Category: Speeches

  • Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral contribution of 30 November 2015, Official Report, column 33, on the estimated number of patients who may have had a vital operation cancelled, how many patients who had such an operation cancelled had it rescheduled to a time within 24 hours of the original scheduled operation.

    Ben Gummer

    On 30 November, based on information provided by hospital trusts, NHS England estimated that around 3,000 procedures that were due to take place on 1 December 2015 were planned to be rescheduled. It has not collected information or estimated how many of these could not be rebooked for 1 December 2015 once the proposed industrial action was suspended. There has been no estimate of how many vital procedures that were cancelled were rescheduled within 24 hours. These are operational matters for hospital trusts.

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects the report on progress on recommendations regarding child detention in Palestine by the delegation of lawyers visiting Palestine in February 2016 to be published.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The visit is currently scheduled for February 2016 and the report will be published in due course. The original report that produced these recommendations was released in June 2012, following a visit in September 2011.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress he has made on the junior doctors’ contract renegotiation process.

    Ben Gummer

    Progress in negotiations has led to substantial agreement on a fairer contract with safety and training at its heart. The door remains open to the BMA to negotiate on the remaining issue of pay for unsocial hours, as they agreed to do in the joint agreement at ACAS in November.

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect on organisations commissioning academic research of his Department’s proposed regulations that would prevent recipients of government grant funding for research in using that work to call for government policy changes.

    Matthew Hancock

    The new clause is about ensuring taxpayers money is only used for the intended purposes. The use or otherwise of research findings is already set out in grant agreements. There should, therefore, be no effect on organisations, which are free to use other funding to lobby, but not to spend taxpayers’ hard-earned cash on lobbying.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the enforcement of age discrimination legislation in respect of people seeking employment.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Age is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010. Where differential treatment because of age cannot be objectively justified, this will constitute unlawful age discrimination both in employment and in the provision of goods and services. Enforcement of the Act’s employment provisions is undertaken by Employment Tribunals, to which a person must make a claim if they feel that they have been discriminated against because of age.

    Prior to an Employment Tribunal claim, conciliation services are provided by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Services (Acas). According to the Employment tribunal statistics, 1,087 age discrimination claims were made to Employment Tribunals in 2014/15. 70% (761) of these claims were either withdrawn or successfully conciliated by Acas without the need for a full hearing. The Acas process is intended to enable employers and employees to resolve disputes without the need for a full Employment Tribunal hearing.

    The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s enforcement powers under the Equality Act 2006 apply to age discrimination as they do to other protected characteristics.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department’s press release, A new pay model for the Armed Forces, published on 7 January 2016, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the reformed pay structure on the number of complaints about terms and conditions received through the service complaints process.

    Mark Lancaster

    The changes associated with the new Armed Forces pay model have been extensively communicated, both prior to and since their announcement in January. These communications are expected to address a significant proportion of the questions and concerns that might otherwise have been raised as service complaints. Whilst it is impossible to predict how many service complaints might be raised, planning is in place for a means of dealing with them if they do arise in volume in a way that is fair, effective and efficient and does not overwhelm the system.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to increase the number of teachers in training.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government is investing heavily in the future of our teaching profession. Between now and 2020, we have committed to spending more than £1.3bn on initiatives aimed at attracting more people into the profession.

    Teaching remains a profession that is attracting the brightest and best new graduates as well as career changers. We achieved 94% of our postgraduate ITT target for 2015/16, of which 7% was additional recruitment beyond the target in primary, English, history and PE. Although we recognise that teacher recruitment remains challenging, particularly in some priority subjects and in certain areas of the country, we are nevertheless confident that overall recruitment to ITT remains strong.

    We have already put in place a number of measures aimed at attracting more top graduates into teaching, particularly in the core academic subjects that help children reach their full potential. We are continuing to offer generous financial incentives, including prestigious scholarships, worth up to £30,000 tax-free for trainees with top degrees in priority subjects.

    In March 2015, the Prime Minister announced a package of up to £67m to recruit an additional 2,500 maths and physics teachers and to train 15,000 existing non-specialist teachers in those subjects over the term of this Parliament.

  • Liz McInnes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Liz McInnes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons restrictions on advertising and promotional deals on unhealthy foods were not included in the Government’s childhood obesity plan.

    Nicola Blackwood

    In developing the plan we have been very open about the fact we considered a number of different policies and have focused on the ones that are likely to have the biggest impact on childhood obesity.

    The policies in the plan are informed by the latest research and evidence, including from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition report Carbohydrates and Health, Public Health England’s evidence package Sugar reduction: the evidence for action, other government departments, debates in this House and various reports from key stakeholders including the Health Select Committee.

    Evidence shows that current restrictions on the advertising of less healthy food and drink in the United Kingdom are amongst the toughest in the world.

  • Lord Campbell of Pittenweem – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Campbell of Pittenweem – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Campbell of Pittenweem on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are proposing to introduce a new towed artillery system; and if so, what that system will be.

    Earl Howe

    The Army is undertaking a scoping project known as ‘Medium Wheeled Gun System’ to examine 155mm calibre towed and wheeled self-propelled options to provide a medium weight fire support capability within the future Strike Brigades. At the concept stage it was previously known as Strike 155; no decisions regarding the choice of system have yet been taken.

    Project Congreve was a study conducted by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and initiated in 2014. Its objective was to determine options for all future surface-to-surface fire systems capability. The work on the Medium Wheeled Gun System has been informed by Project Congreve and the Strategic Defence and Security Review.

  • Johnny Mercer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Johnny Mercer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Johnny Mercer on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make contingency plans for delivery by bodies other than Network Rail of Control Period 5 projects that the Hendy Review determines to be undeliverable and which are necessary in order to realise the full benefit of the introduction of AT300 trains to the South West peninsula.

    Claire Perry

    As Sir Peter Hendy’s report to the Secretary of State on the 25 November 2015 on the replanning of the CP5 Investment Programme made clear, the Cornwall Capacity Enabling Scheme, which will enable the delivery of the introduction of AT300 trains to the South West peninsula, will be delivered within CP5.