Category: Speeches

Crispin Blunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Crispin Blunt on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the Government’s policy is on (a) including within Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions 1949 prohibition of the targeting of individuals based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and (b) whether the consequences under international law of targeting individuals on the ground of sexual orientation are the same as targeting on the grounds of race, colour, religion or faith, sex and birth or wealth.

Penny Mordaunt

The Government does not target individuals based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation. Common Article 3 prohibits adverse distinction founded on race, colour religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.

01/01/2023
Zac Goldsmith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Zac Goldsmith on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what health and safety assessment his Department has conducted on military personnel or contractors loading or unloading equipment from his Department’s vessels onto the pier head at Ascension Island.

Mr Philip Dunne

The loading and unloading of freight from Ministry of Defence chartered vessels is conducted by the Ascension Island Government. A Health and Safety and Environmental Risk Assessment of loading/unloading equipment at the Ascension Islands pier head was undertaken by the Joint Forces Command Health and Safety lead in September 2015.

01/01/2023
Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans the Government has for the delivery of the General Practice Forward View.

David Mowat

The General Practice Forward View was published by NHS England on 21 April 2016 and is a package of measures to stabilise and support general practice.

NHS England has established an external Oversight Group to oversee implementation of the General Practice Forward View. Its membership includes the British Medical Association (BMA), Royal College of General Practitioners and NHS Clinical Commissioners. The BMA has also established a reference group of local medical committees from across England to gain further input from general practitioners (GPs) and make sure the changes set out in the General Practice Forward View are realised.

At its Board meeting on 28 July 2016, NHS England set out progress to date, including on delivery of a new practice resilience programme to help struggling practices, and a new Indemnity Support Scheme to alleviate the immediate pressure of rising costs for GPs from indemnity. Further details are available on NHS England’s website:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/item5-28-07-16.pdf

“

01/01/2023
Grant Shapps – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grant Shapps on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what method and criteria were used to select the Board of HS2 Ltd.

Andrew Jones

All Non-Executive members including the Non-Executive Chair of the HS2 Ltd Board are appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport. All Executive Members of the HS2 Ltd Board are appointed by HS2 Ltd on the delegated authority from the Secretary of State. The Chief Executive Officer of the HS2 Ltd Board is appointed by the Chair of HS2 Ltd.

All Ministerial appointments, extensions and exemptions to the HS2 Ltd Board, come under the remit of the Office for Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA). They are made using the process from the Commissioner’s Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies. The Commissioner may, in exceptional circumstances, agree that Departments may depart from this Code where he believes that this is justified in the public interest.

01/01/2023
Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Syrian refugees she expects to be housed in the UK by December 2015.

Richard Harrington

The Government has committed to resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the lifetime of this Parliament. The Prime Minister has said that we want to see 1,000 refugees brought to the UK by Christmas.

The Government is working closely with local authorities, international delivery partners and the voluntary sector, putting in place the plans and structures to deliver this and ensuring the system is scaled up in a way that protects the interests of all concerned.

Details on numbers will be published in the regular quarterly immigration statistics.

01/01/2023
Baroness Byford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with industry about the safety of tumble driers, in the light of recent reports by Which?.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

I am aware of the recent safety alert in relation to certain brands and models of tumble drier and understand that the manufacturer concerned is working with Trading Standards to take appropriate corrective action.

My officials are in regular contact with industry about the safety of electrical products, including tumble driers. Officials are also regularly in contact with their opposite numbers in other Member States to discuss safety issues and with those involved in standardisation, for example the British Standards Institution, where standards are updated to reflect advances in technology and problems identified with products in service.

01/01/2023
Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many jobs in (a) her Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies, non-ministerial departments, advisory bodies and other accountable statutory bodies (i) have been abolished or relocated from Stoke-on-Trent since 2010 and (ii) will be abolished in or relocated from Stoke-on-Trent by 2020.

Andrea Leadsom

Neither the Department, nor any of its accountable statutory bodies, have had jobs abolished or relocated from Stoke-on-Trent in the specified time period.

01/01/2023
Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether UK personnel were involved in checking the target selections for any (a) deliberate and (b) unintended breaches of international humanitarian law during the recent Saudi Arabian military action in Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK is not a member of the Saudi Arabia-led military Coalition. British personnel are not involved in carrying out strikes, directing or conducting operations in Yemen or selecting targets, and are not involved in the Saudi targeting decision-making process. We have deployed a small number of military personnel serving as liaison officers in Saudi Arabia’s headquarters to provide insight into Saudi operations. They remain under UK command and control.

01/01/2023
Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2015 to Question 16115, if he will make it his policy to collect centrally data on Flexible Support Funding spent on childcare support.

Priti Patel

The Flexible Support Fund is used at the discretion of Jobcentre Plus District Managers and Work Coaches to support people back into work. Given this is a localised, discretionary fund we do not, and do not have plans to, create additional bureaucratic reporting on how the fund is spent.

01/01/2023

Lord Marlesford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Marlesford on 2016-03-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much has been collected for treatment of foreign nationals by the NHS in each of the last three years; and how much has been paid to EU governments for medical treatment of UK citizens during the same period.

Lord Prior of Brampton

It is not possible to provide data on the amounts collected for treatment of directly chargeable foreign nationals and residents of countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) by the National Health Service prior to financial year 2013-14. Since then the Department has been collecting data from NHS trusts on the amount of cash payments received in-year relating to invoices raised in current and previous years.

Figures for financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15 are shown in the table below.

	Cash payments received in-year (relating to invoices raised in current and previous years) 2013-14	Cash payments received in-year (relating to invoices raised in current and previous years) 2014-15
	£millions	£millions
NHS Trusts	8.5	11.4
NHS Foundation Trusts	11.1	13.7
Total	19.6	25.1

Source:

NHS Trust data – NHS Trust Development Authority
NHS Foundation Trust Data – Monitor

Since 6 April 2015 , temporary , non-EEA migrants coming to the United Kingdom for more than 6 months, or who apply to extend their stay in the UK, are required to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) (unless an exemption applies) . In cash terms between 6 April 2015 and 14 March 2016, the Home Office collected IHS income, net of refunds and transferred £117.8 million to the Department for spending on the NHS.

EEA countries and Switzerland reimburse the UK for the cost of the NHS providing treatment to people they are responsible for under EU law, including UK nationals insured in another EEA country or Switzerland. This information is available for the last three financial years in the attached table.

The Department on behalf of the UK Government reimburses other EEA countries and Switzerland for the cost of providing treatment to people we are responsible for under European Union law, irrespective of nationality. This information is available for the last three financial years in the attached table.

General practitioners (GPs) have discretion to register anyone as an NHS patient, including a person not ordinarily resident in the UK, for primary medical care free at the point of delivery. Being registered with a GP does not in itself mean that the person is entitled to free NHS hospital treatment. Practices are strongly encouraged to provide NHS providers with any relevant information when they refer a patient they believe may be chargeable for secondary care.

01/01/2023