UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-02-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the Carbon Airports Commission calculated that air fares would need to rise in order to comply with the capped model, and what estimate they have made of the increase in air passenger duty that would be necessary to achieve that increase.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Airports Commission included an estimate of the impact of air fares in the carbon capped case in Chapter 4 of their interim report, copies of which are available in the Libraries of both Houses.

    There are no such estimates alongside the updated forecasts in their final report, nor is there consideration of the interaction between carbon prices and air passenger duty.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his policy is on the future scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

    Matthew Hancock

    I refer the hon Member to my Written Ministerial Statement of 1 March 2016 [Hansard reference HCWS566]

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-04-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to repeal any existing statutory animal welfare codes.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Government intends to retain all existing statutory animal welfare codes and is working with interested parties to ensure our guidance continues to help farmers comply with our high welfare standards.

  • 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 2016-05-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UK has released all the information it has in its possession relating to the death of Dag Hammarskjold to the Independent Panel of Experts.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The vast majority of UK material relevant to the death of Dag Hammarskjold has already been released to The National Archives at Kew, where it is accessible to the public. In response to a request from the UN Independent Panel established in 2015 to examine the value of new information related to the death of former UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) coordinated a search across all relevant UK Government departments. None of these departments identified any pertinent material. In addition, the FCO also reviewed again a small number of file extracts that had previously been withheld. The review concluded that, although these file extracts did not contain any substantive information likely to be of interest to the Panel, they should continue to be withheld under Section 3(4) of the UK Public Records Act, for security-related reasons. The FCO wrote to the Panel, assuring it that the redactions consist of short individual pieces of text and that the FCO had not retained whole documents or files. Our assessment continues to be that all the information of value to the Panel has already been released to The National Archives and that release of the redacted material would not provide anything of additional value for the Panel’s work.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2015 on the proportion of blood cancer patients that understood the explanation given to them at diagnosis; and if he will take steps to increase support for such patients at the point of diagnosis.

    Jane Ellison

    It is important that people with cancer have the best possible experience throughout their cancer pathway and are treated with dignity and respect.

    The independent Cancer Taskforce published its report Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes – A Strategy for England 2015-2020 in July 2015, and identified a key priority of establishing patient experience as being on a par with clinical effectiveness and safety. In May 2016 the National Cancer Transformation Board published Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes: Taking the Strategy Forward outlining the detailed steps being taken to make this a reality.

    In September 2015, the Government announced that by 2020, the 280,000 people diagnosed with cancer every year will benefit from a tailored recovery package. The packages will be individually designed to help each person, including those with blood cancer, live well beyond cancer. In April 2016 NHS England published guidance for commissioners on commissioning and implementing the recovery package effectively.

    In order to continue to support general practitioners (GPs) to identify patients whose symptoms may indicate cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published an updated suspected cancer referral guideline in June 2015. The guideline includes new recommendations for haematological cancers. NICE noted that more lives could be saved each year in England if GPs followed the new guideline, which encourages GPs to think of cancer sooner and lower the referral threshold. Following publication of the updated guideline, the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has worked in collaboration with Cancer Research UK (CRUK) on a programme of regional update events for GPs to promote the new guideline. RCGP and CRUK have also worked to develop three summary referral guidelines for GPs to enable them to adopt the guideline. These are available at:

    www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/learning-and-development-tools/nice-cancer-referral-guidelines

    “

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-09-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what humanitarian aid they are providing to injured and displaced persons in North Korea following the recent flooding in that country.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK supports organisations such as the UN through core contributions. UN agencies are delivering humanitarian assistance to people affected.

  • 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 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 7.4 of the Explanatory Memorandum for the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Functions) (Local Housing Allowance Amendments) Order 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 1753), when he plans for the first instalments of additional funding under the Targeted Affordability Fund to be made available to local authorities.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Since 2014/15 the Government has made available £140 million in Targeted Affordability Funding (TAF). Over the next five years TAF will be drawn from recycling a percentage of the savings from the freeze of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates. As a result of the level of savings produced by the freeze next year there will be no TAF available in 2016/17; however, there will be funding from 2017/18 to 2020/21.

    From 2017/18 around 30 per cent of the potential savings per year from the freeze to LHA will be used to support areas where higher rent increases are causing a shortage of affordable accommodation.

    The level of TAF in 2016/17 would have been the same if, as planned, LHA rates had been uprated by CPI inflation. This is because the CPI forecast in September was zero (0.01 per cent) and therefore LHA rates would not increase in 2016/17 but would remain at the 2015/16 levels.

    The amounts of TAF which will be available each year from 2017/18 and the plans to distribute it will be announced in due course.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the legal position is on the use of prefixes or styles granted by virtue of honours in Commonwealth realms in the UK to (a) either to a citizen of a Commonwealth realm and (b) to a dual national who is also national of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; how such honours are recognised; and if he will make a statement.

    James Duddridge

    The recognition of foreign honours is a matter for the Royal Prerogative and is governed by convention, rather than by law.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many completed repeat work capability assessments there have been of people with (a) cystic fibrosis, (b) rheumatoid arthritis, (c) motor neurone disease, (d) multiple sclerosis and (e) Parkinson’s disease in each year since the introduction of employment and support allowance in 2008.

    Priti Patel

    The information available is shown in the table below. Repeat assessments are conducted to ensure that individuals receive the right level of support.

    Calendar years:

    Cystic Fibrosis

    Spinal Muscular Atrophy

    Parkinson’s Disease

    Multiple Sclerosis

    Other Rheumatoid Arthritis

    Oct-08 to Dec-08

    –

    –

    –

    –

    –

    Jan-09 to Dec-09

    –

    –

    –

    –

    –

    Jan-10 to Dec-10

    –

    –

    100

    700

    600

    Jan-11 to Dec-11

    100

    100

    300

    1,500

    1,500

    Jan-12 to Dec-12

    200

    100

    500

    2,900

    2,500

    Jan-13 to Dec-13

    100

    100

    400

    2,400

    2,500

    Jan-14 to Dec-14

    100

    –

    300

    1,900

    2,100

    Jan-15 to June-15

    –

    –

    –

    300

    300

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support his Department plans to make available to small companies operating in deprived areas to help meet the costs of the introduction of the living wage; and if he will make a statement.

    Nick Boles

    The Government has introduced measures to help businesses with the transition to the new National Living Wage. The Government is reducing corporation tax to 18% by 2020, setting the Annual Investment Allowance at a new permanent level of £200,000, and increasing the Employment Allowance from £2,000 to £3,000. The increase in the Employment Allowance means a business could employ four people on the National Living Wage and pay no National Insurance Contributions. It will benefit up to 590,000 employers and take up to 90,000 firms out of National Insurance Contributions altogether. These measures will help small businesses across the country.