Category: Speeches

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    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, what information his Department holds on how many businesses appealed against the amount demanded from them in business rates (a) in each English local authority area and (b) by region of England in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Information on the number of appeals in relation to business rates is held by the Valuation Office Agency. Data on appeals, including a breakdown by local authority area, are published online and are available at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/valuation-office-agency/about/statistics.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has conducted a review into the adequacy of the service provided by agencies supplying supply teachers to school; and if she will make a statement.

    Nick Gibb

    Schools, academiesand local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and management of their supply teachers.This allows them to manage their resources and staffing structures in a way that meets local needs and priorities without central prescription from government.

    Supply agencies are independent of the Department for Education and decide their own recruitment practices but must comply with legislation set by the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate (EASI) – which covers other occupations not just teachers.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the increased spending on the NHS is being used to reduce the £2 billion budget shortfall forecast by the NHS Trust Development Authority for NHS trusts in 2015-16.

    Alistair Burt

    The National Health Service budget is entrusted to NHS England, which shares with the Secretary of State for Health the legal duty to promote a comprehensive health service. The Government sets out its priorities for NHS England in “The Mandate: A mandate from the Government to NHS England: April 2015 to March 2016”, and within that document a clear commitment is made to make £2 billion of extra funding available for front line spending.

    Progress against this commitment and details of spending on front line services by type of provider and type of service will be made available at the end of 2015-16, in NHS England’s Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16.

    The Government is committed to the NHS and will invest an additional £10 billion by the end of this parliament, to fund the NHS’s own plan for the future. Next year, in 2016-17 the NHS will receive an extra £3.8 billion allocated in the Spending Review, a first step towards an extra £8 billion by the end of this Parliament.

  • The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many cases the Forced Marriage Unit provided advice or support in (1) 2014, and (2) 2015.

    Lord Bates

    The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp out the brutal practice of forced marriage, with our Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) leading efforts to combat it both at home and abroad.

    In 2014, the FMU gave advice or support related to a possible forced marriage in 1,267 cases. Of those cases, 11% involved victims below 16 years (where the age was known), and 77% involved an overseas element (meaning the victim was at risk of, or had been taken, overseas). To provide a further breakdown of this information would incur a disproportionate cost.

    FMU data is published on an annual basis, and figures for 2015 are due for publication shortly.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish equality impact assessments and cost benefit analysis produced as part of the programme of rationalisation of HM Revenue and Customs offices.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Location Programme is the result of an extended period of consultation and deliberation. The Department has taken account of a number of criteria in reaching its decisions, including the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, the cost of buildings and asset value, and the need to retain the staff and skills it needs to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

    HMRC conducted high level People Impact and Equality Assessments to inform its planning. The Department plans to update these once discussions have been held with its staff.

    HMRC’s modelling estimates that the majority of staff live within Reasonable Daily Travel of a regional centre. Reasonable Daily Travel is calculated in line with established HR policies and procedures. Every worker at HMRC will have a one-to-one meeting with their manager to discuss their individual circumstances.

  • Owen Thompson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Owen Thompson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Thompson on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government has issued iodine tablets to households in the last five years.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Plans developed under the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001 (REPPIR) to protect the public in the unlikely event of a radiation emergency involving an operational nuclear reactor, include arrangements for the issue of stable iodine tablets. The arrangements for issuing the iodine tablets are determined at the local level and include, in some cases, the pre-distribution to households in the detailed planning area.

  • The Lord Bishop of Leeds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Lord Bishop of Leeds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Leeds on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Iraq on resolving the budget impasse with the Kurdish Regional Government.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We regularly raise the importance of securing a new budget agreement between Baghdad and Erbil with senior representatives of the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

    During his visit to Iraq in March the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), raised the issue with both Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and President of the Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani.

    The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), underlined the importance of a new agreement with Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani in Iraq in December 2015.

    Officials at our Embassy in Baghdad and our Consulate General in Erbil continue to highlight the benefits of a united Iraq and the benefits to both sides of agreeing a new oil sharing and budget arrangement.

  • Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrea Jenkyns on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the additional housing needed to provide (a) private and (b) social sector accommodation for immigrants from (i) the EU and (ii) non-EU countries in each year to 2020.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department has not made estimates of the addition private and social housing needed to provide accommodation for immigrants from EU and non-EU countries.

  • Baroness Manzoor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Manzoor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many council tenants in receipt of Universal Credit were in rent arrears in (1) 2014, and (2) 2015; and how many are currently in arrears.

    Lord Freud

    The Department holds a range of information relating to Universal Credit and housing but do not hold the information you have requested.

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of the cost of a retrospective planning application is covered by the (a) applicant and (b) local authority.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Department does not collect the data requested.