Category: Speeches

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what dates the marine offices in (a) Brixham, (b) Leith and (c) Newlyn were closed; and how many Maritime and Coastguard Agency staff were (i) made redundant or (ii) transferred to other marine offices as a result of those closures.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Brixham Marine Office, which was collocated with the Maritime and Rescue Coordination Centre, closed on 31 October 2014 when rescue coordination activity from there stopped. There were no redundancies and two members of staff relocated to other sites.

    Leith Marine Office closed on 13 May 2015. There were no redundancies and one member of staff relocated to another site.

    Newlyn Marine Office closed on 31 April 2015. There were no redundancies and one member of staff relocated to another site.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that prisoners with mental health problems can access appropriate treatment.

    Andrew Selous

    We are developing pathways into mental health treatment, which will be offered to offenders at all stages of the criminal justice system. All prisons have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harm to themselves, and we have increased resources to undertake this work.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to increase diversity in public appointments.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Centre for Public Appointments in the Cabinet Office supports departments on all issues relating to the diversity of public appointments. Steps we are taking to increase diversity include streamlining the application process​, placing an emphasis on ability over previous experience,​ and increasing awareness of opportunities by using a central website and social media.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to ensure EU nationals currently employed in UK universities will retain their positions after the UK has left the EU.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status of EU nationals already living and working in the UK, and the only circumstances in which that wouldn’t be possible is if British citizens’ rights in other EU Member States were not protected in return.

  • Lord Mawhinney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Mawhinney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2016-10-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial resources they transferred to local authorities in 2015–16 which were designated to be spent on personal social services care; and what is their estimate of how much was spent on the provision of such services.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Central government does not determine the level of resources spent by local authorities on adult social care. Each local authority will budget for what it expects to require in order to deliver the services required for their population, drawing on funding from local taxes, unhypothecated central government grant and income from fees and charges.

    However recognising the pressures on local authorities, the Spending Review 2015 announced that for the rest of the current Parliament, local authorities responsible for adult social care (“ASC authorities”) would be allowed an additional 2 percent on their current council tax referendum threshold to be used entirely for adult social care. 144 of 152 eligible authorities made use of this precept in 2015-16, raising £382 million for social care.

    My department publishes data (attached) from local authorities on their spending on all services. Provisional data for 2015-16 suggests that local authorities spent a net figure of £14.4 billion on adult social care in 2015-16.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/548114/RO_Provisional_Outturn_2015-16_Statistical_Release.pdf

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  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to establish whether more senior staff were involved in fraudulent misuse of the Flexible Support Fund since the dismissal of two staff from Plaistow Jobcentre in May 2014.

    Priti Patel

    Allegations of misuse of the Flexible Support Fund at Plaistow Jobcentre during 2013 and 2014 were investigated fully by the Department’s investigators. Investigators also undertook further work, completed in July 2014, which examined whether there was any evidence of wider misuse of the Flexible Support Fund at this office or other offices in the immediate area. Disciplinary action was taken in all cases where evidence of the misuse of the Flexible Support Fund was proven; there was no evidence of misuse by senior officers.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the designed operational life of HMS Vanguard.

    Earl Howe

    In common with most Royal Navy ships and submarines, the initial operational life planning estimate for the Vanguard class submarines was 25 years. The planning estimates of in-service life for all defence platforms are routinely reviewed and amended when appropriate.

  • Robert Jenrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Robert Jenrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Jenrick on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of per pupil funding for Southwell Minster School in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    We do not estimate budgets at an individual school level for future years as they are subject to change depending on pupil numbers, characteristics and the LA funding formula. We do not hold the information requested, but we do publish the allocations at individual school level for the current academic year every October.

    The following table details the individual school budget and the per pupil funding rates for Southwell Minster School in Newark. These have been sourced wherever possible up to 2012-2013 from published Section 251 statements, which detail local authority spending at school level, and from published school and academy allocations for 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16.

    Minster Southwell School

    Total pupils

    Total Funding (£)

    Per pupil (£)

    2010-11

    1,645

    6,701,451

    4,074

    2011-12

    1,623

    7,097,554

    4,373

    2012-13

    1,599

    7,172,496

    4,486

    2013-14

    1,622

    7,397,407

    4,561

    2014-15

    1,611

    7,187,045

    4,461

    2015-16

    1,591

    7,093,649

    4,459

  • Baroness Uddin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Uddin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that teachers, including refugee teachers, are paid appropriate wages and receive appropriate training and support in countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.

    DFID is not currently financing public sector teachers’ salaries directly in Lebanon or Jordan. However, we helped launch and mobilise international support for the No Lost Generation Initiative. As part of this support, the UK has allocated £115 million to provide protection, psychosocial support and education for children affected by the crisis in Syria and the region. As a result over 251,000 children have received formal and informal education inside Syria and in the region. We are working to ensure that each host government considers where and when they can employ and fairly compensate Syrian teachers under their national legal and policy frameworks for both education and jobs.

    In Lebanon, DFID is investing £21 million in the World Bank managed Emergency Education System Stabilisation Programme and an additional £1.3 million for the Research for Results: Lebanon Education System Improvement Programme. These programmes support the Government of Lebanon to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its education system including their public expenditure on teachers.

    At the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference we co-hosted in London, leaders came together to pledge more than $11 billion, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. On education, the UK and co-hosts worked with donors and other partners to secure increased funding for education under the UN-led appeals for 2016 and longer term, multi-year education funding commitments to ensure sustainability. Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children.

    We continue to work with refugee hosting governments, in particular, to agree the policy commitments necessary to turn increased funding into delivery on the ground. This includes a regional policy dialogue on integrating refugee teachers into national education systems, where possible.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much his Department spent from the public purse on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The cost of Employment Tribunals can be found within the HMCTS annual accounts published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/433948/hmcts-annual-report-accounts-2014-15.pd

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