last 25 years, what the cost to the public purse was of prescribing that medicine in the three years (i) prior to and (ii) following its reclassification.

    George Freeman

    The Government is committed to the continued reclassification of medicines from prescription only to pharmacy classification and from pharmacy to general sales list classification when it is safe to do so and there is a clear benefit to public health. This is an important part of empowering patients to manage their own care. The Government’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, is at the forefront of moves to reclassify medicines to non-prescription and is recognised as a leader in Europe in this regard.

    Over the years reclassification has been facilitated by improving the regulatory environment for manufacturers to achieve successful reclassification of their products. Amendments to legislation were introduced in 2002 to reduce the legislative burden for reclassification; new guidance was published in 2012 to streamline the process; and in 2015 a United Kingdom platform was set up to maximise stakeholder engagement with the aim of encouraging further reclassification of medicines.

    Patient safety remains the prime consideration in any decision to make a medicine available without prescription.

    We are unable to calculate the total difference in cost to the public purse following these medicine reclassifications.

    The attached tables contain the information for each of the last 25 years on medicines reclassified from prescription only medicine (POM) to Pharmacy (P) medicine and P medicine to general sales list (GSL) medicine. There are no examples of medicines which have been reclassified from POM to GSL. Where relevant, brand names have been included in brackets.

    The lists represent the first reclassification either from POM to P or P to GSL of the product and further extensions such as wider indications, additional pack sizes or higher strengths have not been included.

    Not all products listed are currently available, for various reasons, including both commercial and regulatory.

  • Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have received a carers’ assessment since the introduction of the Carers Act 2014.

    Alistair Burt

    There is no central collection of data on the average and longest wait for a carer’s assessment after an initial request was made since the introduction of the Carers Act 2014. Nor is data collected centrally on the number of people currently on the waiting list for a carer’s assessment.

    Data on the number of carers assessed during the financial year 2014-15 by local authority is attached. It should be noted that these figures include both joint and separate assessments from the cared for person. The source for this data is Short and Long Term Support (SALT), England 2014-15. This return is collected and published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

    Link to SALT:

    http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB18663

    “

  • Chuka Umunna – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chuka Umunna – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the value for money provided by Motability to (a) disabled people and (b) the public purse.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Motability is an independent charitable organisation, wholly responsible for the Motability Scheme. More detailed information about the operation of the Scheme can be requested from the Director of Motability, Motability, Warwick House, Roydon Road, Harlow, Essex, CM19 5PX.

    The Department does not provide any funding to Motability so the Scheme does not come at a direct cost to the taxpayer.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s planned expenditure is for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in each year until 2020.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence’s planned expenditure, paid through a Grant-In-Aid, for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) until Financial Year (FY) 2020-21 is given below:

    FY 2017-18

    FY 2018-19

    FY 2019-20

    FY 2020-21

    £49,908,705

    £50,775,774

    £51,763,497

    £52,877,790

    The figure paid by the UK is approximately 78% of the Commission’s annual budget; the remainder is paid by five other Commonwealth Governments – Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa, in proportion to the number of their war graves. Additionally, the Department also asks the CWGC to maintain a number of non-war graves within the UK and overseas. For the FY 2016-17, £1.75 million will be paid to the Commission for this work; the planned annual increase to this sum is in line with that of the Grant-In-Aid.

  • Lord Truscott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Truscott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-11-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the recent atrocities committed by ISIL in France, Egypt and the Lebanon, whether they have reconsidered the statement by the Foreign Secretary on 10 March that Russia represented the single greatest threat to UK Security”.”

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    As the Strategic Defence and Security Review makes clear, Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and destabilising activities in Ukraine directly challenge European security and the rules-based international order. We have long been clear that Russia’s actions are unacceptable. Nevertheless we need to work with Russia on key areas of shared interest: in particular to end fighting in Syria, and to focus on the shared aim of destroying the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. That was the basis on which the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), met President Putin at the G20 Summit in Antalya on 16 November.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to reorganise local government in England.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Government’s policy is to work with local areas to deliver effective devolution with the governance necessary to support this, including moves to more unitary structures where this is wanted locally. Our aim, as it has been throughout our devolution discussions with areas, is to build consensus and the provisions in the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill, to which the House of Commons gave an unopposed Third Reading on Monday 7 December, provide the flexibility that no one council can reasonably refuse to discuss with others the potential for reforming their area’s governance.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many officials of his Department and at which grades are classified speakers of foreign languages for each such language spoken.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Records from the last 5 years (up to the end of 2015) show that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has 505 officers with an Operational level (C1) exam pass across 33 different languages. This figure comprises 94 Senior Management Staff officers and 411 officers from the delegated grades.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the findings in the Chief Schools Adjudicator for England’s Annual Report, published in December 2015, that there is a lack of transparency in the school admission system, what steps she plans to take to monitor and enforce compliance with the School Admissions Code.

    Nick Gibb

    Admission authorities for all state-funded schools are required to comply with the School Admissions Code. This includes a requirement that ‘parents should be able to look at a set of arrangements and understand easily how places for that school will be allocated’. We consider that the code provides clear advice to all admission authorities.

    Compliance is enforced by the Schools Adjudicator. Where an objection is made and the adjudicator finds that the arrangements are unclear, unfair, or that they otherwise fail to comply with the code, the admission authority is required by law to change the policy.

    The degree to which maintained schools comply with the code is monitored through the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Report. We consider the findings of the report and whether changes to the system are necessary.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate has she made of the number of vulnerable Syrians who have not sought refuge in refugee camps owing to concerns for their own safety; and whether the Government’s Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme contains provisions to assist such people.

    James Brokenshire

    It is estimated that across the region, only 23% of Syrian refugees are in formal camps: the remaining 77% are living amongst host communities.

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identifies and proposes Syrian refugees for the Vulnerable Person Relocation scheme from among the whole of the registered refugee population in the region, over 4 million people. This includes people in formal refugee camps, informal settlements and host communities. Therefore many of those coming to the UK for resettlement will not be coming from UN camps.

    We are working with UNHCR and other partners to intensify their outreach to groups that might otherwise be reluctant to register for fear of stigma/discrimination and unaware of the safe space and options available to them. This includes all religious minorities, LGBT, people with disabilities, survivors of torture and sexual violence and others.