Category: Speeches

  • Angela Rayner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Angela Rayner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many sexual assaults on trains there have been in the last 12 months.

    Claire Perry

    In the period 1 November 2014 to 31 October 2015 there were a total of 754 reported sexual assaults on trains, and 3 reported rapes. It is likely that the levels reported are at least in part a result of various initiatives by the British Transport Police (BTP) to raise awareness and encourage more reporting of sexual offences, including various specific campaigns such as Project Guardian which encourages victims to report inappropriate sexual behaviour. Further detail on the range of actions being taken by the BTP to reduce sexual offences can be found at http://www.btp.police.uk/advice_and_info/how_we_tackle_crime/sexual_offences.aspx.

    “

  • Biography information for Lord Grocott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Biography information for Lord Grocott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Lord Grocott on 2015-12-22.

    To ask the Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by the Leader of the House on 17 December that the convention on statutory instruments has now broken” (HL Deb

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    Prior to October 2015, the House of Lords had rejected statutory instruments on four occasions since World War II. None of those occasions concerned a statutory instrument implementing a budget measure intended to deliver £4.4bn of savings that had already been approved by the House of Commons – thereby overruling the elected House on a matter of public spending – nor is it precedented for the House of Lords to decline to consider a statutory instrument until the Government has made specific changes to the policy underpinning it. The House’s decision to withhold agreement to the Tax Credits (Income Thresholds and Determination of Rates) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 therefore broke new ground, and may be regarded as a breach of the convention underpinning the House’s powers in regard to secondary legislation as well as the longer-standing convention regarding the financial primacy of the House of Commons.

  • Kate Hoey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kate Hoey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hoey on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of recent trends in the relative size of the Shia population in Bahrain; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not carried out an assessment on this. We refer to various published sources, including those from the Government of Bahrain and international organisations such as the United Nations and World Bank.

  • 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 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason her Department did not give one year’s notice of the new system for assessment of pupils’ achievement in reading, writing and mathematics at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

    Nick Gibb

    The new national curriculum tests at Key Stages 1 and 2 were first announced in March 2014, and since then we have provided schools with further information to help them adapt to the assessment arrangements. In addition to sample questions published in summer 2014, complete sample tests were published in summer 2015 to give primary schools nearly a year of lead-in time to ensure their pupils are adequately prepared.

    The new interim teacher assessment frameworks ay Key Stages 1 and 2 were published in September 2015 and were therefore provided at the start of the academic year in time for use this summer. Our public consultation on the frameworks received a large volume of diverse feedback, which we wanted to give proper consideration before introducing the important change for schools. Recent publications in January and February 2016 did not announce any change to assessment arrangements, but provided example materials to support teachers in making teacher assessment judgements.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on consumers of a merger between BT and EE; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    It is for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to assess the potential impacts of company mergers in the UK. Its role is to protect competition for the benefit of consumers, not the commercial interests of competitors.

    In the case of the takeover of EE by BT, the CMA considered the merger and all representations made to it and published its final decision in January, which can be found here [https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-clears-btee-merger]

    “

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make a comparative assessment of how many deaths were caused by new psychoactive substances in the UK, Ireland and Poland in each year since 2010.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of households in which the occupants qualify for free television licences that will make voluntary payments in each year up to 2022.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government has agreed that the BBC will be able to ask for voluntary payment of the licence fee from those aged 75 and over who are entitled to a free licence. We are working with the BBC to implement the legal aspects of this agreement, but the number of households which may choose to make such a payment is unknown.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of levels of passenger satisfaction with light rail systems.

    Paul Maynard

    The Department for Transport has not made any assessment of passenger satisfaction levels in regards to light rail. However, Transport Focus, an independent transport user watchdog, published results in May 2016 which indicated overall journey satisfaction in 2015 had increased to 92% from 90% the previous year. This follows a survey conducted of over 5,000 passengers who had used light rail systems in operation in Blackpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh.

    A copy of the Transport Focus report can be found at the following weblink:

    http://www.transportfocus.org.uk/research-publications/research/tram-passenger-survey/

    “

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of over-staging by bus companies on journeys undertaken using a concessionary bus pass in England.

    Andrew Jones

    The destination printed on a bus ticket should not have any effect on the amount of reimbursement that the bus operator receives for carrying concessionary passengers.

    This is because reimbursement paid to operators is not based on the full commercial adult fare for a typical journey, but on the average equivalent full fare – taken from a “basket of fares” – that each concessionary traveller would have paid in the absence of the scheme.

    Reimbursement payments are also subject to audits of ticket sales data and, if required, ‘on-bus’ surveys of patronage.

  • Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of in-work recipients of housing benefits in the last five years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Under this Government the number of out-of-work Housing Benefit claimants has fallen and one key reason for this is that they have made the positive move into work. In this way it is unsurprising, therefore, that the number of in-work recipients of Housing Benefit should rise.