Category: Speeches

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what training his Department has provided to staff on the family test; what other steps he has taken to raise awareness of the family test among staff of his Department; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    The Family Test was announced by my Rt. hon Friend the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014.

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills welcomed the introduction of the Family Test and has taken steps to embed it by building it into the Department’s Public Sector Equality Duty commitments. This has included training officials on applying the test, disseminating learning materials and best practice.

    The Family Test is an integral part of the policy making process and is applied in a proportionate way in the development of all new policy in line with the Family Test guidance, published by the Department for Work and Pensions.

  • Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Cox on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times the A&E department at Dewsbury and District Hospital was closed in 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    Information is not available in the format requested. Information is available at National Health Service trust level only and not by individual hospital site.

    NHS England advises that information is collected in the winter daily situation reports from NHS trusts about whether there was an unplanned, unilateral closure of an accident and emergency department to admissions without consultation, which occurred without agreement from neighbouring NHS trusts or from the ambulance trust.

    Published figures are available covering the periods 1 January 2015 to 27 March 2015 and 5 October 2015 to 31 December 2015. Figures for the remainder of 2015 are not held centrally. Published figures can be found using the following link.

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/winter-daily-sitreps/

    “

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the market conditions affecting the Government’s decision to postpone the privatisation of Lloyds Bank on the proposed privatisation of the Green Investment Bank.

    Anna Soubry

    Decisions about these separate matters will be taken on their individual merits. Further information on the Government’s proposals for a sale of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) is provided in our November 2015 policy statement on the future of GIB and in the Government’s response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on the future of GIB. Both documents can be found on the GIB pages of the GOV.UK website.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria her Department uses to assess whether a local authority should be subject to a Sure Start claw-back.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Where local authorities dispose of or change the use of buildings or other assets funded wholly or partly through Sure Start capital grants, they must repay the money through the claw-back process.

    The Department for Education has a thorough set of monitoring arrangements in place regarding claw-back rules. Local authorities are required to notify the department of each and every proposed change of services and provide details about the level of early years services that are to continue. The department then considers if the local authority has continued to offer a sufficient level of early years services for children and their families from the building in question to meet the original aims of the grant.

    If the department is satisfied that the funding for the asset will continue to be used for purposes consistent with the grant, the department may defer claw-back. Deferring claw-back means that we accept the change of usage at that time, however, the department retains its interest in the asset and if in the future the asset has its usage changed, is transferred or otherwise disposed of, and does not continue to meet the purposes of the grant the local authority must inform the department and we will claw-back the funding. The department’s interest in an asset funded by Sure Start capital grants is 25 years from designation of the building. If the grant was used to purchase capital items or re-furbish an existing asset, the length of time and value of any claw-back depends on the depreciation value of the items, according to local authority depreciation rules.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Angolan counterparts on the current outbreak of yellow fever in Angola.

    James Duddridge

    The British Embassy in Luanda has been in close contact with the Government of Angola and the World Health Organisation regarding the current outbreak of yellow fever. The UK is the largest donor to Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance) and is providing £1.44 billion for 2016-2020. Gavi is supporting Angola’s response through the International Coordination Group’s Revolving Fund. We understand that Angola has received 7 million doses from the International Coordination Group to respond to the outbreak. The UK is also supporting vaccinations for yellow fever in Luanda through the World Health Organisation.

  • Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions the Cabinet had prior to the visit of the President of the United States to the UK about any remarks that he might make regarding the EU referendum, and who was responsible for advising him regarding normal courtesy and protocol for such state visits.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The views expressed by the US President during his recent visit to the UK were his own.

    I refer the noble Lord to the Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron)’s oral response to the Rt Hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw), on Wednesday 27 April, Official Report, Column 1427, which is copied below for ease of reference:

    ‘Obviously I think we should listen to our friends and our allies, and as I look around the world it’s hard to find the leader of a country that wishes us well that wants us to do anything other than stay inside a reformed European Union.’

  • Christopher Pincher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Christopher Pincher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Pincher on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

    Karen Bradley

    The Act is already having a significant impact. All victims of modern slavery can now access the support they need. In 2015 alone, the police and CPS prosecuted 12 defendants using the new modern slavery offences and used Slavery and Trafficking Prevention and Risk Orders on at least 12 occasions. Over 100 businesses have published slavery and human trafficking statements. And the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner is spreading best practice and helped to secure the UN’s first ever Goal to end modern slavery.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish guidance for local authority pension schemes on investment in arms companies producing banned munitions; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Investment decisions in the local government pension scheme are the responsibility of the 90 designated administering authorities in England and Wales and must be taken on the basis of expert advice and in compliance with the Scheme’s regulatory framework. Since 2000, pension fund authorities have been required to publish a statement of investment principles, including their policy on the extent to which social, environmental or ethical considerations are to be taken into account in the selection, retention and realisation of investments. The regulations also require that each statement is published locally.

    We have no immediate plans to change these existing obligations, but will keep them under review.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 10 October 2016 to Question 46089, if his Department will collect information on the number of babies born in transit between Stafford and Stoke Royal University Hospital.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    We have no plans to ask NHS Digital to collect such information.

  • Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2015 to Question 13632, on what dates in June 2015 he met (a) the Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) other ministers in HM Treasury to discuss the potential effects in Scotland of a carbon price support exemption scheme.

    David Mundell

    As indicated in my previous answers on this issue, I have had a number of meetings and discussions this year, both formal and informal, on the important issue of opencast restoration and in particular the proposal for a carbon price support exemption. These have included discussions with colleagues from HM Treasury, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Scottish Government and Local Authorities.