Category: Speeches

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2016 to Question 22031, whether he has received any reports from UK personnel working with the Saudi military of (a) negligent and (b) inadvertent potential breaks of international humanitarian law.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The UK is not a member of the Saudi-led Coalition. British personnel are not involved in carrying out strikes, directing or conducting operations in Yemen or selecting targets. They are also not involved in the Saudi targeting decision-making process. British liaison officers have provided information as part of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) monitoring of incidents of alleged International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations. Looking at the information available to us, we have assessed that there has not been a breach of IHL by the coalition, but continue to monitor the situation closely, seeking further information where appropriate.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether employers named and shamed by his Department on 5 February 2016 for non-payment of the national minimum wage and found to be owing arrears to a select number of employees subsequently had their whole workforce investigated by HM Revenue and Customs to ascertain if the same practice applied to all other workers employed.

    Nick Boles

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) fully investigate all worker complaints and where they identify arrears of pay, issue a Notice of Underpayment to recover arrears for the complainant. Since 2015, HMRC have also instructed the employer to "self-correct" for all other workers and report the details to HMRC. An assurance process is in place to make sure employers have fully self-corrected. If they do not, and HMRC believes other workers are likely to have been underpaid, the employer will be investigated again.

    HMRC are unable to provide an exact figure for how many of the 92 employers have been investigated beyond the original complaint. The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Prime Minister, whether representatives of the UK’s Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories will be invited to the anti-corruption summit in May.

    Mr David Cameron

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Illford South (Mr Gapes) during my Oral Statement today.

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

    Lord Freyberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-04-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 17 March (HL7132), whether they expect any new database of innovative medicines to be constructed outside the normal information governance channels.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act 2016 will create a database of innovative treatments, when the Secretary of State directs the Health and Social Care Information Centre to establish such a database. The Centre will implement the database in accordance with the common law duty of confidence, data protection law and the information governance rules to which the Centre is subject.

  • Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the Civil Nuclear Constabulary conducts an annual survey of its staff.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Civil Nuclear Constabulary has undertaken surveys of its staff in previous years but these have not been on a regular annual basis.

    The last survey undertaken was a Wellbeing Survey conducted in May 2015 and a general all staff survey is planned for 2017/18.

    It is the Civil Nuclear Constabulary’s intention to run all staff surveys bi-annually in the future.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Prime Minister, whether she plans to attend the UN General Assembly meetings on refugees and migrants on 19 and 20 September 2016.

    Mrs Theresa May

    I refer the hon. Member to the Oral Statement I gave to the House on 7 September 2016, Official Report, column 336.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to reported delays to Legal & General’s proposed investment in a factory near Leeds to build pre-fabricated homes.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    The Government is keen to widen the use of innovative construction in housebuilding. We are encouraging this through our housing and planning programmes including Affordable Homes 2016-21, Build to Rent and Housing Zones, and through our National Planning Practice Guidance.

    We are also providing funding. Earlier this month, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government launched the Home Building Fund, which aims to provide further support to builders using innovative construction, in addition to custom builders, small and medium-sized builders, and new entrants to the market. Full details are published (attached) at www.gov.uk/homebuildingfund

    We welcome Legal & General’s plans to enter this growing market and operate a new offsite manufacturing facility, but it is not for Government to comment on the commercial decisions it may take around its launch date.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what he plans for the size of the stake which the Government will retain in the Green Investment Bank to be after that bank’s privatisation.

    Anna Soubry

    Decisions on the size of stake retained in the Green Investment Bank will be taken on the basis of what achieves best value for money for the taxpayer.

  • Sammy Wilson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sammy Wilson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sammy Wilson on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what procedures are in place to ensure that animals sent from the UK for use in experiments in laboratories abroad were not subject to a greater degree of suffering than that which they would have experienced in UK laboratories.

    Mike Penning

    The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 requires that before an animal can be released from the controls of the Act, in order to be sent to a laboratory abroad, I must be assured that:

    • the animal’s state of health allows it to be sent to a new establishment;

    • the animal poses no danger to public health, animal health or the environment;

    • there is an adequate scheme in place for ensuring the socialisation of the animal upon being sent to new establishment; and,

    • appropriate measures have been taken to safeguard the animal’s well-being when being sent to a new establishment.

    The Home Office will seek reassurance that there are appropriate measures to safeguard the well-being of protected animals exported, within the context of their use in scientific procedures. Consent is only given for export where it is to a recognised scientific research establishment with a requirement for the specific live animals and sending tissue is not practicable.

  • Liam Byrne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Liam Byrne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to Recommendation 8 of his Department’s Triennial Review of the NHS Litigation Authority (NHS LA), published in July 2015, when he expects the NHS LA to publish its evaluation report of its pilot mediation programme.

    Ben Gummer

    The NHS Litigation Authority (NHS LA) recently undertook a mediation pilot in order to encourage and increase the use of mediation as a means of resolving claims against the National Health Service. The success of the pilot was evaluated and has demonstrated that mediation is highly effective as a forum for delivering early resolution for families and healthcare staff, particularly in delivering quality outcomes which are about more than just financial compensation. The lessons learned from the evaluation are being considered carefully in order to inform the NHS LA’s strategy to increase mediation and potentially, to offer a mediation service. The Triennial Review did not state publication of the mediation pilot outcomes.