Category: Speeches

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect to make a final decision about airport expansion in the South East.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    On 10 December, the Government accepted the Airports Commission’s case for expansion in the South East. We agree with the Commission’s shortlist of three options, all of which it concluded were viable. The Government will now conclude a package of further work by the summer, and will ensure that the timetable for delivering additional capacity set out by the Commission does not alter.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the evidence available regarding human rights violations committed by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation in Yemen. The UK supported the September UN Human Rights Council resolution which contains mechanisms for monitoring the human rights situation in Yemen. We continue to raise the importance of respect for human rights with all sides of the conflict. We used a wide range of evidence including credible non-governmental organisations, UN agencies and other sources of information to inform our assessment.

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 1 February (HL5287), whether they intend to ask the National Infrastructure Commission to undertake work on railway links between London and South West England; and if not, why not.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) currently operates in shadow form, and the Government is consulting on its governance, structure and operation. The NIC has a mandate to examine the country’s most pressing infrastructure challenges across all sectors of economic infrastructure – including energy, transport (roads, rail, ports and airports), water and sewage, waste, flood defences, and digital communications‎. There has not yet been decision on future studies to be undertaken by the NIC.

    The Government remains committed to investment in railway links between London and the South West, regardless of whether a study is undertaken by the NIC. This is an unprecedented investment in rail infrastructure in the South West, totalling over £400m. This includes; resignalling the mainline from Totnes to Penzance, developing a strategic freight network, electrifying the Great Western Main Line, refurbishing the Cornwall sleeper, £35m to repair the tracks at Dawlish, a brand new station at Newcourt and another planned at Marsh Barton and 29 new AT300 trains.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many new school places will be required over the next ten years.

    Lord Nash

    Pupil forecasts based on Office for National Statistics population projections have been published to 2024 and they suggest that pupil numbers are due to rise significantly over that period. 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 three years in advance in order to balance the need for robust forecasts with the need to ensure certainty for local authorities over their future funding allocations. Supporting local authorities to create additional school places is one of the Government’s top priorities. This is signalled by this Government’s commitment to investing £23 billion by 2021 to create 600,000 new school places, open 500 new free schools and address essential maintenance needs.

  • 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, whether his Department has updated estimates of the cost of the Successor submarine programme since the publication of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    No. As stated in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, our latest estimate is that manufacturing the four Successor submarines is likely to cost a total of £31 billion, including inflation over the lifetime of the programme. We will also set a contingency of £10 billion.

  • Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

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

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

    David Mundell

    The Scotland Office has no in-house catering facilities and the provision of food is generally limited to catering associated with official hospitality and is supplied by external contractors.

    The Office does not separately record the proportion of food sourced from British Producers used by its external caterers.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants he plans to employ in the new EU Unit once that unit is at full capacity.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    The new Europe Unit will bring together officials and policy expertise from across Whitehall. Structures and staffing are being determined.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 12 September (HL1533), whether work has commenced on the third Offshore Patrol Vessel contracted for in August 2014; and if not, why not.

    Earl Howe

    Construction of the third Offshore Patrol Vessel, HMS TRENT, began in October 2015.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people who will be in receipt of legacy benefits and awaiting transfer to universal credit in May 2020.

    Priti Patel

    As quoted in the Public Accounts Committee report (attached below), the bulk of legacy claims will be transferred by the end of 2019.

    http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmpubacc/810/81002.htm

    “

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-12-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effect of the Government’s decision to withdraw £1 billion in funding from carbon capture and storage projects on the future of energy-intensive industries in the UK.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The provision of ring-fenced capital support for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) was judged against other Government funding priorities as part of the Spending Review. Government has not taken the Spending Review decision lightly. The Government continues to view CCS as having a potential role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK’s power and industrial sectors. Neither CCS Competition project proposed to capture CO2 from energy intensive industries.

    The detailed design and implementation of CCS policy changes have yet to be determined. The Industrial 2050 Decarbonisation and Energy Efficiency Roadmaps reports published in March 2015 identified a potential role for industrial CCS technologies in decarbonising the steel, oil refining, chemicals and cement sectors. DECC and BIS continue to engage with the energy intensive industries and academics to develop decarbonisation Action Plans by the end of 2016 as the second phase of this process.

    The Government remains committed to working with energy intensive industries including those in the Northern Powerhouse area. DECC provided £1million funding to Tees Valley Unlimited as part of the 2013 City Deal agreement to undertake an Industrial CCS feasibility study based on the chemicals and steel industry in the Teesside cluster and we continue to support that work. The devolution deal for Tees Valley, published in October this year, also included a commitment to explore how it can continue to develop its industrial CCS proposals.