Category: Speeches

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the training scheme to create a career ladder for care workers by developing the role of care practitioners has been cancelled.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government is spending significant sums this year (circa £130 million) to train and develop the adult social care workforce; this includes £12m for the Workforce Development Fund for training to develop the workforce.

    Whilst pre-contract discussions had taken place, no formal financial commitment was made to this specific project by UK Commission for Employment and Skills and the project has been informed that funding is not available.

    In order to prioritise funding on the adult skills participation budgets, savings are being made from supporting budgets such as the UKCES.

    The Government is working closely with its delivery partners, Skills for Care and National Skills Academy Social Care to improve the level of skills of the adult social care workforce.

    The adult social care workforce has a key role to play as service users experience of care depends heavily on the sensitivity and compassion of care workers. Better skills and training are an important part of raising standards overall.

  • Kit Malthouse – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kit Malthouse – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kit Malthouse on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the link between government support for UK Life Sciences and pharmaceutical research and development investment in the UK.

    George Freeman

    Our latest estimates show that collective Government support through the Life Science Strategy has stimulated more than £6 billion in new investment by the life sciences industry linked to more than 17,000 new sector jobs. Underpinning this success is the UK’s world class science base and an increasingly strong and informed relationship between our universities and wider life sciences community, which is a key attractor for investment by domestic and overseas companies. Through the Accelerated Access Review the government is making this country a world leading place to design, develop and deploy medical innovations, stimulating investment and creating a stronger NHS.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any research has been carried out into the reasons for teachers leaving the profession, in the light of the cost to the public purse of training teachers.

    Lord Nash

    Teachers may choose to leave the profession for a variety of reasons. The Teacher Supply Model estimates the number of recruits required based on factors such as teachers leaving the profession. The Department is actively tackling issues that most often lead teachers to consider leaving, such as workload and poor pupil behaviour.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce the risk to the UK (a) posed by ballast water and (b) that diseases such as cholera may be transferred around the world through ballast water given rises in sea water temperature.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The UK has developed a number of voluntary procedures adopted by the maritime community to tackle the issue of invasive species and pathogens. Vessels on deep sea, international voyages are encouraged to undertake mid-ocean ballast water exchange. Within the North Sea and English Channel, ballast water exchange areas have been identified and vessels visiting UK ports are encouraged to use those areas where it has been assessed safe to do so.

    The Government continues to be a strong supporter of the Ballast Water Management Convention that aims to minimise the threat posed by harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens.

  • David Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Jones on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of microbeads on marine ecosystems.

    George Eustice

    Defra has funded a project, undertaken by the University of Plymouth, to study the effects of microplastics in the marine environment. The project studied whether chemical pollutants stick to plastic particles, whether marine organisms ingest plastic particles and pass them along the food chain, and whether the plastics themselves, or associated chemical pollutants, could cause harm to those organisms. The final report for this project is expected to be published shortly.

  • Lord Eames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Eames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Eames on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have for the removal of toxic waste left after conflict, in particular in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Earl Howe

    The Ministry of Defence has a legal obligation to comply with UK and EU legislation on environmental protection. A policy statement made by the Secretary of State for Defence (Michael Fallon) in August 2014, ‘Health, Safety and Environmental Protection in Defence’ (HS&EP), states that "overseas we apply our UK arrangements where reasonably practicable and, in addition, respond to host nations’ relevant HS&EP expectations." This policy statement can be accessed at the gov.uk website:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/secretary-of-states-policy-statement-on-safety-health-environmental-protection-and-sustainable-development

    UK forces overseas operate under NATO regulations and therefore must also comply with ‘STANAG 7141 – Joint NATO Doctrine for Environmental Protection During NATO-led Military Activities’, which sets out the environmental planning guidelines for military activities.

    Following withdrawal from both the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, clean up of hazardous materials was carried out as far as practicable in accordance with relevant legislation.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timescale is for closing the 1993 and 2003 child support allowance IT systems before they reach end of usable life.

    Caroline Nokes

    The Department’s timetable for the closure of the 1993 and 2003 child support allowance IT systems is currently under consideration.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many breaches of animal welfare regulations (a) in slaughterhouses and (b) during transportation his Department recorded in each of the last six years.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The new legislation Welfare at Time of Killing implemented in Wales in 2014 and in England in 2015 introduced new welfare reporting requirements. In addition, during 2015/16 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) introduced new animal welfare measures in slaughterhouses which included increased consistency of reporting of transport related breaches. Both these factors are likely to have contributed to the increased instances recorded in the previous two years.

    The FSA does not record the numbers of individual animals which died as a result of transportation to slaughterhouses. The FSA records the number of instances that animals were found to be Dead on Arrival (DOA). The number of DOA instances for the last six years are set out in the following table:

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    144

    64

    5

    16

    28

    265

    The FSA does not record the number of individual animals involved in a welfare breaches in slaughterhouses or during transportation. The FSA records the number of instances of breaches. The number of critical welfare breaches in slaughterhouses and transportation for the last six years are set out in the following tables:

    Slaughterhouses

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    158

    132

    65

    113

    217

    234

    Transportation

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    394

    342

    308

    535

    1,488

    2,097

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to improve broadband services in urban areas (a) generally and (b) for small and medium-sized businesses in 2015-16.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Access to broadband is of vital importance to small and medium-sized businesses, which is why the Government-funded Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme has provided over 50,000 small and medium sized enterprises with access to high speed broadband.83 per cent of homes and businesses already have access to superfast broadband services, and thanks to the Government’s investment in the superfast broadband rollout, this is set to rise to 95 per cent by the end of 2017. In addition, the Government is supportingseven pilot projects exploring options for delivering superfast broadband services to the hardest to reach parts of the UK.

  • Jo Stevens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jo Stevens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the value of the contract of tender for the employers’ digital apprenticeship account; and when he plans to put that contract out to tender.

    Nick Boles

    The Department has completed an assessment of the cost to implement the Digital Apprenticeship Service. In line with Cabinet Office best practice, we do not intend to procure the full scope of the Digital Apprenticeship Service. We supplement in-house expertise with services from a range of suppliers and will procure any further services through government frameworks in phases over the next 12 months.