Category: Speeches

Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to make a commitment at the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants on 19 and 20 September 2016 to provide more safe and legal routes for refugees to find protection in the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government has no plans to introduce additional pathways for refugees to come to the UK. The UK is already a leading resettlement state, offering a number of safe and legal pathways for refugees. In the year ending June 2016, a total of 3,439 people were resettled in the UK.

In addition to the 20,000 Syrian refugees and up to 3,000 vulnerable persons from the Middle East and North Africa region that the Government has committed to resettle by 2020, the UK has also committed to relocate unaccompanied refugee children from France, Greece and Italy. Under the family reunion policy we have reunited around 22,000 refugees with their immediate family over the past five years and will continue to do so. The Government supports the principle that those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. This allows vulnerable persons to receive help quickly rather than risking their lives on hazardous journeys into and across Europe or falling victim to criminal gangs who are exploiting the situation. Providing humanitarian aid in the region is the best way to provide much needed support to the majority of those fleeing persecution while working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to resettle the most vulnerable who cannot reasonably remain.

HM Government will be represented at the UN General Assembly high level meeting on 19 September and the Leaders’ Summit on refugees to be hosted by President Obama on 20 September.

01/01/2023
Mark Menzies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to help protect the pensions of long-serving employees.

Richard Harrington

We have a well-established regime of checks and balances in place, for example the Pension Protection Fund and the Pensions Regulator. The Government keeps this framework for pensions under constant review, and amends it when evidence demonstrates such change is needed

01/01/2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department’s plans are for long-term local sustainable transport funding.

Andrew Jones

All future budgets, including those for sustainable transport, remain subject to Spending Review negotiations. Further information will be made available after the outcome of the Spending Review is announced on 25 November.

01/01/2023
Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the effect on the household income of a family with two earners and three children which becomes a new claimant of universal credit and which is not migrating from a legacy benefit of the Government’s proposed changes to universal credit announced in the Summer Budget 2015 in each of the next four financial years.

Priti Patel

At the summer budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government’s commitment to move the UK from a high tax, high welfare, low wage society to a lower tax, lower welfare, higher wage society. This remains the case, and Universal Credit (UC) is delivering this.

UC is a fundamentally different benefit to the legacy benefit system and provides people with support into, and to progress in work.

Therefore there is no meaningful way of comparing an unreformed Tax Credit system with Universal Credit. The Government has committed to transitional arrangements as we reform the benefits and Tax Credit system. Those transferred by DWP from tax credits to UC will receive Transitional Protection. In addition, estimates of entitlements under UC of the sort requested will vary depending on assumptions on the level of earnings.

01/01/2023
Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, paragraph 3.54, whether the Debt Market Integrator will take over the services currently contracted out to Concentrix; whether Concentrix is permitted to bid for the new contract; and what the timetable is for tendering.

Matthew Hancock

The Debt Market Integrator (DMI)will not be taking over the tax credit related services currently contracted out to Concentrix.Concentrix currently provides services through the "Error & Fraud Adding Capacity" (EFAC) contract, which does not include debt collection services. There are no current plans to re-procure these services. Tax credit debt collection services will be provided through the DMI contract from July 2016. The DMI contract was awarded to TDX / Equifax in March 2015.

01/01/2023
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.

01/01/2023
Kate Hoey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hoey on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many and what proportion of members in Northern Ireland of each trade union opted to pay the political levy; and which of those trade unions’ headquarters are in (a) Great Britain and (b) Northern Ireland.

Nick Boles

The latest Annual Report of the Certification Officer shows that 4,954,606 union members in Great Britain paid the political levy in the period 2013-2014. This represents 70.67% of the total number of individuals who were union members in the same period.^{^[1]}

Employment law is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and I am not able to respond to the questions relating to Northern Ireland.

[1] Political Funds of Trade Unions, 2013-2014, Annual Report 2015/2016 of the Certification Officer, page 68-69, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449387/CO_Annual_Report__2014-2015_.pdf

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01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential for driverless cars to reduce motorway collisions.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport has not yet made an assessment of the potential for connected and autonomous vehicles to reduce motorway collisions. Research suggests that connected and autonomous vehicles will have a positive impact on safety – systems such as Advanced Emergency Braking are already acknowledged by some insurers to reduce collisions. However research in this area is limited by the extent of real world testing. The Government recognises the need to ensure that the implications of these technologies on safety are well-understood, and they can be introduced safely onto public roads. That is why the Department for Transport plans to conduct trials of driverless vehicles on the Strategic Road Network by the end of 2017, which will be delivered by Highways England. The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles also plans to do further research in this area, as part of a much wider programme of research and development that the Government is supporting to examine the issues associated with these technologies.

01/01/2023
Lord Rosser – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they are giving to local authorities to ensure that changes to funding for local bus services do not negatively affect (1) young people, (2) the elderly, (3) those suffering from mental ill health, and (4) those suffering from physical ill health.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The majority of public funding for local bus services in England is provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government. However, the Department for Transport also provides around £40m of Grant funding directly to English local authorities for this purpose.

The Total Transport initiative has also provided around £8m funding for 37 pilot projects exploring how local authorities and other agencies can work together to commission transport services more effectively – including integrating NHS non-emergency patient transport.

Authorities should remain mindful of their statutory equality duties, including the Equality Act 2010’s Public Sector Equality Duty, and the effect of proposals on all people with protected characteristics, including those who are disabled.

01/01/2023

Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children living in the Copeland constituency have been eligible to receive free school meals in each of the last six years.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Data for the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in each school in England are available in the underlying data in each of the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical releases.[1]

The number and proportion of pupils attending schools in Copeland who were known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in each of the last six years is given in the table below.

Year	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals
2010	1,423	12.1
2011	1,420	12.0
2012	1,362	11.8
2013	1,395	12.3
2014	1,354	12.1
2015	1,253	11.1

Source: School Census

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers – click on the relevant year and then ‘underlying data.’ The data is contained in files with ‘Schools_Pupils’ in the title.

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01/01/2023