Category: Speeches

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 22307, on parents: mental illness, if she will make it her policy to collect such data.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Department for Education does not intend to collect this data.

    Information on parental status and mental health illness is collected through the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey managed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK civilian personnel not formally deployed to an operational theatre visited such a theatre in the most recent year for which figures are available; and in what capacity those personnel carried out those visits.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  • Andrew Bingham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Bingham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bingham on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons public bodies are permitted to import meat and meat products which due to poor welfare standards would be illegal to produce in the UK.

    George Eustice

    Government Buying Standards for food and catering services are mandatory for central government and encouraged in the wider public sector. The standards require that all food served must have been produced in compliance with UK legal standards for animal welfare.

    To protect the supply of food to central government and other public bodies, including prisons and the military, the only exception is for the procurement of pig and poultry meat. This means that in the event that UK market conditions impose a significant increase in costs that cannot be compensated for by savings elsewhere, pig and poultry meat must as a minimum meet EU standards and the reasons for not applying UK welfare standards must be recorded and signed off by a senior official in the organisation concerned.

  • Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 30 December 2015 (HL4261) and 2 February (HL5328), how the US and Canada have succeeded in having political prisoners in Iran freed while dual UK national Kamal Foroughi remains incarcerated.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We welcome the release of US and Canadian prisoners held in Iran. Iran has not changed its policy of not recognising dual nationality. However we continue to raise our own consular cases, including Mr Foroughi, with the Iranians at the highest levels and to urge for their release, including during Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif’s recent visit to London.

  • William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Cash on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effects of retention of Eggborough and Fiddler’s Ferry coal plants on investment in new combined cycle gas turbine plants.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Security of supply is our top priority and we monitor all market developments closely. In the shorter term, extending the operation of existing plant can provide important capacity whilst new capacity is built.

    We are confident that the Capacity Market is the right mechanism to bring forward new capacity as older, less efficient plants close. Industry and investors made clear during our recent review their confidence in the Capacity Market. Our plan to buy more capacity and buy earlier will improve the chances of new capacity, particularly gas, clearing in future auctions.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will collect data on the reasons given for refusal of family reunion applications involving children and young people aged over 18 years of age.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office does not hold the specific information in the format requested. The questions cover a number of different casework operations and the information is not recorded centrally in a way which can be reported on directly.

    To obtain the information would involve examining individual case records and would incur disproportionate cost. We do not currently plan to change the data that is centrally recorded and published on this category of applications.

  • Baroness Altmann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Altmann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Altmann on 2016-09-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how women who are in multiple part-time jobs, none of which pay more than the National Insurance lower earnings limit, are able to claim credit for their state pension.

    Lord Freud

    DWP analysis suggests that at any one time around 10,000 men and 40,000 women have multiple jobs below the lower earnings limit (LEL) with combined earnings above it, but are not receiving any qualifying years towards the State Pension on those earnings.

    DWP analysis estimates that of the women with multiple jobs below the LEL but total earnings above it, around 30% are getting a childcare credit for their State Pension. Others in this group may also be receiving credits through another route or be paying voluntary national insurance contributions.

  • Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the change in the number of firefighter posts was in the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service in 2013-14.

    Greg Clark

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 6 November 2015, PQ 13946.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals applying for leave to stay in the UK who successfully appealed against a rejection from UK Visas and Immigration through the First-Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) have not yet been issued with the right to stay in the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office considers applications on their own merits and takes great care to get decisions right first time, recognising the difficulty that errors can cause legitimate applicants. Where applicants are granted leave to remain the UK, we take all reasonable steps to issue their visas accordingly. The requested information cannot be accurately defined on our internal systems. To provide this information a manual reconciliation of existing work in progress and appeals implementations would be required. Manual reconciliation of individual cases would incur a disproportionate cost.

  • Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20185, on what date his Department plans to publish the consultation and make an announcement on payment schemes for people affected by contaminated blood products.

    Jane Ellison

    The consultation on payment schemes for people given infected blood products was launched on 21 January 2016, on the same day I made an oral statement to the House, Official Report, columns 1583-85. The consultation is available at gov.uk.