Category: Speeches

  • Lord Campbell-Savours – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Campbell-Savours – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Campbell-Savours on 2015-12-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, before 13 November, the B1 planning class remained a requirement for offices that also qualified for a residential planning designation.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    We announced on 12 October that the permitted development right for the change of use from office to residential will be made permanent. We further announced that the rights will in future provide for an office to be demolished and replaced on a like-for-like basis as residential. The details of the rights including any requirements about the use, eligibility criteria and any matters for prior approval, including in relation to demolition and replacement, will be provided in due course.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that people using mobile telephones to call 999 are put in touch with the correct police force; and if she will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

    The 999/112 Liaison Committee, chaired by DCMS, provides a forum for representatives from Government; Communications Providers, including BT (which provides the 999 call handling agency) and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs); emergency services and Ofcom, to discuss 999 operational matters The LC’s main concern is the effective handling and transfer of emergency calls from the public, through call handling agents ,to emergency authorities.

    The “Code of Practice for the Public Emergency Call Service (PECS) between Communications Providers, Call Handing Agencies and the Emergency Authorities” sets out protocols governing 999 calls. This includes guidelines for the Emergency Authorities to manage any occasional situation in which an emergency 999 call is misdirected.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-02-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel regarding the continued detention of Mohammed al-Qeeq, currently on hunger strike, without charge or trial.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not made any representations on this specific case, officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv are following this case and those of the other hunger strikers closely and have spoken to Amnesty International about them. Officials from our Consulate General in Jerusalem maintain a dialogue with the relevant Palestinian organisations about the condition of the hunger strikers. The EU in Jerusalem recently issued a local statement on administrative detentions, including the case of Mr Al Qeeq. We have been informed that Mr al-Qeeq is in a stable condition and has not been forced-fed as alleged.

    We remain concerned about Israel’s extensive use of administrative detention which, according to international law, should be used only when security makes this absolutely necessary rather than as routine practice, and as a preventive rather than a punitive measure.

  • Lord Tebbit – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Tebbit – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2016-03-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 2 March (HL6363), whether they have the power to make regulations requiring origin marking of dairy products without the consent of the EU.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    We have consistently pushed within Europe for improved origin labelling on all food and these efforts have resulted in strong requirements for meat and meat products in the Food Information Regulations EU 1169/2011. We will continue to seek even stronger origin requirements for dairy products, to ensure that where the dairy ingredient of cheese, butter and cream is different from the place of manufacture this is clearly declared on the label.

    Where there are harmonised measures, domestic legislation normally takes into account the principles of mutual recognition to prevent deliberate trade barriers between Member States.

    The UK food industry recognises that country of origin information is important to British consumers and in 2011 industry developed and committed to a set of voluntary principles for clearer country of origin labelling. The proposed EU implementing act will strengthen the voluntary principles and improve the quality and consistency of origin information.

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff are employed in delivering the Fit for Work programme in (a) Sheffield, (b) Nantgarw and (c) the UK.

    Justin Tomlinson

    As at 31 March 2016, Health Management Limited (HML), which delivers in England and Wales, employs 83.93 staff at its Sheffield office, 18 staff at its Nantgarw office and a further 19.6 staff elsewhere in England and Wales. Fit for Work Scotland employs 46.4 staff in Scotland. The total for the UK is therefore 167.9.

    (Staffing numbers are given in full-time-equivalent figures)

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-05-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government took in response to the report of the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones, chaired by Sir William Stewart, published in 2000; what steps the Government has taken in response to that report’s recommendations on limiting children’s use of mobile phones; what research the Government has commissioned or undertaken since that report on that issue; and whether any such research supported or contradicted the findings of that report.

    Jane Ellison

    The Government published a detailed response to the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP) report’s recommendations and set in place a range of measures to address concerns about mobile phones and health. International guidelines for limiting exposures to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields were adopted, and precautionary advice to mobile phone users was published. The Mobile Telecommunications Health Research Programme ran for 11 years after the IEGMP report and government continues to support research on this topic.

    IEGMP concluded the balance of evidence at the time of its report did not suggest mobile phone technologies put the health of the population at risk; that remains the case after a considerable volume of more recent national and international research.

    Precautionary advice to mobile phone users has been maintained and is available here:

    http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Mobile-phone-safety/Pages/Introduction.aspx

    “

  • John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that his Department’s purchasing policies support British (a) industry and (b) agriculture.

    George Freeman

    The Department’s purchasing policies support the Government’s commitment to do all it can to ensure United Kingdom suppliers can compete effectively for public sector contracts, in line with our current international obligations and guidance issued by the Crown Commercial Service.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-09-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Indonesia concerning the death penalty.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We raise our concerns at the highest level and will continue to do so. The former Prime Minister (the Right Hon. Mr David Cameron) reiterated our position to Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in April. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Reading West (Mr Sharma) has expressed his concerns about the executions that took place in July.

  • Kelly Tolhurst – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kelly Tolhurst – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelly Tolhurst on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on changing the police funding formula.

    Mike Penning

    Current police funding arrangements are complex, opaque and out of date. This reflects views put forward by PCCs, police forces and Committees of this House. It is essential that we come to a new funding formula that is fair, transparent and matched to demand – but also one that is supported by policing as a whole. However, we have listened to the views of policing partners and are minded to delay the proposed changes to the formula for 2016/17.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Julian Sturdy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2015-12-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of changing the VAT status of care providers to zero-rated in order to assist them in meeting the cost of complying with the national living wage.

    Mr David Gauke

    Care services provided by certain bodies are subject to a mandatory VAT exemption under EU VAT rules.

    EU VAT rules do not allow the introduction of any new zero rates without the unanimous agreement of all 28 Member States on the basis of a proposal from the Commission.