Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Suttie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Suttie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Suttie on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of Libyan refugees currently residing in Tunisia.

    Baroness Verma

    Since 2014, UNHCR has co-ordinated inter-agency efforts to prepare for a possible influx of refugees and asylum-seekers from Libya, at the request of the Tunisian government and in close cooperation with UN agencies and partners. Its most recent assessment reported that there were 928 people of concern residing in Tunisia, mostly from Syria.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease in (a) England and (b) Wales applied for disability living allowance in each of the last five years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department does not hold such information about the disabling condition of people who have applied for Disability Living Allowance. Information on DLA claimants’ disabling condition is only held for those who have entitlement to the benefit.

    The information we have for the number of people claiming (i.e. entitled to) Disability Living Allowance, by main disabling condition and geography is published and available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

    Guidance for users can be found at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

    “

  • Lord Moonie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Moonie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moonie on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many male and female enlistments in the armed forces there were in the past year.

    Earl Howe

    In the 12 months to 30 September 2015, 12,250 males and 1,330 females joined the UK Regular Armed Forces. In the same period, 380 males and 30 females aged under 18 years left the UK Regular Armed Forces.

    A full breakdown of these figures can be found in, respectively, tables six and 11 of our Biannual Diversity Statistics publication (the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet) at the following address:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-2015

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department plans to collect data on Government funding allocated to brain tumour research.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department does not routinely collect data on government funding for research in specific disease areas or conditions. However, information on spending on research into cancer, including research on brain tumours, is collected by the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI), a UK-wide partnership between the government, charity and industry which promotes co-operation in cancer research among the 22 member organisations.

    Information on all Research Council and Innovate UK research funding is published on the RCUK Gateway to Research (http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/).

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many racehorses (a) died and (b) were destroyed at each of Britain’s 59 racecourses in (i) 2013, (ii) 2014 and (iii) 2015.

    George Eustice

    The Government does not hold information on racehorse fatalities. However, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) publishes annual statistics on their website on the number of racehorse fatalities. The statistics do not record whether the horse died of its injuries or was destroyed at the racecourse and do not differentiate between the different sorts of horseracing, but according to the BHA the numbers of racehorses that died at racetracks for each of the last three years are provided in the table below:

    Year

    Number of racehorse fatalities at British racetracks

    2013

    196

    2014

    189

    2015

    156
  • Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2016 to Question 37587, what progress the Government has made on consulting local authorities to identified a specified number of children refugees to be resettled in the UK in the next year under subsection (1) of 67 of the Immigration Act of 2016.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Local authorities are already caring for more than 4,000 unaccompanied asylum seeking children. The Government has consulted widely and extensively with local authorities across the UK in order to assess their capacity to care for additional unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children.

    The Home Office has also significantly increased the funding available to local authorities that are supporting unaccompanied children and offered additional funding to bolster regional structures for the National Transfer Scheme, which is the mechanism for ensuring there is a more even distribution of unaccompanied children across the UK.

    Between 12 May and 1 October 2016 over 50 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act were accepted for transfer, of which over 35 have been transferred. We continue to work with the French, Greek and Italian authorities to establish the number of children who may be eligible and have seconded UK experts to France, Greece and Italy to support the commitment to transfer eligible children to the UK, where it is in their best interests.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Burmese government about (a) human rights and (b) conduct of the election in November 2015 in that country.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    I have consistently raised both human rights and elections in bilateral meetings I have held with the Burmese government in 2015. I raised both issues with the Burmese authorities during my most recent visit to the country in July, and reiterated these points when I met the Burmese Foreign Minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, in September in New York. I also regularly raise these issues in public, as I did during the adjournment debate on Burma on 22 October, and in multilateral fora, such as at the UN Secretary General’s Burma Partnership Group on 29 September.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many local housing allowance rates were subject to the overall caps rates for the relevant property size in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2013-14 and (d) 2014-15.

    Justin Tomlinson

    In 2011-12 Local Housing Allowance rates were uprated on a monthly basis. In April 2011, eleven LHA rates were set at the level of the LHA caps for the relevant property size. By the end of the year, in March 2012, seventeen LHA rates were set at the level of the caps. In 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 the number of LHA rates subject to the caps was 17, 15 and 18 respectively.

  • John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of financial controls and reporting systems for charities in response to the liquidation of Kids Company.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    In the light of the events surrounding Kids Company the Cabinet Office has launched a detailed review of how it makes grants under Section 70 of the Charities Act. The review is considering the criteria used to assess risk and is developing a proposal for a new and more rigorous approval process. The review will also take into account recommendations made by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and the Public Accounts Committee.

  • Earl Baldwin of Bewdley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Earl Baldwin of Bewdley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Earl Baldwin of Bewdley on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the percentage of water involved in fluoridation schemes that reaches the teeth of children it is designed to benefit, taking account of industrial, agricultural, municipal, domestic and other usage, and of the leakage from mains supplies.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The 2008 Water Strategy for England reported that households account for 52% of the use of public water supplies. Around 7% of the water used in homes is used for drinking and cooking; an additional percentage will be used for tooth brushing.

    There are no separate figures for water supplied in fluoridation schemes. Such schemes tend to supply more urban areas and it is reasonable to expect a greater domestic use than would be the case for supplies serving areas with significant agricultural or industrial use.