Category: Speeches

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

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the breadth of physical activity opportunities beyond sport available to children (a) in and (b) out of school.

    Edward Timpson

    We want all children to lead healthy and active lives. The government will publish a new sports strategy by the end of 2015. The strategy will set out how the government intends to support young people to participate in, and engage with sport and physical activity.

    Schools can offer a variety of opportunities for children to be physically active. Physical education (PE) is a compulsory subject at all four Key Stages in the national curriculum for maintained schools. The curriculum sets out the expectation that pupils should be physically active for sustained periods of time. Teachers have the flexibility to organise and deliver a range of activities.

    Through the Primary PE and Sport Premium, the government has committed over £450m of ring-fenced funding to primary schools to improve the quality of their PE and sport provision.

    Other programmes focused on increasing physical activity include Change4Life Sports Clubs and the Young Ambassador Peer Leaders programme. Change4Life Sports Clubs aim to increase the physical activity, health and wellbeing of the least active children through healthy lifestyle activities. In May 2015, an independent evaluation on Change4Life Primary Clubs found that around 270,000 children participated in Change4Life Primary Clubs over the lifetime of the programme (2011/12 – 2014/15). Young Ambassadors are primary and secondary pupils who promote physical activity across their school and lead activities with their less active peers.

    Outside of school, more than 385,000 families signed up to the Change4Life 10 Minute Shake Up summer campaign and over 700,000 children participated. The campaign encouraged children to team up with some of their favourite Disney characters and enjoy 10 Minute Shake Up activities to keep them healthy and physically active.

    The government is also keen to encourage more pupils to walk to school. Statutory guidance for local authorities on travel and transport to school was published in July 2014. Local authorities have a duty to promote the use of sustainable travel and transport and to develop a strategy for sustainable local travel.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has accrued to the public purse from criminal courts charges since their introduction.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Data relating to the criminal courts charge for the period April to September 2015 will be published on 17 December 2015.

    Enforcement action is taken against the total amount an offender owes and offenders are often ordered to pay more than one type of financial imposition.

    The cost of enforcing the criminal courts charge cannot be separated from the total cost of enforcing all types of court ordered financial impositions.

    It is not possible to identify how many people have had a criminal courts charge imposed in magistrates or crown courts or for specific offences without carrying out a manual search of all financial imposition accounts which would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of potential savings to the public purse arising from the proposed residence test for legal aid.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    It is right that individuals should have a strong connection with the UK to benefit from taxpayer funded legal aid. The residence test proposed during the previous Parliament is a fair and appropriate way to demonstrate that connection.

    The Government does not currently record the residence status of civil legal aid clients so cannot accurately estimate the annual savings that may be achieved by introducing a civil legal aid residence test. It is likely there will be a reduction in legal aid volumes and expenditure from imposing residence restrictions on civil legal aid, resulting in savings to the legal aid fund.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support the provision of rural bus services in West Yorkshire.

    Andrew Jones

    Decisions about the provision of bus services requiring local government subsidy are a matter for individual English local authorities, in the light of their other spending priorities.

    The majority of public funding for local bus services is via block grant provided to local authorities in England from the Department for Communities and Local Government. However, my Department also provides around £40m of Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) funding directly to English local authorities to help deliver bus services, of which over £2 million goes to West Yorkshire.

  • 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 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26719, what change programmes are underway which are expected to reduce the number of his Department’s civilian employees.

    Mark Lancaster

    The main change programmes which are in progress and expected to deliver significant civilian workforce reductions are Army re-basing, the US Visiting Forces restructuring, and transformation of Information Systems and Services.

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is also considering further programmes which are intended to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of defence outputs and the support provided to the Armed Forces. These include plans to reduce the overall Defence Estate; provision of Defence Fire and Emergency services; transforming the provision of hard and soft facility management, arrangements for infrastructure policing, options for the delivery of the MOD Guard Service and for the provision of shared corporate services. Each of these further programmes may impact on civilian staff. As I stated in my previous answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26719, the timing and reductions associated with individual programmes are still to be determined.

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2016 to the hon. Member for St Albans to Question 30493, on health services: EU nationals, if he will take steps to collect and publish before 23 June 2016 estimates of the numbers of nationals of other EU member states who received acute care at hospital trusts in each of the last 10 years.

    Alistair Burt

    There are no plans to collect, estimate or publish this information.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many 16 and 17 year olds from (a) West Midlands and (b) Birmingham Yardley have participated in the National Citizen Service in each year since it was piloted in 2011.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

  • The Countess of Mar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The Countess of Mar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Countess of Mar on 2016-06-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Department for Transport has ever consulted ExxonMobil and other lubricant manufacturers about whether they have ever undertaken inhalation toxicity testing of heated engine oils as a whole, and if so, with what results.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Committee of Toxicity (COT) referred to this and other research on pyrolysed oils in the 2007 Statement that it published after being commissioned by the Department for Transport to undertake a scientific review of data submitted by the British Airline Pilots’ Association on the possible effects on aircrew health of oil/hydraulic fluid smoke/fume contamination incidents in commercial aircraft.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-09-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the draft BBC Charter and Agreement will be laid before Parliament.

    Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

    The BBC’s draft Charter and Framework Agreement published was published on Thursday 15th September.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recent figures on household food waste published by the Waste and Resources Action Programme; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce domestic food waste.

    Rory Stewart

    Working through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), we are helping households waste less and save money through the Courtauld Commitment and the Love Food Hate Waste campaign. They have contributed to a 15% reduction in the amount of household food and drink waste between 2007 and 2012, from 8.3 m tonnes to 7.0 m tonnes. The current phase of the Courtauld Commitment has a target to reduce household food waste by a further 5% by the end of this year.

    In addition, signatories have reported a 7.4% reduction in supply chain waste between 2009 and 2012, with interim results for Courtauld 3 showing a further 3.2% reduction by 2014.

    WRAP is currently brokering a new agreement, Courtauld 2025, which is expected to start next year and will build on this progress.