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Category: Speeches

  • Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-12-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many volunteers there are currently carrying out work in each prison in England and Wales.

    Lord Faulks

    This information is not held centrally. The Ministry of Justice facilitates a wide and varied range of opportunities for volunteers to work with offenders, within prisons and in the community, and also directly recruits volunteers to sit on its Independent Monitoring Boards.

  • Fabian Hamilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fabian Hamilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fabian Hamilton on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which Ministers and staff of her Department will be attending the Hanoi Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in November 2016; and what the projected cost of that attendance will be in (a) staff salaries, (b) travel and (c) other costs.

    Karen Bradley

    The UK remains committed to its global leadership role in helping to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. During his visit to Vietnam in July 2015, the Prime Minister confirmed that the UK would provide £200,000 to support Vietnam in hosting a third high level international conference on the illegal wildlife trade. The Conference, to be held on 24-25 November 2016, will build on the successful London and Kasane Conferences of 2014 and 2015. Decisions about who will represent the UK at the Vietnam Conference have not yet been made.

  • Baroness Quin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Quin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Quin on 2016-02-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average waiting time for a result to be given of a DEXA bone density scan in each NHS region in England; and what assessment they have made of the average waiting time for such results in (1) Scotland, and (2) Wales.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Data are not collected on the average waiting time for a result to be given for a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan. Data are collected on the average waiting time from referral to test, and these are shown in the following table for the four NHS England commissioning regions for most recent period, which is November 2015. Health is a devolved matter in Scotland and Wales.

    Table: average median waiting times in weeks for a DEXA scan from referral by NHS England commissioning region, November 2015

    Region

    Number of weeks

    North of England

    2.1

    Midlands and East of England

    1.7

    London

    1.8

    South of England

    1.8

    England

    1.9

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

    Lord Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 3 March (HL6266), what improvements Govia Thameslink Railway have implemented since the commencement of their franchise.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) have implemented numerous improvements since the commencement of their franchise. These include, but are not limited to:

    • Extension of smart ticketing functionality meaning that ‘the Key’ smartcard is now available at an additional 80 stations, taking the total number of stations to 220;
    • Oyster PAYG and CPAY has been extended to Gatwick Airport station;
    • An increase in overnight services serving Luton Airport Parkway station;
    • An increased number of Rail Enforcement Officers, with an additional 19 officers;
    • An increase in customer information screens;
    • A single source of customer information across website, app and stations;
    • Access to radio microphones for all platform staff to improve information provision at stations;
    • First to last staffing at an additional 25 Great Northern and Thameslink stations;
    • Ordered new trains comprising 150 vehicles for the Great Northern Moorgate route to replace rolling stock from the 1970s;
    • Services on the Moorgate branch in the evenings and at weekends;
    • iPads for customer facing staff to improve information provision;
    • 24 hour Twitter team;

    In addition, the following key improvements are on course to be delivered by Govia Thameslink Railway in the coming months:

    • Introduction of a new fleet of trains for the Gatwick Express – the first of which went into passenger service on 29 Feb;
    • New state of the art Class 700 trains will start to be introduced across the GTR network from the spring;
    • WiFi at 104 stations.

    More details on the committed obligations and improvements GTR are contracted to deliver can be found in the Franchise Agreement which is available at the government website.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-04-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether North Korea is seen as a priority country by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the light of the findings of the UN Commission of Inquiry regarding wide-ranging and ongoing crimes against humanity in that country.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has long been, and continues to be, a priority country for our global work on human rights and regional stability. The UK strongly supported the work of the UN Commission of Inquiry and we continue to press the North Korean regime to make tangible progress on improving its appalling human rights record. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), recently discussed DPRK and Human Rights with Ambassador Robert King, Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea, and Danny Russel, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the US State Department.

  • Lord Lansley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Lansley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lansley on 2016-05-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of leaving the EU on businesses that export within the EU single market and on individual sectors.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with my noble Friend.

  • John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensure that his Department’s purchasing policies support British (a) industry and (b) agriculture.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Department’s purchasing policies support the Government’s commitment to do all it can to ensure UK suppliers can compete effectively for public sector contracts, in line with our current international obligations and guidance issued by the Crown Commercial Service.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he last met Simon Kirby, Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd; and when he was made aware of Mr Kirby’s decision to resign as Chief Executive of that company.

    Andrew Jones

    The Secretary of State last met with Simon Kirby on 20 July 2016. He was made aware of Simon Kirby’s resignation as CEO of HS2 Ltd on the afternoon of Friday 9 September 2016.

  • David Crausby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    David Crausby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to deal with overcrowding on Bolton’s commuter trains.

    Andrew Jones

    Northern Rail is required to use all of its train fleet (allowing for maintenance) at peak times and best match capacity to passenger demand across the franchise. It is for Northern to allocate rolling stock to best fit expected passenger numbers on a day-to-day basis. As you may be aware, we have increased Northern’s train fleet this year, including the introduction of 20 refreshed four coach electric trains in the year to December 2015.

    In the longer term, unlike the last Northern franchise let under the previous Labour administration in 2004 which included limited plans to invest in services or meet demand, the next Northern Franchise will see the removal of the existing Pacer trains, the ordering at least 120 new-build carriages, the modernising of every train operating on the Northern franchise, more frequent services on many routes on the Northern franchise, and will be providing more services for commuters, during off-peak times and on Sundays. The electrification of Manchester to Preston via Bolton route, for which preparatory work began this year, will also provide the opportunity for greater capacity electric powered trains to provide services for Bolton commuters. By the end of 2019, services into central Manchester will have seen a 49% increase in passenger-carrying capacity during the morning peak compared to five years earlier, and this will help ease the crowding affecting your constituents.

  • Baroness Northover – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Northover – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2015-12-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of global demographic change in which almost 24 per cent of women globally are aged 50 and over, what steps they are taking to ensure that sustainable development goal indicators on violence against women specifically include women over the age of 49, and to ensure that those women are not excluded from reporting mechanisms in the future.

    Baroness Verma

    Supporting robust indicators for Sustainable Development Goal 5.2 on violence against women and girls is critical. DFID is working with international partners including the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data to support the development of strong indicators and the development of rigorous, available national data that will enable measurement of progress to end violence against women and girls of all ages.