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Category: Speeches

  • Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-11-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) the Government’s policy is and (b) guidance his Department has issued on the use of e-cigarettes as an alternative to smoking; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    The Government believes that vaping/using e-cigarettes is significantly less harmful than smoking tobacco products. Evidence suggests that smokers can substantially benefit their health by fully substituting the use of e-cigarettes for smoking. Public Health England has been working with Local Stop Smoking Services encouraging them to be open to the use of e-cigarettes, where clients choose to use them to support their quit attempts, alone or alongside other nicotine replacement therapies and the behavioural therapy that the services offer.

    The first e-cigarette was licenced by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency earlier this month. The Government continues to encourage applications for licensed medicinal products to enable both general practitioners and Local Stop Smoking Services to prescribe products which have demonstrated that they meet appropriate standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.

  • Toby Perkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Toby Perkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many days on average each class of Royal Naval officer and rating was at sea in each year between 2005 and 2014.

    Mark Lancaster

    Time spent at sea can vary depending on the tasking of the vessel.

    The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many civil servants accompanied him on his visit to Cardiff on 7 January 2016.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Consistent with all official events, the Chancellor was supported by a small number of officials from his private office and the Treasury press office when speaking at the St David’s hotel and at the two associated visits.

    Costs associated with the major economy speech at the St David’s hotel in Cardiff were met within the existing events budget at HM Treasury. Invitations were not issued by the department.

    The event at the Salt Bar was not a Government event and so no costs were met by the Treasury and no civil servants attended.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which projects her Department funds in South Omo and Bench Majji, Ethiopia.

    Justine Greening

    DFID Ethiopia’s programmes predominantly support provision of basic and other services across the whole country. This includes programmes focussing on health, climate investment, primary education and many other areas of development.

    DFID holds necessary information to run effective programmes in Ethiopia.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of weapons which have been recovered from school premises by the police in each year since 2010.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office does not hold any record of how many weapons have been recovered from school premises by the police.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) female and (b) other students are encouraged to take modules in entrepreneurship and business mentoring.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The government is committed to improving the extent and quality of the careers guidance and inspiration that all young people receive. This should begin with activities to enable children in primary school to explore the world of work. Primary Futures is an example of an initiative that helps primary age children to see a clear link and purpose between their learning and their futures.

    The Department for Education has funded The Careers & Enterprise Company to take a lead role in transforming the provision of careers, enterprise and employer engagement experiences for young people aged 12 to 18 in England. This work includes ensuring that all students have access to high quality careers and enterprise provision, including interactions with employers. The Company helps employers, schools and colleges and other organisations to navigate their way through the existing landscape and find appropriate careers and enterprise organisations to partner with. An example of a successful initiative is the three-year industry-led Your Life campaign, which was launched by the Government in 2014. This aims to inspire young people, particularly girls, to study A level maths and physics as a gateway to an exciting and wide-ranging career.

    Entrepreneurship education is an important component of high quality careers provision. The careers statutory guidance requires schools in England to offer pupils the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills and have access to advice on options available post-16 including entrepreneurship.

    We are giving more young people access to a mentor to help raise aspirations, improve focus and attainment and help prepare them for the next stage in their lives. The Prime Minister announced on 14 March 2016 that the government will commit £12 million over this parliament for an investment fund to build capacity in the system to recruit and train a new generation of high-quality mentors, focussing on teenagers most at risk of under-achieving or dropping out of education. This will be supported by a national advertising campaign.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what criteria the UK Vaccines Research and Development Network will use to allocate funding.

    Jane Ellison

    The focus of the UK Vaccine Network is to bring together experts from industry, academia, philanthropy and government to make targeted investments in world-leading vaccine candidates, vaccine platform technology and vaccine manufacturing technology to combat diseases with epidemic potential in low and middle income countries, such as Ebola and Zika.

    The UK Vaccine Network will allocate funding to world leading science in the areas above, and funding awards will only be made following appropriate competitive processes, and rigorous, international expert peer review of all applications. The criteria used as part of individual funding decisions will be decided on a competition by competition basis, following international expert advice.

  • Graham Stuart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Graham Stuart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Stuart on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she expects to have obtained all the information required by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China for the final response to the inspection report in connection with the export of pig trotters to China.

    George Eustice

    We are working with the UK pork industry to collate the necessary data and information required by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China, which will be submitted by the end of June. The UK Agriculture, Food and Drink Counsellor, based in Beijing, has met with the Chinese authorities to raise the importance of this agreement and press for expeditious consideration of the UK application to allow exports of UK pigs’ trotters to commence as soon as possible.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will raise with his Australian counterpart the issue of the living conditions of refugees on Nauru.

    Alok Sharma

    We welcome Prime Minister Turnbull’s announcement that the Australian Government will examine complaints about the treatment of detainees at its immigration detention centre in Nauru. We would not want to prejudge the outcome of that process. The United Kingdom has previously raised these issues with the Australian Government, including at the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review of Australia in November 2015.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-20.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what research the Government Equalities Office has (a) commissioned and (b) assessed on the extent to which women are asked about their plans to have children during job interviews; and what steps the Government plans to take to reduce the incidence of that practice.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Pregnancy and maternity discrimination is unlawful and wholly unacceptable. The Government and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission are working together on the largest independent research project of its kind in Great Britain to better understand the issues, including that of inappropriate interview questions.

    The Government’s next steps will be informed by the final findings of this research, due to be published later this year.