Category: Speeches

  • Simon Hoare – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Simon Hoare – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hoare on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations his Department has received on the references to dairy products in the revised Eatwell Guide.

    Nicola Blackwood

    Following the publication of the Eatwell Guide, representations about dairy contribution towards the diet have been received from the Farmers’ Union of Wales, Dairy UK and the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board.

    Government continues to encourage the consumption of dairy products as part of a healthy, balanced diet and acknowledges their role as an important source of a range of nutrients.

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in how many instances his Department’s procurement department sought further information from a company on potential corruption, bribery or fraud in the last two years.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) routinely carries out checks on potential contractors prior to contract award, including on criminal activity, such as convictions for tax evasion, bribery or fraud, and a review of a company’s audited accounts. These enquiries are conducted in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011.

    This process is reiterated in all competitive and single source tender documentation issued to tenderers prior to any contract award.

    Any suspicion of corruption is reported to the appropriate authority. Where justified, the MOD can exclude potential suppliers who pose an unacceptable risk to public money.

  • Lord Turnberg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Turnberg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2015-10-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what approaches they have made to the President of the Palestinian Authority about his comments that Israel intends to take over the Temple Mount and the mosque situated there.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), emphasised the importance of calming the current tensions when he spoke to President Abbas on 9 October. On 26 October, our Consul General in Jerusalem raised our concerns with Prime Minister and Minister for Interior, Rami Hamdallah.

    Since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Government on the need to de-escalate tensions, avoid any words or actions that could incite further violence, and maintain the status quo at the holy site of Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many sexual assaults and rapes have taken place at UK universities in each of the last three years.

    Joseph Johnson

    This information is not held centrally by Government, although polices forces will record cases of sexual assault and rape. At the request of the Government, Universities UK has set up a task force that will bring together relevant stakeholders to explore what more can be done to support the higher education sector to prevent, and respond effectively, to incidents of violence and sexual harassment against women, hate crimes and other forms of harassment. The task force is considering a range of potential measures, and its work includes an analysis of the nature and scale of the problem.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has been approached by (a) Stockport local authority, (b) Tameside local authority and (c) the Greater Manchester combined authority to approve the re-designation of school land for housing development in the last three years.

    Edward Timpson

    Since January 2013, the Secretary of State for Education has received:

    • 1 application from Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, this is currently being considered.
    • 4 applications from Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, all have been approved.
    • 19 applications from the Greater Manchester combined authority, 1 is being considered and the other 18 have been approved.

    These figures include applications in those local authorities relating to land held by Academy Trusts under a lease from the local authority.

    The Education Act 2011 requires that the Secretary of State must give consent prior to the disposal of land which has been used for any school or academy in the last eight years. Secretary of State consent is also required under section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 where local authorities wish to dispose of playing field land that has been used by a school in the last ten years. A key consideration for the government is whether the land proposed for disposal could be suitable for use by a new school.

    There are a range of reasons for these disposals. Some disposals are leases from the academy trustees back to the local authority, which allow a children’s centre on site to continue or which provide land for another school. A substantial number of consents refer to local authority maintained school sites for outright disposals where the school has closed or relocated to a new build site.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many organisations were affected by his Department’s pilot of anti-sock puppet rules; how many exemptions were made under that pilot scheme; and what estimate he has made of the savings to the public purse that arose from that pilot scheme.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The guidelines ensure that government grants are only spent on the good causes and programmes spelt out in the underlying grant agreement, and prevent taxpayers’ money being diverted to unproductive lobbying. The savings are thus delivered by ensuring all such public money is properly spent on the intended purposes, rather than seeking to reduce the absolute level of government grants as a consequence of stopping taxpayer-funded lobbying.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Mr Hugo Swire, on 25 February (HC27824), how many joint UK-China projects to counter the human trafficking of North Koreans have taken place in the past three years; what the objectives were of those projects; and what their outcomes were.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have not supported any joint UK-China projects to counter the trafficking of North Koreans in the past three years. Our Embassy in China continues to fund projects to prevent trafficking in general, and we are currently funding a project involving an international non-governmental organisation to address the issue of child trafficking. We also continue to work with the Chinese authorities to prevent Chinese nationals being trafficked to the UK.

    As the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), said in his reply of 25 February, we regularly discuss the range of issues on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with China, and we will seek to include this issue in the next round of the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the findings of Human Rights Watch in its recent report Nepotism and Neglect, which identifies the failure of the authorities in Bangladesh to respond to the effects of arsenic in the drinking water of Bangladesh’s rural poor; and whether they will raise that issue with the government of Bangladesh.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK Government along with other donors, discusses issues such as safe drinking water with members of the Government of Bangladesh. Water quality testing, which focussed upon arsenic, has been a major part of DFID’s support for ensuring access to clean arsenic free water in rural Bangladesh. DFID has also supported arsenic testing by assisting the Government of Bangladesh to establish a national water-point database. The UK works with the Government of Bangladesh to use the database to identify water points which exceed the arsenic national standard can be identified and corrective necessary action taken.

    DFID has also delivered large scale results on water, sanitation and hygiene education through our strategic partnership with BRAC. This has given 699,000 people access to clean drinking water, including in arsenic prone areas, through deep tube wells, piped water supply systems and pond sand filters to over the last 5 years.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average length of time between an application being made for a Venture Capital Trust Scheme and the scheme taking effect was in each of the last six years.

    Mr David Gauke

    The average time between a company applying to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for approval as a Venture Capital Trust (VCT) and receiving approval in the last six tax years was as follows:

    Tax year

    Number of VCTs approved

    Average time taken to approve applications (days)

    2010-11

    16

    7

    2011-12

    6

    9

    2012-13 to 2015-16

    6

    16

    Notes

    1. The information for the years 2012-13 to 2015-16 has been grouped owing to the low numbers of VCTs seeking approval in each of those years. Disclosure of average times in each of those years could identify specific companies.

    2. The number of VCTs approved each year is provided in order to give context for the averages reported.

    3. The average time includes non-working days such as weekends and public holidays. Fractions of days are rounded up to the nearest day.

    4. The amount of time taken to approve a company as a VCT depends upon the specific facts of each case. Two cases in the period from 2012-13 to 2015-16 had significantly longer approval times, raising the average for this period. If those cases were excluded, the average time would have been 10 days.

    5. A company cannot raise funds from VCT investors until it has been listed on a regulated stock market. HMRC does not hold information about the date of listing although that information is publicly available.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the placing of mental health patients in care homes is in compliance with NHS guidelines on patient care.

    Nicola Blackwood

    A person who requires mental health treatment should have their needs assessed by a mental health professional who will then refer them for treatment in the least restrictive environment to meet their clinical needs and risk. For the majority of patients care and treatment will be provided while they are living in their own home.

    If a person needs treatment which can only be provided in hospital or their level of risk is such that it can only be managed in a hospital then that treatment would be provided in a hospital, which is registered to provide that type of care. It is unlikely that a care home could provide care and treatment for a person who has been assessed as needing hospital treatment.