Category: Speeches

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if her Department will take steps to increase prevention programmes for violence against women and girls in developing countries.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    Over the last few years DFID has rapidly and significantly scaled up its work on the prevention of Violence against Women and Girls. Between 2012 and 2014 we have had a 40% increase in programmes that aim to change social norms alone. We have also successfully worked to secure international targets on the prevention of violence against women and girls including Global Goal 5, which includes targets on ending all forms of violence against women and girls, FGM and CEFM.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether he plans to employ any national security experts in his Department.

    Mr Robin Walker

    The overall size and scope of the new department, including staffing and budget, are now under consideration but we will have the right resources in place, including national security experts if appropriate.

  • Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will issue a response to Early Day Motion (a) 162, Closures of abortion clinics and (b) 172, Buffer zones around abortion centres.

    Mike Penning

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to 5385 on 13 July 2015.

  • Derek Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Derek Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that every young person covered by the youth obligation receives appropriate financial advice, education and support for the first six months as part of their preparation for work.

    Priti Patel

    From April 2017, we will be introducing the new Youth Obligation for Universal Credit claimants aged 18-21 who we expect to look for work. This new programme of support will help young people develop skills and experience to get on in work.

    The first three weeks of this will be a Work Coach led Intensive Activity Period (IAP), where young people on the Youth Obligation will complete a set curriculum of activity designed to help establish them as effective full time job-seekers straight away and support them into work as soon as possible.

    Once the claimant has completed the curriculum they will continue to see a dedicated IAP Work Coach who will work with them, continuously reviewing what was achieved during the intensive start-up period.

    We will be conducting a stakeholder engagement exercise to help inform the design of the Youth Obligation and will be inviting stakeholders with an interest in the provision of financial advice.

    We will set out our policy design for the Youth Obligation in due course.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will define what powers the Visit England Board will have over the strategic direction and decisions on the Discover England Fund.

    Tracey Crouch

    The VisitEngland Board will be an advisory body, responsible for advising the executive and board of the British Tourist Authority (BTA) on how best to deliver and monitor English activity, including the Discover England fund. The strategic direction for the Discover England fund will be set out in an England Action Plan. This will be signed off by the Minister for Tourism and will be drafted with advice from the VisitEngland Boardas the Secretary of State’s statutory advisory body on English Tourism, but ultimate accountability for delivery of the plan, and for decisions on the fund, will remain with the Chief Executive and Board of the BTA.

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

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which vaping or e-cigarette products the NHS can prescribe to help smokers quit; and what the process was for selecting those products.

    Jane Ellison

    Only e-cigarettes that have been granted a marketing authorisation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) can be prescribed by the National Health Service.

    By law, before a medicine can be placed on the market, it must be given a marketing authorisation (product licence) by a medicines regulator. The United Kingdom regulator is the MHRA. A specially trained panel of medicines assessors reviews all the available evidence arising out of the pre-clinical research and clinical trials. Manufacturers may also be asked to supply additional information. The MHRA also inspects the factory where the medicine is to be made, to make sure that supplies will be of a uniformly and consistently high standard.

    To date one e-cigarette, e-Voke (10and 15mg electronic inhalers) has been granted a marketing authorisation by the MHRA. It is, however, not yet commercially available on the UK market to prescribe.

    It is a commercial decision whether to apply to a medicines regulator for a marketing authorisation.

  • Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department expects hospitals to catch up with any backlog caused by the junior doctors’ strike on 12 January 2016.

    Ben Gummer

    The National Health Service is making every effort to reschedule treatment as quickly as possible and according to clinical priority for those patients whose operations or appointments were cancelled as a result of the industrial action on 12 January 2016.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his speech to the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism on 15 March 2016, what legal changes he was referring to in that speech.

    Dominic Raab

    I refer the honourable member to the answer given to 31430 on 30th March 2016.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many civil servants in his Department are paid through limited companies.

    Jane Ellison

    All civil servants employed by the core Department are paid via its payroll system.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average hourly earnings were of 10 Downing Street’s (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

    Cabinet Office staff are paid an annual salary, not on the basis of an hourly rate.

    The Department uses a grading structure to determine annual salary rates. This is underpinned by Job Evaluation and Grading Support (JEGS), an analytical job evaluation tool which meets all requirements of legislation and EHRC statutory codes of practice on Equal Pay. The use of JEGS and its application in determining the appropriate grade for a role enables us to determine where employees are doing equal work based on “work rated as equivalent.