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Category: Speeches

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Mayor of London on the effect on black taxi drivers of the operation of Uber in London.

    Andrew Jones

    We receive representations on a number of issues from the Mayor of London, and this has included the impact of the increasing number of private hire vehicles in London on congestion, air quality and parking issues on London’s road network.

    The Government is continuing to discuss with the Mayor ways of addressing these issues.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have forecast how many of the 20,000 asylum seekers to enter the UK by the end of this Parliament will be under 18.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    We work closely with The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify cases that they deem in need of resettlement according to agreed vulnerability criteria for the Syrian Resettlement Scheme.

    The scheme is based on need and supports those who cannot be supported effectively in their region of origin.

    The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Latest statistics published on 25 February 2016 confirms in 2015, a total of 1,194 people were resettled the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) including 1,085 who arrived in the last quarter of 2015. Of those resettled under the scheme in 2015, 605 were under 18 years old.

  • 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 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the UK’s contribution will be to the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The UK has a leading role in the implementation of NATO’s Readiness Action Plan, of which the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) is a part. The UK will contribute to the VJTF in every year between now and 2021 including: a 1,000 strong battle group for the Spanish-led VJTF(Land) in 2016; we will act as the VJTF(Land) Framework Nation in 2017 leading a multinational force that includes up to 3,000 UK personnel, a brigade headquarters and a core package of "enablers", such as engineering and logistics capabilities; and, in 2020 we will provide a 1,000 strong battle group to the Polish-led VJTF(Land).

    For 2016 and 2017, the UK will also contribute Airborne Early Warning, Air to Air Refuelling, and Tornado and/or Typhoon aircraft to the VJTF(Air) commitment; and, for the VJTF(Maritime) element, we will provide HMS Ocean as the 2 Star Maritime Component Command, a frigate, and a mine countermeasures vessel.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps have been taken by his Department as a result of the recommendations of the Review by Sir Nicholas Blake QC of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of four soldiers at Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut between 1999 and 2002, published in 2006, relating to statements detailed in the Appendix to that review by civilian staff and recruits of (a) sexual harassment, (b) sexual assault and (c) bullying at that base; and if he will make a statement.

    Mark Lancaster

    Appendices four and five of Sir Nicholas’ Report refer to allegations made in statements to Surrey Police. The hon. Member would need to contact the Home Secretary to establish what action was taken by Surrey Police in response to individual cases.

    The Government’s response to Sir Nicholas’ Report was published in June 2006, and the Army has already implemented significant changes to the way we train our young people since 1995. We have invested considerably in the provision of welfare support for both those in training and their families. In addition, we now put great priority on training our instructors to ensure that they get the very best from their trainees; our philosophy is very much to ‘train in rather than select out’. Our instructor ratios are now greatly improved and, as a minimum, we provide one instructor per 12 trainees during their initial training. All Armed Forces training sites are now subject to independent scrutiny by Ofsted inspectors and their assessments help us to drive continuous improvement. Ofsted’s recently published report on ‘Duty of Care and Welfare in Armed Forces Initial Training’ found all the establishments they visited to be either good or excellent.

    Underpinning all of these changes, the Chief of the General Staff has a very clear zero tolerance of any form of bullying, harassment or discrimination. All allegations of mistreatment are taken very seriously and we encourage any allegation of unacceptable behaviour to be raised to the attention of the Chain of Command to be investigated accordingly and action taken where appropriate. Any allegation of rape and sexual assault, or any other offence which may have a sexual element, must always be referred to the Service Police.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the use of mechanical thrombectomy in treatment of stroke on length of stay in hospital and bed occupancy rates.

    David Mowat

    As yet, there are insufficient patients being treated with mechanical thrombectomy to assess its impact on processes, such as length of hospital stay and bed occupancy rates, outcomes of care and the effect on post stroke rehabilitation.

    However, the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme is now collecting data on patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy and the results will be reported as soon as it is feasible. Sufficient cases will need to be undertaken before conducting the necessary statistical analyses and reporting the data.

    NHS England is considering whether mechanical thrombectomy should be an area covered by its specialised commissioning portfolio and work is underway on this.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many civil servants in her Department are members of trades unions; how much working hours facility time is claimed by each such civil servant; and what the cost of that facility time is to her Department.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education does not hold records on how many civil servants are members of a trade union.

    The Cabinet Office publishes data relating to civil service facility time on a quarterly basis. The latest data is Quarter 4, 2014 and is available online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-union-facility-time

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  • Lord Dobbs – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    Lord Dobbs – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dobbs on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Chairman of Committees, further to his Written Answer on 24 November (HL3466), whether the total of £195,000 for the estimated annual running costs of the House of Lords Press and Media Team includes the cost of office space and similar overheads, and if not, what are the estimated total running costs of that team including those overheads.

    Lord Laming

    No. The House of Lords has made no specific estimate of the cost of office space and similar overheads in respect of the House of Lords Press and Media Team; similar overheads apply to various Lords Departments and are part of the total running cost of Parliament.

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much has been paid to accountancy firms for work on sustainability and transformation plans in the NHS in (a) total and (b) each footprint area.

    David Mowat

    Sustainability and Transformation Plans are local plans and have been developed locally. Neither the Department nor NHS England collects data on whether these plans have been developed with outside advice.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of using the facewatch application to reduce the number of fire engine call outs to false alarms.

    Greg Clark

    We have made no assessment of the effectiveness of using Facewatch to reduce call outs to false alarms. Decisions on operational matters, including how to reduce and respond to false alarms, are best taken at the local level by fire and rescue authorities and their principal officers in the light of individual circumstances.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Bahraini counterpart on the number of political prisoners held in that country; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We regularly discuss human rights and reform with the Government of Bahrain – including at the biannual UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group meeting which was most recently held in November 2015. If we have specific concerns around convictions or sentencing, we raise these with the Government of Bahrain as part of our wider dialogue on human rights and reform.