Category: Speeches

  • Lord MacKenzie of Culkein – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord MacKenzie of Culkein – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord MacKenzie of Culkein on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made representations to the governments of France and Norway about their discontinuing the transmission of Enhanced Loran signals on 31 December 2015, and if not, why not.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Officials continue to discuss with their counterparts in France and Norway the decision by those countries to discontinue Loran transmissions, to understand their reasoning and plans for the disused transmitters.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to improve trade with (a) Hong Kong and (b) China as a whole.

    Anna Soubry

    Increasing trade and growth through exports, to all overseas markets including Hong Kong and China is a key factor in the Government’s long-term economic plan. Government departments are working together to support UK businesses looking to take advantage of overseas opportunities and to create a strong business environment that allows them to flourish on the international stage.

    The focus on China and Hong Kong is exemplified by the fact that UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has some 180 full-time equivalent posts in these markets, representing its largest overseas team working on trade and investment. UKTI also works in partnership with the China Britain Business Council (CBBC) which delivers volume trade support on its behalf for UK companies looking to export to China. CBBC offers support for UK businesses across 13 strategic locations in China.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) men and (b) women who were remanded in custody received a custodial sentence of the same or a shorter length than the time they had spent on remand in the last year for which information is available.

    Mike Penning

    The information requested is not held centrally, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the merits of planting noise barriers with vegetation alongside motorways and trunk roads.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department for Transport has made no recent assessment of the merits of planting noise barriers with vegetation alongside motorways and trunk roads.

    Guidance on the design of noise barriers, which includes vegetated barriers, is contained within the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges:

    http://www.standardsforhighways.co.uk/ha/standards/DMRB/vol10/section5.htm

    “

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for how long provision has been made under the Public Duty Cost Allowance for payments to the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam.

    Ben Gummer

    The purpose of the Public Duties Cost Allowance is to assist former Prime Ministers with the costs of continuing to fulfil duties associated with their previous position in public life. Exceptionally, the then Prime Minister agreed that the former Deputy Prime Minister , the Rt Hon Member for Sheffield Hallam, should be able to have access to the allowance to recognise the special position he held in the Coalition Government. Other former Deputy Prime Ministers are not eligible for the allowance. The allowance is set at a maximum limit of £115,000 per annum. The amounts paid are a reimbursement of expenses, accounted for in the published Cabinet Office Annual Reports and Accounts. The former Deputy Prime Minister is eligible for the allowance from the date of leaving ministerial office for the duration of this Parliament.

  • Baroness Parminter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Parminter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Parminter on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made, and when they plan to implement their commitment in the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests to work on new procurement policies to limit the consumption of commodities associated with deforestation.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Joint Statement on REDD+ by the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway made at the United Nations Climate Summit on 23 September 2014 in support of the New York Declaration on Forests contains a commitment that:

    “We will work with other consumer countries to promote national commitments that encourage deforestation-free supply chains, including through public procurement policies to sustainably source commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef and timber“.

    The Government Buying Standard for food and catering was amended in October 2012 to include a new requirement to procure palm oil, palm kernel oil and derivatives from sustainable sources. All food and catering products bought by central Government must meet these sustainability requirements.

    The Government’s Timber Procurement Policy also requires central Government Departments, Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies to procure timber and timber products that are both legal and sustainable.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Attorney General, which regulations his Office introduced as a result of EU legislation in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015 to date; which regulations his Office expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2016 and (ii) 2017; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

    Robert Buckland

    The Attorney General’s Office has not introduced any regulations as a result of EU legislation over the past three years and has no plans to do so during the next two years.

  • Angus Brendan MacNeil – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Brendan MacNeil – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to upgrade the Hebrides Range radar on St Kilda.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence’s current planning assumption for the Watchman radar on the Hebrides Range is that it will be upgraded in November 2020.

  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he is having with his Russian counterpart on improving collaboration on defence affairs.

    Michael Fallon

    I am not currently engaged in any discussions with my Russian counterpart. The illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Russia’s continuing support to separatists in eastern Ukraine do not allow a return to normal engagement.

    However, in the interests of Air and Maritime safety, I have authorised MOD officials to undertake limited military to military engagement with the Russians, which is now in progress.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been accommodated in temporary dispersal accommodation under a contract with Compass for the provision of asylum accommodation in each Compass region in each month since April 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office does not centrally record the number of people accommodated in temporary dispersal accommodation each month and such information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.