Category: Speeches

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2015 to Question 18596, if he will make it his policy to collect data on the proportion of the prison population who have mental health problems and identify as LGBT.

    Ben Gummer

    Health and wellbeing needs assessments provide information on the mental illness incidence in individual prisons. There is no current requirement for NHS England to record sexual orientation details in patient records, so no data on the proportion of prisoners with both mental health problems and who identify as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) is known.

    The Health and Social Care’s Information Centre’s Standardisation Committee for Care Information is currently considering a proposal for a mandatory requirement to record a patient’s sexual orientation in all NHS services.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the planned replacement of student bursaries by loans, what estimate they have made of the number of additional students who will be accepted into universities for nursing degree courses in 2017–18.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    We expect this reform to enable universities to provide up to 10,000 additional nursing, midwifery and allied health training places over this parliament.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of his Department were in each of the last five years.

    Mike Penning

    This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government has taken to ensure independent verification for the evidence on which it has proposed changes to personal injury law and procedure.

    Dominic Raab

    The government received and analysed data from numerous sources prior to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. It will consult on the detail of the new reforms in due course and the consultation will be accompanied by an impact assessment.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Department for Transport on the proposal to develop a work plan to define the shipping industry’s fair share in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the International Maritime Organisation meeting on 18 to 22 April 2016.

    James Duddridge

    Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials are in regular contact with Department for Transport counterparts who lead for the UK at international negotiations to reduce emissions from the global aviation and shipping sectors. All countries agreed in Paris in December 2015 to limit global temperature increases to well below 2°C, and to pursue efforts towards 1.5°C. International negotiations on how the global shipping sector can contribute to this are at an early, technical stage.

  • Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce regional variations in local authority (a) core spending power and (b) core spending power per dwelling in England.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Local Government Finance Settlement distributes resources fairly by taking into account the main sources of income available to councils, including council tax and business rates. This means that funding is allocated in a way that ensures authorities delivering the same set of services receive broadly the same annual percentage change in these main sources of income.

    Councils facing the highest demand for services generally continue to receive more funding and have higher spending power than less deprived authorities. In 2016-17 the 10% most deprived authorities received 23% more funding than the 10% least deprived.

    We have also announced a Fair Funding Review to consider the funding needs of different types of areas. This will involve a thorough review of what the needs assessment formula should be in a world in which local government spending is funded by local resources, not central grant. The Review will be done in partnership with the Local Government Association and the wider local government sector, so that all councils have the opportunity to contribute their views.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department spent on advertising, marketing and external communications in 2015-16.

    David Mundell

    The Scotland Office spend on advertising, marketing and external communications in the financial year 2015-16 was £757.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that the concerns of local populations are taken into account in decisions about NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans.

    David Mowat

    NHS England released guidance to the local areas developing Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) entitled ‘Engaging local people’ in September 2016 which can be found on their website. This guidance from NHS England to the STP Footprints highlights the need for public engagement and suggests ways of doing this.

    We expect that most areas will take a version of their STP to their organisation’s public board meeting for discussion between late October and the end of the year. We would also expect that most areas will publish their plans, for more formal engagement, during this period. Every area will be working to a different timeframe, based on its own circumstances and how well-progressed its plan is.

    Proposals are at a draft stage but we expect all local leaders to be talking to the public and stakeholders regularly. It is vital that people are able to shape the future of their local services.

    No changes to the services people currently receive will be made without local engagement and, where required, consultation. There are longstanding assurance processes in place to make sure this happens.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of changes to his Department’s policies on (a) the provision of secure colleges, (b) prohibiting prisoners from receiving books, (c) the sale of HM Courts and Tribunal Service, (d) Saudi prison contracts and (e) the timetable for the tender for criminal defence work.

    Andrew Selous

    I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 13074 on 7th December 2015. There was never any plan to sell HM Courts and Tribunals Service. There is no cost to the public purse from the delay to implementation of new criminal legal aid contracts.

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received on rail paths from North Wales to Manchester Airport.

    Andrew Jones

    We are aware that Arriva Trains Wales (ATW), and other operators, are seeking to introduce additional services to Manchester Airport; however, capacity through central Manchester and at the Airport is limited. Infrastructure investment to deliver the Northern Hub (including the recently-opened fourth platform at the Airport) will improve the situation, but there are more aspirations for direct services to the Airport than even the post-Hub infrastructure will be able to accommodate.

    Please note that it is the Independent Office of Road and Rail which is responsible for the allocation of train paths and not the Department and it is therefore for the Office of Road and Rail to consider ATW’s application alongside other requests submitted for use of the limited available capacity for additional rail services to/from Manchester Airport.