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Category: Speeches

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2016 to Question 30765, when his Department plans to publish its White Paper on improving support for disabled people.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Improving support for disabled people and people with health conditions to get into and stay in work is a key priority for Government.

    The Secretary of State has outlined that he is starting a new conversation with disabled people and people with health conditions, their representatives, healthcare professionals and employers. He is listening to all of their ideas and this will help inform our plans.

    These will be set out in due course.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he or officials in his Department last met the Chairman or Chief Executive of the National Childbirth Trust.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has not met with the chair or chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust (NCT). However, my Rt. hon. Friend the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Ben Gummer), met with Nick Wilkie, chief executive of NCT, on 3 November 2015.

    Officials met with the chair of NCT, Helen Stephenson, and Nick Wilkie on 15 November 2015.

  • Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2015 to Question 11080, on Deportation: Appeals, how many of the 426 cases referred to have been heard in court.

    James Brokenshire

    Such data is not aggregated in national reporting systems, which would mean this question could only be answered through a disproportionately expensive manual case search to collate the data.

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

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

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent steps he has taken to prevent the loss of UK manufacturing sector jobs.

    Anna Soubry

    The best way the Government can support manufacturing jobs is to continue to secure a strong, growing economy. The Government continues to invest in our world leading aerospace, automotive, defence, energy and transport sectors that will secure high quality manufacturing jobs.

    Around a third of the 2,000 new inward Foreign Direct Investment projects in 2014/15 were in the areas of advanced manufacturing and life sciences and I was pleased to see that UK manufacturing PMI hit its highest level in over a year in October.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20084, if he will make it his policy to collect data concerning the number of prescriptions for anti-depressants that are dispensed by the NHS for patients aged under 18.

    Alistair Burt

    Currently, information is not available centrally concerning the age of patients prescribed and dispensed specific medicines. However, the NHS Business Services Authority is in the process of developing this capability so that, as a minimum, information can be provided from a sample of prescription items.

  • Mrs Sheryll Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Mrs Sheryll Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Sheryll Murray on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support UK fishermen (a) in general and (b) in the under 10 metre fleet.

    George Eustice

    UK-led Common Fisheries Policy reforms have given UK fishermen a more sustainable long-term future.

    The inshore fleet will particularly benefit from an extra 1,000 tonnes of quota this year. This comes on top of the permanent transfer of under-used quota to the Under-10s, which was worth an extra 678 tonnes in 2015.

    In addition, over £100m of European (EMFF) Funding is now available to support the UK catching, processing and aquaculture sectors.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the value of railway stations owned by Network Rail.

    Claire Perry

    Network Rail is exploring new models for the management and ownership of its 18 managed stations with the goal of bringing improvements for both passengers and the communities they serve. They have engaged Citigroup as advisors to consider a range of potential options. No decisions have yet been taken and no estimate of the potential value of these stations has been made as part of this work. Citigroup were appointed following a competitive tender process, and the details of their fee are commercially confidential.

    Network Rail expect that this work will be presented to their Board by the end of 2016.

  • 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, what progress has been made on establishing an investigative capability for the Food Crime Unit.

    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 what steps they will take to ensure that they fulfil the pledge in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights and Democracy Report 2015 to continue to look at every available option to ensure accountability” for the crimes committed by Daesh.”

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We continue to look at every option to ensure accountability. In the meantime we are supporting the gathering and preservation of evidence that could in future be used in a court to hold Daesh to account.

    The UK co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council resolution of September 2014 mandating investigation of Daesh abuses in Iraq. Working with international partners, we are doing everything we can to assist in the gathering and preservation of evidence that could in future be used by judicial bodies to make a judgement on this matter. It is vital that this is done now, before evidence is lost or destroyed.

  • 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 whether, in the light of the current situation facing the UK’s retail industry, they will reconsider their decision not to publish the report by the Insolvency Service into the collapse of Comet Group plc.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Insolvency Service’s fact-finding inquiry into Comet was conducted under Section 447 of the Companies Act 1985. Section 449 of that Act makes it a criminal offence to share any information gathered in the course of the investigation with any person, other than in the strictly prescribed circumstances laid out in the Act.

    In the light of this legal position I am unable to reconsider the request to publish the report.