Category: Speeches

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what modelling her Department has undertaken on the demand for school places in each year from 2016 to 2030.

    Edward Timpson

    Supporting local authorities in their responsibility to ensure sufficient school places remains one of this Government’s top priorities. Pupil forecasts based on ONS population projections, which include migration, have been published up to 2024.

    Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient school places to meet that need, and for determining precisely how many new places are needed in their area. We allocate funding for new school places to local authorities based on their own projections of local pupil numbers. These projections reflect all drivers of increased pupil numbers: rising birth rates, housing development and migration from within the UK and overseas. Any increase in need for places should be reflected in the local authority’s final basic need allocation – there is no shortfall between the number of places we fund and the number of places local authorities say they will need to create.

    We have already committed to invest £7 billion on school places, which along with our investment in 500 new free schools we expect to deliver 600,000 new places by 2021. We have also protected the schools budget so that as pupil numbers increase, so will the amount of money in our schools. Revenue allocations to local authorities are calculated by reference to pupil numbers and do not differentiate on the basis of immigration from other EEA member states or countries from outside the EEA.

  • Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what changes his Department plans to make to the size of the workforce of the Ministry of Defence Police.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    The Department plans to recruit around 260 new police officers to the Ministry of Defence Police during the course of 2016-17 to offset anticipated attrition rates and maintain sufficient resource to the level of tasking required.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times her Department has used the services of (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years; and what (i) work was undertaken and (ii) the cost to the public purse was on each such occasion.

    George Eustice

    The attached information shows contracts for consultancy, by company, in the years 2013 – 2016, lists the description of work carried out for Defra and the contractually committed spend by contract.

  • James Cleverly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    James Cleverly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cleverly on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will disclose which candidate for Secretary-General of the Commonwealth the UK voted for during the Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting in November 2015.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Baroness Scotland was elected at a meeting to which only Heads of Government were invited. The Government never discloses how it votes.

  • Norman Lamb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Chief Executive of NHS England on introducing new access and waiting time standards for mental health services.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England (NHSE) and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health published on 3 August 2015, a commissioning guide for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) that will set out how to implement the access and waiting time standard for children and young people with an eating disorder. The standard will be refined for implementation from 2017–18. From 2017, NHSE will set a minimum proportion of young people referred for assessment or treatment that are expected to receive treatment within the standard’s timeframe.

    We expect that the Mental Health Taskforce report and Mental Health Five Year Forward View will set a plan for developing appropriate pathways and we will work with NHSE to agree next steps.

    Departmental Ministers meet with the Chief Executive of NHS England regularly and discuss a wide range of issues, including access and waiting time standards for mental health services.

    CCGs do not receive a specific allocation for mental health services, but are required to allocate funds as appropriate to all the services that they are responsible for commissioning. For 2015/16, CCGs received increases in allocations in total of 3.7%, though the increase varied for each CCG.

    In the planning guidance for 2015/16, NHS England asked that all CCGs increase their spend on mental health by at least as much as their overall increase in allocation.

    In total, CCGs have set plans for 2015/16 which reflect an increase in mental health care expenditure which exceeds the increase in their allocation.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish on his Department’s website (a) corroborated information on deaths of (i) ISIS fighters and (ii) civilians as a result of airstrikes on Syrian locations and (b) other information in a daily battle assessment for each day from 2 December 2015.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Information on RAF airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, and their outcome, is already published on the gov.uk website and is regularly updated. We know of no civilian casualties caused by RAF airstrikes against Daesh in Iraq or Syria.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to introduce a further savings bond for people over 65.

    Harriett Baldwin

    65+ Guaranteed Growth Bonds were a special issue aimed at helping pensioners who rely on their savings in retirement. There are currently no plans for a further issue.

  • Karen Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karen Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children and young people were referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in each local authority in each of the last eight quarters for which figures are available.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not currently collected.

  • Karen Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Karen Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for judicial review have been (a) made and (b) successful in respect of Children Act 2004 responsibilities in each local authority in England in each of the last five years.

    Caroline Dinenage

    HMCTS does not collect data to the level of detail required to identify local authorities or social service authorities, or applications in respect of the Children Act 2004. The information can only be collated at disproportionate cost.

  • Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which women’s organisations in Northern Ireland received funding from the Tampon Tax Fund; what the amount was that each such organisation received; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Chancellor announced initial donations from the Tampon Tax Fund at Autumn Statement totalling £5m. Further grants totalling £12 million were announced at Budget to support a range of charities that are making a significant impact in the lives of women and girls. This included an award of £118,000 to Parenting NI.

    £5.2 million of funding was allocated to Comic Relief and Rosa, who will disburse funding to a range of grassroots women’s organisations across the UK, including those in Northern Ireland.

    Details of all charities awarded funding at Budget can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2016-documents/budget-2016

    “