Category: Speeches

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the principles to underpin reform in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health report from the Independent Mental Health Taskforce to the NHS in England, published in February 2016, what steps his Department plans to take to integrate care spanning people’s physical, mental and social needs.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Spending Review set out an ambitious plan so that health (including mental health) and social care are integrated across the country by 2020. My Department is working closely with the Department of Health and others on delivering this ambition. Every part of the country must have a plan for achieving integration in 2017, implemented by 2020.

    The Government has provided a package of support of up to £3.5 billion to ensure councils are able to support some of their most vulnerable residents. This includes an extra £1.5 billion funding through the improved Better Care Fund, which will continue to bring together funding and services across health and social care to support the provision of integrated care for vulnerable people.

  • Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the annual budget is for food produced for her Department’s offices; and what proportion of food produced for her Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office does not set a budget for food produced for its offices. Catering services are provided by private companies under contract at Home Office buildings and provided to staff without subsidy. Details of the proportion of food produced for the Home Office that was sourced from British producers could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the cost to the economy of the (a) UK and (b) North East of the UK leaving the EU and British digital industries therefore being unable to access the Digital Single Market.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    I refer the hon Member to the answer to her own Parliamentary Question UIN 41682.

    “

  • FALSE – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    FALSE – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the statement by the Minister of State for Immigration, Mr Robert Goodwill MP, in his letter to Lord Roberts of Llandudno of 12 September, CTS Reference M9899/16, that over 3

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Annual Figures on the number of claims for asylum from Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC), including by country of nationality, are published quarterly by the Home Office in the Immigration Statistics release. A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics April to June 2016, is available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016.

    The Government is committed to ensuring that there is a more equitable distribution of UASC across the country and that no one authority has to care for more UASC than they are able to. That is why we introduced the voluntary National Transfer Scheme and have consulted with every region in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on their capacity. In order to continue the success of the voluntary scheme more local authorities will need to participate and offer places for unaccompanied children from councils which are caring for disproportionately high numbers.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to include all Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime wildlife crime priorities within the Counting Rules Code 96.

    Mike Penning

    Recorded crime covers all indictable and triable-either-way offences. Additionally, a few closely associated summary offences are included. All wildlife related offences meeting those criteria, whether or not they relate to the priorities of the Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime, will fall within the Counting Rules Code 96.

  • Jo Churchill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jo Churchill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Churchill on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of her visit to China in November 2015 on opening up new markets to British farmers and producers.

    Elizabeth Truss

    During my visit to China I concluded deals to open the Chinese market to British barley and pigs trotters, together worth up to £190m over the next five years.

    I also presented the Chinese inspection authorities with a forward plan to open market access to UK poultry meat and beef and lamb.

  • Lord Stevenson of Balmacara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Stevenson of Balmacara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stevenson of Balmacara on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to take forward the consultation on the legal framework for debt administration proposed by the 2015 Farnish Review of the Money Advice Service, and if so, when.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government is committed to exploring whether some form of “breathing space” would be a useful and viable addition to the range of formal and informal debt solutions available to consumers and creditors. Officials in HM Treasury and the Insolvency Service have been asked to discuss this issue with stakeholders with a view to identifying possible options and have begun work on this review.

  • Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which Special Advisers and Permanent Secretaries attended any meetings in which ministers from HM Treasury discussed the future of Channel 4 between May 2015 and January 2016 inclusive.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Treasury Ministers and officials have both regular discussions with colleagues and meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. It is not government practice to release details of routine officials’ discussions as to do so would be impracticable and potentially prejudice the effective conduct of public policy development. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available on the gov.uk website.

  • Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Doocey on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the National Referral Mechanism applies the definition of forced labour when the victim is a child.

    Lord Bates

    Data on the number of child cases of forced labour or domestic servitude recorded through the National Referral Mechanism is already publically available on the National Crime Agency website and can be found here: www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.

    The National Referral Mechanism is designed to gather evidence in order to determine whether someone is considered to be a victim of ‘slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour’ or ‘human trafficking’ in line with the offences set out in the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Whether an individual is considered to be a victim of either of these offences in the form of domestic servitude or forced labour will be determined on the indicators present and the facts of each case. Additional consideration is given to the particular vulnerabilities of children and their inability to consent.

    Information on how many cases of domestic servitude have been prosecuted where the victim was a child or how many cases of domestic servitude have been recorded which involved more than one person from the same family is not recorded centrally.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) new contracts and (b) amendments to existing contracts placed by his Department in 2015 were not referred to the Single Source Regulations Office because the approval of the (i) Ministry of Defence and (ii) supplier was not granted.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Each year the Ministry of Defence (MOD) publishes an analysis of all new contracts which sets out whether they were placed competitively or non-competitively. This analysis appears in the Department’s Statistical Bulletin Trade, Industry and Contracts and the most recent period for which data is available can be found through the link below. Table six in the excel tables and page 11 of the pdf refer to the relevant information.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-industry-trade-and-contracts-2015

    Figures for amendments to existing contracts are not held centrally and, due to the large number of such cases, an analysis could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

    All single source procurement contracts which met the criteria set out in Part two of the Defence Reform Act 2014 (DRA) are subject to the new single source procurement framework, apart from a very small number which have been specifically exempted from the framework by the Secretary of State for Defence, using the powers granted to him under section 14(7) of the DRA. The Department does not release details of these exemptions in order to avoid influencing future decisions.

    Contracts which were signed prior to the new single source procurement framework coming into force can become subject to the regulations on amendment by agreement between the MOD and the contractor. To maximise the benefits from the regulations, the MOD intends to seek such agreement where appropriate, except where there are well founded commercial or practical reasons not to. However, the Department does not hold a central record of the number of contracts which have, on amendment, not been converted to Qualifying Defence Contracts, and the data could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

    Contracts which fall under the Regulations are only referred to the Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO) when there is a disagreement between the supplier and the contracting authority which cannot be resolved through negotiation between these two parties. The subjects that can be referred to the SSRO are set out in the DRA, and include whether or not costs are allowable, attributable to the contract and reasonable. Should a referral be made by either the MOD or the supplier, the consent of the other party is not required. One such referral was made in 2015, by the MOD.

    The MOD is currently pursuing the recruitment of a Chair for the SSRO. The SSRO has an Interim Chairman in post and the Department plans to advertise this substantive position shortly.