Category: Speeches

  • Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 14 of the document Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation, published by the Government in March 2015, when her Department plans to consider an extension of the offence of wilful neglect.

    Karen Bradley

    As the honourable Member for Rotherham will recall, during the passage of the Serious Crime Bill in the last session of Parliament, the previous Government made a commitment to undertake a public consultation on the options for reporting child abuse and to lay a report before Parliament on the outcome of the consultation within 18 months of Royal Assent of the Serious Crime Act (i.e. by September 2016). This commitment was extended in March 2015, under the Government’s Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation Report, to consult on options for imposing sanctions for deliberate or reckless failures to take appropriate action in relation to child abuse or neglect, where it is a professional responsibility to do so.

    The Government will launch its consultation exercise in Spring 2016, to run for twelve weeks and will then consider carefully the need for any further statutory measures in the light of responses. This will enable the Government to lay proposals before Parliament by September 2016, as it has committed to do.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Prime Minister’s Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether her Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2016 to Question 24869, whether the (a) Royal Bank of Scotland, (b) Bradford and Bingley and c) Northern Rock banks have received any public funding since they were taken into public ownership.

    Harriett Baldwin

    In 2008 and 2009 HM Treasury made a number of interventions to support institutions including Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock.

    Full details of the funds used and outstanding balances can be found at the Office of Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) website and at UK Financial Investments’ (UKFI) website:-

    http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/

    http://www.ukfi.co.uk/

    “

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to ban the routine preventive use of antibiotics in farming.

    George Eustice

    The legislation that controls veterinary medicines and medicated feed within the EU is currently under revision. The new proposed frameworks set out additional controls on antibiotics, including a ban on the routine preventative use of antibiotics, which the government supports.

    Negotiations on the frameworks are expected to continue until late 2017. There are no plans to revise or amend the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 significantly until the review of the EU legislation has been completed.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent on interpreters in each of the last three years.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not held centrally.

  • Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding to support unaccompanied asylum seeking children was provided to each (a) local authority and (b) gateway authority in (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2014-15, (iii) 2015-16, and (iv) 2016-17.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    For the periods we have full information [FY 13-14, 14-15 & 15-16], a total of £243 million in funding was distributed to the following local authorities and gateway authorities, to support unaccompanied asylum seeking children. [This data is taken from unpublished local management information that is not subject to national statistics protocols and is therefore subject to change]. [Table]

  • Grant Shapps – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Grant Shapps – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grant Shapps on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to hold a second phase of the Small Modular Reactor Competition; and if he will make a statement.

    Jesse Norman

    As the Government stated at the outset of the competition, the intention of Phase One was to gauge market interest among global market actors in developing, commercialising and financing Small Modular Reactor Competitions in the UK. The evidence gathered during Phase One is being used to inform policy decisions, including the design of any future stages of the competition. Given that Phase One is still continuing, I am not able to provide any further information at this stage.

  • Helen Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Helen Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount which the proposed apprenticeship levy will raise in (a) Warrington and (b) the North-West.

    Greg Hands

    Apprenticeships are a cornerstone of our skills system. The levy will drive growth in quality and quantity in apprenticeships and further details will be set out at the Spending Review. Provisional information shows that there have been 6,470 apprenticeship starts in Warrington North since May 2010. There have been over 78,000 apprenticeship starts in the North West over the same period with a 51% increase in starts from 2009/10 to 2013/14. The levy will ensure we can build on that success over the next five years by putting the funding of apprenticeships in the hands of employers in the North West.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the security risk posed by areas of the Mediterranean shoreline which are under the control of Islamic State; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are extremely concerned about the growing threat from extremist groups present along the Mediterranean shoreline, including Daesh and groups affiliated with it. These groups pose potential threats to the UK and our interests and citizens overseas, as well as a threat to stability in the region. Where Daesh has a foothold on the Mediterranean shoreline in Libya, we are working closely with international partners to develop our understanding of its presence, and how to tackle it there. We are supporting UN-led efforts to establish a Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya, which will be crucial in the long term to tackling the Daesh threat present in that county and across the region.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessments he has made of the reasons for the increase in excess winter mortality rates in England in the winter of 2014-15.

    Jane Ellison

    The increased excess deaths in 2014-15 coincided with the circulation of a strain of flu, A(H3N2), that particularly affects older people. Cold snaps and other respiratory infections may also have contributed to an increase in excess mortality. There was evidence also that the flu vaccine provided reduced protection due to some drift of the circulating A(H3N2) virus.

    These observations were not unique to the United Kingdom, with 14 other European countries also reporting an increase in excess mortality. Throughout the last decade, there has generally been a good match between the strains of flu in the vaccine and those that subsequently circulate, highlighting the importance of flu vaccination for at risk groups, including older people and also the childhood flu vaccine programme, which when rolled out, aims to provide protection for both children, but also the general population.

    Public Health England has no such data available for North East England.