Category: Speeches

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to develop a national strategy for eye care.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Given the size of England, and the diversity of the health needs of different communities, we believe commissioning needs to be owned and managed locally.

Therefore, there are no plans to develop a national strategy for eye care.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for commissioning hospital eye services and for holding their providers to account in terms of contract performance. CCGs are also able to commission eye care services from community optometrists where they judge them to be needed in their areas over and above the sight tests commissioned by NHS England. Such services could include post cataract surgery reviews, glaucoma monitoring and low vision services which may reduce pressure on hospital eye departments, reduce waiting times and make patient care pathways more accessible in the community.

There is scope for further work to be done by community optometrists and the Clinical Council for eye health commissioning is working with commissioners to develop commissioning guidelines in this area.

CCGs have the ability to develop alternatives to hospital care. We would expect patients who require further planned stages of treatment in line with their agreed care plan, to receive this treatment without undue delay and in line with when it is clinically appropriate.

01/01/2023
Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the implications for the Government’s policy on voter registration of the report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Democratic Participation, entitled Getting the Missing Millions on to the Electoral Register, published in April 2016.

John Penrose

I have set out an ambitious vision of how electoral registration could change over the course of this Parliament, building on the successful introduction of Individual Electoral Registration and online registration. The overarching aims are to ensure registers are as complete and accurate as they can be and that the system of electoral registration is as efficient as possible. We welcome the views of the All- Party Parliamentary Group and Bite the Ballot set out in their report which is helping inform our plans for a programme of work aimed at realising this vision.

01/01/2023
Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, by which date she expects to have resettled 3,000 at risk child asylum-seekers and their families from the Middle East and North Africa to the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government has committed to resettling to the UK up to 3,000 individuals under a scheme designed to protect vulnerable children in the Middle East and North Africa over the lifetime of this Parliament. There will be a review of the scheme at the two year mark.

01/01/2023
Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government is considering the introduction of a floor level on the overall rate available through the Early Years National Funding Formula.

Caroline Dinenage

The Government is investing £1billion of additional funding per year in the early years free entitlements, including £300million per year to increase the national average funding rate. We are determined to allocate this record investment fairly and transparently and that is why we have consulted on an Early Years National Funding Formula. This consultation has now closed and we will respond in the Autumn.

01/01/2023
Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-27.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to lines 41 and 42 of Table 2.1 of the Summer Budget 2015 Red Book (HC 264), page 73, what the savings to the public purse would be if those measures were to be applied only to households that are not currently in receipt of tax credits or universal credit.

Damian Hinds

This Government is committed to moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society. As the Chancellor made clear on [Monday / 26 October], the Government will set out at Autumn Statement how we plan to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits, saving the money we need to save to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.

The Summer Budget offered a new deal for working people. A new National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 per hour from April 2016, will directly benefit 2.7 million low wage workers, and up to 6 million could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution. The new National Living Wage will boost pay for those currently earning the National Minimum Wage by £4,800 a year by 2020 when the National Living Wage is expected to rise to over £9 per hour.

To help working families keep more of what they earn, the personal allowance will increase to £11,000 in 2016-17 and £11,200 in 2017-18. The government has committed to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 which will mean that a typical basic rate taxpayer will see their income tax cut by £1,205 a year compared to 2010.

The government set out its assessment of the impacts of the Summer Budget policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July 2015.

01/01/2023
Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-11-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel regarding the closure by Israeli forces of two stone factories in a village south of Bethlehem for security reasons, after incidents of stone throwing in the vicinity.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We have not made representations to the Israeli authorities over the specific issue of the closure of two stone factories. However we continue to urge both the Israelis and Palestinians to maintain calm and refrain from taking actions which could make peace more difficult to achieve.

01/01/2023
Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it the policy of the Government to refer to the European Court of Justice the failure of the French government to register non-EU citizens in France who are in need of international protection.

James Brokenshire

All migrants in France who wish to seek international protection should do so in France. In accordance with the Joint Ministerial Declaration of August 2015, we continue to work closely with France on a range of migration and security issues and have no plans to change this constructive approach.

The French Government is committed to meeting its EU and international obligations and has opened up new places in its asylum system for those that claim asylum in Calais.

01/01/2023
Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on improving tenants’ access to longer-term family friendly tenancies.

Brandon Lewis

The Government supports longer tenancies, and promotes them through its Model Tenancy Agreement. Some mortgage lenders incorporated clauses in their agreements with landlords preventing them from granting tenancies of longer than a year. We have continued to encourage lenders to permit family friendly tenancies, and consequently the majority have now changed their policies, and permit tenancies of up to two to three years. We are encouraging those remaining lenders, who have not changed their policies, to do so and to promote the use of our Model Tenancy Agreement to their landlord customers.

We also know that tenants value the flexibility that private renting offers and not all want longer tenancies. A recent report by Knight Frank reported that the majority of Private Rented Sector tenants (53%) favour a six month or one year tenancy. The average length of residence, according to the English Housing Survey 2013-14, was three and a half years.

01/01/2023

Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many pupils in the North West have received funding from the European Regional Development Fund; and what the total investment from that fund in that region has been in each year since 2000.

James Wharton

The European Regional Development Fund does not provide funding to pupils.

The total investment for the Fund 2000-06 programme period in the North West was equivalent to just under £1.5 billion.

The figures for the 2007-13 European Regional Developement Fund programme, where investment commenced in 2009, are as follows:

Year	Annual expenditure (£m)	Cumulative expenditure (£m)

2009	168.2	168.2
2010	56.3	224.5
2011	63.2	287.7
2012	60.8	348.5
2013	81.2	429.7
2014	123.8	553.5
2015	56.9	610.4

01/01/2023

Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2016 to Question 30986, what estimate his Department has made of the number of children who will be lifted out of poverty as a result of universal credit before any effect on employment.

Priti Patel

This Government is committed to eliminating child poverty and transforming the life chances of the most disadvantaged children and families.

We know that work is the best route out of poverty, and Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives for parents to move into and progress in work. Ignoring the impact that Universal Credit has on incentivising work and raising the incomes of families is inappropriate.

The impact of Universal Credit cannot be considered in isolation– it is a key component of a broader strategy to move Britain to a higher wage, lower welfare, lower tax society.

01/01/2023