Category: Speeches

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any limits are placed on the funds academies can spend on marketing.

    Edward Timpson

    Academy trusts must spend their funds on their charitable objectives to advance education. Within this limit, trusts are responsible for determining for themselves how to allocate their funds across different activities, including marketing, and for ensuring that their spending decisions achieve regularity, propriety and value for money. Trusts are best placed to make this decision, in light of their individual circumstances.

  • Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the United Nations to provide an update on progress towards the construction of Antony airport near Abyei; and when construction of that airport is expected to be completed.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Through our regular engagement with the UN, we will ask for an update on progress with the construction of Athony airport to be included in the next Secretary General’s Report on Abyei, which is due by 15 October 2016. The UN have faced considerable disruption to the construction of the airport, and have thus been unable to confirm to us an exact date for completion.

  • Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received on evidence that was made available to the Government on the dangers of the pregnancy testing drug Primodos in 1967; and what steps he has taken as a result of those representations.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The Government has maintained an ongoing and close dialogue with campaigners over the course of the last eight years, involving face to face meetings and extensive correspondence. As a result of these discussions, the Government committed to an independent review of all the evidence relating to a possible link between hormone pregnancy tests and adverse effects on pregnancy. An ad-hoc Expert Working Group of the Commission on Human Medicines is conducting this review and has so far met on five occasions. It is anticipated that the review will be complete early in 2017, at which time a report of the Group’s findings will be published.

    The Government remains committed to open engagement on this important issue.

  • Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which companies have signed decommissioning relief deeds with his Department.

    Damian Hinds

    At Budget 2013, the government announced it would begin signing decommissioning relief deeds. These deeds represent a new contractual approach to provide oil and gas companies with certainty on the level of tax relief they will receive on future decommissioning costs.

    Since October 2013, the government has entered into 72 decommissioning relief deeds. Oil & Gas UK estimates that these deeds have so far unlocked more than £3.5bn of capital, which can now be invested elsewhere.

    The government committed to report to Parliament every year on progress with the deeds. The report for financial year 2014-15 can be found at:

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2015-07-21/HCWS162/.

    The government does not publish the names of companies with which it has entered into decommissioning relief deeds as this information is commercially sensitive.

    “

  • Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking in response to the recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change on carbon capture storage and the power sector in its report, Power scenarios for the fifth carbon budget, published in October 2015.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department is currently considering the Committee on Climate Change’s advice and Government will set the fifth carbon budget in law next year.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his Department’s revised planned expenditure is for 2015-16 following the recent transfer of responsibility for fire and rescue services to the Home Department.

    Brandon Lewis

    I refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement of 5 January, HCWS448. The Department’s Budget will be updated as part of the Supplementary Estimates process.

  • 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 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme recovery rate reaches 50 per cent by March 2016.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England (NHSE) monitors clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs) performance against the recovery target for people who have received psychological therapies through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. In October 2015, 77 CCGs met the 50% Recovery Standard.

    The Department is working closely with NHSE to reduce the variation in recovery rates across CCG areas.

    NHSE is also supporting lowest performing IAPT providers to improve their recovery rates and is offering workshops to spread good practice to all commissioners and providers.

    The Government is aware of evidence that shows that people from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities are less likely to use psychological therapies. There is ongoing activity by NHSE in collaboration with the Department to encourage access to IAPT services by the under-represented groups.

    A BAME benchmarking tool has been developed and is currently being piloted by a number of IAPT services. This will assist services to improve access to people from BAME communities by helping those services understand the ethnicity of the population and whether this is reflected within the population they see. It asks services to assess whether outcomes for BAME communities are equivalent to non-BAME patients whilst also checking whether improvements for access to people from BAME communities have been made and specific training for therapists have been utilised. Once pilots are complete NHS England will publish the benchmarking tool for all services to access.

    Equality of access is an issue for wider mental health services and that is why the Mental Health Partnership Board is considering the issues around equality of access in mental health services, which includes the IAPT programme.

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre publish referrals and outcomes data by ethnic groups. NHSE intends to compare those numbers with BAME prevalence population data to highlight referrals and access rates for ethnic groups at CCG level. CCGs are responsible for taking the necessary actions to address any disparity.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on the UK’s international development capabilities of the UK leaving the EU.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

  • Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the initial disposal of Government shares in Royal Bank of Scotland in August 2015 on (a) the share price and (b) the proposed future sale of shares.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The first sale of Government shares in RBS was conducted in August 2015 and raised £2.1 billion for the taxpayer. This was an important first step in returning the bank to private ownership, which is the right thing to do for the taxpayer and for British businesses: it will promote financial stability, lead to a more competitive banking sector, and support the interests of the wider economy.

    The government will conduct further sales of RBS shares subject to market conditions, and in doing so will maximise value for the taxpayer. The returns on the government’s interventions in RBS will be determined by the success of the whole of the selling programme, rather than the terms achieved on the first few disposals.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of clinical commissioning groups are fully implementing NICE guidelines on fertility treatment.

    Jane Ellison

    Information about clinical commissioning groups’ approach to commissioning fertility services is not collected centrally.

    The Department has not made any estimate of the proportion of children conceived in the United Kingdom using in-vitro fertilisation relative to those countries mentioned.

    The Department has no plans to instruct NHS England to commission fertility treatment centrally. Fertility services do not meet the criteria set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to be nationally commissioned by NHS England.