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Category: Speeches

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26844, whether the maximum customer travel of one and a half hours or 65 miles for an interview for a passport application refers to a one-way journey or round trip.

    James Brokenshire

    Please accept my apologies for an error which was made in the response to question 26844.

    Under the planned changes to HM Passport Offices the vast majority of passport application interviewees will see no change to their travel time. In a small number of cases passport application interviewees will have to travel further but this should not be more than 65 miles or one and a half hours additional one-way travel from their previous closest office.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to increase the number of school places in Crawley.

    Edward Timpson

    Local authorities are responsible for planning and securing sufficient school places in their area, and supporting them to do so is one of this Government’s top priorities. That is why we have committed to spending £7 billion on school places up to 2021, which along with our investment in the free schools programme we expect to deliver 600,000 new places.

    Basic need funding is allocated to local authorities to help them to create new school places. West Sussex received £113 million of basic need funding between 2011 and 2015, which helped to create almost 10,000 new places between 2010 and 2015. These new places include over 1,000 provided by the Gatwick School, an all-through free school in Crawley.

    West Sussex has also been allocated a further £85 million to create the places needed by 2019, including in Crawley.

    Information on basic need allocations can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations

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  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that those who breed and sell kittens where there is evidence of commercial trade do so under a pet vending licence; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    Earlier this year, Defra consulted on proposals to update the laws on breeding and selling of pet animals. We are currently analysing the responses.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, when he plans that the UK will cease contributing towards the funding of the EU.

    Mr David Davis

    The UK will remain a full member of the EU, with all of the rights and obligations, until it leaves. As we establish a UK approach and objectives for negotiations on the UK’s exit, a range of decisions will be made, including on funding.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to reform management of the waters in the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

    George Eustice

    Exit from the European Union presents us with an opportunity to improve the way waters in the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone are managed. No decisions have yet been taken, although the Government remains committed to sustainable fisheries and eliminating discards, as set out in its manifesto.

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2015 to Question 13434, on Cabinet Committees: Airports, under what circumstances (a) full minutes, (b) dates of and (c) other information about such meetings would be published.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    Information relating to the proceedings of recent Cabinet Committee meetings is not disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion. Cabinet Committee minutes and other papers, which are not subject to national security or other restrictions, will be released to The National Archives after 20 years once the transition from the 30 to the 20-year rule has been complete. A detailed list of the Cabinet Committees, including their membership and remit, can be found on Gov.uk.

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2015-12-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 14 December (HL4086), whether their next Annual Human Rights and Democracy Report in April 2016 will contain an assessment of the effectiveness and outputs of project funding on human rights and democracy in their priority countries in the most recent full year; and if so, whether it will be subject to independent audit.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The 2015 Annual Human Rights and Democracy Report will include references to project funding on human rights and democracy in priority countries where appropriate. All Foreign and Commonwealth Office funding, including human rights and democracy project funding, is subject to robust monitoring and evaluation, and like all government spending is subject to scrutiny by the National Audit Office.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Chairman of Committees how many agency staff are employed by the House of Lords; and whether those staff are paid the London Living Wage.

    Lord Laming

    The House currently employs approximately 34 agency staff in each sitting week. The majority of these staff are deployed in Catering and Retail Services.

    The House of Lords is accredited by Citizens UK (CUK) as a London Living Wage Employer. The terms of its accreditation licence require that contractors and sub-contractors with dedicated staff who are based on parliamentary premises are paying those staff at least the London Living Wage.

    In accordance with the terms of the accreditation licence, all agency staff are paid at least the London Living Wage rate from day 1 of week 9 if they are working on parliamentary premises and employed for at least two hours of work in a week, for 8 consecutive weeks in a year.

  • Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken in response to the findings set out in the 2014-15 Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HM Prison Belmarsh on the prison’s online and telephone booking system.

    Andrew Selous

    We had already recognised the issues highlighted in the 2014-15 Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HM Prison Belmarsh. I am pleased to inform the hon. Member for Erith and Thamesmead that we will be increasing the number of social visit slots that are available per session and we have added an additional booking telephone line. There are also plans to introduce an automated system to increase our capacity to manage visit calls.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his speech of 15 March 2016 to the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism Conference, what legal changes he has made following a campaign led by Jewish Human Rights Watch.

    Dominic Raab

    On 3 October 2015, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced the Government’s position on boycott, divestment and sanctions, including legal changes.