Category: Speeches

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his Answer of 9 February 2016 to Question 26570, on planning permission, which local authority made each of those article 4 directions; and what modifications his Department made to eight of those directions.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department has been notified of Article 4 directions for basement developments made by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster.

    The Secretary of State has modified Article 4 directions which remove office to residential permitted development rights for:

    – the London Borough of Richmond; the London Borough of Sutton; Brighton and Hove City Council and Oxford City Council: to exclude those properties which had secured prior approval for the change of use from office to residential before the date the Article 4 directions took effect;

    – London Borough of Camden: to reduce the geographical coverage of the Article 4 direction;

    – Broxbourne Borough Council; the London Borough of Islington and the London Borough of Merton: to exclude those properties which had secured prior approval for the change of use from office to residential before the date the Article 4 directions took effect and to reduce the geographical coverage of the Article 4 directions.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of his Department’s spend on the refurbishment of Drapers’ Hall, Coventry in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government announced a range of investments in arts projects across the country in the 2016 Budget. This included £1 million for the refurbishment of Drapers Hall in the 2017/18 financial year.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to allow community pharmacies to care for patients with long-term health conditions through (a) medical reviews and (b) other assistance with that condition.

    Alistair Burt

    Community pharmacies already take significant steps to care for patients with long term conditions (LTCS). Community pharmacy staff routinely deliver a range of services to meet the needs of patients with LTCs, including timely dispensing of medicines, opportunistic and prescription-linked public health interventions, such as advice on a healthy diet and nutrition, stop smoking advice to help maintain the health of people with LTCs such as diabetes and heart disease, support for self-care and signposting, when they are not able to provide the support themselves.

    In addition, community pharmacists provide advice on the safe use of medicines so they are taken as intended, through medicines use reviews and the new medicines service, the latter intended for people with certain LTCs prescribed new medicines. Utilising pharmacists clinical skills assists with optimising medicines in a way which puts patients at the centre of decision making, with regular monitoring and review, helping to improve their health outcomes.

    The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients, including those with LTCs, and the public.

  • Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people under the age of 25 in (a) England, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Manchester, Withington constituency are employed on zero-hours contracts.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of leaving the EU on EU funding for flood defence projects.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    No Government Grant-in-Aid funding for flood defence projects comes from the European Union. Where EU Structural Funds are being used in partnership funding, current arrangements for such funding will remain in place until we leave the EU.

  • Kevin Foster – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kevin Foster – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has plans to bring forward proposals to amend the legislation requiring statutory declarations to be dated within six months of the date of the Gender Recognition Certificate application.

    Dr Phillip Lee

    I refer the hon. Member to my answer to PQ 44155.

  • Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will introduce a bill to reform the regulation of healthcare professionals; and if he will make a statement.

    Ben Gummer

    This Government is grateful for the work of the Law Commissions of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in reviewing the regulation of health and (in England) social care professionals.

    The Law Commissions made 125 recommendations to reform the existing complex and burdensome regulatory system. The joint four UK country response to the Law Commissions was published on 29 January 2015 which accepted wholly or in part the vast majority of its recommendations.

    The Department is currently reviewing how best to take forward the work of the Law Commissions. We hope to be able to provide an update on this work soon.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average time was from a patient being declared fit to leave hospital to their discharge in (a) England, (b) London and (c) each health trust in London in (i) the last calendar month for which figures are available and (ii) that month in each year from 2010 to 2014.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not available in the format requested.

    Official statistics for NHS trusts in England are published by NHS England on the number of patients delayed on the last Thursday of each month and the total delayed days during the month for all patients delayed throughout the month. The latest publication of this data was for delays occurring in October 2015 and was published on 10 December 2015.

    It is not possible to calculate a montly average or the longest waits from these data. Health is a devolved matter in Wales.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reason the county of concern category was removed from his Department’s annual human rights report.

    Mr David Lidington

    From 2016, we will term the countries in the FCO’s Annual Human Rights Report “Human Rights Priority Countries” rather than “Countries of Concern”. This change is a better reflection of the new criteria underpinning our country reporting, which were amended following feedback from external stakeholders, including the House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Select Committee. The term “Human Rights Priority Countries” is a better indication of the FCO’s proactive and practical engagement on human rights in the priority countries that we work in.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to help prevent disproportionate increases in the price of football tickets.

    David Evennett

    While ticket prices are matter for individual clubs, this Government is aware how important this is to so many football fans. Football is enjoying an enormous amount of financial success at present, however it should not be forgotten that this is built on the hard work and the money of millions of loyal supporters. Clubs should ensure that ticket pricing strikes the right balance between value for supporters, and generating the income necessary to sustain their business.

    I will be looking for football to embrace fully a key recommendation from a recently published Government Expert Working Group on supporter ownership and engagement that requires clubs meet with fans at least twice yearly to discuss matters of most importance.