Category: Speeches

Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the annual saving which would be generated by the planned replacement of widowed parent’s allowance by bereavement allowance.

Priti Patel

Bereavement support payments will be introduced from April 2017 for new claimants only. Existing claimants of Widowed Parent’s Allowance and Bereavement Allowance will remain on those benefits for the lifetime of their awards therefore there will be no impact on them or their families.

Bereavement Support Payment is forecasted to cost the Department for Work and Pensions an extra £100m in the first three years. The full cost to the exchequer will be greater than this as, unlike its predecessors, Bereavement Support Payment will not be taxable.

Further information on forecast expenditure is provided via the link below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487612/outturn-and-forecast-autumn-statement-2015.xlsx

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01/01/2023
Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of putting in place a comprehensive system of environmental protection before deep sea mining operations are allowed to commence in oceans worldwide.

Alok Sharma

The UK is committed to the development and implementation by the International Seabed Authority of a deep sea mining code in respect of areas outside national jurisdiction. A clear red line for the United Kingdom is that such a code, which is a prerequisite for the commencement of deep sea mining operations, ought to contain strong environmental protection. A first draft of a mining code was released by the International Seabed Authority in July 2016, and the UK will be submitting comments in due course.

01/01/2023

Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who passed through the National Referral Mechanism as victims of modern slavery and trafficking were granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK in order to assist in police investigations and prosecutions in each fiscal year since 2009-10.

Sarah Newton

Our records indicate that the number of individuals who received a positive conclusive grounds decision from the National Referral Mechanism (see Note 1) who were granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK with the requirement that they assist the police in their investigations (see Note 2) were as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1 – Number of individuals granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK with the requirement that they assist the police in their investigations, following a positive conclusive grounds outcome from the National Referral Mechanism.

Referral Year	Number granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK with the requirement that they assist the police in their investigations
2009/2010	20
2010/2011	30
2011/2012	28
2012/2013	57
2013/2014	31
2014/2015	73
2015/2016	80

1. The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the process by which people who may have been victims of modern slavery are identified, referred, assessed and supported in the United Kingdom. (“Modern slavery” is a term that covers slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking.) The initial referral goes through a two stage process: a reasonable grounds stage and then, for those with a positive reasonable grounds outcome (where it is considered that the person is a potential victim of trafficking/slavery), a conclusive grounds stage (where the person is considered to be a confirmed victim of trafficking/slavery).

2. The data in the table shows those with a positive conclusive grounds outcome only with a particular outcome type ("VOT DL Granted"), identifying them as someone granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK with the requirement that they assist the police in their investigations.

3. Data extracted on 01 September 2016.

4. Data is broken down into Financial Years, showing the year the referral was made.

5. The data has been extracted from the Case Immigration Database.

6. These statistics have been taken from a live operational database. As such, numbers may change as information on that system is updated.

01/01/2023

Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether it is his policy to (a) support the Safe Schools Declaration which arose from the Oslo conference on safe schools in May 2015 and (b) implement the Guidelines on Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict, published by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.

Mr Philip Hammond

The intention of the Safe Schools Declaration is for countries to endorse the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military use during Armed Conflict. While we support the spirit of the initiative, we have concerns that the Guidelines do not mirror the exact language of International Humanitarian Law. We consider that the full implementation of International Humanitarian Law provides the best protection for civilians in all situations of armed conflict. The UK, along with other countries such as Australia, Canada and France, were therefore not able to sign the Safe Schools Declaration in Oslo in May.

01/01/2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and electric vehicles to help the UK meet the 2050 carbon budget.

Andrew Jones

This Government is committed to the transition to ultra-low emission vehicles, recognizing the economic and environmental benefits this will bring. We believe that both hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles together with battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles will play an important part in the ongoing decarbonisation of our road transport.

The Government’s vision, as set out in the Carbon Plan is that by 2050 almost every car and van on the road will be an ultra-low emission vehicle (ULEV). We announced at the Spending Review that we will spend more than £600 million between 2015-16 and 2020-21 to support uptake and manufacturing of ultra-low emission vehicles in the UK, maintaining the global leadership that has seen 1 in 4 of all European electric vehicles built here and keep the UK on track for all new cars to be effectively zero emission by 2040. This investment will save 65million tonnes of carbon and help deliver the long term answer on urban air quality.

01/01/2023
Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-06.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps in the business rates review to make specific provision for the retail industry.

Mr David Gauke

The Government is considering the impact of business rates on all business sectors including energy intensive industries, manufacturing industries and the retail industry as part of the business rates review. The review will be fiscally neutral and will report at Budget 2016.

01/01/2023
Lord Wills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2016-02-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the cost of the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation in each of the last 10 years.

Lord Bates

The costs to the Government for the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation since 2011 are set out below:

2011-2012: £213,100

2012-2013: £201,700

2013-2014: £213,100

2014-2015: £270,000 (plus an additional £350,800 for the statutory Investigatory Powers Review, as required by section 7 of the Data Protection and Investigatory Powers Act 2014)

2015-2016 (to the half year point in September): £135,800

It is not possible to provide an accurate breakdown of the Independent Reviewer’s costs prior to 2011.

01/01/2023
Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will place in the Library the most recent submissions made by the parties involved in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations.

Anna Soubry

The European Commission has published a large number of documents relating to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on its website, including EU proposals for legal text, position papers and factsheets.

The Commission and the US have agreed that national parliamentarians should have access to classified TTIP documents, including consolidated texts, via reading rooms in national ministries. Restrictions placed on these rooms include that they are only accessible to officials of Member State central governments and Members of Member State national Parliaments.

The UK intends to establish such a reading room in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). This will give equivalent access to documents for Members of both Houses to that afforded to Members of the European Parliament. Members of both Houses will be informed of the process and details of how to access the room shortly, once these have been finalised.

01/01/2023
Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2016 to Question 30693, on the Pubs Code Adjudicator, how many people were approached by (a) his Department and (b) Saxton Bampflyde Limited; and how many of those people (i) previously worked and (ii) work for pub companies.

Anna Soubry

It is standard Government practice not to announce the number of people approached or the details of candidates.

01/01/2023
Lord Naseby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Naseby on 2016-04-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have received an application for grant funding from Action on Smoking and Health for 2016–17, and if so, whether they will place a copy in the Library of the House.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department has received an application for grant funding from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) for the 2016-17 financial year. The application process is iterative to ensure the final objectives are in line with Departmental aims and the application that the Department currently holds is a draft application. Draft applications for grant funding are not published.

There was no underspend of the grant awarded to ASH in 2015-16 and, in each of the last five years, the funding has been spent in the relevant financial year.

01/01/2023