Category: Speeches

Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-07-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they propose to enforce the commitments they have obtained from SoftBank in connection with employment and the location of the headquarters of ARM Holdings.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Takeover Panel is responsible for enforcing the post offer undertakings given by SoftBank under the terms of the Takeover Code. Grant Thornton LLP has been appointed as an independent supervisor under the Code to monitor compliance with the undertakings. The Takeover Panel can require SoftBank to submit written progress reports in such form and as frequently as it requires and can take disciplinary action if the undertakings are not fulfilled. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will continue to monitor developments.

01/01/2023
Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many households in (a) Scotland and (b) the Highland area of Scotland have their electricity supplies controlled by dynamically teleswitched meters.

David Mundell

We do not hold information on how many households in Scotland and the Highland area of Scotland have their electricity supplies controlled by dynamically teleswitched meters. In Ofgem’s response to the Competition Markets Authority’s Notice of Remedies published in August 2015, it was estimated that there were 160,000 households across Great Britain with dynamically teleswitched meters in operation at the end of 2014.

The Competition Markets Authority’s Notice of Remedies is available online at:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/561e1fbaed915d39bc000013/Ofgem__revised_with_additional_material_.pdf.

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01/01/2023
Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the annual average cost to the Ministry of Defence of (a) maintaining each grave for which it is responsible and (b) the value of the grant made to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in respect of each grave maintained by that Commission.

Mark Lancaster

Discussions between Ministry Of Defence (MOD) and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) are continuing regarding the transfer of maintenance responsibility for the graves of military personnel buried in the UK since 1948.

Annual costs for the maintenance of each grave for which MOD is responsible are estimated to be between £65 and £205 depending on the location and condition of the grave. The MOD’s annual grant to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in respect of the graves they maintain is in excess of £47 million.

01/01/2023
Lord Moynihan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moynihan on 2015-11-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether all governing bodies of sport will be eligible for financial support to ensure that their lead employees and senior volunteers with responsibility for implementing or overseeing governance arrangements within their governing boards can sit the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Sport Governance and Administration.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government expects the highest standards of governance from all our sports bodies in the UK and is working with UK Sport and Sport England to foster this. UK Sport and Sport England set standards that are a condition of funding, covering leadership, governance, financial management and administration, and also provide support and expertise to help national governing bodies to meet them where necessary. The recent triennial review recommended that UK Sport and Sport England should bring together both the governance requirements and the support arrangements for the next funding cycle.

Ensuring that those responsible have the right skills is an important aspect of achieving high governance standards.

01/01/2023
MiDavies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what incentives his Department provides to encourage local authorities to build retirement and adapted housing.

Brandon Lewis

We are committed to increasing the diversity and choice of housing for older people. We know that the right housing can help people to have the lifestyle they want in later life, and help people stay healthier for longer. The National Planning Policy Framework requires local authorities to plan for a mix of housing based on current and future demographic trends, and the needs of different groups in the area, including older people and disabled people. In March 2015 we strengthened our planning guidance further to encourage local authorities to recognise the importance for planning for older people’s housing.

Local authorities are eligible to bid for capital grant funding for specialised housing for older people, including adapted housing through the Government’s Affordable Homes Programme, which includes funding for supported housing and the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund.

To help older people stay healthier for longer in their existing home the Government provides the Disabled Facilities Grant, which is part of the Better Care Fund. This capital grant for adaptations is paid to local authorities in England to fund the provision of home adaptations (including stair lifts, level access showers and, in some instances, home extensions) to help disabled people to live as comfortably, safely and independently as possible in their own homes for longer. In the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that funding for the Grant will rise to over £500 million by 2020. Annual allocations for the Disabled Facilities Grant for each year until 2020 will be announced in due course.

01/01/2023
Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-28.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will consult public sector organisations which would be affected by the proposed exit payment cap on the technical considerations of that cap.

Greg Hands

The Government maintains that £95,000 is a significant amount of money for anyone to be receiving for an exit, while the large majority of exit payments are already significantly below the level of the cap. Voluntary redundancy and workforce restructuring is not contingent upon access to six-figure exit payments. As such, we do not expect the cap to have a widespread impact on the take-up of voluntary redundancy, and believe the cap will enable public sector employers to retain the tools to effectively make organisational changes to their workforce whilst offering those made redundant generous provisions for loss of employment.

The consultation on the public sector exit payment cap ran from 31 July to 27 August 2015, and received over 4000 responses. These responses included representations from public sector organisations. The Government will publish draft regulations and invite comment on them in due course.

01/01/2023
Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were admitted to hospital as a result of NHS 111 calls made in 2015 in (a) Lancashire and (b) Burnley.

Jane Ellison

The data is not held centrally.

01/01/2023
Lord Shinkwin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Shinkwin on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that the UK complies with its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities if cell-free DNA, non-invasive prenatal testing techniques are made available to pregnant women on the NHS.

Lord Prior of Brampton

There is a long established Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme that prospective parents can choose whether to participate in. The United Kingdom National Screening Committee recommendation on non-invasive prenatal testing does not change the choices available to prospective parents within the programme. We are satisfied that the UK is compliant with its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and that the Programme is compliant with all obligations under the Equality Act 2010. We would also note that English law does not recognise a foetus as a separate legal person.

01/01/2023
Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received from academics and health experts on the health benefits and disadvantages of vaping.

Jane Ellison

The Department engages with a wide range of interested parties with views on e-cigarettes and vaping. The Department will continue to listen to all parties to inform our decisions as well as drawing on the reports such E-cigarettes – an evidence update published by Public Health England in 2015.

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01/01/2023

Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Answer of 12 May 2016 to Question 36974, on Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many policy staff are based at each of those 14 locations.

Anna Soubry

The number of employees of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) headquarters, working in policy roles as at 31 May 2016, are shown in the table below. Some details have changed since the Answer of 12 May 2016 to Question 36974 because of staff movements and people leaving under Voluntary Exit schemes.

Policy staff includes all people working in policy directorates as well as those directly involved in the policy making process including, for example, Private Office, analysis, external communications, and legal services (other than those that operate on a local basis such as prosecutors and investigation offices). It excludes corporate functions such as Finance, HR, Digital and Commercial, and regionally based staff such as BIS Local.

Location	Number of employees
Billingham Queensway House, West Precinct, Billingham TS23 2NF	1
Birmingham Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham B2 4BU	1
Bristol 2 Rivergate, Bristol BS1 6EH	5
Cambridge Eastbrook House, Shaftsbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8DU	1
Cardiff Companies House, Crown Way, Cardiff CF14 3UZ	31
Coventry Cheylesmore House, Quinton Road, Coventry CV1 2WT	1
Darlington Queensway House, West Precinct, Darlington TS23 2NF	5
Gateshead St George’s House, Kingsway, Gateshead NE11 0NA	2
Leeds 1 City Walk, Leeds LS11 9DA	1
London 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET	1363
Manchester 3 Piccadilly Gate, Store Street, Manchester M1 2WD	2
Nottingham Apex Court, City Link, Nottingham NG2 4LA	4
Sheffield 2 St Paul’s Place, 125 Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 2FJ	222
Warrington/Daresbury Daresbury Laboratory, Keckwick Lane, Warrington WA4 4AD	10

01/01/2023