Category: Speeches

Paul Scully – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Scully on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when the Government will inform local authorities of the increased funding that will be available for housing Syrian refugees.

Richard Harrington

The first 12 months of a refugee’s resettlement costs are funded by Government using the Overseas Development Aid budget.

In November 2015 the Government announced around £129 million to assist with local authority costs over years 2-5 for those local authorities who are resettlling refugees under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. This is unringfenced funding and it will be for local authorities to decide how to use the funding to support the refugees they resettle.

01/01/2023
Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the 2010 contract for £15 million with BAE Systems for the replacement of propulsion systems in the eight Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessels is still to be completed by October 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

To date, work to replace the propulsion system on four of the Hunt Class mine countermeasures vessels has been completed with the fifth due for completion later this year. Due to changes applied to the ships upkeep programme combined with the need to address emerging engineering issues, work on the remaining three vessels is now scheduled for completion by late 2019.

01/01/2023
Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Shuker on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on whether the National Police Chiefs’ Council consulted academics in producing its revised prostitution strategy.

Karen Bradley

Within the structure of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), chief officers are elected by their peers and take the lead on specific issues from a national operational perspective. It is for the national leads to establish working groups to support them in their role. The Home Office is in regular dialogue with on the NPCC Lead for Prostitution’s office, and as such discussed and commented on the current revision of the strategy.

Prostitution is a complex issue, which can impact on individuals and communities in many different ways, and we are therefore clear that local areas and police forces are in the best position to identify and respond to issues around prostitution in their area. Police forces are assisted in doing so by the National Policing Lead’s refreshed Policing Sex Work Strategy, which stresses the priority of the public protection duty that the police services have in relation to the safety of those involved in prostitution.

01/01/2023
Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on Scottish sport of changes to the funding of BBC Alba.

Mr Edward Vaizey

It is a matter for MG Alba how it distributes funding across it services. The previous government provided two one-off grants to MG ALBA, which we understand was put into developing the drama series Bannan.

01/01/2023
Grant Shapps – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grant Shapps on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to ensure all frontline NHS staff are trained in suicide prevention; and whether such training will be compulsory.

Ben Gummer

It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. It is the responsibility of employers to ensure staff receive appropriate training to deliver high quality healthcare. This includes training in suicide prevention. There are no plans to make it compulsory.

01/01/2023

Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many claims the NHS Litigation Authority has spent on defending claims in which liability is admitted before trial in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

The Department does not hold the information requested. This data has been supplied by the National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHS LA).

The NHS LA aims to resolve claims promptly and fairly without court proceedings or going to trial wherever possible. It does not record cases which resolve within one week of trial separately.

The table below shows the number of claims the NHS LA has defended where (a) the claim has been resolved in favour of the claimant and (b) judgement has been given in favour of the claimant in each of the last five years.

Year of trial	Number of claims resolved in favour of claimant	Number of claims resolved in favour of defendant
2011-12	11	22
2012-13	9	32
2013-14	9	34
2014-15	21	39
Total	50	127

Source: NHS LA

Date: May 2016

We understand that the hon. Member maybe asking for the number claims in which liability is admitted before trial.

The table below shows the number of cases in which liability is admitted before trial.

Year resolved for damages payment	Pre trial
2011-12	5,306
2012-13	5,262
2013-14	5,354
2014-15	5,801

Source: NHS LA

Date: May 2016

01/01/2023

Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive on steps to support first-time buyers.

Brandon Lewis

The Secretary of State has had no formal meetings with his counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive.

However, the Department is actively involved with the British Irish Council, who meet frequently to discuss cross-cutting housing issues and share expertise.

01/01/2023
Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much tax has accrued to the Exchequer from the reported removal of £6.1 billion from pension funds since the new pensions flexibility rules were introduced, and how much they estimate will accrue by 2020.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The latest estimate of the tax revenue consequences of the introduction of pensions flexibility was set out in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook in March 2016. This stated, in paragraph 4.40, that: “tax from pension withdrawals relating to the pension flexibility measure is expected to be around £0.9 billion for the whole of 2015-16, around £0.2 billion higher than assumed in the original costing”.

The estimated longer term tax impacts of the pensions flexibility measures announced at Budget 2014 were set out in Chart 1.11 (page 45) of the Budget 2014 document.

01/01/2023
Lord Rennard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the independent report commissioned by the Electoral Commission, Evaluation of Electoral Administration at the EU Referendum, published in August, which showed that almost half of Counting Officers responsible for the referendum considered that their teams had insufficient funds available to support the work required to compile the electoral register, whether they plan to review the electoral registration funding process.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

It is the responsibility of Local Authorities, under the Representation of the People Act 1983, to appoint an Electoral Registration Officer who has a statutory duty to maintain registers of UK Parliamentary and local government electors for their area. To support Local Authorities with this process, and fund the transition to Individual Electoral Registration, the Cabinet Office has provided over £25 million of funding in 2014/2015 and over £15 million in 2015/2016. In addition, the Government has committed to cover the additional costs associated with the modernisation of electoral registration for at least the rest of this parliament.

01/01/2023
Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has received notification of, or has itself noted, any unusual submarine activity in the vicinity of internet and telephony cables in the Atlantic Ocean; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt

I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 3 November 2015 to Question 13593 to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Mr Chapman).

01/01/2023