Category: Speeches

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether Daesh are committing genocide in Syria.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The situation is desperate for many communities within Syria and Iraq. We condemn in the strongest terms the atrocities committed by Daesh against Christians, Mandeans, Yezidis, and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim population in Syria and Iraq who continue to bear the brunt of Daesh’s brutality.

    It is a long-standing Government policy that any judgements on whether genocide has occurred are a matter for the international judicial system rather than governments or other non-judicial bodies. Our approach is to seek an end to all violations of International Humanitarian Law and to prevent their further escalation, irrespective of whether these violations fit the definition of specific international crimes.

    Ultimately, the best way of preventing future atrocities is to defeat Daesh and its violent ideology. That’s why the UK is playing a leading role in a Global Coalition of more than 65 countries and international organisations to respond to Daesh’s inhumanity.

  • Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure (a) people who have not received payments from the Basic Payment Scheme for 2015 will receive those payments by the end of March 2016 and (b) all claimants of that scheme will receive information on how payments have been calculated.

    George Eustice

    The Rural Payments Agency is working to pay the remainder of farmers their Basic Payment Scheme claims as promptly as possible and is aiming to make almost all payments by the end of March. The Secretary of State and I have regular conversations with the CEO of the agency about progress. The agency has been communicating with farmers who have not yet received their payments. Going forward the agency will keep them updated about the likely timing of their payment until they are paid.

    The Rural Payments Agency will support every payment with a paper explanatory claim statement and guidance on how payments have been calculated. These statements started to be issued in February and will continue to go out throughout March.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2016 to Question 31226, on how many occasions his Department has found a local authority to be non-compliant with (a) the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and (b) the Local Government Transparency Code 2015.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    My Department has recently completed compliance testing of local authorities with the Local Government Transparency Code 2015, which entailed checking the websites of 103 authorities, a 25% sample of authorities to which the Transparency Code applies, for the data they are required to publish. We are currently analysing the initial results, including to ascertain whether where expected information has not been found on an authority’s website this is an accurate reflection of the authority’s circumstances or due to non-compliance.

    Principal local authorities will not be required to comply with the provisions of the Local Audit and Accountability Act until 1 April 2018 [and Health and smaller bodies from 1 April 2017]. Compliance is currently monitored by Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd, a transitional body appointed to manage existing audit arrangements until they expire.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what change there was in the proportion of the working age population employed by the public sector in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland between 2005 and 2015.

    Mr Rob Wilson

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

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many vacancies for (a) paramedics and (b) doctors there are in the East Midlands Ambulance Service.

    Ben Gummer

    The information requested is not held centrally. It may be available directly from East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the targets were for recruitment for each of the armed forces in each of the last five years.

    Mike Penning

    Information on the targets for recruitment for each of the Armed Forces in each of the last five years is shown below.

    Financial Year

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    2015-16

    Regular Naval Service

    2,230

    2,925

    3,433

    3,260

    3,571

    Maritime Reserves1

    –

    –

    –

    740

    760

    Royal Fleet Auxiliary

    36

    52

    122

    353

    336

    Total Naval Service

    2,266

    2,977

    3,555

    4,353

    4,667

    Regular Army Service

    11,190

    10,300

    7,020

    8,160

    7,320

    Army Reserves1

    –

    –

    –

    4,900

    7,270

    Total Army Service

    11,190

    10,300

    10,575

    13,060

    14,590

    Regular Royal Air Force Service

    1,561

    1,586

    1,731

    2,212

    2,670

    Royal Air Force Reserves1

    –

    –

    –

    600

    750

    Total Royal Air Force Service

    1,561

    1,586

    1,731

    2,812

    3,420

    Notes:

    1 There are no figures for these periods as centralised recruitment targets were not set until October 2013 following publication of the Reserves White paper.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what mandatory requirements are in place to ensure that care home staff are well trained.

    Alistair Burt

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 all providers of regulated activities have to register with the CQC and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall.

    The Fundamental Standards include a regulation on staffing which ensures that suitably qualified, competent, skilled persons must be deployed. This regulation also ensures that the person employed receives the appropriate training, professional development and have the opportunity to obtain further qualifications appropriate to the work they perform.

    CQC inspections ensure that providers are meeting these Fundamental Standards and have a wide range of enforcement powers if a provider fails to meet them.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to collect information centrally on how many people diagnosed with a mental health condition receive a custodial sentence.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department does not collect such data centrally.

    Health and wellbeing needs assessments (HNAs) provide information on the estimated prevalence of mental illness in individual prisons. All prisons are required to produce HNAs, and the Department will discuss with NHS England the potential to publish information on prison health at a national level.

  • Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-01-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what they estimate will be the percentage of gross domestic product spent on (1) the NHS and public health, (2) publicly financed adult social care, and (c) both of those, following the allocations and economic forecast in the 2015 Spending Review.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department is unable to provide estimated spend figures as a percentage of United Kingdom gross domestic product.

    The Department reports on health expenditure in England but we are not in a position to provide equivalent health estimated spend figures from the devolved administrations.

  • Kwasi Kwarteng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kwasi Kwarteng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kwasi Kwarteng on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if the Government will provide assistance to farmers in Zimbabwe who are forced from their land by the policies of the government of that country.

    James Duddridge

    I share My Right Honourable Friend’s concerns about the devastating impact of land seizures in Zimbabwe. The British Embassy in Harare frequently raises land security – and the importance of upholding the rule of law – with the Government of Zimbabwe. Most recently, they highlighted the British Government’s serious concerns that the seizure of the land of Zimbabwean farmer, Mr Philip Rankin, did not follow the provisions of the Zimbabwean constitution. The British Government has always said that it would support a fair, transparent and pro-poor land reform programme in Zimbabwe. This is vital if Zimbabwe is to realise its great economic and social potential.