Category: Speeches

  • Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Leader of the House, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2016 to Question 43403, what the evidential basis is for his assertion that no hon. Members have handed in the text of their Bill; what discussions he and his officials have had with House authorities on the status of each of the Private Members’ Bills presented on 29 June 2016; and which Bills have been received by Parliamentary Counsel in draft as part of the process of discussion with Departments.

    Mr David Lidington

    Bills formally submitted to the Public Bill Office are available to all Members and are published online. Government Departments are holding discussions with several Members about their Bills.

    The Government will set out its position on each Bill at the relevant Second Reading.

  • Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of steps taken by (a) his Department and (b) the Burmese government to stop the use of child soldiers in that country.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We welcomed the commitment the Burmese government made to ending the recruitment of child soldiers in signing the UN’s Action Plan in 2012. Since then Burma has made some progress, including the release of over 600 child soldiers and, in September, signing the Optional Protocol to the Convention on Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. However, we are clear that more still needs to be done. Access to military units and non-state armed groups continues to be restricted, release of child soldiers has been limited, and while recruitment of children has slowed, it has not ceased entirely. We are also aware of reports that children continue to be arrested for “desertion”. I raised this issue with Minister of the President’s Office, U Aung Min, when I visited Burma in July and we will continue to do so with the Burmese authorities, including to press for swift implementation of the Optional Protocol.

  • Alan Whitehead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alan Whitehead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Whitehead on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what level of actual or projected overspend against original projections of expenditure under the Levy Control Framework she has identified for each year from 2014 to 2018; and in which of those years overspend has exceeded the 20 per cent headroom within the Levy Control Framework agreement between her Department and HM Treasury.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Office for Budget Responsibility published updated projections on spending under the Levy Control Framework on 25 November:

    http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/economic-fiscal-outlook-november-2015/.

    “

  • Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Anne Main on 2016-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has allocated to promoting freedom of worship in 2015-16; and how much her Department has spent on assisting religious minorities against persecution in developing countries in each of the last three years.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK’s development and humanitarian aid is not targeted at specific groups but at the poorest, regardless of race, religion, creed, or nationality. The UK attaches great importance to ensuring that people of all faiths can participate fully in society and live without fear of abuse or discrimination.DFID works closely with the FCO to raise concerns on freedom of religion with partner governments.DFID does not collect specific data on allocation of funds for promoting freedom of worship.

  • Martin Vickers – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Martin Vickers – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martin Vickers on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many small businesses responded to the Government’s consultation, Devolving Sunday trading rules, published on 5 August 2015; and what (a) number and (b) proportion of those respondents answered (i) yes, (ii) no and (iii) otherwise to Question one of that consultation.

    Anna Soubry

    The Department does not hold full data from this consultation broken down by specific question as a large portion of respondents chose to respond in their own words rather than addressing the consultation questions directly, and/or did not indicate the type of organisation they represented.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have registered for free flood warnings provided by the Environment Agency; and what steps she has taken to ensure that more people so register.

    Rory Stewart

    As of 1 March 2016 there were a total of 1,146,146 properties registered to receive flood warnings in England.

    Environment Agency staff work with communities to prepare them for flooding. They encourage people to fully register for the service by knocking on the doors of residents and businesses who are not registered to receive flood warnings, running local events and attending appropriate shows and seminars to encourage sign-up. Callers to the Floodline call centre are encouraged to register if they are not already on the system.

    Alongside work to encourage people to ‘opt-in’ to the service, the Environment Agency has automatically added 400,000 mobile phone numbers registered to locations at high risk of flooding provided by the company ‘EE’. They are currently working with 3 other major mobile phone companies to access their numbers too. This approach increases the number of people that the Environment Agency can automatically add to their warning system.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS has spent on overseas recruitment exercises in each of the last five years for which data is available.

    Ben Gummer

    Local National Health Service organisations are best placed to decide how many staff they employ and how best to recruit those staff to meet services tailored to the needs of their patients and local communities, to deliver safe care. Information on the costs that NHS trusts may have incurred when seeking to employ staff either within the United Kingdom or overseas is not collected by the Department.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many dentists have been registered as working in NHS practices in Ashfield constituency in the (a) 2015-16, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2009-10 financial year.

    Alistair Burt

    The information requested is not collected in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the following table.

    Number of dentists with National Health Service activity, for specified years ending 31 March – selected organisations

    Organisation Name

    2009-10

    2012-13

    2014-15

    Nottinghamshire County Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT)

    331

    ..

    ..

    NHS Mansfield and Ashfield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

    ..

    87

    85

    NHS Newark and Sherwood CCG

    ..

    48

    53

    NHS Nottingham North and East CCG

    ..

    96

    103

    NHS Nottingham West CCG

    ..

    52

    60

    NHS Rushcliffe CCG

    ..

    56

    69

    Sources: Health and Social Care Information Centre; NHS Dental Services of the NHS Business Services Authority

    Notes:

    1. Dentists are defined as performers with NHS activity recorded in each financial year by FP17 forms.

    2. Dentists will be counted more than once if they have a contract in more than one CCG or PCT (2009-10).

    Therefore a total for the specified CCGs is not provided in 2012-13 and 2014-15.

    3. Data consists of performers in General Dental Services (GDS), Personal Dental Services (PDS) and Trust-led Dental Services (TDS).

    4. ‘ .. ‘ denotes data not applicable

    5. As at 1 April 2013 CCG replaced PCTs. 2009-10 data are not available by CCG.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to ensure stability in the housing market and increase the confidence of property developers since the EU referendum of 23 June 2016.

    Greg Hands

    Ministers have met with house builders and industry leaders since the Referendum result to ensure stability.

    Britain’s economy is fundamentally strong. Markets have been volatile, but they have continued to function effectively. The Treasury, the Bank of England and the FCA are watching markets, including the housing market, extremely closely.

    Action by the government over the last seven years has substantially strengthened the resilience of the financial system. Capital requirements for the largest banks are now ten times higher than before the crisis. Yesterday (5th July) the Chancellor announced that the Bank of England will use the new powers given to them by Government to help boost the lending capacity of the banks to our economy. UK’s main lenders have agreed to make this extra capital available to support lending to UK businesses and households in this challenging time.

    Government remains committed to boosting housing supply, including by delivering the most ambitious affordable house building programme since the 1970’s.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making the provision of youth services a statutory duty for councils.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    Government does place an existing statutory duty on local authorities through the Education Act 2006 (Section 507B) to secure, as far as is practicable, sufficient services and activities to improve the wellbeing of young people. However, in fulfilling this responsibility government believes that local authorities should be empowered to decide how best to secure services that meet the needs of young people within the budget that is available to them.

    Government is committed to ensuring all young people can reach their full potential and has recently announced an £80 million investment in the youth sector that is being delivered through the Youth Investment Fund and the #iwill Fund.