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Category: Speeches

  • Viscount Astor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Viscount Astor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Astor on 2016-06-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect to publish the Frontier Economics report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the level of contributions from the betting industry to the horse-racing industry.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Frontier Economics report is an independent economic analysis of the costs and revenues of the horseracing sector in Great Britain. This report forms one element of Government’s work on determining the rate which will be payable by gambling operators under the new funding system which is due to be in place by April 2017.

    The Government intends to publish the findings of the Frontier Report in due course.

  • Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-09-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to tender a public contract to perform the function of operator of last resort for (a) long distance and (b) regional passenger rail franchises.

    Paul Maynard

    The Secretary of State has a duty under Section 30 of the Railways Act 1993, to maintain the continuity of passenger rail services in the event that a passenger rail franchise terminates and is not immediately replaced. Following a successful procurement competition using the new STAR (Specialist Technical Advice for Rail) Framework Agreement, the Department has appointed a partnership comprising Arup, SNC-Lavalin Transport Advisory and EY to provide services to support the Secretary of State in connection with these duties. This includes advice in connection with the mobilisation and operation of a Public Sector Operator of Last Resort should the need arise.

    The Department does not intend to tender any other contracts to perform the functions of Operator of Last Resort at this stage.

  • Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what preparatory work his Department has undertaken in advance of sending letters to tax credit recipients on changes to tax credits.

    Damian Hinds

    HM Revenue and Customs will be ready to notify tax credit claimants of their 2016/17 tax credit award in good time.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, from which countries the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme accepts UNHCR referrals.

    Richard Harrington

    We work closely with the UNHCR to identify cases that they deem in need of resettlement. We take refugees that UNHCR have referred from the region, from Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt. This provides refugees with a more direct and safe route to the UK, rather than risking the hazardous journey to Europe.

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff employed by his Department (a) receive working tax credits and (b) work part-time; and what proportion of each such group are women.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information requested in part (a) is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    On 31 December 2015 in the Department for Work and Pensions 35,834 employees work part-time and 88% of this group are women.

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many pathologists qualified to conduct postmortems there were in (a) 2010 and (b) 2015.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department does not hold this information.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that prison officers complete Prevent awareness training.

    Andrew Selous

    The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has a range of Prevent awareness training and briefing packages available for staff.

    Prevent awareness training forms part of the Prison Officer Entry Level training for new prison officers. By the end of this month, over 1800 prison officers will have completed this training in 2015-16.

    In addition NOMS regularly reviews the extremism based training provision available to all staff in prisoner facing roles, adapting it to meet the need of the audience and the changing threat.

    During 2015/2016 over 12,000 directly employed and non-directly employed staff attended such training and briefing events.

  • Sir Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sir Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the structure is of NHS Property Services and to whom they report.

    George Freeman

    NHS Property Services is a limited company, registered at Companies House, and 100% owned by the Secretary of State for Health, to whom it is accountable.

    It is governed by a company Board consisting of a Chair, Chief Executive and an appropriate mix of executive and non-executive directors, including a Departmental ‘shareholder representative’ director.

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of what the likely change in the level of social housing stock will be if the proposed extension of right-to-buy to housing association properties is agreed in (a) Tottenham, (b) Enfield, (c) Haringey, (d) Barnet, (e) Islington and (f) London in (i) 2016 and (ii) each of the next three years.

    Brandon Lewis

    Under the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation and housing associations, every home sold to tenants will result in an additional affordable home being provided. At least two new affordable homes will be provided for each high value vacant property that is expected to be sold in London. This will lead to an increase in overall housing supply.

  • Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-06-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the political and human rights situation in Uganda following the election earlier this year.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    I commend the people of Uganda for turning out in large numbers to cast their vote on 18 February 2016 and for their determination to participate in the electoral process. President Museveni was inaugurated on 12 May 2016. With the new cabinet in place, it is important for the Government of Uganda to refocus its efforts on domestic and regional issues. The British Government has raised concerns with the Government of Uganda about the conduct of the elections and the post-election environment, most recently during Article 8 discussions on 28 June 2016. These include the continuing harassment and intimidation of members of the opposition and journalists by the Uganda Police Force.

    With international partners, we seek to work with the Government of Uganda to ensure human rights are respected in the country and to aid substantive electoral reform. Where human rights disputes are raised these must be addressed through appropriate legal channels.