Category: Speeches

Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many British servicemen and women are based on British military bases abroad.

Penny Mordaunt

There are 9,360 British Service personnel permanently based on British military bases abroad. This figure includes those based in Cyprus, Gibraltar, the South Atlantic Islands, Diego Garcia, Germany, Canada, Kenya, Brunei, Nepal and Belize. This figure represents the number of Service personnel who are stationed at that location. It may differ from the actual number of people working on the base at the time, for example due to deployments. The breakdown of these figures into country and service is shown below; where countries have five or less personnel, these are rounded to zero and the country does not appear in the table. The Ministry of Defence regularly publishes the location figures for both military and civilian personnel, which can be accessed on the GOV.UK website at:

https//www.gov.uk/government/statistics/location-of-uk-regular-service-and-civilian-personnel-quarterly-statistics-2015

UK Base Country	Navy	Army	RAF	TOTAL
Germany	20	5,900	130	6,050
Canada	10	360	20	390
Kenya	0	210	10	220
Brunei	10	130	10	150
Nepal	0	20	0	20
Cyprus	20	1,480	730	2,230
Gibraltar	110	30	30	170
South Atlantic Islands	10	50	20	80
Diego Garcia	40	0	0	40
Belize	0	10	0	10
TOTAL	220	8,190	950	9,360

(Location of UK regular service and civilian personnel quarterly statistics- 1 October 2015)

January 1, 2023

Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many four year olds in Ashfield constituency have received the 15 hours free childcare allowance (a) in private, voluntary or independent sector nurseries, (b) in nursery schools or nursery units in infant or primary schools and (c) from childminders registered to provide early years education in each academic year since that allowance was introduced.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Information at constituency level is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

January 1, 2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost to local authorities of the English National Concessionary Transport Scheme (ENCTS); and whether the central government grant to local authorities covers the cost of reimbursement of the ENCTS.

Mr Marcus Jones

In 2010-11, £223 million was paid to local authorities as a specific grant to deliver the National Concessionary Transport Scheme. In 2011-12, this funding was incorporated within the Local Government Finance Settlement, from where it has been delivered since. As the settlement distributes un-ringfenced funding to cover a number of services delivered by local authorities, it is not possible to identify the exact level of funding within the settlement specifically for national concessionary transport from the point the funding arrangement was changed.

January 1, 2023

Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS organisations have been charged statutory interest as a result of late payment in the last three years.

George Freeman

Figures on the number of National Health Service bodies recording instances of expenditure incurred under the ‘Late payment of commercial debt (Interest) Act 1998’, where it was incurred with non-NHS bodies, in the last three years, are provided in the following table.

Sector	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
NHS Trust	19	21	18
NHS Foundation Trust	9	14	15
Clinical Commissioning Groups¹	0	N/A	N/A
Primary Care Trusts²	5	0	0
Strategic Health Authorities²	0	0	0
Total	33	35	33

Did not exist in 2012/13
Did not exist after 2012/13

Figures on the number of NHS bodies meeting the 30 day payment target for subcontractors, where the information is available from the central accounts returns made to the Department are shown in the following table.

Sector	NHS Trusts
Entities meeting Target	25
Total Entities in sector	99

January 1, 2023

Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the press release, PM hosts major summit as part of global drive to expose, publish and drive out corruption, published on 12 May 2016, whether he plans to publish information on the ownership of property in the UK owned by foreign companies.

Anna Soubry

At the International Anti-Corruption Summit in London on 12 May, my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister announced that we will require foreign companies that own or purchase UK properties or bid on UK government procurement contracts to provide details of their beneficial owners to a public central register. This will be the first register of its kind in the world.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will consult on the detail of the policy later this year. The Prime Minister has committed to a publicly accessible register of foreign company beneficial ownership on which we plan to consult in due course.

January 1, 2023
Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with learning disabilities are on the waiting list for a Care and Treatment Review.

Alistair Burt

Data on waiting lists for Care and Treatment Reviews (CTRs) is not collected centrally.

