Category: Speeches

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if the Government will retain the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers in 2017-18.

    Nick Boles

    The Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE) is available until the end of the 2016/17 academic year to businesses with fewer than 50 employees, who have not employed an apprentice in the last 12 months. Eligible employers can receive a £1,500 grant per apprentice (aged 16 to 24) for up to five new apprentices undertaking an apprenticeship framework.

    Further details on how small businesses will be supported to take on apprentices from April 2017 will be published at the end of June.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions the Government has had with the Chinese government on disputed islands in the South China Sea.

    Alok Sharma

    We raise our concerns about maritime tensions in the South China Sea regularly in bilateral meetings with China, including at Ministerial level. The former Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), discussed the South China Sea directly with his Chinese counterpart a number of times this year, for instance during his visits to Beijing in January and April, emphasising the importance of compliance with international law and the need to settle disputes by peaceful means. We have also made our views known to China and other claimants through supporting public statements on the issue by the G7 and the European Union.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if it his policy to advocate for passporting for British financial services after the UK leaves the EU; and what steps the Government is taking to retain passporting for British financial services.

    Simon Kirby

    The “passporting” arrangements set out in the various pieces of EU financial services legislation are open to members of the EU and the EEA.

    Since the referendum, HM Treasury has been working to assess in detail the implications for the UK-based financial services sector of existing “passporting” arrangements, of alternative market access arrangements which exist for countries outside the EU (known as equivalence), and of other interactions between UK and EU markets within and beyond EU law.

    We are clear that the rights to access EU markets currently provided by these “passporting” arrangements are of great importance to the many UK-based financial services firms that make use of them.

    As the Chancellor has said, we will place a very high priority on getting the right solution with our European Union partners for the financial services sector. Our objective will be to ensure that the parts of the financial services sector that do business in Europe are able to continue doing so.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has received on increasing the number of English and mathematics teachers in further education and sixth form colleges.

    Nick Boles

    Ministers and officials at both the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have on-going discussions with stakeholder organisations and colleges about the need to ensure well qualified and skilled teachers of English and mathematics in both FE colleges and sixth form colleges, as we set out in our FE Workforce Strategy and National College for Teaching and Leadership business plan.

  • Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral contribution of 30 November 2015, Official Report, column 33, on the estimated number of patients who may have had a vital operation cancelled, how many patients who had such an operation cancelled had it rescheduled to a time within 24 hours of the original scheduled operation.

    Ben Gummer

    On 30 November, based on information provided by hospital trusts, NHS England estimated that around 3,000 procedures that were due to take place on 1 December 2015 were planned to be rescheduled. It has not collected information or estimated how many of these could not be rebooked for 1 December 2015 once the proposed industrial action was suspended. There has been no estimate of how many vital procedures that were cancelled were rescheduled within 24 hours. These are operational matters for hospital trusts.

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects the report on progress on recommendations regarding child detention in Palestine by the delegation of lawyers visiting Palestine in February 2016 to be published.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The visit is currently scheduled for February 2016 and the report will be published in due course. The original report that produced these recommendations was released in June 2012, following a visit in September 2011.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress he has made on the junior doctors’ contract renegotiation process.

    Ben Gummer

    Progress in negotiations has led to substantial agreement on a fairer contract with safety and training at its heart. The door remains open to the BMA to negotiate on the remaining issue of pay for unsocial hours, as they agreed to do in the joint agreement at ACAS in November.

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect on organisations commissioning academic research of his Department’s proposed regulations that would prevent recipients of government grant funding for research in using that work to call for government policy changes.

    Matthew Hancock

    The new clause is about ensuring taxpayers money is only used for the intended purposes. The use or otherwise of research findings is already set out in grant agreements. There should, therefore, be no effect on organisations, which are free to use other funding to lobby, but not to spend taxpayers’ hard-earned cash on lobbying.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the enforcement of age discrimination legislation in respect of people seeking employment.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Age is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010. Where differential treatment because of age cannot be objectively justified, this will constitute unlawful age discrimination both in employment and in the provision of goods and services. Enforcement of the Act’s employment provisions is undertaken by Employment Tribunals, to which a person must make a claim if they feel that they have been discriminated against because of age.

    Prior to an Employment Tribunal claim, conciliation services are provided by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Services (Acas). According to the Employment tribunal statistics, 1,087 age discrimination claims were made to Employment Tribunals in 2014/15. 70% (761) of these claims were either withdrawn or successfully conciliated by Acas without the need for a full hearing. The Acas process is intended to enable employers and employees to resolve disputes without the need for a full Employment Tribunal hearing.

    The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s enforcement powers under the Equality Act 2006 apply to age discrimination as they do to other protected characteristics.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department’s press release, A new pay model for the Armed Forces, published on 7 January 2016, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the reformed pay structure on the number of complaints about terms and conditions received through the service complaints process.

    Mark Lancaster

    The changes associated with the new Armed Forces pay model have been extensively communicated, both prior to and since their announcement in January. These communications are expected to address a significant proportion of the questions and concerns that might otherwise have been raised as service complaints. Whilst it is impossible to predict how many service complaints might be raised, planning is in place for a means of dealing with them if they do arise in volume in a way that is fair, effective and efficient and does not overwhelm the system.