Category: Speeches

  • Neil Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Neil Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Carmichael on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children with refugee status in the UK have been granted permission to sponsor family members to join them under the refugee family reunion rules in each of the last three years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Under the Family Reunion Rules, children cannot sponsor family members. Any grant of leave in such cases would be on an exceptional basis outside the Immigration Rules. To obtain the information would involve examining individual case records and would incur a disproportionate cost.

  • Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Lord on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of savings to businesses in (a) Woking constituency, (b) Surrey, (c) the South East and (d) the UK as a result of the Red Tape Challenge.

    Margot James

    The Red Tape Challenge programme ran until 2015. In the Statement of New Regulation published in December 2014, the previous Government identified over 3,000 regulations to scrap or improve, delivering estimated savings to UK businesses of over £850m per year as a result of the programme. Analysis of the impact of the deregulatory reforms on a geographical basis was not developed.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2015 to Question 13080, whether a clause exists in the lease agreement referred to in that Answer that would enable Great Western Railway’s Intercity 125 fleet to remain temporarily with that franchise if the introduction of the Intercity Express Programme fleet was delayed.

    Claire Perry

    This terms of the lease agreement are a commercial matter between the operator and the rolling stock leasing company.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what account was taken of the analysis in his Department’s 2014 report Global Strategic Trends, published by the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre on the future context for defence and security to 2045 when preparing the National Security Strategy and the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.

    Michael Fallon

    Throughout the Review, including the preparatory phase, we considered the 2014 Global Strategic Trends report to inform our priorities and the context of the decisions made in the final Strategic Defence and Security Review.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received about the work of Royal Bank of Scotland’s Global Restructuring Group.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government is aware of the reports published by Sir Andrew Large and, separately, by Dr Lawrence Tomlinson into Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)’s treatment of customers and businesses in financial difficulty.

    The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has appointed Promontory Financial Group and Mazars to independently review the allegations in the reports against RBS’s practices. If the findings from the review reveal issues which come within the FCA’s remit, the FCA will consider further regulatory measures.

    The Government’s shareholding in RBS is managed at arm’s length from HM Treasury by UK Financial Investments (UKFI). However, UKFI’s role is to manage the investment, not the bank. Commercial affairs remain the responsibility of the bank’s independent management team.

    RBS is making progress to deal decisively with the problems of the past, which will allow it to become a simpler, safer and more focused bank that works for the UK economy. Under the leadership of Ross McEwan RBS has made good progress in becoming a simpler, safer and more focused bank that works for the UK economy.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to improve the identification and treatment of perinatal mental health issues; and how this will be monitored.

    Alistair Burt

    This Government is committed to improving access to perinatal mental health services for women during pregnancy and in the first postnatal year. In January 2016 the Government set out that an additional £290 million will be made available over the next five years to 2020/21, over and above the money identified in the Spring Budget, to invest in perinatal mental health services. This is funded from within the Department’s overall Spending Review settlement and means that in total from 2015/16 to 2020/21 £365 million will be invested in perinatal mental health services.

    We are aware that there is unacceptable variation in the levels of access to high quality, NICE-recommended specialist perinatal mental health care for women across England. A 2014 census identified that 40% of women in England have no access to specialist perinatal mental health services and that is why we have confirmed this additional investment. The funding should enable significant progress towards closing this gap and will help to enable women across the country to access evidence-based specialist support, in the community or through inpatient mother and baby services, closer to their home, when they need it. It is anticipated that, by 2020/21, around 30,000 more women should be able to access appropriate specialist support.

    This new funding, together with the recommendations of the forthcoming report of the independent Mental Health Taskforce, will enable NHS England to work with partners to design a longer-term transformation programme to build capacity and capability in specialist perinatal mental health services over the next five years. This will include setting detailed plans for how the additional investment will be targeted over the period to 2020/21 and setting clear outcome measures and metrics to monitor the impact of the funding on perinatal mental health provision.

    In 2015/16 work is already underway to lay the foundations for this longer-term work programme through targeted funding of activities to build capacity in specialist services. This will include, for example, a £1 million investment in strengthening clinical networks across the country. It is also expected to include the provision of national and regional benchmarking data and analytical support to regions, and work to develop clinical leadership capacity. Work will also continue to support the development of specialist mother and baby units in the regions identified as most in need of new services.

    To ensure the workforce are available and appropriately trained, NHS England is working closely with Health Education England and key stakeholders to better understand the future workforce commissioning requirements and how it is best to meet multi professional education and training needs.

  • David Nuttall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Nuttall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Nuttall on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the (a) time taken to introduce and (b) cost of introduction of a system of in-work benefits for newly-arrived EU nationals as envisaged in Section D of the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016.

    Priti Patel

    These are issues to be answered as part of the implementation process.

  • Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospital trusts employ 1.5 full time equivalent inflammatory bowel disease nurses per 250,000 population.

    Ben Gummer

    Information on the number of hospital trusts that employ inflammatory bowel disease nurses, at 1.5 full-time equivalent or otherwise, is not collected by the Department.

    It is for local National Health Service organisations with their knowledge of the healthcare needs of their local populations to invest in training for specialist skills and to deploy specialist nurses.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she has signed the Investor Agreement with EDF to proceed with Hinkley Point C as set out in the departmental minute of 21 October 2015.

    Andrea Leadsom

    My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State is minded to proceed with the Contract for Difference and associated agreements for Hinkley Point C, including the Investor Agreement, subject to EDF taking a final investment decision. EDF and the French Government have said that EDF are working towards a Final Investment Decision ‘in the near future, with the full support of the French Government’.

  • Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his latest assessment is of the effectiveness of the foreign lorry user charge; whether he has been in discussion with any representatives of the EU concerning the compliance of that charge with EU law; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrew Jones

    Since the levy started in April 2014, 4 million levies had been purchased for foreign-registered vehicles, raising £96.22 million in receipts, by the end of March 2016. Compliance rates continue to run at about 95 per cent in Great Britain. My Department has been engaged in discussions with the European Commission since the early stages of development of the levy. British drivers regularly pay when they use the roads in other countries, and the Government policy is that it is fair that foreign HGV drivers should do the same here.