Category: Speeches

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the number of people who have undertaken (a) training and (b) refresher training approved by her Department on humane shooting of badgers in each of the last three years.

    George Eustice

    1. Natural England does not hold figures for the number of operators who have been trained to undertake licensed action but does know how many are trained and are licensed. Industry organisations are responsible for running the training courses and Natural England only holds the number of trained operators who were put forward by the control companies, and subsequently become authorised to undertake licensed action. For 2016, over the 10 licensed areas, 1446 operators are authorised to carry out badger culling (latest figures: 17/10/16).

    2. Natural England does not hold figures for the number of operators who attended refresher training. All operators who have been licensed in a previous year to undertake controlled shooting of badgers and who wish to be licensed again for the current year must attend refresher training. Industry organisations are responsible for undertaking refresher training. Natural England holds confirmation that each of these operators has attended refresher training.

  • Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department intends to take to reduce the number of children who do not attend school due to bullying.

    Edward Timpson

    No child should be frightened of going to school because they might be bullied.

    All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying and they are held closely to account by Ofsted for their effectiveness. Inspectors consider pupil behaviour and welfare, including how well schools prevent and tackle bullying, discriminatory and prejudicial behaviour.

    We are also providing a total of £1.3 million of funding over 12 months from April 2015 to the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau to work with schools to prevent bullying and deal with its impact when it occurs. This is in addition to the £4 million provided in 2013/15. We are also providing £2 million this year to help schools tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.

    Good schools create an ethos of good behaviour where pupils treat each other and staff with courtesy and respect. Where bullying does happen schools should move to tackle it and provide support for the bullied child. We issued advice to schools last year to help them identify children that may be most vulnerable to bullying and how to provide support to ensure their mental health and wellbeing. This is available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying.

    “

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to make the Attiva device for the treatment of people with diabetes available on the NHS.

    George Freeman

    Medical devices are required to be CE marked under the European Union medical devices Directives and may not be placed on the market until this process is complete.

  • 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 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for how many days (a) HMS Daring, (b) HMS Dauntless, (c) HMS Diamond, (d) HMS Dragon, (e) HMS Defender and (f) HMS Duncan underwent (i) planned maintenance and (ii) repair work in each of the last six years.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The amount spent on Maintenance and Repair for the six Type 45 Destroyers is detailed in the table below rounded to the nearest half million:

    Name of Ship

    In-Service Date

    Maintenance/Repair

    Cost (£ million)

    HMS DARING

    July 2010

    Programmed Maintenance

    £7

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    £4.5

    HMS DAUNTLESS

    November 2010

    Programmed Maintenance

    £4.5

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    £4.5

    HMS DIAMOND

    July 2011

    Programmed Maintenance

    £9.5

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    £3.5

    HMS DRAGON

    April 2012

    Programmed Maintenance

    £7

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    £2

    HMS DEFENDER

    March 2013

    Programmed Maintenance

    £2

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    £3

    HMS DUNCAN

    December 2013

    Programmed Maintenance

    £1.5

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    £2

    The table below reflects the number of planned maintenance days per ship over the six year period. Repair work on individual ship systems takes place during both planned maintenance periods and operational deployments and data relating to the number of days’ worth of repair work is not collected. Unprogrammed work/repair figures shown cover the extension of maintenance periods.

    Name of Ship

    In-Service Date

    Maintenance/ Repair

    Duration

    HMS DARING

    July 2010

    Programmed Maintenance

    360

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    105

    HMS DAUNTLESS

    November 2010

    Programmed Maintenance

    215

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    20

    HMS DIAMOND

    July 2011

    Programmed Maintenance

    350

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    0

    HMS DRAGON

    April 2012

    Programmed Maintenance

    250

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    0

    HMS DEFENDER

    March 2013

    Programmed Maintenance

    100

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    0

    HMS DUNCAN

    December 2013

    Programmed Maintenance

    130

    Unprogrammed Work/Repair

    0

    “

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many civil law suits have been brought against his Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998; how many such suits were settled out of court before a court judgment was delivered; and how much such settlements have cost the public purse since 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    When the Human Rights Act came into force, no specific arrangements were put in place by the then government to record cases in the way requested. Furthermore, litigants in civil cases can rely on arguments based wholly or partly on the Human Rights Act 1998. In some cases, the Act is relied on in addition to other claims. Neither Government Legal Department records nor the County and High Courts case management systems distinguish between cases where the Act is invoked and cases where it is not. As a result, there are not currently data published which distinguish between cases where the Human Rights Act was or was not invoked. To obtain the information requested would involve a thorough review of all paper case files since 2010. To undergo this review would incur a disproportionate cost.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2016 to Question 29835, and with reference to the Answer of 10 June 2013 to Question 158962, for what reasons information on the number of national minimum wage inquiries made to the Pay and Work Rights and Acas helplines relating to the domiciliary care and residential care sectors is not being collected at the previously available level of disaggregation.

    Nick Boles

    Information on the number of National Minimum Wage enquiries made to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline (PWRH) and Acas Helpline for the ‘domiciliary care’ and ‘residential care’ sectors has never been systematically collected.

    However, additional information about a complaint is collected after it is referred to HMRC and investigated further. This can include more detailed information on the sector in which the employer in question operates.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many taxi journeys were made by (a) ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials of his Department for official purposes during the negotiation processes for local authority devolution deals in each of the last three years.

    Mr Mark Francois

    Ministers, special advisers and civil servants in this department undertake a variety of visits to support the delivery of Government’s devolution and local growth objectives and other departmental business. We do not hold figures for the number of taxi journeys undertaken specifically to support the negotiation of devolution deals.

  • Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many times he has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Foreign Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) visited Edinburgh on 20 January 2016. Meetings were held with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Ruth Davidson MSP, and as part of the UK-Poland Quadriga, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski and Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz. There was a wreath-laying at the Scottish National War Memorial and a commemoration at the Wojtek the Bear memorial.

    I visited Scotland on 11 November 2015, where I met Fiona Hyslop MSP and Humza Yousaf MSP to discuss EU reform and held roundtable meetings with Scottish Financial Enterprise and NFU Scotland.

  • 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 2016-09-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of country-by-country reporting regulations on the competitiveness of the UK economy.

    Jane Ellison

    The Government has consistently pushed for broad international agreement on public country-by-country reporting. This will ensure that public country-by-country reporting achieves its transparency objectives of requiring multinationals to disclose information on their activities, profits and taxes paid across the full range of countries in which they operate.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for the Commonwealth of the recent announcement by the government of the Maldives that the Maldives plans to exit the Commonwealth.

    Alok Sharma

    As the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) said on 13 October, the UK is disappointed that the Maldives Government has decided to withdraw from the Commonwealth. We believe in the Commonwealth and its commitment to improving the lives of people across all its member states. It is an organisation dedicated to developing free and democratic societies, and to promoting peace and prosperity.

    There are no immediate implications for the Commonwealth. The Secretary-General will continue to champion the values enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and will maintain support to all member states, especially small and developing states, in upholding and advancing these values practically for the enduring benefit of their citizens.

    However, we remain extremely concerned about governance and human rights in the Maldives, not least freedom of expression and association, judicial independence, and the arbitrary detention of political figures. I made clear our concerns when I met the Maldives Foreign Minister, Dr Asim, in London in September.

    We will continue to work with the Maldives Government to support them to make progress on these and other areas.