Category: Speeches

  • Stephen Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Twigg on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will support the immediate establishment of an international, impartial investigation into repeated international humanitarian law violations by all parties to the conflict in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK Government has been clear that we want to see thorough and conclusive investigations where allegations have been made against parties to the conflict in Yemen regarding international humanitarian law. The Saudi Arabian government has its own internal procedures for investigations and they announced more detail on how they investigate such incidents earlier this year and that any lessons learned would be acted upon. We continue to call on all parties to the conflict in Yemen to comply with international humanitarian law, including to take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians and civilian objects.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answers of 25 July 2016 to Questions 43380 and 43381, what proportion of that £12 billion was spent on (a) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) winning contracts directly from government and (b) large companies winning contracts directly from government and then outsourcing parts of those contracts to SMEs.

    Ben Gummer

    In 2014-15, Central Government spent over £12 billion with small and medium sized businesses, of which £4.88 billion was direct spend and £7.27 billion through our supply chains.

    A full breakdown of the data can be found here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/central-government-spend-with-smes-2014-to-2015

    “

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what role the Government plans to take in helping to facilitate a resumed dialogue between Somaliland and Somalia after presidential elections in Somaliland in March 2017.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    ​The Government recognises the importance of dialogue between Somalia and Somaliland, currently facilitated by the Government of Turkey, and we expect to see this resumed once both the Somaliland Presidential elections and the Parliamentary and Presidential electoral processes in Somalia have been held.

    The Government’s position on Somaliland has long been that it is for Somalia and Somaliland to decide their future, and for regional neighbours to take the lead in recognising any new arrangements.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2015 to Question 10809, how many enforcement actions involving victims of modern slavery have been undertaken since February 2015.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) participates in multi-agency investigations into cases of Modern Slavery where there are potential tax or National Minimum Wage offences. Since February this year, HMRC has opened 60 tax investigations in cases where Modern Slavery is suspected.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Muslim women reported being the victim of abuse or hate crime in each police authority area in England and Wales in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015; and how many such reports (i) have been investigated, (b) resulted in prosecution and (c) resulted in a conviction.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office does not hold the requested information. While the Home Office collects information on the number of recorded hate crimes by police force area, we cannot tell from these data the religion or the sex of the victim.

    The Home Office does not hold information on prosecutions; these figures are the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.

    I refer the Right Honourable Member to my answer of 3 November in response to question 13254. In the future, we intend to collect a breakdown of religion-based hate crime data from the police to help forces build community trust, target their resources and enable the public to better hold them to account.

  • Stuart Andrew – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stuart Andrew – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart Andrew on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the status is of Operational Resilience Capacity Planning for 2014-15; and what the status is of the retained funding for flu vaccinations for clinicians in the independent sector.

    Jane Ellison

    In April 2015, NHS England advised System Resilience Groups that all resilience initiatives started in response to the 2014-15 document should continue, and were also informed of new resilience planning priorities for the coming year. A copy of the letter is attached.

    For this year, funding was given to NHS Employers to support flu vaccination communications aimed at staff working in care homes, and to work with National Health Service trusts with low staff vaccination uptake by providing support networks and events.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers below retirement age left teaching in academic year (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.

    Nick Gibb

    In 2013-14, 42,050 full-time equivalent teachers left service from state funded schools in England. Of these teachers, 10,500 retired with an award of pension benefits. In the same year 44,900 teacher entered the profession. In 2012-13, there were 44,400 entrants and 39,050 leavers, of which 11,230 retired.

    There is no fixed retirement age for teachers but the normal pension age for Teachers’ Pensions is either 60 or 65 depending on when the teacher last entered the profession.

    Information on the number of teachers entering and leaving service from state funded schools in each year is published in table C1b of the additional tables in the School Workforce in England Statistical First Release, November 2014. The table shows entrants and leavers for each year from 2010-11 to 2013-14. This publication is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2014

    “

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the rate of pay is for cleaners in his Department.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department does not directly employ cleaners. Cleaners employed by the Department’s contractors are paid £8.25 an hour.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-03-24.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to hold a public consultation on the proposed closures of HM Revenue and Customs offices in Scotland.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) plans to create two new Regional Centres in Scotland, in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 2019-20, accommodating between 5,700 and 6,300 employees. HMRC’s new Regional Centres will give its staff all they need including a modern office environment, close to good travel and transport links. They will provide stable, high quality jobs and offer a wide range of opportunities for training and promotion and allow its staff to follow more varied career paths than have previously been possible.

    HMRC will help all its staff work through their options. It will give everyone the opportunity to discuss their personal circumstances with their manager ahead of any office closures or moves, so they know about any issues that need to be taken into account when making decisions.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using drones to detect mines and improvised explosive devices.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The merits of the use of drones to detect mines and improvised explosive devices have been recognised by the UK’s Armed Forces and there are a number of ongoing research projects which seek to refine possible techniques.

    While a number of technical challenges remain in integrating more complex detectors and sensors onto Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), there is potential for a UAS to be procured in future which could be used to detect mines and improvised explosive devices.