Category: Speeches

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-02-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the decrease in the number of personal independence payment mandatory reconsideration new decisions in cases in which awards were changed between July 2014 and October 2015.

    Justin Tomlinson

    PIP is continuing to roll out in a safe and steady manner and as such there will be a variety of cases, and case volumes, within the system at any one time. Variation in Mandatory Reconsideration outcomes is to be expected in a live system of this scale as applications are decided on an individual basis.

    There are no targets for Mandatory Reconsideration outcomes.

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many agency nurses were employed by each hospital trust in Merseyside and Cheshire in each year since 2010.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department does not collect this data centrally.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who has attended meetings of the Child Protection Task Force and on what dates; and what action has been decided at those meetings.

    Edward Timpson

    Information relating to the proceedings of recent meetings of Implementation Taskforces is not disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.

  • Baroness McIntosh of Pickering – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness McIntosh of Pickering – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the delays by the Rural Payments Agency in making basic farm payments claimed in 2015, and of the causes of those delays.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), implementing the new Common Agricultural Policy, with its requirements and administrative checks, has created a number of challenges. The Rural Payments Agency focus has always been to pay as many claims as promptly as possible from the opening day of the payment window in December 2015. 99% of BPS 2015 claims have now received a payment.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Trefgarne on 2016-06-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to secure adequate supplies of anti-TB vaccine for use on badgers, in view of the present shortage.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The ongoing shortage of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, and the need to prioritise available stocks for humans, is impacting on supply for badger vaccination projects. Following advice from Public Health England (PHE) in December 2015, Defra took the decision to suspend attempts to source BCG vaccine for the Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme and other private badger vaccination deployment projects in England until this situation is resolved.

    We are seeking regular updates from PHE about the vaccine shortage so that once the situation is resolved we can be in a position to re-start ordering of vaccine at the earliest opportunity.

  • Liz McInnes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Liz McInnes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the role of her Department was in drafting the Government’s childhood obesity plan.

    Tracey Crouch

    The childhood obesity plan was developed and drafted by Department of Health with input from departments across Government, including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. DCMS will continue to work with DH on the implementation of the actions within the plan.

  • Alistair Burt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Alistair Burt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Burt on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to announce details of the discretionary support scheme for people affected by contaminated blood.

    Nicola Blackwood

    As part of the wider reforms of the Infected Blood Payment support schemes in England, a new discretionary scheme is in design and will be delivered once a new scheme administrator is established in 2017/18. Details of the discretionary support scheme will be provided at that stage. A new discretionary scheme will replace the existing three discretionary schemes.

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what grounds her Department refused entry to the UK to (a) Dr Hasnaa Al Sourani, (b) Dr Amal Shaat, (c) Dr Rula Al Helo and (d) Mr Yousif Abu Rahma; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    In order to safeguard an individual’s personal information and comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 the Home Office is limited in what information it can provide when the request is made by someone who is not the applicant. The Home Office is therefore unable to provide the information requested.

    All applications are considered on their individual merits and in line with the Immigration Rules.

  • Steven Paterson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Steven Paterson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steven Paterson on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.98 in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, published on 23 November 2015; how many of the 10,000 military personnel available to assist civil authorities are (a) based in Scotland and (b) available to be used to assist civil authorities in Scotland.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Under the deployment plan the Ministry of Defence and police have identified a range of security tasks that the military will undertake in order to release police firearms officers to respond to a major counter-terrorism (CT) incident. A proportion of these are in Scotland although we do not reveal the specific numbers of personnel involved for reasons of operational security.

    The plan also allows us to generate a far more significant surge of military personnel to deploy in response to a major CT incident. These personnel deploy across the UK, including in Scotland. Military units have a responsibility for this task on a rolling basis, including the 9,810 personnel based in Scotland.

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to increase collection charges for the 2012 child maintenance scheme for the (a) parent with care and (b) non-resident parent.

    Priti Patel

    The level of the application charge and collection charges for parents with care and non-resident parents will be included in the statutory 30 month review of charging, which is due to be completed by December 2016. There are no current plans to increase the application fee or collection charges.