Category: Speeches

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2015 to Question 18261, if she will make an assessment of the net contribution to the UK economy made by immigration from Australia, Canada and New Zealand in the last five years before proceeding with her Department’s proposals to restrict access to Tier 2 visas for Australian and New Zealand citizens.

    James Brokenshire

    There are no plans to introduce Tier 2 restrictions specifically aimed at Australian, New Zealand and/or Canadian citizens.

    The Government has commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on restricting Tier 2 to genuine skills shortages and jobs which require highly-specialised experts, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers. The MAC is looking at selection criteria such as, but not limited to, salaries, particular attributes, economic need and skills level. The Government has asked the MAC to consider the economic impact of potential changes.

    The MAC is still finalising its report and we do not yet know what its findings and recommendations will be. We await the report with interest and will consider the potential economic impacts carefully before making any significant changes to the Tier 2 route.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many expressions of interest his Department has received from organisations other than HM Treasury or private investors in funding the construction of High Speed 2.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The case for HS2 has been calculated on the basis of the project being fully publicly funded. We have not received any expressions of interest from organisations other than HM Treasury or private investors in funding the construction of High Speed.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many staff in his Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department and its non-Departmental public bodies (NDPBs) can confirm that the numbers of employees receiving: a) home to work travel allowance; b) a car allowance; and c) subsidised health insurance are as follows:

    Department of Health (DH) & NDPBs

    a) Home to Work Travel Allowance

    b) Car Allowance

    c) Subsidised Health Insurance

    DH

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    Health Education England

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    NHS England

    Nil

    7

    Nil

    Monitor

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    Care Quality Commission

    Nil

    1431

    Nil

    Health and Social Care Information Centre

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

    Nil

    11

    5

    Human Tissue Authority

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    Health Research Authority

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    Subsidised health insurance relates to optical and dental services that form part of the terms and conditions of employment by former employees of the Health Development Authority when they joined the NICE.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Prime Minister, if he will issue guidance on whether junior government ministers who are in favour of UK membership of the EU are to be allowed full access to documents in situations where the departmental Secretary of State is in favour of the UK leaving the EU.

    Mr David Cameron

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 7 March 2016, UIN 29278, and to the evidence given by the Cabinet Secretary to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on 1 March 2016, a transcript of which can be found on the Committee’s website.

  • Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse has been of legal proceedings against his Department since 2010.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Providing the requested information can only be done at the disproportionate cost threshold.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department’s policy is on forced evictions from care homes.

    Alistair Burt

    It is for providers of care to decide if they are no longer able to meet a person’s needs, or whether, for example for reasons of safety, it might be appropriate for a person to be prevented from visiting a care home.

    Such decisions should be taken according to individual circumstances and with regard to the terms of agreements and/or contracts between providers and purchasers or commissioners of care.

  • Luke Hall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Luke Hall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luke Hall on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will provide details of what additional (a) support and (b) resources his Department is providing to assist South Gloucestershire Council in meeting its universal broadband obligations.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government has implemented a basic broadband scheme to enable all premises to gain access to speeds of at least 2Mbps. This enables residents to gain access to every Government service available online. Funding for subsidised connections through the scheme is provided by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) as part of the government’s superfast broadband programme. Consumers in eligible premises can access services from any of the suppliers who have been entered onto the scheme by BDUK.

    In addition it is the Government’s intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation. This will give people the legal right to request a broadband connection, no matter where they live, by the end of this Parliament. Our ambition is that this should initially be set at 10 Mbps.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what level of funding his Department has allocated to schemes that encourage investment in wave energy in each of the last five years.

    Jesse Norman

    Over the past five years, solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, wave and tidal electricity projects have received support from either the Renewables Obligation (RO) or the Feed-in Tariff (FITs).

    Expenditure through the Renewables Obligation in 2011/12 to 2015/16 can be broken down by power generation technology shown in the table (£million in nominal prices). Solar PV and some small-scale onshore wind are also supported by the Feed In Tariff scheme, but costs are not available disaggregated by technology. Total support is shown below (£million).

    RO (£million)

    11/12

    12/13

    13/14

    14/15

    15/16

    Onshore wind

    £482.6

    £557.1

    £755.6

    £786.8

    £803.0

    Offshore wind

    £371.1

    £698.5

    £988.7

    £1,108.0

    £1,429.7

    Solar PV

    £0.1

    £0.9

    £34.9

    £133.9

    £264.8

    Wave & Tidal

    £0.1

    £0.4

    £0.4

    £0.1

    £0.2

    TOTAL RO

    £1,457.7

    £1,991.3

    £2,599.3

    £3,114.2

    £3,743.2

    TOTAL FITs

    £151

    £506

    £691

    £866

    £1,110

    Renewables Obligations: Source Ofgem:

    www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/ro/contacts-publications-and-data/publications-library-renewables-obligation

    www.ofgem.gov.uk/publication-and-updates/renewables-obligation-ro-annual-report-2014-15

    www.renewablesandchp.ofgem.gov.uk/Public/ReportManager.aspx?ReportVisibility=1&ReportCategory=0

    FITs: Source Ofgem:

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/fit/contacts-guidance-and-resources/public-reports-and-data-fit/levelisation-reports

    The Contracts for Difference Scheme opened for delivery from 2015/16 onwards. No projects started deploying in 2015/16 so no payments were made.

    “

  • Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answers of 10 June 2015 and 20 October 2015 to Questions 794 and 11461, when the decision was made not to commission an investigation into the reasons for the delay between ministerial endorsement of CWS and its entry into service referred to in the conclusions of the report attached to the first of those Answers; and what the reasons for that decision were.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The answers to Questions 794 and 11461 relate to document D/VCDS&2ndPUS/8/1/4 PR 11 which refers to a report into improving our processes for assessing equipment safety risk, not the commissioning of an investigation into the reasons for the delay between Ministerial endorsement of CWS and its entry into service.

  • Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many Syrians are temporarily displaced within Syria; and how many such people are displaced from (a) Daesh controlled areas, (b) Syrian government controlled areas and (c) other areas of conflict.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. We are the second largest bilateral donor after the US.

    The UN estimates that there are now 6.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Syria.

    We are unable to assess the exact numbers of people displaced from areas controlled by different parties to the conflict. Estimations of internal displacement are complicated by shifting front lines and the fact that most Syrian IDPs have been displaced multiple times.