The number of CTRs completed was added to the Health and Social Care Information Centre‘s Assuring Transformation Collection and data has been collected since January 2016. Between January 2016 and May 2016, 625 CTRs have been completed.

January 1, 2023
Lord Clement-Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are taking steps to close the domestic ivory market, including the market in ivory products.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

A number of proposals on elephant and ivory related issues will be discussed at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to be held in South Africa between 24 September 2016 and 5 October 2016. This will include discussions on the existing global ban on the trade in ivory, which the UK is committed to maintaining, and the role of domestic ivory markets in illegal trade. Officials have engaged in substantial discussions with counterparts from other EU Member States on these and other issues over several months in formulating the EU and Member State position at the CITES Conference. The UK will continue to play a full role in these discussions.

The then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Affairs, Rory Stewart, discussed the issue of the closure of domestic ivory markets with the Government of the United States (US) during a trip earlier this year. In addition officials in Defra are in regular contact with their US counterparts and have discussed the US measures on a number of occasions.

The Government has been actively exploring options with relevant parties about how to implement the UK Government’s manifesto commitment to press for a total ban on ivory sales and the steps to be taken in respect of the UK’s ivory market. On 21 September 2016 the Secretary of State announced plans for a ban on sales of items containing ivory dated between 1947 and the present day, putting UK rules on ivory sales among the world’s toughest.

The Government will consult on plans for the ban early next year, seeking views from conservationists, traders and other relevant parties to ensure clear rules and guidance for those operating within the law, while cracking down on illegal sales. This will complement the existing UK ban on trade in raw ivory tusks. Trade in raw tusks presents the greatest risk of poached ivory entering the legal market.

TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring organisation, has recently published its independent report – A Rapid Survey of the UK ivory market. Although not an exact comparison with a survey conducted in 2004, TRAFFIC’s survey found the number of market stalls offering ivory for sale had declined by approximately two-thirds and the number of items offered for sale had halved. No new or raw ivory was seen in any of the physical market outlets or online platforms— only one ivory item seen for sale was reportedly from after the legal cut-off (1947) for antique ivory being sold without CITES documentation within the EU. Ivory is a key UK wildlife crime priority with an enforcement action plan in place to tackle risk. For example, UK Border Force through Operation Quiver has in particular successfully targeted ivory sent through postal systems.

January 1, 2023
Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what due diligence was undertaken by his Department prior to the purchase of the Redcar coke ovens and blast furnace.

Anna Soubry

The purchase of the Redcar coke ovens and blast furnace was a commercial transaction between SSI and Tata Steel, both privately owned companies.

January 1, 2023
Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many appeals were heard in the First-Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) relating to immigration decisions made by her Department in each of the last five years; for how many of those cases her Department did not appoint a legal representative; and in how many of those cases where no legal representative was appointed the appeal was upheld.

James Brokenshire

The Ministry of Justice publishes data at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics on the total number of appeals disposed at the First-Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) which includes all types of immigration appeal. Due to the way that data is recorded on Home Office systems, overseas appeals have been excluded from the data set included in the table attachment. The data also excludes paper cases at which a Home Office representative is not required.

The Home Office is usually represented at appeal hearings by a Home Office Presenting Officer acting as a Crown representative on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) in immigration appeals pursuant to s84 (6) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Section 84 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 covers who can act as legal representatives in immigration appeals. Subsection 6 specifies that persons acting on behalf of the Crown or relevant Government Department can represent the SSHD at immigration appeals and do not need to be a legally qualified person. However in some cases barristers have also been used.

The proportion of oral appeals not represented increased between January – September 2015 in comparison to the previous 2 years. This was the result of the availability of Presenting resource in the Home Office to match court listing schedules which varied from forecasts used for planning purposes to a significant extent. Resources were put in place to ensure that representation rates increased in the final three months of the calendar year.

January 1, 2023
Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she expects a new Chair for the Environment Agency to be appointed.

George Eustice

Defra has appointed Emma Howard Boyd as Acting Chairman. She will lead the Board until a permanent Chairman is recruited in due course following an open competition.

January 1, 2023