Category: Speeches

Gareth Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of efficiency savings made from use of video link technology in criminal cases.

Mr Shailesh Vara

Use of video in criminal cases provides efficiencies which benefit all criminal justice agencies, and support victims and witnesses. In particular video links allow police officers to give evidence to the court from a police station, rather than attending a courthouse, making significant savings in working hours for the police.

The use of video within Police Forces is well established for the giving of evidence. HMCTS is also working with Police Forces to extend the use of video to applications for search warrants and other warrants.

The Government is investing over £700m to modernise the courts and tribunals. This investment will not only mean an extension in the extent of video usage by police, but also an increase in benefits.

January 1, 2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 May 2016 to Question 35371, if he will provide a breakdown of statutory blight regime and HS2 discretionary scheme payments by parliamentary constituency.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The information requested is provided in the attached table.

January 1, 2023
Philippa Whitford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philippa Whitford on 2016-06-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department received the request from the Scottish Government to allow increased payments to Scottish people affected by contaminated blood through the current financial structures.

Jane Ellison

Since the Scottish Government announced its decision to accept the recommendations of its independent financial review in March 2016, officials in the Department and Scottish Government have been working together to facilitate the increased payments using the current payment scheme. There have, in addition, been recent conversations at Ministerial level.

January 1, 2023
Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-09-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department’s paper, Infected Blood: Government Response to Consultation on Reform of Financial and Other Support, published in July 2016, whether he plans for people receiving discretionary support from the reformed scheme to continue to receive (a) prescription prepayment certificates, (b) advice on support with benefit applications and appeals, (c) one-off £1,200 lump sum payments for dependants and (d) means-tested top-ups to their income to lift them above the poverty line; and whether he plans for the partners of bereaved people to continue to receive annual payments topping their income up to £19,000 per year.

Nicola Blackwood

In 2017/18, a new, single, discretionary scheme will replace the current three discretionary support schemes (The Caxton Foundation, The Eileen Trust and The McFarlane Trust), and it is intended to be equitable, transparent, flexible and responsive to individual needs, that may change over time.

Details on the components that will make up a new discretionary scheme are still being worked through and will be publicised in due course. In the meantime, the current discretionary arrangements remain throughout the current financial year.

January 1, 2023
Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of tax credit claimants who will be eligible for the Government’s planned 30 hours of free childcare per week; and what the average reduction in childcare cost will be for each such claimant.

Damian Hinds

This Government is committed to moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society. As the Chancellor made clear, the Government will set out at Autumn Statement how we plan to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits, saving the money we need to save to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.

As announced at Summer Budget, the Chancellor announced that free entitlement childcare would be doubled from 15 hours to 30 for working parents. This will not be rolled out until September 2017, with early implementation in some areas in September 2016.

Information about the age, gender and number of children in receipt of tax credits can be found in HMRC’s Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics, April 2015. Available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-tax-credits-provisional-statistics-2013-to-2009

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January 1, 2023
Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what form of transport she used to travel to the COP21 conference in Paris in December 2015; and for what reasons she used that form of transport.

Justine Greening

I flew to the COP 21 once which was the most cost effective and efficient means of travel. DFID offsets all its air and train travel.

January 1, 2023

Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the target was for new entrants on to Religious Education initial teacher training courses in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb

The numbers of new entrants to religious education initial teacher training (ITT) courses in England, and the target levels, for each of the last five years are as shown in Table 1 below.

The numbers of people achieving qualified teacher status (QTS) in religious studies in each of the last five years are as shown in Table 2 below.

Table 1: New entrants to Religious Education ITT courses.

Year	Postgraduate ITT new entrants	Postgraduate ITT target	Percentage of the postgraduate target achieved	Undergraduate ITT new entrants
2011/12	463	446	104%	15
2012/13	471	439	107%	12
2013/14	367	450	82%	12
2014/15	386	537	72%	8
2015/16	411	650	63%	14

Table 2: Final year religious education trainees obtaining QTS awards.

Year	Postgraduate				Undergraduate
Number awarded QTS	Number not awarded QTS	Total	Percentage awarded QTS	Number awarded QTS	Number not awarded QTS	Total	Percentage awarded QTS
2009/10	755	96	851	89%	12	2	14	86%
2010/11	762	78	840	91%	19	2	21	90%
2011/12	464	71	535	87%	17	7	24	71%
2012/13	419	65	484	87%	25	5	30	83%
2013/14	321	23	344	93%	12	0	12	100%

Further information is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-teacher-training

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January 1, 2023

Lord Mancroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mancroft on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 4 January (HL4665) about access to hepatitis C treatment, how frequently NHS England will publish reports on the minimum data set and when the first set of data on patients being treated will be published.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Public Health England (PHE) is working with NHS England and the Clinical Leads of the Operational Delivery Networks to ensure that a minimum data set is collected to allow monitoring of patients being treated. This will be used to support commissioning and planning of these services. PHE plans to publish summary data on people being treated in the annual report on hepatitis C. No timetable for publication has been agreed.

January 1, 2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the steps that would be needed to give effect to the legal agreement signed by the EU member states based on the revised terms of EU membership negotiated by the Prime Minister; and what the role of the Council of Ministers, the Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice will be in giving legal effect to that agreement.

Mr David Lidington

No further steps are needed to give legal effect to the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016. The Decision will come into effect on the same date as the UK informs the Secretary-General of the Council of its decision in the referendum to remain in the EU. It will then be for the member States and the EU institutions to implement the Decision. The steps required of the institutions and the Member States to do so are set out in the Decision.

January 1, 2023
Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what information her Department holds on the number and severity of incidents involving vehicles transporting nuclear material on the strategic road network.

Andrea Leadsom

Details of safety events involving the transport of nuclear material both by rail and on the strategic road network can be found in the following report:

Events reported to Nuclear Safety Regulator 2001-2015:

http://news.onr.org.uk/2016/02/events-reported-to-nuclear-safety-regulator-2001-15/

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January 1, 2023