Category: Speeches

David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether personnel from Reaper Squadrons 39 and 13 are currently embedded with (a) US, (b) French and (c) Italian armed forces.

Penny Mordaunt

No personnel directly from 39 Squadron or 13 Squadron are currently embedded with the US armed forces. However, from the Reaper force as a whole, there are currently six Royal Air Force personnel embedded with the United States Air Force. There are no Reaper force personnel serving with the French or Italian armed forces.

01/01/2023
Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on raising of the state pension age.

Justin Tomlinson

I can confirm that the Secretary of State and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have recently discussed and agreed the Terms of Reference for the Independent State Pension age review. The Government’s position on future State Pension ages is to consider the independent review’s report when it is received in 2017.

01/01/2023
Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he made of the funding needs of (a) university health centres and (b) other GP surgeries with atypical patient profiles in applying the core funding formula for GP surgeries.

Alistair Burt

Approximately 55% of general practitioner (GP) practices operate under General Medical Service (GMS) contract arrangements. Typically, at least half of the money that a GMS practice receives is in the form of the ‘global sum’, derived through the Carr-Hill Formula.

The formula, as agreed with the British Medical Association (BMA) before the introduction of the 2004 GP contract, is used to allocate the global sum and related payments on the basis of the practice population, weighted for factors that influence relative needs and costs.

There are indications that the formula does not work as effectively in areas with demographically atypical populations, such as new towns or areas with high student populations. NHS England is working with the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, NHS Employers, the Department and academic partners on the review to develop a formula that better reflects the factors that drive workload, such as age or deprivation. As part of this work, the effect of any changes on practice funding in specific areas such as Huddersfield and Kirklees will be considered. It is intended that the review of the Carr-Hill formula will inform the 2017-18 GP contract.

A search of the Department’s Ministerial correspondence database has identified one item of correspondence received since 1 May 2015 from university health centres. There has also been a Ministerial meeting related to areas with demographically atypical populations, in this case new towns. It was not possible to identify correspondence received from GP surgeries with atypical patient profiles. This represents correspondence received by the Department’s ministerial correspondence unit only.

01/01/2023

Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding was allocated to schools for supporting children with learning difficulties in (a) Manchester, Withington constituency and (b) Greater Manchester in each of the last three years.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Funding for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) is allocated to local authorities through the dedicated schools grant, which includes both funding to be delegated to mainstream schools, and funding for the additional costs associated with educating children and young people with high needs.

Schools are funded through a formula set by their local authority, and local authorities are required to delegate funds to a level that enables schools to meet the additional cost of pupils with SEN up to £6,000 per annum. It is for individual schools to decide how they allocate their overall budget to ensure they meet the specific needs of children with learning difficulties.

For those pupils whose additional support costs more than £6,000 the local authority pays top-up funding to the schools from their high needs budget. Top-up funding rates are for local authorities to agree with their schools.

The high needs allocation, within the dedicated schools grant, for the Greater Manchester local authorities in each of the last three years were as set out below:

	2013-14 (£million)	2014-15 (£million)	2015-16 (£million)
Bolton	25.83	27.15	27.55
Bury	22.50	24.08	24.17
Manchester	59.83	63.34	64.07
Oldham	23.54	24.90	25.58
Salford	22.10	22.75	22.82
Stockport	27.62	29.04	29.44
Tameside	25.82	27.14	28.23
Trafford	13.81	14.79	14.73
Wigan	22.88	23.34	24.08

We do not hold information on the total funding for supporting children with learning difficulties allocated to schools in the Manchester, Withington constituency or in the Greater Manchester area.

01/01/2023

Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-06-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many electric vehicles they estimate will be using British roads by 2030.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

There are currently over sixty thousand ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) on the road in the UK. The Government has the goal that by 2040 all new cars and vans will be zero emission vehicles. The uptake trajectory between now and then will depend on a range of factors including technological developments, consumer attitudes, international regulations and Government incentives, but by 2030 we would expect ULEVs to be firmly into the mass market. The Government will be spending more than £600 million by 2020 to support uptake and manufacturing of ULEVs in the UK.

