UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Speeches

  • Kate Osamor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Kate Osamor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking in co-operation with UN agencies to tackle the increase in child brides in refugee camps and conflict areas.

    Priti Patel

    The UK is committed to the ‘Call to Action’ on women and girls and keeping girls and women safe in emergencies, including providing £23.5 million to UNFPA in Syria, to support women and girls vulnerable to child and forced marriage, domestic violence, and sexual violence, abuse, and exploitation through improved access to psycho-social support and sexual and reproductive health care.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, in what circumstances major Government programmes are subjected to Project Assessment Reviews instead of Gateway Reviews; and if he will make a statement.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Major Project Portfolio for each Department is agreed by the Department, the Major Projects Authority and the relevant HM Treasury spending team. Each programme on the portfolio is subject to an agreed schedule of approvals and assurance, which will normally include Gateway Reviews. There is no provision for formal exemption.

    A Project Assessment Review is conducted either instead of or in addition to Gateway Reviews, and allows for specific terms of reference to be tailored to meet the assurance needs of the particular Government Major Project.

  • Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his Oral Statement of 26 November 2015, Official Report, columns 1489-94, what additional humanitarian support the Government plans to provide to countries that border Syria to assist with the likely increased displacement of people as a result of the coordinated international response to Daesh in Syria.

    Mr David Cameron

    Coalition airstrikes have been on-going since September 2014. Airstrikes may cause some local level internal displacement and disruption; but it is the conflict that is the main cause of suffering of civilians in Syria. In Syria, the UN carries out regular humanitarian contingency planning exercises including preparing for the impact of military operations.

    To date, the UK has allocated £559 million to support refugees in the region and vulnerable host communities, including £304 million in Lebanon, £193 million in Jordan and the remainder across the region.

    The UK is very concerned about the plight of the Syrian people. This is why the Prime Minister announced on 16 November that the UK, Kuwait, Norway, Germany and the UN will co-host an international conference on the Syria crisis in London on 4 February 2016. The Conference aims to raise significant new funding to meet the needs of all those affected by crisis within Syria and to support neighbouring countries, who have shown enormous generosity in hosting refugees, to cope with the impact of the crisis. The Conference will aim to raise both emergency and long-term funding for 2016 and subsequent years.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-01-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of tax credit recipients had their credits withdrawn when their children progressed into post-16 education in each of the last five financial years.

    Damian Hinds

    No Child Tax Credit (CTC) claimants should have had their award ended as a consequence of their child progressing into post-16 education provided they continue to meet the qualifying conditions for CTC and their child is in full-time, non-advanced education, as prescribed in the relevant regulations.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department’s plans are for the procurement of IT and digital services beyond the end dates of its current contracts.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department anticipates a shift in the way in which citizens will engage with the Department – with greater digital interaction in the future. Digital Technology, Data and Security capabilities are a key enabler of this shift. The department initiates on an ongoing basis a number of procurement exercises using open competitions under the EU Procurement Directives and call-off competitions under Government Frameworks.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have made representations to his Department about the proposed change of social sector housing benefit to the level of local housing allowance.

    Justin Tomlinson

    So far representations have been made by 93 individuals and 16 housing providers about the proposed change of social sector housing benefit to the level of local housing allowance.

    DWP Ministers and officials will continue to have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

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

    Baroness Byford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is (1) the average hourly rate, and (2) the range of charges, for official veterinary surgeons employed in abattoirs.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    In 2014/15 the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) full cost normal time hourly charge rate for an Official Veterinarian (OV) in Great Britain was £37.30. Discounts are applied to FSA charges and as a consequence the average hourly rate of charge for an OV was £16.81.

    The range of normal time hourly rates charged for FSA OVs in Great Britain in 2014/15 was £0.00 to £37.30.

  • Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-04-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions Government officials have accompanied representatives of British overseas territories or Crown dependencies to meetings with the European Commission in the last five years.

    James Duddridge

    The UK is responsible for the international relations of the Overseas Territories, which have a specific status within the European Union Treaties. The Overseas Association Decision is the instrument which sets out the relationship between the European Union and the Overseas Territories of the Member States. In 2015 I attended the annual Forum bringing together Territory leaders, senior representatives from the European Commission and the Member States. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials meet approximately six times a year with the Territories and the Commission to take forward cooperation under the Overseas Association Decision. Other government departments provide officials when required if the subject matter falls within their area of competence.

    The United Kingdom is also responsible for the international relations of the Crown Dependencies which have a special relationship with the European Union under Protocol 3 to the United Kingdom’s Treaty of Accession to the European Community.

    United Kingdom Government officials meet regularly with Crown Dependency and Overseas Territory representatives to discuss forthcoming business; information sharing is a matter of routine. The Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories make their own preparations for meetings with the European Commission but Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials assist when asked to do so. Support is also available from other government departments and the UK Permanent Representation to the European Union should it be required.

  • Lord Dixon-Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Dixon-Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dixon-Smith on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much energy is released into the atmosphere in the form of waste heat by the UK’s electricity generating industry annually.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Analysis from the Association of Decentralised Energy estimates that just under 10% of UK power stations capture their heat currently. The UK has a number of policies in place to promote the use of heat produced as a by-product from the UK’s electricity generation industry. These include incentives for good quality combined heat and power (CHP), as well as the £320m Heat Networks Investment Project which will encourage capital investment in hundreds of heat networks, which can use not only heat from power stations but also others sources of waste heat such as industrial processes.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-07-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) operating differently to other health technology assessment bodies, such as NICE, as stated in the minutes of the June JCVI meeting, in the event that the recommendations of the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurements working group are adopted.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The report of the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurement (CEMIPP) review was received in the Department on 20 July. The Department is considering this report and its potential implications.