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Category: Speeches

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many civil law suits have been brought against his Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998; how many such suits were settled out of court before a court judgment was delivered; and how much such settlements have cost the public purse since 2010.

    Joseph Johnson

    The information requested is not available because separate data for cases based wholly or partially on the Human Rights Act 1998 are not recorded.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2016 to Question 27887, what proportion of undecided and withdrawn appeals were (a) undecided and (b) withdrawn in each year since 2009-10; and for what reasons the number of undecided and withdrawn appeals is higher in 2015-16 than in any of the previous six years.

    Brandon Lewis

    The attached table shows the number of undecided and withdrawn planning appeals, these were previously combined in the table in the answer of 2 March.

    The undecided number for 2015-16 is much higher than other years because it includes the live casework that is in the system at present, awaiting a decision.

    The number of withdrawn planning appeals has ranged between 500 and 630 for all years except 2009-2010, when the number of appeals received was higher.

  • Lord Naseby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    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, for any grant awarded to Action on Smoking and Health in each of the last five years, how much was awarded in one financial year and spent in a subsequent one.

    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.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what powers environmental health officers have to assess excessive noise from residential and commercial properties on a street level.

    Rory Stewart

    Local authorities have a range of powers available to them to assess excessive noise from residential and commercial properties. These are set out in various pieces of legislation, including the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Noise Act 1996.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase public awareness of the role of social workers.

    Edward Timpson

    Social workers perform some of the hardest roles in society and that is why it is already a graduate profession. Government is continuing to invest in social work education and training, including through the highly successful Step Up to Social Work and Frontline programmes, both of which aim to bring high calibre graduates into child and family social work, and Think Ahead, which offers a new route for graduates and career-changers into adult mental health social work.

    Improving the quality and status of child and family ‎social work is a high priority. Higher standards, including through the introduction of a national system of assessment and accreditation will help provide greater assurance that social workers have the necessary knowledge and skills for the demanding work they do. The Government does not, however, have any specific plans to increase public awareness of the role of social workers.

    Government does not collect data on the number of cases held by social workers on a weekly basis. The department expects to publish caseload information, for the first time, relating to the year ending 30 September 2016, in February 2017.

  • David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the daily rate or fee will be for members of the proposed review committee on securing the decisive role of the House of Commons on financial matters and secondary legislation.

    John Penrose

    The Government has asked Lord Strathclyde to lead a review to examine how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to (i) its primacy on financial matters; and (ii) secondary legislation. Lord Strathclyde will be supported by a panel of experts and further details will be announced in due course.

  • Nick Hurd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Nick Hurd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Hurd on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the privatisation of the Green Investment Bank will be by asset sale or as a going concern.

    Anna Soubry

    My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills’ written Ministerial Statements of 25 June and 15 October make clear that the Government is moving UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) into private ownership and repealing the GIB legislation so that, following a sale, GIB can continue to operate as a going concern and be reclassified to the private sector with the freedom to borrow and raise a much greater volume of private capital without affecting public sector debt.

  • Chris Law – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chris Law – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of HM Revenue and Customs staff are employed to collect tax on small and medium-sized enterprises.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) allocates resources in a flexible manner to ensure that it meets individual business needs.

    Information on the structure and organisation of HMRC is available at

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrcs-annual-report-and-accounts

    “

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2015 to Question 16795, if he will undertake an assessment of activities by third parties fully funded by local authorities designed to influence Government and Parliament; and if he will extend the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity to cover such groups.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    We have continually made clear that local authorities should not be using taxpayers’ money to lobby Government; not least because they are free to contact Ministers and Members of Parliament to make their views known and indeed many do so on a regular basis. This is reflected in the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the criticism of the European Commission by Robert Stack, the US Treasury Official in charge of international tax policy, for disproportionately targeting US companies; and under what articles of the EU treaties the EU can tax foreign enterprises.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    While corporate taxation is a matter for Member States, under the EU Treaties the European Commission has competence to conduct State aid investigations in order to prevent unlawful distortion of competition and to safeguard the internal market. Investigations into tax rulings issued by EU Member States to multi-national companies were opened by the Commission in 2013. While the Commission has found illegal aid has been provided by some Members States (not including the UK) relating to some US companies, rulings under investigation also relate to a number of non-US undertakings.