01/01/2023
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 2016-09-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to use further interventions to prevent the spread of Koi herpesvirus disease which kills common and ornamental carp.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Government recognises the importance of protecting the UK from fish diseases including koi herpesvirus (KHV) disease which can have serious effects on our native fish population, angling waters and aquaculture industry.

We have strong control measures in place to identify and constrain outbreaks of KHV. This includes an annual surveillance programme in fish farms; the prohibition of the movement of live fish from KHV infected sites, both farm and fishery; and, restrictions on angling in affected waters during disease outbreaks. We will continue to apply these control measures robustly to prevent spread of the disease. In addition we support research into KHV transmission routes and will review our options for interventions as new scientific information becomes available.

KHV is most likely transmitted through the movement of live fish and it has also been demonstrated that angling equipment such as keep nets may spread infection. Defra has been working closely with the Angling Trust on the Check, Clean, Dry campaign to support good practice in the angling community, and with the Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association to highlight the importance of not releasing pet fish into the environment.

Last year we published the aquatic animal health strategy for England setting out our approach and activities to protect and improve aquatic animal health over the next five years. This includes looking at the use of new technologies to improve disease surveillance.

01/01/2023
John Mc Nally – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mc Nally on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation for religious minorities in Burma.

Mr Hugo Swire

Burma remains a country of concern in our annual Human Rights report. We, therefore, produce biannual updates on the human rights situation, the latest can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/burma-in-year-update-july-2015/burma-in-year-update-july-2015.

We have been concerned by the increase in religious intolerance in Burma and the treatment of minority groups, particularly religious miniorities. This has been evidenced starkly in the four discriminatory race and religion laws as well as in the appalling treatment of the Rohingya community in Rakhine State, their disenfranchisement from the 8 November elections, and the rise of Buddhist nationalism, hate speech and anti-Muslim violence. We have raised our concerns about this in detail with the Burmese authorities, both bilaterally, in company with our partners in the EU and in international fora like the UN. We will continue to raise this important issue facing Burma with any incoming government.

01/01/2023
Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2015 to Question 18406, whether his Department assesses the cost of any training courses undertaken by (a) RAF, (b) navy and (c) army personnel at (i) Granton-on-Spey, (ii) Llanrwst, (iii) Crickhowell and (iv) Fairbourne; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster

I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 7 December to Question 18571 where the operating costs for each centre from the past four financial years was provided. It is not possible to provide costs per training event as, due to the variation in course length, delivery is measured on the total number of training weeks delivered, which was also provided in that response.

01/01/2023
Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the next UK-China Human Rights Dialogue is planned.

Mr Hugo Swire

The UK-China Human Rights Dialogue is an annual event which last took place in Beijing in April 2015. We expect to hold the next round in March or April 2016.

01/01/2023
Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) more efficient use by the NHS of funding from the public purse and (b) support for investment in the health and care system in areas most likely to deliver positive benefit to the most people.

Alistair Burt

We are taking steps to help spend taxpayers’ money more efficiently and enable the National Health Service to live within its resources. By 2020-21, the Government will increase funding for the NHS by £10 billion a year in real terms compared to 2014-15, to support the implementation of the NHS’s own plan – the Five Year Forward View. We will be giving the NHS £3.8 billion more next year, over and above inflation. This will in part support a sustainability and transformation fund to give the NHS the resources it needs to sustain services as well as delivering the transformational changes required to achieve year-on-year efficiency and productivity improvements. We will use the local planning process to identify those areas where investment in transformation will deliver positive benefits to the most people and will focus on encouraging the most productive ways of working throughout the NHS. These measures will help ensure we get the maximum value for patients and service users whilst delivering high quality care.

01/01/2023