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Category: Speeches

  • – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Foreign Secretary’s recent description of the EU’s position on access to the single market and free movement as complete baloney”

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    As we leave the EU, the Government wants to give British companies the maximum freedom to trade and operate in the Single Market. Ministers are clear about this objective, and are able to draw on a wide range of expertise within the FCO and across Government, to help achieve it.

  • Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the change in the number of firefighter posts was in Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service in 2013-14.

    Greg Clark

    Information on the number of full time equivalent firefighter posts for each fire and rescue service and for each year, together with greater detail, is available in the Department’s Fire and Rescue Operational Statistics publication (Table 2 for full time equivalent posts) at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fire-and-rescue-authorities-operational-statistics

    “

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 36 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, what the costs are of the Successor programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    As stated in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 15 (Cm9161), our latest estimate of the total cost to manufacture the four Successor submarines is £31 billion; we will also set a contingency of £10 billion. This level of contingency represents about 35% of the costs to completion and is a prudent estimate based on past experience of large, complex projects.

    We expect that, once the Successor submarines come into service, the in-service costs of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, which include the costs of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, will be similar to those of today – around 6% of the Defence budget.

  • 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 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to increase the amount of housing stock owned by councils; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    Local housing authorities have a wide range of discretion in building and running their housing stock. The Housing Revenue Account self-financing settlement was a good deal for local authorities; it put them in charge of their own finances and allowed them to decide how they wanted to invest in both their existing stock and in new council homes.

    Local housing authorities have accumulated general housing revenue account reserves of almost £2.5 billion (in addition to over £1billion in the Major Repairs Reserve) and have borrowing headroom approaching £3.4 billion. In addition, almost £222 million of extra borrowing headroom has been allocated to 36 councils in England to specifically support around 3,000 new affordable homes in 2015/16 and 2016/17.

    More council housing has been built since 2010 than in the previous 13 years. 2014 saw the highest number of council housing starts for 23 years.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the statement on page 1 of Network Rail’s report, Replanning the Investment Programme, published on 25 November 2015, that there will be a reduction in renewals activity in Control Period 5, what renewal works Network Rail intends to defer into Control Period 6; and what the planned expenditure was on those works in Control Period 5.

    Claire Perry

    The Office of Rail and Road’s Final Determination for Control Period 5[1] assumed that Network Rail would spend £12.1bn on renewals between 2014-2019. Network Rail is reviewing its plans for the coming financial year and will publish an updated Delivery Plan in March containing detailed forward plans for the delivery of operations, maintenance and renewals up to 2019.

    [1] http://orr.gov.uk/publications/reports/final-determination

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK (a) military and (b) civilian personnel are deployed on UN peacekeeping operations in each operational theatre.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The tables below show the numbers of military and civilian personnel the UK has deployed to UN mandated peacekeeping and special political missions in the last six years, as at 26 February 2016:

    Military Personnel

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    2015

    2016

    UNFICYP (Cyprus)

    271

    273

    270

    274

    274

    274

    MINUSMA (Mali)

    1

    2

    2

    2

    UNMISS (South Sudan)

    3

    2

    4

    3

    3

    MONUSCO (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    5

    4

    5

    5

    5

    5

    UNSOM (Somalia)

    2

    2

    UNSMIL (Libya/Tunisia)

    1

    1

    TOTAL

    276

    280

    278

    285

    287

    287

    Civilian Personnel

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    2015

    2016

    MONUSCO

    1

    1

    1

    1

    1

    UNMISS

    4

    4

    2

    UNSMIL

    1

    1

    MINUSTAH (Haiti)

    3

    3

    3

    UNMIL (Liberia)

    1

    1

    TOTAL

    1

    1

    1

    8

    10

    7

    The civilian figures represent deployments from the Stabilisation Unit; other Government Departments also deploy civilians on UN Peacekeeping missions.

    The figures do not include deployments to UN Agencies.

  • Wayne David – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Wayne David – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wayne David on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that every property has an Energy Performance Certificate by 2020.

    James Wharton

    An Energy Performance Certificate must be made available whenever a building is sold, rented out or constructed. There are currently no plans to introduce a requirement for every property to have an Energy Performance Certificate, since this would introduce an unnecessary additional burden on building owners and landlords.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his US counterpart on LGBT rights in North Carolina and Mississippi.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Our Consul General in Atlanta raised our concerns with the North Carolina Commerce Secretary on 19 April. We have amended our Travel Advice for the United States to reflect legislative changes on LGBT rights in North Carolina and Mississippi . This Government is opposed to all forms of discrimination. We are committed to ensuring that all LGBT people are free to live their lives in a safe and just environment.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many carrier liability charges were issued to commercial transport firms, airlines, ferry companies and other operators for transporting illegal immigrants into the UK in total by (a) port and (b) firm in each of the last seven years.

    James Brokenshire

    Penalties are issued for inadequately documented arrivals and it would not be known at that stage whether the passenger was an illegal immigrant.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to improve the life chances of people with disabilities.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Government is committed to improving the life chances of disabled people and has made a commitment to halve the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people.

    The Government is working with employers through Disability Confident to challenge attitudes towards disability and ensure that disabled people have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. Since 2013 the number of disabled people in work has increased by almost half a million (493,000). Nearly 3.4 million disabled people are now in employment.

    Access to Work provides practical and financial support with the additional costs faced by individuals whose heath or disability affects the way they do their job. 36,470 individuals were helped by Access to Work in the 2015/16 including record numbers of people with learning disabilities, mental health conditions and young people. Last year’s Spending review announced a real-terms increase in funding for access to work starting in 16/17 to enable the scheme to help a further 25,000 people by the end of the parliament.

    Work Choice is a voluntary contracted specialist disability employment programme introduced in 2010 and helps people with disabilities whose needs cannot be met through other employment programmes, Access to Work or workplace adjustments. It provides individually tailored support (e.g. job search skills, basic training, and work placements) for disabled people who face the most complex employment barriers to find and stay in work.

    Later this year, we will produce a Green Paper exploring a range of options to close the disability employment gap and transform the lives and prospects of disabled people, and conduct a consultation which will reach out to disabled people and their representative organisations.