Category: Speeches

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they plan to take to redress the gender balance in engineering, construction and transport apprenticeships.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Inspiration starts at school. Schools are legally required to secure the independent advice and guidance that all young people need when making career choices. Through the Careers and Enterprise Company, Enterprise Advisers work directly with schools to develop effective links with other local businesses to equip young people with the skills they need.

    We are encouraging more young women to enter science and engineering careers, including apprenticeships. The annual Tomorrow’s Engineers Week (TEWeek) encourages them, to consider a career in engineering. The Your Life campaign inspires young people to study maths and physics as a gateway to STEM careers. The STEM Ambassadors programme is a network of over 28,000 volunteers working with schools across the UK, 40% of whom are women.

    The construction sector is working with the Construction Leadership Council to highlight the opportunities the sector offers. Women into Construction, an independent not-for-profit organization, provides bespoke support to women wishing to work in the construction industry and assists contractors in recruiting motivated and trained women.

    We are launching a new communications campaign in May aimed at promoting the benefits of apprenticeships. Our promotional campaigns include role models of successful female apprentices in sectors where they are under-represented.

  • Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has to provide (a) refuges and (b) other support to family members in rural areas experiencing domestic abuse and other relationship problems; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Domestic Abuse is a devastating crime and we are determined to ensure that no one is turned away from the support they need irrespective of where they live. Government has committed £80 million of extra funding up to 2020 to tackle violence against women and girls. In the strategy to end violence against women and girls published on 8 March, we set out our ambition to improve services for women suffering from domestic abuse committing to a new Statement of Expectations to set out for the first time what we expect from local areas. To support this, we are launching a new two year fund, which will be open to local authorities across the country including those from rural areas, to bid for funding for refuges and other forms of accommodation based support and to help local areas take the steps they need to meet the National Statement.

    This builds on the £3.5 million funding in 2015/16 and is on top of the £10 million funding to strengthen the provision of safe accommodation in the last spending review period. The Government does recognise the distinct challenges faced by victims of domestic abuse in rural areas and has supported bids for funding from rural areas for example Suffolk, Shropshire and Somerset.

    Our Troubled Families Programme is about transforming the way local services support families with multiple problems. It incentivises services to come together, working with and understanding the needs of the whole family instead of constantly reacting to their individual problems. 29% of families in entry to the programme between 2012 and 2015 were experiencing domestic violence or abuse.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recourse there is for individuals who have been prevented from earning a wage due to the time taken for the processing of Disclosure and Barring Service certificate applications.

    Sarah Newton

    The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has a target to issue 95% of certificates within 8 weeks, which it is close to achieving. The DBS is reliant on police forces completing their checks in a timely manner.

    DBS will liaise with the police on behalf of a customer who is experiencing delays when their enhanced level DBS application is with the police to undertake statutory checks. In these cases DBS will aim to resolve the customer’s issues as quickly as possible, and keep the customer informed until resolution. However, the DBS cannot provide financial remedy for any complaint about police actions including the timescales taken by the police to complete a check. It would be up to individual police forces to comment on any local redress policies.

    If the delay is due to maladministration on behalf of DBS, the DBS redress policy is designed to ensure that the person who is the subject of that maladministration is not disadvantaged. Further information can be found on the DBS website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service/about/complaints-procedure

  • Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Will Quince on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the trends in the level of uptake of (a) creative, (b) artistic and (c) technical subjects at GCSE since June 2015.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education does not define GCSE subjects as ‘technical’ or ‘creative’.

    Provisional information on the proportion of pupils entered for at least one arts GCSE between 2009/10 and 2015/16 is published as part of the ‘Provisional GCSE and equivalent results in England’ statistical first release (SFR)[1].

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gcse-and-equivalent-results-2015-to-2016-provisional (Table 1c)

    “

  • Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-27.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will investigate UK multinationals’ corporate tax practices in Zambia.

    Mr David Gauke

    Any investigation of UK multinationals’ corporate tax practices in Zambia would need to focus on, and require a full understanding of, the interaction between multinationals and the tax regime of Zambia. It would not be feasible or appropriate for the UK Government to undertake such an investigation.

    The UK is supporting tax reform in Zambia. For example, the Department for International Development has funded the OECD and World Bank Group to provide technical assistance to Zambia to implement improvements in transfer pricing and related controls. More generally, the Government is committed to supporting developing countries access sustainable sources of revenue and collect the taxes they are due. The UK is a world leader on tax capacity building, contributing considerable human and financial resources to help developing countries to build robust tax administrations. And earlier this year we committed to doubling our funding for tax projects in developing countries.

    The Government has also set up a specialist Tax Capacity Building Unit in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). At Autumn Statement 2014, the Chancellor announced that HMRC would recruit a new team of tax inspectors to work fulltime on tax capacity building, supporting HMRC’s Tax Capacity Building Unit and fulfilling missions such as the OECD’s Tax Inspectors Without Borders project.

  • Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to tackle religious intolerance in schools.

    Nick Gibb

    Religious intolerance in schools is unacceptable. All schools are required to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Schools should be places where we promote the understanding of other cultures for example, through the National Curriculum programme for citizenship, which includes teaching about the diverse range of identities in the UK and the importance of respecting others.

  • Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people of each gender work in her Department.

    Karen Bradley

    As at 30th November 2015 there were 14,835 members of staff that identified themselves as female and 13,718 that identified themselves as male in the Home Department.

    (Figures are based on all paid civil servants in line with Office for National Statistics standards as published in the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey on ons.gov.uk in Autumn 2015)

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he expects the Clementi review into governance of the BBC to be published.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    We expect the independent review of the governance and regulation of the BBC to conclude shortly, and we will publish it in due course.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what powers are available to (a) parish, (b) district and (c) county councils to dispose of abandoned boats in coastal areas; and whether a disposal cost recovery scheme exists for such disposals.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Statutory Harbour Authorities (some of which are Local Authorities) have powers to deal with wrecks and unservicable and abandoned vessels within their harbour limits.

    These powers are available under sections 52, 56 and 57 of the Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 (exercisable by the Harbour Master) and in section 252 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. The powers allow the removal of wrecks and unserviceable and abandoned vessels and recovery of the cost of doing so from the owner or through disposal of the vessel.

    Where there is no statutory harbour authority or conservancy authority in place to use the powers in the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, under s253 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 the General Lighthouse Authority may use the same powers set out in section 252 to deal with such vessels where, in the authority’s opinion the vessel is, or is likely to become, an obstruction or danger to navigation or to lifeboats engaged in lifeboat service.

    The receiver of wreck, who only deals with wrecked vessels and is a statutory appointment under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, has powers under section 243 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 to dispose of unclaimed wrecks one year after they come into the receiver’s possession. The Act sets out the dissemination of the proceeds of sale after disposal expenses.

    Statutory Harbour Authorities operate on a commercial basis without ongoing support from Government and the General Lighthouse Authority are fully funded from a tax on shipping, receiving no money from the UK exchequer. There are no plans for any other funding to be made available.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the publication of the Departmental Minute by the Department of Energy and Climate Change on 21 October 2015 Notification that the Secretary of State may approve the entering into of contracts regarding the Hinkley Point C Power Station that could give rise to liabilities, whether the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs published a similar Minute in respect of its liabilities in connection with the Thames Tideway Tunnel.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Defra did not submit a Departmental Minute on the Government’s contingent financial support package for the Thames Tideway Tunnel because the Secretary of State has statutory authority to give financial assistance for major water or sewerage infrastructure projects under section 154B of the Water Industry Act 1991. This is consistent with the approach set out in HM Treasury’s guidance, Managing Public Money.