Category: Speeches

Lord Bird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bird on 2016-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Project Literacy campaign, and whether they have plans to support and promote that campaign.

Lord Bates

The Department for International Development (DFID) share Project Literacy’s view that illiteracy leaves people around the world vulnerable to poverty, abuse and exploitation, and are committed to supporting the Global Goal target of ensuring that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults achieve literacy and numeracy by 2030. The majority of DFID’s education programmes are focused on ensuring all children are able to read, write and count. For example, DFID is helping to increase literacy rates amongst women and girls in Northern Nigeria, where 7 out of 10 women cannot read at all, through the Educating Nigerian Girls in New Enterprises project, which supports 18,000 young women to improve their literacy and numeracy.

01/01/2023
Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information his Department holds on how many bids were received by the Official Receiver to buy or operate any element of the former SSI site in Redcar prior to the Receiver’s decision on hard closure.

Anna Soubry

My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State does not hold information regarding the number of bids received by the Official Receiver in respect to the former SSI site. The Official Receiver holds this information in his statutory role as an independent liquidator appointed by the Court. The Official Receiver received a number of expressions of interest in various assets of the company but none were translated into viable offers for the coke ovens or blast furnace ahead of his decisions to close them on 12 October 2015. The Official Receiver can be contacted at the address below: Ken Beasley, Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 2^nd Floor, 3 Piccadilly Place, London Road, Manchester, M1 3BN.

01/01/2023
Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether sixth form colleges participating in the first wave of area reviews will be able to apply for academy status.

Nick Boles

Sixth form colleges participating in the first wave of area reviews will be able to apply for academy status.

The Joint Area Review Delivery Unit will work with sixth form colleges in the first wave of reviews to ensure that they have the opportunity to apply as part of the review in their area, and to prepare applications in advance of the publication of detailed criteria in February 2016.

01/01/2023
Henry Bellingham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Bellingham on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent assessment she has made of the security situation in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement.

Mrs Theresa Villiers

The threat from Northern Ireland Related Terrorism is severe.

It is being suppressed by the hard work of PSNI and MI5. Because of their efforts, the number of national security attacks has fallen from 40 in 2010 to 16 in 2015. But the need for total vigilance remains and will continue.

01/01/2023
Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what programmes her Department has contributed to from the £300 million it allocated to eradicate polio.

Mr Nick Hurd

The United Kingdom remains fully committed to global polio eradication and has pledged £300 million to support the Global Polio Eradication Initiative for 2013 to 2019. Of the £300 million, £270 million is directed to the World Health Organisation, which hosts the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. £30 million is allocated to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to support its role in the global introduction of the Inactivated Polio Vaccine, a key step in the path to eradication.

As the third largest contributor towards global polio eradication, UK support has played a crucial role in the more than 99% decrease in polio cases since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988.

01/01/2023
Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the Government took to ensure that its response to its consultation, Sunday Trading, published in August 2015, took substantive account of the range of responses to that consultation.

Anna Soubry

The Government has conscientiously taken into account all the responses and evidence submitted during the consultation in formulating our proposals.

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01/01/2023
William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the prospects for the Middle East peace process.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain focused on steps which will secure progress towards a two-state solution. We continue to believe that the best way to achieve this is through negotiations. We are in close consultation with international partners about what kind of renewed process might lead to progress.

01/01/2023

Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35019, on social fund, for what reasons management information is only held from 2013.

Justin Tomlinson

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 the information previously provided was extracted from the current live Operational Activity Based Management Information System.

The information from 2010 until 2013 is not readily available as it is archived. However we have now been able to extract the historical data which is displayed in the table below.

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
Bereavement Benefit	145	130	116	106	94	84	78
Maternity Allowance	108	82	77	75	70	66	72
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit	309	243	241	226	192	166	148
Social Fund	4321	2480	1968	1552	798	411	349

Notes: The table above shows average Full Time Equivalent for each financial year from April to March.

Source: Jobcentre Plus Activity Based Management System (L1A) and Operational Activity Based Management Information System (L1A)

01/01/2023

Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of flights in the UK North Sea oil and gas sector were undertaken by (a) Airbus EC225 and (b) AS332 helicopters airframes in each year since 2007-08.

Mr Robert Goodwill

As the independent aviation safety regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), only records information on flights above a certain weight threshold.

The CAA data below includes the number of departures and arrivals on both AS332 SUPER PUMA and EUROCOPTER EC225 (H225) aircraft operated between UK airports and Oil Rigs in each year since 2007.

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
AS332	38200	29855	23360	18269	16614	15867	19960	10551	2866
EC225	7785	10238	12008	14942	18154	14191	1183	12458	15418

01/01/2023

Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of (a) the Access to Work scheme and (b) its administration.

Penny Mordaunt

Access to Work continues to support over 36,000 people per year take up or retain employment. Last year the scheme helped people with mental health conditions, learning disabilities and young people in larger numbers than ever before.

On 2 September 2016 we launched the Access to Work Digital Service in response to customer feedback requesting a more convenient, accessible and quicker process. This transformation will also enable staff to administer the scheme more efficiently as we look to increase the number of disabled people who could be helped into or remain in work as part of the Government’s ambition to halve the disability employment gap.

The Spending Review announcement confirmed we’re increasing the capacity of Access to Work through a real term increase in spending starting in 16/17. Funding will reflect the numbers of applicants and their needs, and recognises expected increases in demand of around 25,000 extra customers by the end of the Parliament.

To support this we have been working with jobcentres, businesses and local organisations to promote the Access to Work Scheme. We have also promoted Access to Work as part of the Disability Confident Campaign and are currently looking at further marketing and promotion of the Access to Work programme.

01/01/2023