Category: Speeches

Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate has been made of the (a) coastguard and (b) lifeguard capacity on UK (i) beaches and (ii) coastal waters.

Mr John Hayes

Her Majesty’s Coastguard’s Volunteer Coastguard Rescue Teams are appropriately trained and so can be deployed for any incident on beaches or at the coast. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency continually monitors the local provision of this capability.

Safety at public beaches, and specifically the provision of lifeguarding services, is generally the responsibility of the local authority, who carry out risk assessments to determine appropriate safety measures.

01/01/2023
Greg Knight – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to ensure that local highway agencies always give motorists sufficient and early notification of traffic delays, congestion and road accidents so that motorists approaching a black spot can use an alternative route; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones

Local authorities are responsible for managing their roads and are required through the Network Management Duty contained in the Traffic Management Act 2004 to do so in a way that provides safe, convenient and expeditious movement of traffic.

Providing timely and relevant information to road users is an important part of this, and it is for local authorities to decide how to ensure they provide this. They have a range of measures available to them, including CCTV to monitor the road network and identify incidents, variable message signs to show messages indicating road closures and diversions, and information provided through their website and to local radio stations.

01/01/2023
Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment recipients the sample of 105 cases represented in his Department’s Consultation on aids and appliances and the daily living component of personal independence payment; what methodology his Department used in its review of those cases; and how that sample was selected.

Justin Tomlinson

As part of the consultation on aids and appliances and the daily living component of PIP, the Department reviewed a sample of 105 cases where claimants scored all, or the majority, of their points from aids and appliances. These were randomly selected.

PIP is designed to provide a contribution to the additional costs faced by those with a long-term impairment or health-condition. Yet in over 90% of the cases reviewed claimants were likely to have only low or minimal additional costs. This was based on the professional opinion of DWP doctors who looked at all the information held on departmental systems relating to each case.

The Department’s latest published statistics show that, as of October 2015, there were 611,121 PIP claimants. 105 cases would represent 0.02% of this figure. However, this includes claimants who receive the mobility component, which is not within scope of the consultation, as well as those who receive the daily living component, the majority of whom did not score all, or most, of their points from aids and appliances.

Given the strength of the pattern that emerged from the review of the 105 cases, we believe that the cases provide an important indication of how the assessment is working and that it was important to include these findings in the consultation document.

01/01/2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners diagnosed with a mental health illness are being held with another prisoner in a cell designed for one person.

Andrew Selous

As the Secretary of State has said, the prison estate is overcrowded and out of date. That’s why we have announced that we will close down aging and ineffective prisons, replacing them with buildings fit for today’s demands, including better management of prisoners with mental health illnesses.

On arrival all prisoners have a health assessment that looks in particular at mental health, risk of self-harm and suicide, risk of harm to others and vulnerability or risk of harm from others. A cell sharing risk assessment is also undertaken to inform whether a prisoner can share a cell, which includes looking at the health assessment. All prisons have on-site primary health care teams who can provide mental health care, refer prisoners to talking therapies or refer them for a further psychiatric assessment for serious mental illness.

While the National Offender Management Service collects centrally the data on when two prisoners are held in a cell designed for one, it does not centrally record how many of these prisoners have an identified mental health concern.

This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023
Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK staff worked at the Permanent Representation to NATO in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14, (c) 2014-15 and (d) the latest date for which figures are available.

Mr Philip Hammond

The figures for UK staff, both from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence, working at the UK Joint Delegation to NATO in Brussels during this time period are as follows: For 2014 to 2015 there were 38 UK staff members. For 2013 to 2014 there were 36 UK staff members. For 2012 to 2013 there were 39 UK staff members. As of 31 January this year there are 36 UK members of staff working at the UK’s Joint delegation to NATO.

01/01/2023
Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2016 to Question 29389, on Yemen: military intervention, whether his Department has made an assessment of the independence and integrity of Saudi Arabia’s internal procedures for investigations as referred to in that Question.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

As the Saudi Arabian Government has publicly announced, British and other foreign advisors will provide advice to the independent committee that will assess Saudi Arabian military activity in Yemen. We are standing by to assist this activity as required.

