Category: Speeches

Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much of the funding for tackling female genital mutilation has been allocated to prevention work.

Karen Bradley

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls.

In 2014/15, the Government provided over £380,000 to community organisations through the Home Office’s FGM Community Engagement Initiative and the Department for Communities and Local Government’s FGM and forced marriage prevention projects.

The 29 projects all included prevention work with a focus on building the confidence of women and communities to speak out against these practices and raising awareness of the serious consequences they can have.

Evaluations show that over 25,000 people were reached and feedback from participants demonstrates increased awareness of the context, manifestation and harm caused by FGM and forced marriage.

01/01/2023
David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the BBC upholds its obligations under the charter relating to impartiality during the EU referendum campaign.

Mr Edward Vaizey

In June 2015 I wrote to the Chairs of the BBC Trust and Ofcom on this subject. Their replies set out their plans. The Trust has since consulted on and published guidelines for covering the referendum.

01/01/2023
William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the prospects for the Middle East peace process.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain focused on steps which will secure progress towards a two-state solution. We continue to believe that the best way to achieve this is through negotiations. We are in close consultation with international partners about what kind of renewed process might lead to progress.

01/01/2023
Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to end forced marriage worldwide.

Mr Desmond Swayne

Ending Child Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM) remains a high priority for the UK Government at home and overseas. The UK has demonstrated its leadership through co-hosting the first ever Girl Summit in 2014, which galvanized global action to end CEFM and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Following the Girl Summit 2014 the UK has continued its global leadership on ending CEFM, including through support for UN Resolutions and advocating for a separate target on ending CEFM within the Global Goals. The UK has supported campaigns and country-led Girl Summits through its overseas network, raising awareness of the impact of CEFM and ensuring global commitments translate into country-level action.

The UK has committed £36 million towards ending CEFM around the world. This includes support for the UN’s Joint Programme to End Child Marriage working in twelve high prevalence countries and for grassroots civil society organisations working to challenge this harmful social practice. Domestically, the UK Government’s Forced Marriage Unit provides support to British Nationals overseas affected by forced marriage.

01/01/2023
Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-06-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the current borrowing limits imposed on (1) the Scottish Parliament, (2) the National Assembly for Wales, and (3) the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The Scotland Act 2014 permits the Scottish Government to borrow up to £2.2 billion for capital purposes and £0.5 billion to cover shortfalls in cash receipts. The Scotland Act 2016 provides for these to be revised in due course to £3bn and £1.75bn respectively.

The Welsh Government may borrow up to £500 million to cover shortfalls in the Welsh Consolidated Fund as set out in the Government of Wales Act 2006. The Wales Act 2014 confers aggregate capital borrowing powers of up to £500 million on the Welsh Government. In response to a specific request from the Welsh Government, the Government has also provided early access to these capital borrowing powers in order to support the delivery of the M4 relief road.

The Northern Ireland Executive has a statutory borrowing limit of £3 billion for capital purposes as set out in the Northern Ireland (Loans) Act 1975 as amended by the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006. The Northern Ireland Executive may borrow up to £250 million to cover shortfalls in the Northern Ireland Consolidated Fund as set out in the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

01/01/2023
Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 1 August (HL1311), what progress has been made so far in relation to the consultation on the future of Sure Start; whether they intend to publish the result of that consultation; and if so, when.

Lord Nash

The Prime Minister has been clear that tackling poverty and disadvantage, and delivering real social reform, will be a priority for this Government. We will consider future policy on children’s centres as part of this. We will provide further detail in due course and will make clear how stakeholders and members of the public can contribute.

01/01/2023
Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to increase the frequency of train services to north-east Essex along the Great Eastern Main Line.

Claire Perry

As with all competitions, after running a public consultation to help specify services, we have published the Invitation To Tender which sets out the minimum service specifications for the next East Anglia franchise. This asks bidders to set out detailed proposals on what improvements for passengers they will deliver. This approach allowsbidders the flexibility to design the best way of delivering or exceeding the specifications.

01/01/2023
Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the cost of broadband access for primary and secondary schools.

Mr Sam Gyimah

£1.7 billion of public funding has been committed to support improvements in broadband services across the UK. The Superfast Broadband Programme aims to make superfast broadband available to 95 per cent of UK premises by 2017.

Costs will vary from school to school depending on location and how much they use the internet. The type of connectivity that the government funded broadband programme needs will not be suitable for secondary schools. They will need a dedicated connection because of their high bandwidth demands. The Department for Education does not hold information about the cost of broadband access for schools.

01/01/2023

Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 17694, how many training courses have been completed at (a) MOD Grantown-on-Spey, (b) MOD Llanrwst, (c) MOD Fairbourne and (d) MOD Crickhowell in each year from 2010 to 2015; how many students of each service attended each such course; what the cost of each such course was per trainee; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Julian Brazier

Due to the variation in course length (from one day through to 42 weeks), the number of courses completed is not recorded. Rather, delivery is measured on the number of weeks of training delivered. For financial year (FY) 2014-15, the number of weeks of training delivered at each centre is as follows (historical data is not held).

Force Development Training Centre (FDTC) Grantown – 46 weeks

Joint School for Adventorous Training (JSATI) Llanrwst – 41 weeks

FDTC Fairbourne – 45 weeks

FDTC Crickhowell – 46 weeks

Information on the number of attendees is not held as costs are solely dependent on the maximum bed space capacity, regardless of the number of students attending.

Please see the information below giving the operating costs covering all locations for the last four financial years, for which information is available.

	FY 2011-12 £	FY 2012-13 £	FY 2013-14 £	FY 2014-15 £
FDTC Grantown	295,624	220,819	213,781	231,290
JSATI Llanrwst	292,320	302,366	382,063	281,695
FDTC Fairbourne	259,855	292,885	325,181	279,093
FDTC Crickhowell	688,808	654,010	646,027	643,985

01/01/2023

David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the start of combat operations in the First Gulf War.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) continues to honour the contribution of all those who served in the First Gulf War. The MOD will formally commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the end of combat operations (Operation GRANBY), with a service of commemoration in St Paul’s Cathedral, where the Gulf War Memorial is situated, on Friday 26 February 2016.

In addition, separate formations in Defence are also planning to mark the anniversary. These include a commemorative service held by the Grenadier Guards at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks; a series of commemorative events hosted by the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, a gathering of veterans hosted by the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars Association, and attendance at and support to an event organised at the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) on 28 February to dedicate a new memorial to the conflict. The Royal Air Force will conduct an over-flight of the NMA event using a Tornado aircraft.

01/01/2023