Category: Speeches

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of moving television from broadcast spectrum to other delivery mechanisms.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The most recent assessment was made by the independent regulator, Ofcom, in their report: The Future of Free to View TV (May 2014). This is a fast moving market and as it evolves, the Government will keep these issues under review.

    Detailed spectrum planning is a matter for Ofcom.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many institutions in England (a) held and (b) were granted taught degree awarding powers in each year since 2006.

    Joseph Johnson

    Based on the information available to us, there were 103 institutions in England that held taught degree awarding powers in 2006. The number of such awards in each year since then is as follows:

    2007 – 7

    2008 – 2

    2009 – 6

    2010 – 0

    2011 – 0

    2012 – 3

    2013 – 1

    2014 – 2

    2015 – 3

    2016 – 3 (as of 5 September 2016)

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government will bring forward legislative proposals to ban wild animals from being used in circuses.

    George Eustice

    A ban on the use of wild animals in travelling circuses is a manifesto commitment and will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows. In the interim, the welfare of any wild animals still being used by travelling circuses in England is protected by the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012. Currently, 16 wild animals are licensed by Defra under the Regulations for use by two circuses.

  • Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of total NHS expenditure spending on maternity services represented in each of the last 10 years.

    Ben Gummer

    Not all of the information requested is collected centrally. Data for primary care trusts (PCTs) secondary healthcare commissioning spend on maternity services for the years 2005/06 to 2012/13 is shown in the tables below. Maternity services may also be commissioned in primary care environments. However, it is not possible to separately identify the amount of primary care expenditure on maternity services from the statutory accounting data collected by the Department.

    Table 1: 2005/06 to 2007/08. NHS expenditure figures on a pre-Clear Line of Sight resource budgeting basis.

    Year

    Maternity services commissioned by PCTs 2005/06 to 2012/13
    ( £ billion)

    Spend on maternity services as % of NHS revenue expenditure

    2005/06

    1.67

    2.25%

    2006/07

    1.62

    2.06%

    2007/08

    1.79

    2.07%


    Source:     NHS (England) Summarised Account (2005/06 to 2010/11)

    Table 2: 2008/09 to 2012/13. NHS expenditure figures on an aligned basis following the HM Treasury’s Clear Line of Sight programme.

    Year

    Maternity services commissioned by PCTs 2005/06 to 2012/13
    ( £ billion)

    Spend on maternity services as % of NHS revenue expenditure

    2008/09

    1.97

    2.25%

    2009/10

    2.41

    2.55%

    2010/11

    2.53

    2.60%

    2011/12

    2.62

    2.61%

    2012/13

    2.58

    2.52%


    Source:     NHS (England) Summarised Account (2005/06 to 2010/11) and the Department of Health Annual Report and Accounts (2011/12 and 2012/13).

    Notes:

    1. Commissioning expenditure on maternity services relates to the payments made by commissioners to providers for delivery of maternity services.
    2. The Clear Line of Sight HM Treasury alignment project simplified financial reporting to Parliament by ensuring improved consistency between accounts and HM Treasury budgeting rules.

    Following the abolition of PCTs and strategic health authorities at 31 March 2013, NHS England became responsible for the commissioning of healthcare in England via the network of individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). The Department does not collect data on maternity services spend by CCGs.

    NHS England has published expenditure on ‘maternity and reproductive health’ services commissioned by CCGs for 2013/14, which was estimated to be £2.8 billion (4% of total CCG expenditure). CCG spend represents a proportion of overall NHS expenditure on maternity services. NHS England also commissions some services that were previously included within PCT estimates, such as antenatal screening services. NHS England is currently reviewing the data on direct commissioning expenditure and plans to publish this when finalised.

  • Jeremy Lefroy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jeremy Lefroy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the passenger compensation regime for train delays and cancellations.

    Claire Perry

    In our manifesto we committed to improve compensation for delayed rail passengers. We have already changed the system to get compensation paid in cash, not travel vouchers, and we are putting new compensation obligations like automatic delay/repay into franchise specifications.

    We will negotiate hard with rail operators to get even better compensation arrangements for passengers but also focus on what we all want which is to have the trains run on time.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what conditions the Government considers need to be met for the UK to divest itself of nuclear weapons through international negotiations.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK has a strong record on nuclear disarmament. As The Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Mr Fallon) set out in his Written Ministerial Statement of 20 January 2015 (Official Report, column 4WS) the Government has met its commitment to implement the changes announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 to reduce the number of operationally available warheads from fewer than 160 to no more than 120.

    As set out in the recent 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, we consider that our nuclear deterrent is the ultimate means to deter the most extreme threats. The UK will retain a credible, continuous and effective minimum nuclear deterrent for as long as the global security situation makes it necessary.

  • Karen Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Karen Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will rank primary schools in each London borough by the proportion of children who are eligible for the purpose of determining the pupil premium; and what type each such school is.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Information on the number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is available in the final school level pupil premium allocations, which are published on the department’s website.[1] These figures can be used with the total number of pupils in each school (information which can also be found in the same publication) to calculate the proportion eligible for the pupil premium.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2015-to-2016-allocations – please click on ‘Pupil premium final allocations 2015 to 2016 by school in England’

    “

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with representatives of the government of Malawi on the content of the new tax treaty with that country in the last 12 months.

    Mr David Gauke

    Discussions with Malawi over a new tax treaty began some years ago, and substantive agreement has been reached at official level. We expect that the treaty will be concluded shortly.

  • Ian Mearns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Ian Mearns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Mearns on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to respond to the recommendation in the Low Pay Commission’s Spring 2016 report on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) that HM Revenue and Customs investigation of third party reports of NMW breaches be subject to a public protocol.

    Nick Boles

    The Government is carefully considering the non-rate recommendations in the Low Pay Commission Spring 2016, and will respond in due course.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what modelling her Department has undertaken on the demand for school places in each year from 2016 to 2030.

    Edward Timpson

    Supporting local authorities in their responsibility to ensure sufficient school places remains one of this Government’s top priorities. Pupil forecasts based on ONS population projections, which include migration, have been published up to 2024.

    Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient school places to meet that need, and for determining precisely how many new places are needed in their area. We allocate funding for new school places to local authorities based on their own projections of local pupil numbers. These projections reflect all drivers of increased pupil numbers: rising birth rates, housing development and migration from within the UK and overseas. Any increase in need for places should be reflected in the local authority’s final basic need allocation – there is no shortfall between the number of places we fund and the number of places local authorities say they will need to create.

    We have already committed to invest £7 billion on school places, which along with our investment in 500 new free schools we expect to deliver 600,000 new places by 2021. We have also protected the schools budget so that as pupil numbers increase, so will the amount of money in our schools. Revenue allocations to local authorities are calculated by reference to pupil numbers and do not differentiate on the basis of immigration from other EEA member states or countries from outside the EEA.