UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Speeches

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which sources independent of the Saudi government are assessed by the UK Government regarding the alleged use of cluster munitions by the Saudi led coalition in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK Government considers a range of information regarding the conduct of the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition in Yemen. This includes UN sources, INGO reports, open sources such as social media, and our internal government sources which includes UK Defence Intelligence reports. This comes from government sources, foreign governments, the media and international non-governmental organisations. The UK ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 4 May 2010 and, in line with our obligations under the Convention, we have always made it clear to the Saudi Arabians that we cannot support the use of cluster munitions in any circumstances and we continue to encourage Saudi Arabia, as a non-party to the Convention, to accede to it.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential role of the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoys in increasing future levels of UK exports.

    Dr Liam Fox

    The Trade Envoy programme has been in operation since 2012 and continues to go from strength to strength.

    There are currently 21 Trade Envoys covering around 50 markets. Trade Envoys support the drive for economic growth by building on the UK’s existing relations with these markets and maximising bilateral trade.

    It is crucial that we use all tools at our disposal to promote British trade across the world and Trade Envoys will be a key part of our Departmental strategy.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what role Ofqual has in the setting of the requirements for special needs access to examinations specified by the Joint Council for Qualifications.

    Nick Gibb

    This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have therefore asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write directly to the Honourable Member. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 29 October (HL2815) concerning Severn Crossings tolls, why the cost of collecting tolls is not made available by the concessionaire, and whether they will now require them to make that information available.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    There is no contractual requirement for the Severn Crossings concessionaire to provide this cost. The Government has no plans to require that information to be made available.

  • Chris Law – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chris Law – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Revenue and Customs staff at Sidlaw House, Dundee will have the same terms and conditions if they are transferred to the new regional centres.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the planned locations of its future Regional Centres based on a number of key principles. In addition to cost, HMRC has taken account of the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, and the need to retain the staff and skills they need to continue their transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

    HMRC plans to open two new Regional Centres in Edinburgh and Glasgow, with a combined total of between 5,700 and 6,300 posts.In Dundee, Caledonian House is planned to close in 2018 and Sidlaw House will transfer to the administering of Universal Credit. HMRC will be holding individual meetings with every member of staff prior to any office closures or moves, to discuss what these plans mean for them and their choices.‎

  • Keir Starmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Keir Starmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keir Starmer on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to introduce a Victims’ Law since May 2015.

    Mike Penning

    In the Queen’s Speech we made a commitment to bring forward measures to increase the rights of victims of crime. Further detail on our plans will be published in due course.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many times a Notice of Insufficient Margin has been issued in each of the last three years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    In the past three years, National Grid have issued one Notice of Inadequate System Margin (NISM). This was issued on 4 November 2015.

    National Grid requires a safety cushion to be able to manage the system in real time and a NISM is a call to the market to maintain that safety cushion. This gives generators in the market the opportunity to provide additional generation ahead of National Grid instructing plant and demand side response held in the Contingency Balancing Reserve, if required. It is not an indication that demand is about to outstrip supply.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) publications, (b) consultation documents and (c) circulars her Department has issued since August 2012; and what the title was of each such publication, consultation document or circular.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office has issued 3,218 publications, 93 consultations and 79 circulars since August 2012. All are published on Gov.UK.

  • Christopher Pincher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Christopher Pincher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Pincher on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, upon what criteria she plans to decide whether to remove the derogation in the Waste Framework Directive which currently allows air pollution control residues, which have been recovered from municipal waste to energy incineration facilities, to be treated and disposed to hazardous landfill sites.

    Rory Stewart

    The derogation to allow the landfilling of air pollution control residues that are three times above normal waste acceptance criteria was originally granted because there was a lack of alternative treatment capacity at the time to either treat certain wastes to levels meeting normal waste acceptance limits, to treat the wastes via alternative treatment technologies or to recycle or recover the residues. The availability of sufficient alternative treatment capacity and the costs of that treatment are therefore the two central criteria that the government will use to decide whether or not to remove the derogation.

    The Government is making an assessment of the quantity of air pollution control residues produced at energy from waste facilities to inform its decision on whether or not to remove the derogation to allow the landfilling of air pollution control residues that are three times above normal waste acceptance criteria. These figures will be available following the announcement of that decision.

    The Government is making an assessment of the costs of the different forms of treatment for air pollution control residues, including their mixing into concrete blocks and their disposal to hazardous waste landfill, to inform its decision on whether or not to remove the derogation to allow the landfilling of air pollution control residues that are three times above normal waste acceptance criteria. These figures will be available following the announcement of that decision.

  • 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, how many medical staff assisting armed forces personnel with stress and other mental health issues are authorised to deal with personnel at each level of security clearance.

    Mark Lancaster

    All Ministry of Defence mental health staff have security clearance sufficient to enable them to provide appropriate mental healthcare to any member of the armed forces who requires it. If it were ever assessed that the attendance was required of medical personnel with a specific level of security clearance, arrangements would be made to provide this.