Category: Speeches

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish her Department’s 25 year plan on food and farming.

    George Eustice

    Work on the 25 Year Food and Farming Plan is currently on hold following the result of the EU Referendum. We now have an opportunity to consider our long term vision for food and farming outside of the EU. We look forward to continuing to work with a wide range of interests to develop that vision and to work together to deliver it.

    It remains essential that the UK has a thriving food and farming industry with high animal welfare and environmental standards, access to international markets and a long term commitment to boosting productivity through innovation and skills. We are now focused on taking forward the actions that support these objectives, and continuing to develop our long term vision, in a different context.

  • Baroness Redfern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Redfern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-09-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which five clinical procedures have the highest average waiting time in England.

    Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

    Patients have a legal right, set out in the NHS Constitution, to start consultant-led treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral for non-urgent conditions. The NHS Constitution for England is attached, as is the Handbook to the Constitution, which provides a further level of detail regarding the rights and pledges. Performance is measured against an operational standard that 92% of patients who have not yet started treatment should have been waiting less than 18 weeks from referral at the end of each month. These referral to treatment waiting times are collected for 18 treatment functions (e.g. trauma and orthopaedics), but not for individual conditions or procedures. They are different from the data derived from hospital episode statistics, which show only the waiting time from decision to admit to admission, and not the waiting time from referral to start of treatment.

    Table: The five treatment functions that had the highest average waiting time from referral to treatment in July 2016, in England

    Treatment Function

    Average (median) waiting time (in weeks)

    Neurosurgery

    8.4

    Oral Surgery

    7.3

    Neurology

    7.0

    Trauma and Orthopaedics

    7.0

    Cardiothoracic Surgery

    7.0

    Source: Consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times, NHS England

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on the Quicksilver project to build out wifi and mobile infrastructure alongside rail lines; and if he will make a statement.

    Claire Perry

    Project Quicksilver was a rail industry procurement led by Network Rail to improve mobile coverage along railway routes for the benefit of passengers.

    Despite receiving a number of positive bids, the industry was not able to find a solution that satisfied the commercial requirements of all parties and delivered the desired connectivity improvements. As a result, Network Rail terminated the procurement.

    The Government recognises that dropped calls and intermittent access to the internet are frustrations felt by many rail passengers. We are working with the rail and telecommunications industries to reach a collective understanding of the technical and commercial challenges and the potential solution to this problem.

  • Wayne David – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Wayne David – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wayne David on 2015-12-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much will be spent from the public purse on Christmas parties (a) in each prison and (b) across the prison estate in 2015.

    Andrew Selous

    There will be no Christmas parties held in any prison across the prison estate in 2015.

    There are no public funds or opportunities provided to facilitate Christmas parties for prisoners.

  • Chris White – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chris White – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris White on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses benefited from video games tax relief in 2014-15; what the cost of that relief was to his Department in that year; and what the return on investment was for the economy as a result of that relief.

    Mr David Gauke

    Video Games Tax Relief is forecast to cost the Exchequer £10m in 2014-15. The first Official Statistics on the number of claims and cost of Video Games Tax Relief will be published in Summer 2016, allowing sufficient time for claims to have been submitted for the 2014-15 tax year. No estimate of the benefit for the economy as a whole is available.

    The forecast has been certified by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and is consistent with their latest forecast of Corporation Tax receipts.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to commemorate the Battle of Jutland.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) will be commemorating the Battle of Jutland with a significant and extensive programme of events, not least as the principal delivery partner to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport for the national commemorations in the Orkney Islands and on Jutland Bank on 31 May 2016.

    The Royal Navy will be holding and supporting events throughout the UK and, in addition, will be supporting events in Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

    The MOD welcomes the opportunity to make such a significant contribution to the commemoration of this historic Naval battle and the wider Great War at Sea.

  • Liz McInnes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Liz McInnes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the financial loss to shareholders as a consequence of the collapse of the former Bradford and Bingley Building Society/Bank in 2008.

    Harriett Baldwin

    In 2009 Peter Clokey of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was appointed as an independent valuer to consider whether shareholders and holders of rights associated with dated subordinated notes were entitled to compensation after the collapse of Bradford & Bingley. On 5 July 2010 he published his report setting out his determination that no compensation is due to former shareholders and bondholders. The case was referred to the Upper Tribunal who upheld the decision in 2012 and concluded that the valuer carried out his valuation function wholly in accordance with the Compensation Scheme.

  • David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Morris on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy on the Falkland Islands of the recent decision by the UN to grant rights over waters surrounding those Islands to Argentina.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) has no jurisdiction to consider areas subject to competing claims and therefore has no locus to make recommendations in relation to the Falkland Islands. The UN itself has acknowledged that the CLCS could not consider those parts of the original Argentine submission of 2009 that were subject to dispute. This would include the Falkland Islands.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Answer of 31 March 2016 to Question 31997, on employment: telephone services, if he will provide that data for financial years (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13 and (d) 2013-14.

    Nick Boles

    The table below shows the number of referrals (complaints) from the Pay and Work Rights Helpline (PWRH) to relevant enforcement authorities for the 2010/11 to 2013/14 financial years.

    Table 1: Referrals from the PWRH to each enforcement agencies, 2010/11 to 2013/14

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    HMRC

    2,080

    2,440

    2,610

    3,690

    EAS

    490

    530

    600

    630

    HSE

    200

    250

    210

    250

    DEFRA

    280

    210

    200

    150

    GLA

    60

    70

    50

    50

    *The Pay and Work Rights Helpline opened in May 2009

    Notes

    1. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10.

    2. Calls can be referred to more than one agency so the sum does not amount to the total number of calls referred for the period.

    3. Calls referred to agencies include complaints, complex queries and calls where intelligence was passed to other agencies.

    4. Figures include referrals via all PWRH communication channels, including telephone calls, post and online complaints.

    5. These figures are based on final data submitted by BSS on closure at the end of March 2015. They may not reconcile with provisional data provided while the old helpline was operational.

  • Ian Lavery – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ian Lavery – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the estimated cost to the public purse is of prescribing methadone to prisoners in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

    Ben Gummer

    This information is not collected centrally.