The UK has been using diplomatic and military channels to engage with Saudi Arabia on compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL). I have spoken to the Saudi Ambassador and the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has engaged with his counterpart on the importance of compliance with IHL.

01/01/2023
Kirsty Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsty Blackman on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance he has issued to HM Courts and Tribunals Service on minimum standards for keeping appellants updated of future court dates and waiting times for those dates.

Mr Shailesh Vara

Tribunal Procedure Rules require HMCTS to notify appellants of their hearing date, time and place upon listing. If there is any change to a hearing date, such as a postponement or adjournment, HMCTS issues a further notice in writing to confirm the change. If an appellant has any questions or concerns about their hearing date they can contact the Tribunal via the HMCTS Contact Centre.

01/01/2023

Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of his Department’s properties classified as void have been empty for over 12 months.

Penny Mordaunt

The number and locations of properties classified as void as of 24 May 2016 are shown in the table below:

County	Voids
ABERDEENSHIRE	5
ANGUS	20
ARGYLL AND BUTE	237
AVON	42
AYRSHIRE	21
BEDFORDSHIRE	194
BERKS	276
BUCKS	183
CAITHNESS	1
CAMBS	373
CHESHIRE	50
CLWYD	1
CORNWALL	46
*COUNTY ANTRIM	647
*COUNTY DOWN	397
COUNTY DURHAM	16
CUMBRIA	14
DEVON	202
DORSET	151
DUMBARTON	4
DUMFRIES	3
DURHAM	8
DYFED	45
EAST SUSSEX	2
EAST YORKSHIRE	4
EDINBURGH	169
ESSEX	155
FIFE	221
GLOUCESTERSHIRE	88
GWENT	45
GWYNEDD	53
**HANTS	1074
HEREFORDSHIRE	8
HERTS	176
INVERNESS-SHIRE	58
ISLE OF BENBECULA	3
KENT	483
LANCASHIRE	86
LEICESTERSHIRE	162
LINCOLNSHIRE	294
LONDON	86
MIDDLESEX	163
MIDLOTHIAN	43
MORAY	121
NORFOLK	209
NORTH LANARKSHIRE	4
NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE	3
NORTH YORKS	522
NORTHUMBERLAND	67
NOTTINGHAM	58
ORKNEY ISLANDS	1
OXON	361
OXON	1
PEMBROKE	4
PERTH	3
POWYS	64
RENFREWSHIRE	26
ROSS AND CROMARTY	1
SHETLAND ISLANDS	1
SHROPSHIRE	223
SOMERSET	90
SOUTH GLAMORGAN	111
SOUTH YORKS	2
ST ANDREWS	3
STAFFORDSHIRE	83
STIRLING	1
SUFFOLK	281
SURREY	222
SWINDON, WILTS	19
TYNE AND WEAR	12
WARWICKSHIRE	69
WEST MIDLANDS	9
WEST SUSSEX	14
WEST YORKS	2
***WILTS	1294
YORKSHIRE	29
(blank)
Total Voids	10219

Of these properties 4623 were vacant for more than 12 months.

*The majority of void properties in Northern Ireland are awaiting demolition while 59 have been gifted to the NI Executive.

**Void properties in Hants have been retained due to short term Ministry of Defence requirements and plans have been made to release many of these for disposal.

***In the Wiltshire region a number of properties remain void to accommodate Army personnel returning to the area from Germany as a result of the Army Basing Programme.

01/01/2023

Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of levels of passenger satisfaction with light rail systems.

Paul Maynard

The Department for Transport has not made any assessment of passenger satisfaction levels in regards to light rail. However, Transport Focus, an independent transport user watchdog, published results in May 2016 which indicated overall journey satisfaction in 2015 had increased to 92% from 90% the previous year. This follows a survey conducted of over 5,000 passengers who had used light rail systems in operation in Blackpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh.

A copy of the Transport Focus report can be found at the following weblink:

http://www.transportfocus.org.uk/research-publications/research/tram-passenger-survey/

“

01/01/2023
John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of staff on the payroll of his Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.

Mr John Hayes

Many staff self-declare their nationality on the staff system. Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks and copies of this evidence are held on file for the duration of the person’s employment and for a further two years after they cease working for the department.

01/01/2023