Category: Speeches

  • Lord Hutton of Furness – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Hutton of Furness – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hutton of Furness on 2016-07-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to ensure continued public access to the archives and collections of the Royal Artillery museum once the existing site at Woolwich is closed.

    Earl Howe

    Regimental museums are provided and sustained by individual Regiments. However, I understand that the Royal Artillery intends to follow the precedent set by the National Army Museum, which is to close all access to the archives and collections during the transition of the Royal Artillery Museum to a new location. I understand that the Royal Artillery is examining ways to provide some access to a limited selection of archive materials whilst it develops longer term plans.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) monitor the welfare of unaccompanied refugee children who arrive in the UK and are in the care of the relevant authorities and (b) locate those refugee children who have gone missing in the UK in the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    All local authorities have statutory duties to safeguard children as part of their local responsibilities regardless of nationality or immigration status. Once an unaccompanied asylum seeking child (UASC) becomes a looked after child the main responsibility for that child’s welfare lies with the respective local authority.

    Home Office staff dealing with UASC receive specialist training and are required to follow published guidance on processing asylum claims from children, which requires the child’s welfare to be taken into account throughout the asylum claim.

    The government takes the issue of missing children extremely seriously and has published a cross government strategy on missing children and vulnerable adults.

    Migrant children over the age of 5, including asylum seeking children will have their biometrics captured by the Home Office. If a child goes missing, the local police and UK Missing Persons Bureau will be notified and the child’s details will be circulated on the Police National Computer. Home Office guidance requires staff to maintain contact with the local authority and the police until the child is found.

  • Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe on 2015-11-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why their health impact assessments relating to reducing and freezing alcohol duties do not refer to consultations with Public Health England and NHS England.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Treasury Ministers and officials discuss a variety of issues with a range of stakeholder throughout the year, including in the run up to Budget.

    The Government published its assessment of the impacts of the alcohol duty change in the Tax Information and Impact Notes published alongside the March 2015 Budget document. This information is available on the gov.uk website.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training is provided to case managers employed by the Fit for Work service.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Case managers receive comprehensive training relevant to the duties they are required to deliver through the Fit for Work service. Health professionals have supervision from experienced professionals from whom they can seek advice. Fit for Work has in place a clinical governance framework to provide oversight of all aspects of clinical service delivery. Fit for Work also ensures health professionals participate in a programme of continuing professional development.

    Continuous training and development occurs on a one to one basis as part of quality assurance.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that small and micro-employers are able to comply with automatic enrolment for workplace pensions.

    Justin Tomlinson

    5.81 million people have already been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension by 78,789 employers

    We are focused on making compliance with automatic enrolment duties as straightforward as possible –especially for small and micro employers, to continue to build on this success.

    As part of this, the Pensions Regulator has launched a new, simplified and much shorter ‘Step by Step’ guide on their website. This interactive Step by Step guide will help employers easily find out what they will need to do to comply by way of an easier to navigate, personalised journey. The number of steps an employer now has to take has reduced from 11 to just 5. This is designed to meet the specific needs of smaller employers who may well not have pensions experience, including those with just one or two staff. In addition, The Regulator provides online content for business advisers who play an important role in supporting smaller employers to meet their legal duties.

    The Regulator has simplified and tailored all letters and guides to ensure that their guidance is easy for small employers to follow; and is working with the key providers in the automatic enrolment market to ensure that employers are offered a consistent automatic enrolment journey.

    The Regulator’s website also provides guidance on what to consider when choosing a scheme and includes the list of independently audited, high quality ‘master trusts’ pension schemes. This will make scheme choice (one of the biggest challenges for small employers) easier.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total number of civil servants; and what percentage are based outside London and the south-east of England.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

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

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2016 to Question 29770, how much funding for (a) service fees and (b) allowances NHS England allocated to community pharmacies in (i) London and (ii) Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in (A) 2015-16 and (B) 2016-17.

    Alistair Burt

    Payments made by NHS England to community pharmacies in its London region in respect of essential and advanced services in 2014-15 totalled £258,069,000.

    For the period April to December 2015, these payments totalled £192,497,000.

    Information at constituency level and for the financial year 2016-17 is not available.

  • Graham Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Graham Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to tackle child sexual abuse; and what steps she plans to take in regards to such abuse in the next year.

    Karen Bradley

    Tackling child sexual abuse is a top priority for this Government and good progress is being made on delivering the commitments made in “Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation” – the Government’s response to address on a national scale the failures that had been seen in Rotherham and elsewhere. We are working collaboratively across Whitehall to deliver on our commitments and will publish an update to the “Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation” report later this year. This will set out our progress to date on what we have achieved in tackling offending, reducing vulnerability and supporting victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. It will also set out what future steps the government plans to take.

    As part of this work, we have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat, providing a clear mandate for police forces to safeguard children and to share intelligence and best practice. We have also rolled out to all UK police forces Child abuse image database (CAID) which provides law enforcement with effective tools to search seized devices. We have delivered a £7 million uplift in funding over the financial years 2014 – 15 and 2015 – 16 for non statutory organisations which support victims and survivors of sexual abuse and have announced that the same amount will be available in 2016 – 17.

    In January this year we launched a new national whistle-blowing helpline, operated by the NSPCC, for any employee who wants to raise a concern about how their organisation is dealing with a concern about a child. The establishment of the Centre of Expertise has formed part of discussions held at the Inter Ministerial Group on Child Sexual Abuse, and we are currently working towards its procurement. In terms of the Centre working with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Inquiry is independent of Government, but the Government is, and will, continue to fully co-operate with it.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the change by his Department in total spend per head of population is in 2016-17.

    Alistair Burt

    The estimated increase in total spend per head of population in England by the Department from 2015-16 to 2016-17 is £51.00 or 2.4%.

  • Calum Kerr – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Calum Kerr – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Calum Kerr on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of UK negotiations with the EU resulting from the outcome of the referendum on the planned reorganisation of UK Science Research Councils proposed by Sir Paul Nurse.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government will continue taking forward the important legislation that was set before Parliament in the Queen’s Speech, including the Higher Education and Research Bill. This includes the formation of the new body UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Now, more than ever, we need a strong and unified voice to represent the interests of UK research and innovation across Europe and around the world which UKRI will provide.