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Category: Speeches

  • David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Morris on 2016-04-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to introduce maternity pay for self-employed women; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government has continued to improve the support and flexibility of parental pay and leave, spending around £3 billion a year on maternity payments to support pregnant women and new mothers and to help them achieve a better balance between their work and home lives.

    Self-employed mothers can receive Maternity Allowance. The standard rate of Maternity Allowance is the same as the standard rate of Statutory Maternity Pay.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the NHS will distinguish between sexuality and gender identity in the collection of data for people accessing Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services.

    Alistair Burt

    The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies dataset does not currently make the distinction between sexuality and gender identity. The dataset has two fields that may be of relevance to this question:

    Sexual orientation, which is the current sexual orientation of a person and has the following valid codes:

    1

    Heterosexual

    2

    Homosexual Gay/Lesbian

    3

    Bi-sexual

    4

    Person asked and does not know or is not sure

    9

    Unknown

    Z

    Not stated (Person asked but declined to provide a response)

    Gender, which is the current gender of a person. Note that the classification is phenotypical rather than genotypical; i.e. it does not provide codes for medical or scientific purposes. It has the following valid codes:

    0

    Not known

    1

    Male

    2

    Female

    9

    Not specified
  • Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maggie Throup on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve the maintenance and safety of unadopted roads.

    Andrew Jones

    The maintenance and safety of unadopted roads or private streets are the responsibility of the land owner. The decision on whether or not local authorities adopt roads, and therefore maintain them at the public expense, rests with each individual local highway authority.

    To help improve the process around road adoption for new developments, my department has been working with housebuilders and local authorities on the production of an Advice Note. This was published for consultation in January 2016 and the final version should be published later this year.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 28 June 2016 to Question 40810, on NHS Protect, what the categories of offence were for each of the prosecutions listed.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Information on the date a prosecution commenced for each case from 2010-11 to 2015-16 and the category of offence from 2010-11 to 2012-13 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The date the investigation commenced for each case and the category of offence from 2013-14 onwards are shown in the attached table.

  • Stephen McPartland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen McPartland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen McPartland on 2015-11-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on the economy of reductions in the level of the Bus Service Operators Grant that were made in 2012; and if he will make a statement.

    Greg Hands

    The Treasury has not assessed the effect of reductions in the level of the Bus Service Operator Grant on the economy.

    The Treasury do however recognise the important role buses play in supporting both our economy and society and as such ensured no further cut to the Bus Service Operator Grant was implemented through the 2013 Spending Round. The Government are also taking action though the upcoming Buses Bill to provide local areas with the powers they have requested to help them to deliver better local bus services.

  • Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many operational frontline staff are employed at the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau; and how many of those employees were employed on (a) 1 May 2015 and (b) 1 November 2014.

    Mike Penning

    With regards to the number of call-handling staff employed by the Action Fraud helpline:

    • As of December 2015 there were69.78 FTEs

    • As of May 2015 there were 81.92 FTEs

    • As of November 2014 there were 84.67 FTEs

    With regards to the number of frontline staff employed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB): The NFIB is overseen by the City of London Police, it is not a public facing part of the Force, so does not employ any frontline staff.

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of how many new homes will be built on green belt land in England during 2016.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    We do not collate information centrally on the number of sites that are available for residential development. Local planning authorities are required to identify and update annually a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide five years worth of housing against their housing requirements. Whether those sites are in the Green Belt is again a matter for local planning authorities to consider in line with national planning policy, which makes clear that Green Belt boundaries should be altered only in exceptional circumstances.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 2 February (HL5437), when an announcement will be made about the funding of the National Wildlife Crime Unit from April 2016 onwards.

    Lord Bates

    A decision on funding the National Wildlife Crime Unit beyond March 2016 will be made shortly.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of Government support for Kurdish minority groups in Syria on the peace process in that country.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Syrian Kurds, as with all minority groups in Syria, will have an important stake in a future political settlement for their country. It is for Syrians to decide the exact nature of that settlement, with the help and support of the international community and the United Nations. The Higher Negotiations Committee (HNC), which represents a broad cross section of the Syrian opposition, including Kurdish groups, has made clear its intent to enter into political negotiations with the Syrian regime to achieve a political solution to the conflict. Not all Kurdish groups are members of the HNC, or necessarily part of the internationally recognised list of Syrian “opposition” groups. But to be successful, any political settlement in Syria must be inclusive, taking account of the interests of all parties to the conflict.

  • David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Morris on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the likely timescale of type approval of first modular nuclear technology.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Any nuclear reactor or facility proposed for deployment in the UK will be subject to robust and independent regulatory scrutiny.

    Therefore, any small modular reactor (SMR) design proposed for construction would undergo safety, security and environmental design assessment. A reactor design would only be allowed to progress if the independent regulator was satisfied it was compliant with the UK’s stringent safety standards.

    At Budget 2016, the Government committed to publishing a SMR delivery roadmap that will clarify the UK’s plan for addressing SMR related regulatory approvals, along with siting and skills issues.