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Category: Speeches

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of government funding for translational research programmes; and if he will make a statement.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government’s Productivity Plan in July set out our ambition that UK Universities will continue to increase their collaborations with industry to drive the translation and commercialisation of research and broader knowledge exchange. Universities’ external income from engagement with business and the community reached £3.93 billion in 2013-14, up by 27% from 2009-10. The World Economic Forum ranks the UK among the top four nations in the world for university-industry collaboration in R&D. The recent Research Excellence Framework 2014 has demonstrated the breadth and extent of economic impact arising from university research, with 84% of submissions assessed as outstanding or very considerable by expert and academic peer review.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will ensure that NHS England’s response to the Mental Health Taskforce includes securing access to timely autism diagnoses.

    Alistair Burt

    The report of the Mental Health Task Force is due to be published shortly. NHS England has commenced a programme to visit clinical commissioning groups to identify and share good practice in accessing timely autism diagnosis.

    In 2015, new statutory guidance for local authorities and National Health Service organisations to support the continued implementation of the 2010 Autism Strategy, as refreshed by its 2014 Think Autism update, set out expectations for autism training for general practitioners (GPs). The Department has also provided financial support to the Royal College of General Practitioners clinical priorities programme on autism which is undertaking practical work on autism awareness and training for GPs.GPs should be aware of what the local arrangements are for making referrals for autism diagnosis.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to continue funding the National Wildlife Crime Unit.

    Rory Stewart

    The Government remains committed to tackling wildlife crime.

    We are currently allocating our Spending Review settlement. Future funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit will be decided as part of that process.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the Regional Air Connectivity Fund has not yet been allocated.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Regional Air Connectivity Fund was announced by the previous Government to provide up to £20 million annually to maintain existing domestic air routes to London that may be withdrawn, and to support new air routes from airports handling fewer than 5 million passengers per annum though start-up aid.

    The Government has already made £5.2 million available to maintain the existing air links between Dundee and Stansted airports, and between Newquay and Gatwick airports, and will continue to consider support for other routes that may be withdrawn.

    In addition, the Department last year undertook a tender process for airlines to bid for funding for start-up aid for new air routes. A total of eleven bids were received and the government announced last November that up to £7 million would be provided to support all eleven routes. It is now for the airlines to start operating these routes, with payments from the fund made upon delivery of the agreed service.

    We are now considering whether to take forward further start-up funding rounds and will make an announcement later this year.

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

    Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many reports of food fraud have been made to the Food Crime Unit through the official website since its creation.

    Jane Ellison

    The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) is initially focusing on establishing the scale and nature of food crime in the United Kingdom at a strategic level through developing intelligence sharing relationships across the law enforcement community and with the food industry. This will also enable the Unit to instigate investigative interventions by law enforcement partners and local authorities to identify and disrupt specific instances of food crime.

    At the end of this year, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) will review progress on food crime, in line with Professor Elliott’s recommendations following the horsemeat incident. This review will inform decision-making about the Unit’s future form and function including the need or otherwise for the unit to establish an in-house investigative capability.

    Intelligence analysts within the Unit have just completed the first ever Food Crime Annual Strategic Assessment (FCASA). The FCASA sets out the Unit’s developing understanding of food crime and will drive its work to ensure resources are focused where the threat to consumers and other interests is the greatest.

    The NFCU receives reports of suspicions of food fraud from a number of sources via many different routes. The FSA website directs users to a dedicated email address and telephone number for reporting these suspicions. Information is also received through local authority and law enforcement partners. Information received is analysed and, where appropriate, entered onto the Unit’s intelligence database. Between 1 January 2015 and 18 March 2016, 793 such records were created.

    Establishment costs for the NFCU were minimal as the Unit initially evolved from a small but similar capability within the FSA. Total running costs to date are in the region of £579,000. Estimated costs for the forthcoming year are £1.2 million, subject to final allocations being agreed.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will apply the principles of the Responsibility to Protect to the situation in North Korea.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a governing principle of the British Government’s work across the conflict spectrum, including in human rights and development. R2P imposes an obligation on all UN member states to protect their populations and for the international community to assist.

    The British Government continues to maintain pressure on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to engage with the international community and take concrete steps to improve their appalling human rights record. We have urged the North Korean regime to allow the UN Special Rapporteur on DPRK Human Rights free and unfettered access to investigate the disturbing reports of human rights violations as documented in the UN Commission of Inquiry report.

    The Government strongly supported the recent Human Rights Council Resolution on DPRK which created a Panel of Experts to investigate the issue of accountability for those accused of committing human rights violations. We will continue to support this process to ensure that those who are responsible for human rights abuses are held to account.

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights Report 2015 designated the DPRK as a Human Rights Priority Country. Improving the human rights situation in the DPRK remains a key objective of our engagement with the North Korean government.

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-06-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 6 June (HL Deb, col 625), what factors make it difficult to estimate the cost to the taxpayer of the failure of BHS; and in what ways those costs can be covered by existing BHS resources.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    It is too early to determine the cost to the taxpayer of BHS’ insolvency.

    When a company becomes insolvent, redundancy costs are paid from the National Insurance Fund, up to legal limits, as part of a statutory guarantee scheme administered by the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service. The Redundancy Payments Service then becomes a creditor in the insolvency and can recover some of the debt should any assets be sold as part of the insolvency process. If an employee has a claim over and above the statutory amount paid by the Redundancy Payment Service, then they can also claim as a creditor in the insolvency.

    Therefore, the cost to the Government depends on the number of people made redundant, the amount paid to them and the amount recovered from the insolvency as a creditor.

  • Martin Docherty-Hughes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Martin Docherty-Hughes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martin Docherty-Hughes on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to assist those suffering from hunger in Venezuela.

    Rory Stewart

    The current political, social and economic problems in Venezuela, in particular shortages of food and medicine are concerning. DFID is supporting Venezuela through our core contributions to United Nations’ (UN) agencies, the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department and the Red Cross, all of whom are currently working to support food and medicine distribution systems to the most vulnerable people in Venezuela.

  • Khalid Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Khalid Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will estimate the amount lost by businesses in Birmingham and the West Midlands conurbation as a result of congestion on the M6 motorway in each of the last five years.

    Mr John Hayes

    Information on the amount lost by businesses in Birmingham and the West Midlands conurbation as a result of congestion on the M6 motorway is not held centrally.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the conduct of the recent elections in Burma.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    I refer the hon. Member to my Written Ministerial Statement titled, Update on Elections in Burma, of 20 November.