Category: Speeches

  • Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether staff working at the HM Passport Office site in Dundee will be (a) offered alternative employment or (b) made redundant.

    James Brokenshire

    Her Majesty’s Passport Office is committed to avoiding the need for redundancies, and if at all possible, will seek to find suitable alternative employment for the staff either within the Home Office or the wider Civil Service.

    If no suitable alternative employment can be found for the staff, then they will be offered voluntary redundancy terms in line with the current Civil Service Compensation Scheme.

    An offer of a voluntary early exit has already been made should staff not wish to continue their careers within the Civil Service.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the effect of the fluctuation in the market price of crude oil on the continued operation of waste oil collection services.

    Rory Stewart

    The changes referred to do not amend the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010. The changes made are to the ‘Environmental Guidance On Waste Incineration’, which now clarifies that small waste oil burners used to burn waste oil must meet the requirements of Chapter IV of the Industrial Emissions Directive or switch to non-waste fuels. This guidance can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-permitting-guidance-the-waste-incineration-directive/environmental-permitting-guidance-waste-incineration.

    A consultation on the changes to the guidance was undertaken between 14 September and 26 October last year. A summary of responses can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487892/waste-incineration-consult-sum-resp.pdf.

    The impact assessment for the changes to this guidance considered some sensitivities on the price of crude oil with regard to collection fees only. The impact assessment can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487895/waste-incineration-consult-ep-ia.pdf.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with HM Chief Inspector of Schools about the performance of free schools.

    Edward Timpson

    The Secretary of State meets with Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools regularly to discuss a wide range of issues including the performance of free schools.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on the imposition of sanctions on the Burundian government.

    James Duddridge

    The UK has led efforts to put into place sanctions against four human rights offenders in Burundi . Should Burundi continue to refuse to engage in dialogue and the political and security situation continue to deteriorate, we will push for further international sanctions against those blocking progress towards peace.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his plans are for the future of the Land Registry.

    Sajid Javid

    We recently consulted options for the Land Registry.

    This consultation closed on 26 May and Government are currently reviewing the responses.

    Until this is completed, no decision will be made.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 32920, what processes his Department uses to collect information on allegations of fraudulent benefit claims; and what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of those processes.

    Caroline Nokes

    There are a variety of ways that allegations of Benefit Fraud are collected and received by the DWP including telephone calls to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline, online and Letter and Data matching. Once an allegation has been received and, if it meets the required criteria containing enough information, a Fraud Referral Form is completed which is then entered into the internal Fraud Referral and Information Management System.

    The effectiveness of these processes is measured by statistics produced and published in May each year and made available in the public domain. These statistics are used to evaluate, develop and support fraud and error policy, strategy and operational decisions.

  • Baroness Redfern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Redfern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of their measures to reduce long-term unemployment, and how many people previously classified as long-term unemployed have entered work since 2010, (1) nationally, and (2) in North Lincolnshire.

    Lord Freud

    Since 2010 long term unemployment has fallen by over a quarter of a million in the UK, and since the Work Programme began in June 2011, it has helped 459,370 long term unemployed people find sustained work. In North Lincolnshire alone, 1,550 long term unemployed people have found sustained work through the Work Programme.

    The Department is continuing to modernise the way Jobcentre Plus delivers its services and has given responsibility to Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches – trusting them to assess the individual needs of people and offer the support and advice they think is best to get them back into work.

  • 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 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of restricting housing benefit entitlement for single social tenants under the age of 35 to the Shared Accommodation Rate of the relevant Local Housing Allowance on (a) levels of homelessness and (b) the availability of social housing for that age group.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The introduction of Local Housing Allowance limits to housing benefit and Universal Credit houisng element awards will only apply from April 2018, where new tenancies have been taken out or renewed after April 2016.

    Tenants who take on a new tenancy or renew a tenancy will have the opportunity to consider whether they can afford to take on the property before committing to it. Because of the element of choice it is not possible to accurately estimate whether there will be any impact upon homelessness or the availability of social housing.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what projection her Department has made of use of the Thames Barrier in each of the next five years.

    Rory Stewart

    The Thames Barrier will be required to close more frequently due to sea level rise but it is projected to protect London from tidal flooding to its designed standard until 2070.

    The Environment Agency monitors a number of indicators to ensure that this projection remains valid but does not develop projections of the number of closures on a year on year basis.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2016 to Question 25816, what the ceiling trajectory on agency spend is as a proportion of expenditure on nursing staff for all NHS trusts in England.

    Alistair Burt

    The information requested is not currently available centrally. It could only be obtained from Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority at a disproportionate cost.